Hey all you people loving up the snow!!
Next time you get sad to go scrape off the car, think of me being
SUPER JEALOUS of the snow you have, and dying here in the heat!!! haha
Welp. Its been another week, ALREADY........... its like magic. Cant keep track of the days anymore.
Moving on...........
Its been a good week!
Last monday, we had a family night with an inactive family that we
have been visiting every monday night (and sometimes more often...)
since we got here. We wanted to watch the restoration video with them,
but somehow, it seems like EVERY SINGLE TIME we try to watch that
movie, EVERYTHING goes wrong.......... When we first got there, the
husband Sidney wasnt back yet...... Marilda and their handicapped son
Jonathan were home and watching tv, when we arrived with another recent
convert named Cleber. We sat around waiting for Sidney for a while.....
and then decided we should just start. Poor Jonathan got SO stressed out
to have us start without his dad.... ah. poor guy. He is about 27,
understands really well, and can apparently read and form words with
help.... but unable to talk or move much more than his head. He is
ALWAYS smiling so big when we get to their house though....
We sang a hymn and started.... still waiting for Irmão Sidney and
decided to just teach about the restoration real quick since he wasnt
back to get the computer set up to play the movie. FINALLY he got back,
and went get the computer all set up..... It must have taken a good 25
minutes of him struggling with that computer and the speakers before we
were FINALLY able to watch the film..... hahaha. MAN. It was way worth
it though, and the last time we passed by their house, they were still
talking about it... It just brings the spirit so well.
About Fernando-
He´s doing so great!!!!!!!!! He is still so excited, and so happy!!
He was confirmed on Sunday, and super happy about it........ We were
only able to meet with him a couple times this past week, but he is
doing so well!! He is looking for a job right now, and was all stressed
about having to work on sundays since he is looking for a restaurant
job.... We talked with him a lot about the importance of going to church
each sunday, and now he is looking for a job that will let him do that.
He understands SO WELL. It is amazing. hahaha. Maybe I´m just used to a
lot of investigators that dont get anything at all...... but he is
soooooooooooo awesome!
This week we spent a lot of time trying to find people at
home.............. and they pretty much never were. COOL. Even Rodolfo
started to never be at home!! AGH. And it is tough to find new people
here because 1) knocking doors is the WORST here....... pretty
inefficient.... most people arent home, and whoever is doesnt want to
talk to us 2) when we try to do contacts in center, everyone is in a
hurry and doesnt want to talk OR they are not even from Jundiaí, and
just work here and live in other cities. SWEET. The lucky elders in our
zone get a lot of references though.......... hahaha.
Tuesday, we were able to get Rodolfo to come down to the chapel for
FUTBOL!!! haha. We grabbed a young man that was waiting for the weekly
soccer night to start and walked up to Rodolfo´s house with him. Then we
were just like "hey, you´re gonna go play soccer right now, and here´s a
friend for you". It was actually a LOT easier than we
anticipated............ He was just like "soccer??? okay" and dropped
the stuff he was working on and came. SCORE!!!!!!!!!! And he apparently
had a good time as well. He was complaining about his legs still being
sore for about 5 days afterwards though...... hahahah
We also were able to actually teach Rodolfo again on
wednesday.......... this time with a recently returned missionary from
our ward, so now he has at least one friend at church!!!!!!!!!! Woo! =]
Rodolfo is SUPER cool......... He is still working along at
everything. He is trying really hard to do everything right, to read his
scriptures, pray, come to church and keep the commandments that we´ve
taught him. It is really awesome how concerned he is about it all. He
really WANTS to do it!! He gets stressed about all the things he feels
like he needs to do better and isnt able to do PERFECTLY, and so we have
to talk through that a lot with him and help him with his worries. But
it is amazing how much he has changed and the progress he has made! He
has read a good 20 chapters in the Book of mormon by now!! And this is
the guy who has read only 2 books in his entire life!! Crazy right. And
he prayed again for us saturday night!!!! ahhhhhhhhh. It makes my heart
melt everytime he actually prays for us!! And this time we didnt even
have to ask him to do it!! He just was like "well, its my turn". =]
WOOO!
Oh and fun thing from wednesday!!!!
Around lunch time, we went up into center to just make some
contacts and try to find people to teach. While we were there, we passed
a guy playing violin on the corner.....Okay, so he was playing a
"violin", but CRAZILY enough, he was playing fiddle music!!! Like celtic
music! In brazil!!! WHAT??! We had passed him once before, and Sister
Feistner had tried to get me to go up to him and ask him to play his
violin....... but I chickened out and we ended up just going on our way
to another appointment. THIS TIME, she was like " Sister Ward.... just
do it!! If you dont, you´re gonna regret it for the rest of your life!!"
Eventually, she just marched on up to him and was like "my friend plays
the violin........... can she play yours???" hahaha. He was a little
taken aback, but he ended up letting me. Turns out, this guy is wayinto
playing FIDDLE music, not just classical, and has his violin set up more
like a fiddle and everything! ( the strings closer to the fingerboard
and stuff). And he got way excited to hear me playing traditional
american fiddle music cause he has pretty much only learned
celtic......... His most "american" fiddle song was St. Anne´s Reel. But
yeah. IT WAS SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started playing and everyone
passing on the street just stopped and stared.......... hahaha. (I play a
LOT differently than this guy---- louder, more obnoxious maybe???
hahaha). Sister Feistner said it was crazy how everyone was just
stopping and staring. A random member from another ward in the area came
up and had me play to his cell phone so that the bishop from his ward
could hear the "american sister" play the fiddle....... hahaha. And then
afterwards, this fiddle player---- Jon, from Chile, wanted me to teach
him some stuff, so we traded versions of St. Anne´s and then I started
teaching him Devil´s Dream (good song for a missionary eh??). OH YEAH,
for you fiddle people that´ll understand what I´m talking about, he
wanted me to teach him how to do a cut, you know, like in celtic
music..... butttttttttttt yeah. I had no idea how to explain it to him
in english........ much less in portuguese.......... and he´s from chile
and grew up speaking spanish, so I could barely understand his
portuguese anyways........ hahah. Whatever. Good thing you can just play
music without talking that much.
OH----------- and btw, it either was HOT or RAINING this
week.............. I havent decided whether it is worse to work in the
heat or the rain.......... hmmmmmmmm. The rain is more pleasant, but
more impossible to find anyone to talk to..... So I guess its a toss up.
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| When we got stuck in the POURING rain WITHOUT umbrellas........... (it was sunny that morning!!!) we ran and took cover under the balcony of a corner bar...... hahahah. |
Thursday, an Irmã from the ward called us bright and early in the
morning to ask us to help her with her house cleaning. (first time this
has happened to me on my mission....... people usually dont even LET us
try to help with anything...) and we were pretty excited to actually get
to go do something!!! hahaha. YEP`. We were EXCITED to go clean a
house......... Did I mention that Brazilians clean their houses
completely different??? Cleaning the kitchen floor for example involves
throwing about 10 gallons of water on the floor, drizzling soap/cleaner
over it, scrubbing it with a BROOM, and then squeeging all the water out
the door, pouring more water on the floor as needed to thoroughly rinse
it off. Its basically the same way you would wash dishes I
guess......... She also had me clean her kitchen walls (covered in
tiles) with a long handled squeegie and a towel. ???. The walls were
shining when I got done. =]
But, point being, it was funny how much we enjoyed that.
OHHHHHHHHHH and just so you all can enjoy this............ The dad
of the family whose house we cleaned, his name is Jesus. Honest. Make of
that what you will.
BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK:
RODOLFO WENT TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, when we went by, we were skimming through 3 Nefi 11 with
him, where Christ comes and visits the people in America..... When had
gone by with Jonathan (the member who came with us) earlier in the week,
he had talked about it being one of his favorite chapters in the book
of mormon, and Rodolfo remembered that. Rodolfo was all worried cause he
had read it, but didnt understand or remember much of anything, so we
just explained it to him again and read a little of it with him. We read
verse 14 which is Christ inviting the people to come up to him and
touch his hands and feet and see the marks of the nails where he was
crucified. When we got to that part, we just asked Rodolfo what he would
do if Christ was in front of him, inviting him to come up to Christ....
he thought for a bit, and told us that he didnt know. So we continued
on and were talking about other things........ Towards the end, we were
trying to committ him to come to church the next day, and we used that
scripture again "levantai-vos e aproximai-vos a mim" (get up and come up
unto me??) and explained how Christ is inviting us to come unto him.
AND, he is not saying "only you people who are PERFECT, come unto me",
he is inviting EACH AND EVERY PERSON in the world. So we asked Rodolfo
again what he would do.... and he thought for a bit and was just like
"well I would go to him of course!" YEAH! thats right!! and you can do
that by going to church tomorrow!!! He got the point, and got out his
cell phone alarm and set it with us sitting right there and everything.
And sister F. put a sticky note on the back of his phone with that part
of the scripture and "get up and come to church!" written on it, just in
case. =]
The next morning, Sister F. and I did a division to pick people up
for church. I went with a young lady from the ward to go pick up Rodolfo
and walk with him down to the church. When we got there, the car was
gone and the house was silent......... Yikes. I rang the buzzer anyways.
And we waited. Then I rang it again. And we waited. After quite a
while, I decided we would try it just ONE last time.......... So I rang
it, and we waited.......... We waited it 10-15 minutes in total with
NO signs of life..... Then, finally, Rodolfo came to the door running,
TOTALLY asleep and rubbing his eyes and was just like "wait just a
minute!" and went to get dressed. We ended up getting to the meeting a
good 15-20 minutes late, just as they were starting to pass the
sacrament..... so we had to wait in the hall until after they finished
passing the sacrament before we could go in............ BUT, HE CAME TO
CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay!
Poor guy was stressed out with so many people in the chapel (two
wards meet there, so it gets pretty packed....), but he liked it!!! When
we went by his house again that afternoon, he wanted us to help him
look up the lesson manuals online and everything! Wooo!! Anyways, he has
come a LONG ways, and I´m super happy about his progress!!
Also, taught my first "gospel principles" class at church on sunday
IN PORTUGUESE. Yep, thats right. And I didnt die. Or pass out. So I
guess it was a success. maybe........... I dont know if anyone GOT
anything out of the lesson........... but it is what it is. hahaha.
OH............. so this week we found a guy that we´ve taught twice
now. His name is Alex, and we just taught him standing at his doorway,
since no one else was home with him..... But, important part..... He
broke his leg because something fell on it, and now he has this
contraption on his leg to help his bones heal in the right way. Its got
like 4 metal peices that go into his leg THROUGH his skin and into the
bone, connected to a long metal peice running vertically down his
calf..... Apparently the doctor tightens it up to bring the peices of
his bone back together slowly........... BUT man is it gross!!! Do they
use stuff like that in the states??????? When we went to his house,
Sister Feistner got all excited to ask him all about it (cause she
studied nursing before the mish) and they started talking about how he
has to clean it really well cause pus and blood come out of the holes
where the metal stabs into his leg and all this other gross stuff that
made me almost pass out. AGAIN. hahaha. They spent a good 15 minutes
talking about how it works and everything, with me just leaning up
against the fence, singing hymns IN ENGLISH, inside my head to distract
myself..... hahaha. After a while, Sister F. noticed that I was white,
and then she felt a little bad......... for like two seconds. haha. then
she kept asking him stuff. Needless to say, I didnt help much in that
lesson.
Well, hope you all have a great week!!!!
Say some prayers for Rodolfo this week!!! So that he can keep preparing for baptism!!!!
Love you all so much!!!
Sister Ward
Pictures:
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| Us with Leila!! SHE IS SO COOL!!!!! She helps us out a bunch!! and she is sooooo funny!! We basically just die laughing everytime we TRY to work with her... hahaha. |
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| We made the muffin mix Debs sent!!!!!!!!!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm |
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| Found this in a little corner store here............... oh brasil. |
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| jibuticaba!! This weird fruit that grows on the TRUNK of the trees here........... Looks like warts all over the tree!!! |
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| With Leila...... being a LITTLE more serious this time......... hahaha. |
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