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So we had transfers today...and it looks like I will be here in Porto Ferreira for at least another 6 weeks with Sister R. Silva! Wahoo! I was so nervous yesterday... I am not quite sure why. I couldn’t decide if I was more afraid to be transferred or afraid to stay here another 6 weeks. It is hard to think about leaving people that you have come to love, but at the same time, there is something to be said about the idea of having a fresh start... but... I will be staying here, and it feels really right, and I am super excited. And the thing that is even cooler is that I will have the same companion, which is awesome. She has never had the same companion for more then one transfer... she has had like 11 companions and like 10 areas. Something crazy like that. So I hope this doesn’t mean that I am a trial in her life and she needs to learn more patience. Ha-ha.
But yeah, we are having a blast... This past week had many highs and lows- but first off, I have a few things that I thought you all might enjoy. Some of you know that I have a favorite movie that describes people by showing their weird personality quirks- little things that they LOVE a ton, or little things that they hate a ton.
And so before my mission I started a mental list of my little personality quirks- for example, I only use white hangers. I really hate colored hangers, and I really hate wire hangers. I have no idea why, and yes, I know it is really strange. But there you have it... but the funny thing is, that I have developed a few other loves, and dislikes here in brazil- so here is one-
I LOVE, absolutely LOVE scooping out papaya from the casca…or shell, or whatever the part is that you don’t eat. It’s the best thing ever… kind of like scooping out ice cream, but better. Mamao is by far the best fruit that God created, I am sure of it. I didn’t eat mamao one day this week and I thought my body was going to die. It was awful. Anyway, so yeah, scooping out mamao is heaven.
I absolutely hate cleaning stove tops. Although, I think this has something to do with the fact that Brazilians here clean the top of the stove EVERY DAY. It never ceases to amaze me that the Brazilians are so diligent in cleaning random household things every day- like the sidewalk, or the stove top (and we are talking about all the racks and knobs and everything) and yet ordinary things, like the table, or the dishes… are often left sitting there- messy. Its an interesting cultural difference, and though I am pretty sure I will adopt many of the Brazilian dishes and phrases into my life… I constantly find myself laughing about this difference in culture.
Ok, here are some other funny tidbits about Porto Ferreira-the cars here sing. Really. there is a car here that sells gasoline, and it has a song that plays when it drives by, ok more like an instrument that plays this tune... its just funny and weird. And there are always cars driving around in the neighborhoods with these HUGE speakers that are announcing this and that store, or a dance, or a politician. And… oh this is great, there is a churro car here drives around everywhere selling churros and there is the most annoying slash funniest song that it plays. It’s like the ice cream truck back in the day, but there are way tons more here and it’s just funny.
OK, so there you have some weird tid bits, now for the real news of the week. This week just flew by- we had a lot of awesome lessons, and found some awesome new people. One day we found this woman Rosa, who asked- you are Mormons aren’t you? (Which by the way my companion HATES this question. She is quite, quite adamant that Mormon was just a prophet and that we are the Church of Jesus Christ. It,s quite funny really, I have learned the importance of emphasizing this, but you can literally see her bristle when they ask this. haha)
Anyway, Rosa invited us in, and we could see from the beginning that she was quite distressed. Turns out her husband had died a month ago or so, and honestly she just has an awful life. She was an orphan, and has struggled with lots of problems her whole life- and now she has a son who is 7 years old, and she has a lot of questions about God. We felt impressed to skip the lesson on the restoration, and start teaching the Plan of Salvation, and it was an awesome lesson. She humbly accepted this new knowledge, and seemed to find comfort that she has a purpose here on earth. Later in the week we taught her about the restoration. So I am really excited about her.
We also have been working really hard with Paulo, the father of Naira- and he made some huge changes in his life and strides in his life. To see how his countenance and spirit has changed has been overwhelming. So anyways, we were all set for his baptism yesterday when we had the worst Sunday ever.... what happened was that we had a stake conference in Pirssanunga this Sunday, and so we had a bus that was leaving in the morning, and we were going to have the baptism there after church. So, early Sunday morning we left to help all our pesquiadores come to church to catch the bus... and yes, it was another fight with the devil.
It was awful, all of our families were ready, but it was the neighbors or the children that this time put up an awful fight. Rosas neighbors were awful, but she was strong, and we were able to leave with her and her son. (Although we had to clean the stovetop first- hence my hatred of the stove top) Then we went to pass by Paulo, and his extended family had stayed up all the night before doing drugs and yeah... it was a mess. But he was ready and prepared, we just had to do some damage control... and so finally after an hour and a half we were ready to meet the bus. And here is where it got worse, although we had talked to the branch several times in the week, and called and talked to them that morning and explained the situation- they did not wait for us. There was no bus for us- just us and 5 investigators, and our recent conversos- Naiara and Miqueila. It was awful. Sister R. Silva cried, I just felt overwhelmed with inadequacy of what we could have done better. So, we turned the situation into the best thing we could do, we had a lesson with them in the church- watched a church film, taught them some hymns, and ate the cake that was suppose to be for the baptism. Such is life. Ha-ha, it really is quite funny now… because I just don’t know what we could have changed. And who knows why this needed to happen, but perhaps these pesquidaores just needed a little bit more attention this Sunday and needed more one on one time with us. It turned out to be a great lesson, and we will for sure have Paulos baptism this upcoming week- he is more then ready!
So anyway, I am learning to have more patience, and to be ready to be flexible. So many times we have things and plans that we think are better- but these aren’t the Lords plans. His way is always better, and so I know that this situation was better for whatever reason. I am just glad that these investigators are humble and willing to visit church and accept the gospel!
But besides yesterday, this week was really awesome… I totally forgot to write about my birthday... apparently in Brazil there is a tradition to break eggs on your head...the number of eggs for the number of years you have... I am so glad that the Elders only had 11 eggs at our super pday. At first I thought this was a mean joke they were playing on me, a gullible new missionary... but no, everyone does this here. Its funny, but I am not quite sure I will take this tradition home with me!
And another really awesome thing was that Magali and Milena and Diali (Milena was our baptism 3 weeks ago) surprised me with an awesome cake and presents for my birthday. It felt like a huge family party, and it was really special and awesome... although I still don’t feel like I had my birthday. I still don’t believe I am 22... but guess I have to accept the fact eh.
Anyway, I have talked long enough, I hope everyone enjoyed this weeks additions of Melanies... er... Sister Monroes novels! haha, I am doing fabulously and learning so much day by day. Here is a quote that really struck me this week- and just sums up everything that I have felt lately-
"We often think that having faith in Christ means believing in his identity as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But believing in Jesus identity as the Christ is only the first half of it. The other half is believing in his ability, in his power, to cleanse, and to save- to make unworthy sons and daughters worthy... This is why genuine faith in Christ- active acceptance of his power and not just passive belief in his identity- is and must be the very first principle of the gospel.”-Stephen R. Robinson (Believing Christ)
Anyway, I am so grateful for this chance that faith really is a principle of action, it really cant just be passive belief. I am so grateful for the actions that we can take every day, to show our Lord and Master how grateful we are for the atonement in our lives. I hope that His love can bless you in every moment of your lives, wherever you all are!
com amor
Sister Melanie Monroe
But yeah, we are having a blast... This past week had many highs and lows- but first off, I have a few things that I thought you all might enjoy. Some of you know that I have a favorite movie that describes people by showing their weird personality quirks- little things that they LOVE a ton, or little things that they hate a ton.
And so before my mission I started a mental list of my little personality quirks- for example, I only use white hangers. I really hate colored hangers, and I really hate wire hangers. I have no idea why, and yes, I know it is really strange. But there you have it... but the funny thing is, that I have developed a few other loves, and dislikes here in brazil- so here is one-
I LOVE, absolutely LOVE scooping out papaya from the casca…or shell, or whatever the part is that you don’t eat. It’s the best thing ever… kind of like scooping out ice cream, but better. Mamao is by far the best fruit that God created, I am sure of it. I didn’t eat mamao one day this week and I thought my body was going to die. It was awful. Anyway, so yeah, scooping out mamao is heaven.
I absolutely hate cleaning stove tops. Although, I think this has something to do with the fact that Brazilians here clean the top of the stove EVERY DAY. It never ceases to amaze me that the Brazilians are so diligent in cleaning random household things every day- like the sidewalk, or the stove top (and we are talking about all the racks and knobs and everything) and yet ordinary things, like the table, or the dishes… are often left sitting there- messy. Its an interesting cultural difference, and though I am pretty sure I will adopt many of the Brazilian dishes and phrases into my life… I constantly find myself laughing about this difference in culture.
Ok, here are some other funny tidbits about Porto Ferreira-the cars here sing. Really. there is a car here that sells gasoline, and it has a song that plays when it drives by, ok more like an instrument that plays this tune... its just funny and weird. And there are always cars driving around in the neighborhoods with these HUGE speakers that are announcing this and that store, or a dance, or a politician. And… oh this is great, there is a churro car here drives around everywhere selling churros and there is the most annoying slash funniest song that it plays. It’s like the ice cream truck back in the day, but there are way tons more here and it’s just funny.
OK, so there you have some weird tid bits, now for the real news of the week. This week just flew by- we had a lot of awesome lessons, and found some awesome new people. One day we found this woman Rosa, who asked- you are Mormons aren’t you? (Which by the way my companion HATES this question. She is quite, quite adamant that Mormon was just a prophet and that we are the Church of Jesus Christ. It,s quite funny really, I have learned the importance of emphasizing this, but you can literally see her bristle when they ask this. haha)
Anyway, Rosa invited us in, and we could see from the beginning that she was quite distressed. Turns out her husband had died a month ago or so, and honestly she just has an awful life. She was an orphan, and has struggled with lots of problems her whole life- and now she has a son who is 7 years old, and she has a lot of questions about God. We felt impressed to skip the lesson on the restoration, and start teaching the Plan of Salvation, and it was an awesome lesson. She humbly accepted this new knowledge, and seemed to find comfort that she has a purpose here on earth. Later in the week we taught her about the restoration. So I am really excited about her.
We also have been working really hard with Paulo, the father of Naira- and he made some huge changes in his life and strides in his life. To see how his countenance and spirit has changed has been overwhelming. So anyways, we were all set for his baptism yesterday when we had the worst Sunday ever.... what happened was that we had a stake conference in Pirssanunga this Sunday, and so we had a bus that was leaving in the morning, and we were going to have the baptism there after church. So, early Sunday morning we left to help all our pesquiadores come to church to catch the bus... and yes, it was another fight with the devil.
It was awful, all of our families were ready, but it was the neighbors or the children that this time put up an awful fight. Rosas neighbors were awful, but she was strong, and we were able to leave with her and her son. (Although we had to clean the stovetop first- hence my hatred of the stove top) Then we went to pass by Paulo, and his extended family had stayed up all the night before doing drugs and yeah... it was a mess. But he was ready and prepared, we just had to do some damage control... and so finally after an hour and a half we were ready to meet the bus. And here is where it got worse, although we had talked to the branch several times in the week, and called and talked to them that morning and explained the situation- they did not wait for us. There was no bus for us- just us and 5 investigators, and our recent conversos- Naiara and Miqueila. It was awful. Sister R. Silva cried, I just felt overwhelmed with inadequacy of what we could have done better. So, we turned the situation into the best thing we could do, we had a lesson with them in the church- watched a church film, taught them some hymns, and ate the cake that was suppose to be for the baptism. Such is life. Ha-ha, it really is quite funny now… because I just don’t know what we could have changed. And who knows why this needed to happen, but perhaps these pesquidaores just needed a little bit more attention this Sunday and needed more one on one time with us. It turned out to be a great lesson, and we will for sure have Paulos baptism this upcoming week- he is more then ready!
So anyway, I am learning to have more patience, and to be ready to be flexible. So many times we have things and plans that we think are better- but these aren’t the Lords plans. His way is always better, and so I know that this situation was better for whatever reason. I am just glad that these investigators are humble and willing to visit church and accept the gospel!
But besides yesterday, this week was really awesome… I totally forgot to write about my birthday... apparently in Brazil there is a tradition to break eggs on your head...the number of eggs for the number of years you have... I am so glad that the Elders only had 11 eggs at our super pday. At first I thought this was a mean joke they were playing on me, a gullible new missionary... but no, everyone does this here. Its funny, but I am not quite sure I will take this tradition home with me!
And another really awesome thing was that Magali and Milena and Diali (Milena was our baptism 3 weeks ago) surprised me with an awesome cake and presents for my birthday. It felt like a huge family party, and it was really special and awesome... although I still don’t feel like I had my birthday. I still don’t believe I am 22... but guess I have to accept the fact eh.
Anyway, I have talked long enough, I hope everyone enjoyed this weeks additions of Melanies... er... Sister Monroes novels! haha, I am doing fabulously and learning so much day by day. Here is a quote that really struck me this week- and just sums up everything that I have felt lately-
"We often think that having faith in Christ means believing in his identity as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But believing in Jesus identity as the Christ is only the first half of it. The other half is believing in his ability, in his power, to cleanse, and to save- to make unworthy sons and daughters worthy... This is why genuine faith in Christ- active acceptance of his power and not just passive belief in his identity- is and must be the very first principle of the gospel.”-Stephen R. Robinson (Believing Christ)
Anyway, I am so grateful for this chance that faith really is a principle of action, it really cant just be passive belief. I am so grateful for the actions that we can take every day, to show our Lord and Master how grateful we are for the atonement in our lives. I hope that His love can bless you in every moment of your lives, wherever you all are!
com amor
Sister Melanie Monroe
posted by Bev at 8:45 PM
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