Spying Around

Today we’re in Osvaldo Cruz, my DL´s area. We got kinda sick of just sitting around in our house writing letters and napping every P-day, (There is really nothing to do in Adamantina. Not that we’re allowed to anyway. The movie theatre never looked so good…) so today we’re here to play a little soccer with the members. I’m usually more inclined to play goalie, as the stereotype that Americans don’t know how to play soccer is only reinforced by my efforts to kick the ball. (I think that I’ve perfected a version of the slide tackle though. I just kinda fall over in front of the person with the ball, the person trips over me, and then I get up and the ball’s mine. Neat, eh?)

Yesterday was pretty cool. We had to travel, as there was a district conference in the city of Tupã, about an hour or so away. The branch rented a van for everybody, and we had to leave a bit early, about 7:30. Apparently it was a bit too early for the great majority of the Branch, as only about 7 people were in the van. (Just to give you guys an idea, even some of the Branch leadership forgot to wake up on time, and didn’t go.)

The two branches in Tupã are really strong, and the chapel was filled to capacity. I thought that it was going to be a normal meeting, but it turned out to be a special transmission from Salt Lake. Elder Christofferson, President Uchtdorf, and two others spoke. What was cool was that it was a conference especially for the small branches and districts in this part of Brazil, so all the talks were really centered on things to help the little branches. Elder Christofferson speaks Portuguese really well. I didn’t know that he spoke Portuguese (Spanish, yes). Even President Uchtdorf gave the language a try with a couple of phrases. I liked it a lot. We only had 1 investigator there because of the distance, and he enjoyed it.

In other news, me and my comp. our the part-time teachers for the young men, as the young men’s President can’t always be at church because of work. They’re really great. There are only two teachers and one deacon, but they participate pretty well. They kinda remind me of my deacon’s quorum with some of their comments. Last week, the lesson was on missionary work, and when my comp. asked how long we serve missions for, one of them responded “Two years for guys, 1 yr. ½ for girls.” One of them asked “Why do girls only serve for 1 Yr. ½?” and the other responded “Because they can’t take it! We can because we’re men!” All three burst out laughing at this point. Kids...

I got called a spy by some guy. That’s the first time that’s happened, so I made a point to remember. I stopped him on the road and started to talk to him, and he said “No no no, I don’t want to hear anything. You guys are spies!” and then left in a hurry. An interesting response. We were with a member at the time, and he said to me “What the heck would you spy on here in Adamantina?

”Happy Mother’s day in advance, in case I forget in the coming weeks.

Whelp, sáll from me.

Till next time!

-007: Agent Heperi