Soccer and Pastors

Yeah, I heard about the game between Brazil and the US. Actually, I´ve been able to hear about every game, as all week I´ve been hearing about the games going on from basically everyone I talk to. Walking down the center street in my area, every single bar or business that had a TV was open and showing the game. Teaching is always difficult on a Sunday afternoon with a soccer game, and just imagine how it is when Brazil is in the finals against the US! (We didn´t get a lot of acceptance in terms of people listening to the message, but we did get a lot of invites to watch the game.) Ah well, come World Cup time we´ll see who wins...

Heh, so I became District Leader, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that no one else in the district is available, so I think I became it 80% by inspiration, and 20% by default. (Elder Han is training, his comp is a newbie, my comp just got here and isn´t familiar with the area, and the other companionship are the Pres's Assistants, and they´re always traveling, so I guess it landed with me.) I´ve never done a baptismal interview before, so I´m excited to do something new.

This week, our really good investigators Ro... and Ca..., who just have to get married and then they´ll be baptized, started avoiding us. It was really weird, because we went there for an appointment, and I knew they were home, but they wouldn´t come out when we´d knock. They didn´t go to church yesterday, so we passed by there on a surprise visit, and found them both at home. Carla seemed pretty embarrassed, and when I asked what was going on, she said that her extended family (who we taught a couple of times but are waaay Evangelical and just want to stick with the Bible) and a pastor from the family´s church had been visiting a couple of times during the week and putting ideas in her head. They had this problem when I got here in the area, but it had stopped after a bit. The family and pastor are getting pretty desperate it seems to convince them to not get baptized. They told her a bunch of stuff that the church supposedly does, (something about writing your name in blood in a book that we have in the chapel when you get baptized, also a lot of confusion about baptisms for the dead) and unfortunately they believed it and got scared and started avoiding us. We sat and talked to them for a bit, and they told us how they had started fighting a bunch in the house again, and how they had started smoking (they had stopped for almost 3 weeks) as a result of all of this. We helped them to see how it was just more trials as they are getting closer to the truth and baptism, so naturally there will be more obstacles. I think they felt better after the visit, and I think they´ll get back on track now. I´m pretty ticked off at their extended family though, and I´d love to talk to the pastor. (Oh btw, we were teaching C...´s brother, Moi... (Moses in Portuguese) who´s pretty Evangelical but said that he´d get baptized if he got a response that the Book of Mormon is true. C... said that after a visit from the pastor telling him that the book is demonic, he burned the book right there in his house. More love from the family, eh?

On a happier note, another family that we´re teaching is going really great. J... and Ma..., along with their three kids. J... works most Sundays, but Ma... and the 3 kids went to church on Sunday, and liked it a lot. They still have to get married and stop smoking, but they´re doing great.

Welp, sáll from me this week. Good to hear that things are rolling along, and somebody give Rob, Nate, Yader and Alex a big manly hug from me if they see them. (Preferably Levi, as he is the person that most resembles me.) And, a friendly reminder to Comrade Magleby and Emperor Morrisse that they owe me a couple of letters from home, as I sent a bunch while they were at the MTC. Now it´s your turn, heh.

Peace

Elder =w= Heperi