It’s always kind of a bit different after a phone call. It kind of makes me realize that there’s more out there than my little town here of 30,000. It was great talking to you guys, and thanks for the birthday wishes. (Btw. I just completed my “sister mission” as well. Here’s hoping that I can prove myself an Elder! Ha!)
Welp, so my district leader just called, and I’m getting transferred. Actually, despite the difficulty of the area, I’ll be sad to leave. Our recent converts are the most energetic about the church of anybody that I’ve seen in a while, so it’ll be sad to leave them.
I’m being transferred to Londrina, which is quite cool. That means that I’ll have served in the three states that our mission has: São Paulo (Bauru and Adamantina), Mato Grosso do Sul (Ponta Porã and Campo Grande) and now Paraná where Londrina is. We’re getting more towards the cooler part of the year here, and I hear that Londrina gets a bit chilly during these months, so I’ll be happy with that. It’ll be interesting to see how’ll that’ll be. Elder U. will be staying and getting somebody else who I don’t know. I’m still waiting for the Zone Leaders to call to tell me when I’m leaving. Also, when you’re leaving an area and going to a new one here, they never tell you where exactly you’re going or who exactly is going to be your new comp., so you just always arrive there at the bus station with no clue. So, while I’m going to Londrina, I might end up at another city outside of Londrina. I guess you guys will have to wait to next week to find out. Oh, the tension!
This week was pretty low attendance at church. I’ve noticed that Brazilians take their holidays pretty seriously, so that if any relatives show up at their house, they put all the stuff on hold to spend time with them. A good attitude, to a point, I guess. Less than half the people that are usually at church were actually there, including a lot of the leadership. They served lunch afterwards for Mother’s Day, so we got to eat lunch twice in one day. Whoo hoo!
On a closing note, I saw something that really became the highlight of the week. It was kind of a difficult day Monday night, as after P-day we had an appointment about 45 min. away on foot with a family that we felt was progressing pretty well, only to show up and find out that they skipped out on us. Then on Tuesday, we were standing in line to pay out light bill and I was thinking about how that was pretty annoying and hard. Then I noticed the guy at the counter had a hat that said on it, (in English) “Are you gonna COWBOY UP, or just lay there and BLEED?” with the word “bleed” in huge red letters. I started laughing, as I felt that it was a personal message for me to keeping going, and “Cowboy Up”!
Welp, sáll from me for this week.
Sorry for the shortness, but I know that I’ll have a bunch to tell with the new area next week. ´till then!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Rain and sickness...
Work-wise, this was easily the least productive week that I’ve had.
Unfortunately, Elder U. got sick Monday night, and by Tuesday we had to head down to the hospital, (it’s called the “Holy House” in Portuguese. Who knows why?) And, I got to observe the Brazilian health care system. The mission has a health care agreement, but unfortunately this hospital didn’t take our card, so we had to head over to the free-medical care clinic. It was interesting, but after three hours of observing in the waiting room (Man there were a lot of people!) it was getting a little tiresome. Two ladies came up to us and wanted to know a bit about the church, so I got to teach a bit to them. Unfortunately, one of them was a little old and kind of deaf, so I had to practically shout to make sure she’d understand. Finally after the three hour wait, Elder U. went in, and it turns out he’s got Bronchitis. (At least I think its Bronchitis. That’s what the disease sounds like to me in Portuguese anyway.) So he’s been recuperating in the house.
I managed to arrange with a brother in the branch to stay with him for part of Saturday while I went and did some visits with the Branch President, but other than that it’s been a lot of study and reading for me. I’m quite sick of our house by now, but, hopefully Elder U. will be up and running by Wednesday. That’s what the doctor said anyway. (On a side note, I found out from the Zone Leader that more than half the zone got sick this past week, so it´s not just us. Fortunately, I´m completely fine).
Oh, while we were waiting at the hospital, we ran into two of our investigators who we had just taught the night before, and the lady had brought along the lesson pamphlet and was doing a bit of reading there. It was cool to see, as I was really hoping that they had understood the lesson we gave. It was a good lesson just that their 2 yr. old kid was running around and yelling a lot during the lesson, so I was thinking that they didn’t understand the message. But, it turns out that the Spirit was able to get thru the kid’s yelling to help them out. Yay!
Today’s pretty cool, weather-wise. It’s been raining a bunch, and is actually quite chilly outside. I’m loving it, as I get the chance to use my BYU hoodie and sweatpants for the first time since I left Ponta Porã, my 2nd area. But, due to my comps. condition, I think we’ll just have a day full of letter writing and napping. Other than that, things are going OK.
I’ll get the number and everything to you guys for the phone call later on in the week. Until Sunday then! Peace
-Elder Heperi
Unfortunately, Elder U. got sick Monday night, and by Tuesday we had to head down to the hospital, (it’s called the “Holy House” in Portuguese. Who knows why?) And, I got to observe the Brazilian health care system. The mission has a health care agreement, but unfortunately this hospital didn’t take our card, so we had to head over to the free-medical care clinic. It was interesting, but after three hours of observing in the waiting room (Man there were a lot of people!) it was getting a little tiresome. Two ladies came up to us and wanted to know a bit about the church, so I got to teach a bit to them. Unfortunately, one of them was a little old and kind of deaf, so I had to practically shout to make sure she’d understand. Finally after the three hour wait, Elder U. went in, and it turns out he’s got Bronchitis. (At least I think its Bronchitis. That’s what the disease sounds like to me in Portuguese anyway.) So he’s been recuperating in the house.
I managed to arrange with a brother in the branch to stay with him for part of Saturday while I went and did some visits with the Branch President, but other than that it’s been a lot of study and reading for me. I’m quite sick of our house by now, but, hopefully Elder U. will be up and running by Wednesday. That’s what the doctor said anyway. (On a side note, I found out from the Zone Leader that more than half the zone got sick this past week, so it´s not just us. Fortunately, I´m completely fine).
Oh, while we were waiting at the hospital, we ran into two of our investigators who we had just taught the night before, and the lady had brought along the lesson pamphlet and was doing a bit of reading there. It was cool to see, as I was really hoping that they had understood the lesson we gave. It was a good lesson just that their 2 yr. old kid was running around and yelling a lot during the lesson, so I was thinking that they didn’t understand the message. But, it turns out that the Spirit was able to get thru the kid’s yelling to help them out. Yay!
Today’s pretty cool, weather-wise. It’s been raining a bunch, and is actually quite chilly outside. I’m loving it, as I get the chance to use my BYU hoodie and sweatpants for the first time since I left Ponta Porã, my 2nd area. But, due to my comps. condition, I think we’ll just have a day full of letter writing and napping. Other than that, things are going OK.
I’ll get the number and everything to you guys for the phone call later on in the week. Until Sunday then! Peace
-Elder Heperi
Monday, April 27, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Chugging along
Good to hear that Dad’s devotional at Utah State University went well. The fireside was at Utah State right, not Utah Valley? If you ask me, they need to move the name of one of them. They’re way too close.
The branch has some challenges. One of our main focuses has actually been to see if we can help the branch have more unity and feel more integrated in the work, because unfortunately we’ve basically been chugging along alone. I’ve learned a lot better why the help of the branch is so important, as we can do all our part (talk to people, teach lessons and knock some doors), but if we don’t have the members behind us to help us with the other things (references, lessons with members, their homes to do stuff like FHE´s to help with integration) we can only go so far. This week we’ll have to come up with some ideas of how to improve this situation.
We’ve got a couple of good investigators going. There’s a guy named L. we found as a result of looking through the “former investigator” part in our Area Book. (Thank goodness the last Elders wrote good notes!) His wife had been taught and had gone a couple of times to church last year, so we showed up to see if she was still interested. She wasn’t, but L., her husband, was quite receptive to the message. He said that he’s been looking for a church, as he just goes to the Catholic Church with his wife, but doesn’t really agree with the doctrine. He accepted a baptismal date for May 9th, so please pray for him that he’ll progress well.
Welp, sáll from me I think.
This transfer will be a bit rushed as it’s only a 5 week one (as opposed to 6 weeks). Everybody ready for Mother’s day coming up? I know I am. I’m thinking on asking Pres. Leal if he’ll let me have one more phone call after this one, as my group missed the opportunity as a result of being in the MTC. You think it’ll work?
´till next time.
-Ancião Heperi (Elder)
The branch has some challenges. One of our main focuses has actually been to see if we can help the branch have more unity and feel more integrated in the work, because unfortunately we’ve basically been chugging along alone. I’ve learned a lot better why the help of the branch is so important, as we can do all our part (talk to people, teach lessons and knock some doors), but if we don’t have the members behind us to help us with the other things (references, lessons with members, their homes to do stuff like FHE´s to help with integration) we can only go so far. This week we’ll have to come up with some ideas of how to improve this situation.
We’ve got a couple of good investigators going. There’s a guy named L. we found as a result of looking through the “former investigator” part in our Area Book. (Thank goodness the last Elders wrote good notes!) His wife had been taught and had gone a couple of times to church last year, so we showed up to see if she was still interested. She wasn’t, but L., her husband, was quite receptive to the message. He said that he’s been looking for a church, as he just goes to the Catholic Church with his wife, but doesn’t really agree with the doctrine. He accepted a baptismal date for May 9th, so please pray for him that he’ll progress well.
Welp, sáll from me I think.
This transfer will be a bit rushed as it’s only a 5 week one (as opposed to 6 weeks). Everybody ready for Mother’s day coming up? I know I am. I’m thinking on asking Pres. Leal if he’ll let me have one more phone call after this one, as my group missed the opportunity as a result of being in the MTC. You think it’ll work?
´till next time.
-Ancião Heperi (Elder)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sacrament Meeting Unplugged
The first week of a new transfer.
Ups and downs as usual. We had a good number of people who said that they’d definately come to church, but whose phones were mysteriously turned off on Sat. night when we arranged to call them. Being Easter Sunday, the local Catholic church was the fullest that I saw, and it even had a Pastor from a local Evangelical church going to visit.
Our recent converts really enjoyed the temple, and said they can’t wait to go back in August when the whole district goes. I’m grateful that they had the opportunity to visit.
In other news in the branch, unfortunately we’re without a keyboard again. Apparently, the guy in the branch who owns the keyboard got in a bit of a fight with the Branch President, and now refuses to go to church here anymore, so he’s taken his family to the other branch about a half-hour away. So now I’m on the search for somebody else who has a keyboard. I hope that I find one soon, because those CD´s that we use in the church are dang annoying. Ha, and because the keyboard alone doesn’t go loud enough for the congregation to hear we’ve been having to take the microphone from the make-shift podium and mic the keyboard so that it comes out the PA system in the chapel, making it seem a bit like Sacrament Meeting Unplugged.
So Levi’s papers are almost done, eh? Wow, it seems weird that he’s already ready to turn ém in. I hope that all goes well with the wisdom teeth part.
Another interesting fact that I’ve noticed for a while here in Brazil but always forget to mention, that the most popular item of clothing to own (at least for teenagers) is a hat of the New York Yankees. Every store that sells hats usually only has ones from the Yankees, and tons of people wear them. I’ve asked a bunch of people if they actually like the team, but 9 outta 10 people have no idea what it is.
We’re still chugging along here. The branch is still moving along, and we’re trying to help it. Please pray for our progress here, and I’ll pray for your progress there (Levi with his papers, Lauren with driving, Liam with school, and Mom and Dad with work.)
Thanks again, and ´till next week!
- Me
Ups and downs as usual. We had a good number of people who said that they’d definately come to church, but whose phones were mysteriously turned off on Sat. night when we arranged to call them. Being Easter Sunday, the local Catholic church was the fullest that I saw, and it even had a Pastor from a local Evangelical church going to visit.
Our recent converts really enjoyed the temple, and said they can’t wait to go back in August when the whole district goes. I’m grateful that they had the opportunity to visit.
In other news in the branch, unfortunately we’re without a keyboard again. Apparently, the guy in the branch who owns the keyboard got in a bit of a fight with the Branch President, and now refuses to go to church here anymore, so he’s taken his family to the other branch about a half-hour away. So now I’m on the search for somebody else who has a keyboard. I hope that I find one soon, because those CD´s that we use in the church are dang annoying. Ha, and because the keyboard alone doesn’t go loud enough for the congregation to hear we’ve been having to take the microphone from the make-shift podium and mic the keyboard so that it comes out the PA system in the chapel, making it seem a bit like Sacrament Meeting Unplugged.
So Levi’s papers are almost done, eh? Wow, it seems weird that he’s already ready to turn ém in. I hope that all goes well with the wisdom teeth part.
Another interesting fact that I’ve noticed for a while here in Brazil but always forget to mention, that the most popular item of clothing to own (at least for teenagers) is a hat of the New York Yankees. Every store that sells hats usually only has ones from the Yankees, and tons of people wear them. I’ve asked a bunch of people if they actually like the team, but 9 outta 10 people have no idea what it is.
We’re still chugging along here. The branch is still moving along, and we’re trying to help it. Please pray for our progress here, and I’ll pray for your progress there (Levi with his papers, Lauren with driving, Liam with school, and Mom and Dad with work.)
Thanks again, and ´till next week!
- Me
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Bus Rides!
Yeah, General Conference was really great. We got to watch all of the sessions, but unfortunately we (us missionaries) weren’t staying awake too well by the time Priesthood Session rolled around (it started at 9 pm here I think), so we ended up having to leave about half-way thru, so I didn’t get to see all of the Priesthood Session.
It’s funny, about a year and a half ago I couldn’t get to sleep before midnight, and nowadays past 10 and I’m dead.
Yeah, that talk by Elder L. Tom Perry on missionary work was really good, but, unfortunately I only heard a bit of it, as we were watching conference in English on a TV in the kitchen, and everybody decided to take a lunch break at that time, so I’ll have to read the full thing when the Ensign comes out.
I was quite grateful for all the talks, and it gave me a lot of encouragement. We watched in the city of Tupã, about two hours away from Adamantina, and, unfortunately, we didn’t get any investigators to make the trip. However, our recent converts did go, and on Wednesday they’re all headed on a temple trip to do baptisms for the dead! I’m really impressed with their determination, as a couple of them have only been members for 3 weeks now, so that’s cool.
Elder Fr. (my comp) left for Dourados, a city that’s close to Ponta Porã. (He has about 13 months on the mission.) Now I’m with Elder Ulysses from São Paulo (I guess he lives not far from the MTC in São Paulo, kinda like us with the Provo MTC.) He’s pretty new in the mission; I think this is his third transfer. We just got back from a 5 hour round trip, so I´m a bit tired. (An annoying thing: The bus we take passes thru the same city doing a circle to pick up people, so an hour trip to Tupã always is actually a two and a half hour one.)
A big thanks to Talisa, Andrea, and Grandma and Grandpa for the letters that I got today that have been lost in the mission mail system. (I forgot that St. Patrick’s Day passed.)
Ha, I loved the picture of me boy Dave Ridge back in town. There was a moment of trunky-ness when I saw that someone from my age group is back already. (Andy M. doesn’t count, he’s older than me). Good luck in the marriage quest that Talisa tells me that you’re on Dave!
Welp, that’s my time for today.
Thanks again for all mail, prayers, and well-intentioned thoughts of sending a letter that never materialized.
Till next time.
-Elder Hepper (as the people in the branch call me. No one even bothers to look at the name-tag anymore)
It’s funny, about a year and a half ago I couldn’t get to sleep before midnight, and nowadays past 10 and I’m dead.
Yeah, that talk by Elder L. Tom Perry on missionary work was really good, but, unfortunately I only heard a bit of it, as we were watching conference in English on a TV in the kitchen, and everybody decided to take a lunch break at that time, so I’ll have to read the full thing when the Ensign comes out.
I was quite grateful for all the talks, and it gave me a lot of encouragement. We watched in the city of Tupã, about two hours away from Adamantina, and, unfortunately, we didn’t get any investigators to make the trip. However, our recent converts did go, and on Wednesday they’re all headed on a temple trip to do baptisms for the dead! I’m really impressed with their determination, as a couple of them have only been members for 3 weeks now, so that’s cool.
Elder Fr. (my comp) left for Dourados, a city that’s close to Ponta Porã. (He has about 13 months on the mission.) Now I’m with Elder Ulysses from São Paulo (I guess he lives not far from the MTC in São Paulo, kinda like us with the Provo MTC.) He’s pretty new in the mission; I think this is his third transfer. We just got back from a 5 hour round trip, so I´m a bit tired. (An annoying thing: The bus we take passes thru the same city doing a circle to pick up people, so an hour trip to Tupã always is actually a two and a half hour one.)
A big thanks to Talisa, Andrea, and Grandma and Grandpa for the letters that I got today that have been lost in the mission mail system. (I forgot that St. Patrick’s Day passed.)
Ha, I loved the picture of me boy Dave Ridge back in town. There was a moment of trunky-ness when I saw that someone from my age group is back already. (Andy M. doesn’t count, he’s older than me). Good luck in the marriage quest that Talisa tells me that you’re on Dave!
Welp, that’s my time for today.
Thanks again for all mail, prayers, and well-intentioned thoughts of sending a letter that never materialized.
Till next time.
-Elder Hepper (as the people in the branch call me. No one even bothers to look at the name-tag anymore)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
More Technology Problems
Here’s hoping that this Internet café has less problems than the one last week.
Well, we had a baptism this week. A girl named A. Paula. (Who’s the daughter of a lady who got baptized last week) She works a bunch, so we had to do the baptism on Sunday morning. It went really well. Unfortunately, the branch here is a little iffy when it comes to baptisms, as they’ve seen more than a few go inactive soon after, so we’re trying to help the members along in the part of integration.
As for the technology problems, Unfortunately, Saturday night our cell phone went nuts and wouldn’t let us call anyone, which is almost a death-blow in terms of getting investigators to church, as Sat. night is when we call around to make sure that they’ll go, if they need us to come by there and help them, etc. We kept dialing from the moment we got in the house to almost bedtime, but unfortunately we managed to make only one phone call. Many prayers were said, (and many things were thrown at the cell phone), and fortunately by morning it was working. We managed to get a few people to church, so I was happy.
So with General Conference coming up, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Apparently, everybody has to travel to the city of Tupã to watch, so we might end up spending two days out of our area, depending on what President decides to have us do. The other problem is that this transfer ends conference weekend, so if my comp gets transferred (highly likely I think. He’s been here for a while) he’s not going to have time to pack his bags. Here’s hoping that I’ll get to watch all four sessions of conference. (In English. Last time I watched in Portuguese because there was a problem with the English TV. Cool, but why watch something dubbed in another language when you can see the original, right?)
Some interesting experiences this week. More discussions with some pastors, from local churches. These guys don’t usually want to Bible bash to much, they just don’t listen to what you’re saying and then quote scriptures from the Bible when you ask them if they understand.) A couple of crazy guys (I got a nice bear-hug from some drunken guy in at the bus-station.) And my first ever lesson taught to a JW! (A lady who’s about 50 and a bit inactive because of some health problems, and very nice. We might be doing a service project around there this week. I was surprised that she let us in to teach, as most of the people from that church get a bit ticked off with our message. Maybe Adamantina is a bit different.) My district leader (Elder Tass) did a trade with me so that he could do our baptismal interview. He’s a funny guy. We ran into a couple of people who said “Nah, we don’t want to hear your message. We’re Jehovah´s Witnesses.” To which my DL responded “Wow, cool! Us too, we’re Witnesses of Jehovah, we bear our testimonies about him and his church!” They looked a bit confused and left in a hurry, but not before each getting a pass-along card, ha ha.
Welp, sáll from me.
Till next time.
-Me
Well, we had a baptism this week. A girl named A. Paula. (Who’s the daughter of a lady who got baptized last week) She works a bunch, so we had to do the baptism on Sunday morning. It went really well. Unfortunately, the branch here is a little iffy when it comes to baptisms, as they’ve seen more than a few go inactive soon after, so we’re trying to help the members along in the part of integration.
As for the technology problems, Unfortunately, Saturday night our cell phone went nuts and wouldn’t let us call anyone, which is almost a death-blow in terms of getting investigators to church, as Sat. night is when we call around to make sure that they’ll go, if they need us to come by there and help them, etc. We kept dialing from the moment we got in the house to almost bedtime, but unfortunately we managed to make only one phone call. Many prayers were said, (and many things were thrown at the cell phone), and fortunately by morning it was working. We managed to get a few people to church, so I was happy.
So with General Conference coming up, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Apparently, everybody has to travel to the city of Tupã to watch, so we might end up spending two days out of our area, depending on what President decides to have us do. The other problem is that this transfer ends conference weekend, so if my comp gets transferred (highly likely I think. He’s been here for a while) he’s not going to have time to pack his bags. Here’s hoping that I’ll get to watch all four sessions of conference. (In English. Last time I watched in Portuguese because there was a problem with the English TV. Cool, but why watch something dubbed in another language when you can see the original, right?)
Some interesting experiences this week. More discussions with some pastors, from local churches. These guys don’t usually want to Bible bash to much, they just don’t listen to what you’re saying and then quote scriptures from the Bible when you ask them if they understand.) A couple of crazy guys (I got a nice bear-hug from some drunken guy in at the bus-station.) And my first ever lesson taught to a JW! (A lady who’s about 50 and a bit inactive because of some health problems, and very nice. We might be doing a service project around there this week. I was surprised that she let us in to teach, as most of the people from that church get a bit ticked off with our message. Maybe Adamantina is a bit different.) My district leader (Elder Tass) did a trade with me so that he could do our baptismal interview. He’s a funny guy. We ran into a couple of people who said “Nah, we don’t want to hear your message. We’re Jehovah´s Witnesses.” To which my DL responded “Wow, cool! Us too, we’re Witnesses of Jehovah, we bear our testimonies about him and his church!” They looked a bit confused and left in a hurry, but not before each getting a pass-along card, ha ha.
Welp, sáll from me.
Till next time.
-Me
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