It's HOT is Rio!

 Monday December 23

            English is getting harder and harder for me to remember!  This past week was really difficult, but it was also an incredible week of personal growth.  I remember when Elder Richard G. Scott visited the MTC he said: “Trials increase your desire and character.”  There have been countless trials this past week, but at every moment there has been a quiet, clear answer to unspoken prayer, a testimony of God’s love for me.  He knows the desires of my heart, and I’ve never felt so completely focused on other people in my life.  Small miracles:

• When I had a rock in my eye, followed by sunscreen, then I couldn’t find an address of an investigator – my sweet greenie said, “be calm, say a prayer.”  This prayer brought non-sunscreen induced tears to my eyes and washed out the rock and the sunscreen. 
• Being lost/walking circuitous routes on many occasions – followed by investigators, new contacts, and members literally being placed in our direct path.
• Having a very limited teaching pool – receiving 7 referrals and also having 2 people come up to us at church and ask how they could be baptized. 

December 26

            I am so tired.  I’ve been running off of adrenaline and faith for the past week and a half, and it’s starting to catch up.  We are working HARD.  Christmas came and went without a fuss.  There is very little Christmas spirit here unless you count setting off bombs/fireworks as a way of bringing the spirit of Christmas.  We worked all gay, and we visited M. and M. - I just love them!  They are doing so well and they will have such a positive impact on this ward.  So tired…time to collapse into a sleep coma. 

Saturday, December 28

            Holy smokes I am wiped out.  It has been HOT this week.  Sister S. and I have been working with E and R this week and both of them have committed to be baptized a week from today.  E. Is a 17-year-old boyfriend of a member.  I was cautious to start teaching him, but he really is making sincere progress and positive changes in his life. 

Monday December 30, Christmas and other Shenanigans

            I am going to actually give a detailed update this week – sorry for the short letters the past few weeks.  P-days have been really busy, but I to my shoes resoled and got errands finished, so I guess the official purpose of preparation day was fulfilled.  A few bullet-list items:

• Sister B and I have been enjoying “pass the pigs”.  It’s wonderful to play completely mindless games. 
• I’m listening to Handel choruses right now…Hallelujah! Seriously.  I’d forgotten how much more balanced I feel when I listen to the symmetry and chord progressions of classical music.
• I cannot WAIT for the New-Years SKYPE! 

Sister S. is a good sport!

 

Monday – TERRIBLE P-day! 

            NEVER leave your area to try to do something fun with other missionaries on P-day.  We literally only had 45 minutes in our house to “relax” and “rest”. Never. Again. My poor greenie had a terrible first p-day.  Actually she had a really terrible first couple of days.  She got bitten by a dog, had an ex-mormon spout off terrible things about temples/missions/Joseph Smith/etc., had someone try to Bible bash during a contact, walked across a ginormous bridge above a highway (she’s terrified of heights), experienced massive amounts of rain, had a sister in the ward chew us out fro not going to a lunch appointment, and many other weird and hard things that happen on a regular basis during a mission.

Hiked up a huge hill in the heat, saw a beautiful sunset over Rio. 

A bad day for Sister Colvin

            On the first full day for Sister S. in the mission field, and also my first day as a senior missionary…we started off with disaster.  It began with looking at he ward missionary roster to try to find the Sister’s address for our lunch appointment.  I have been there twice before, but I was always following Sister Z and trying to process the language and dodging dying kittens in the street.  Turns out that her address is still registered under her Mom, but she has moved.  I then tried calling her mom, the RS president, the RS councilors, the old RS president, another sister, our ward mission leader…NO ONE answered their phones.  Also, we switched phones at zone conference so no one has our new phone number.  Unfortunately, this is the same hypersensitive sister who has a new baby and I had been warned never to stand her up or else.  Anyway, I felt terrible but had not choice but to stay home for lunch.  I also had a district meeting at 2:00, which was going to be very hard to make from our lunch appointment.  Anyway, it was a mess.  At 1:30 I got a very angry phone call from this sister (don’t know how she got my number, except from the FIVE calls I placed to her!)  (Also: we have very limited number of minutes on our phone.  I will definitely run out this month). I tried to explain our situation but all that she understood was that we had already eaten and that we weren’t going to her house because we don’t like her, and don't like her food or her baby, and maybe the world was going to end.  More sincere apologies from me followed…and then it was time to move on.  Honestly, I completely forgot about it until the RS president pulled my companion and me aside after a RS function and chewed me out for not going to a lunch appointment.  Later in the week the WML and my DL also gave me a dose of “how dare you miss a lunch appointment with a member.” Again I tried to apologize and explain the situation, but Brazilians seem to have little sympathy for a directionally challenged American missionary who is training a green missionary with only 11 weeks in Brazil herself.  It is remarkable that one lunch missed due to circumstance beyond our control is the end of the world. The good news is that I can let it go.           

I took Sister S. to a pizza buffet for Christmas!

A little bit more about Sister S.  She is a 19 year old convert of 8 years.  Her mom is a recent convert of just a few months and will have 3 missionaries out at once!  Sister S is from very humble circumstances, but so far our differences in backgrounds haven’t been a problem.  She is very naturally loving and sympathetic.  She has very sweetly comforted me, suggested to say prayers, and related to our investigators very well.  Her heart is in the right place and with some time, practice, and confidence; she will be an amazing missionary.  Training a new missionary is a lot like training ponies.  Sister S reminds me a lot of Peppy – eager to work, but not a lot of background, a little timid, and needing a lot of coaching and assurance.  She often voices her discomfort, but she is making progress.  I use a lot of “ask and allow” – letting her stumble and struggle a little bit in order to grow and at the same time not placing too many demands on her.  The reward is praise when they do the slightest thing right in hopes that they will repeat that correct thing and build on it.  It is very rewarding when you can see them figure things out and make progress.  But, when they throw fits or protest that things are too hard, it is a bit annoying.  Many times in horse training, these fits were merely due to the horse’s own stubbornness and unwillingness to bend to my will.  And in those cases, I basically said, “suck it up and do it anyways.”  The ponies learned that I was serious and they learned to just do it.  Those were the times when progress was made.  I think that Heavenly Father works with me like that too so that I can do His will, and it is my job to help my greenie learn the same way.   One thing though about training, the MTC really does have a distinct purpose and there are a lot of important things to be learned in that weird stifling period there.  Sister S hasn’t been through the temple yet or had the experience of the MTC, so we literally are starting from square 1.  Sister S is very young and little bit stubborn, but mostly just shy.  She hates doing contacts and gets very nervous during them.  I have encouraged her to bear her testimony during contacts. I’m learning patience. I am also realizing how good of a missionary Sister Z was.  She was very obedient and hardworking.  She also was very good at understanding investigators needs. I actually miss her quite a bit – we got close the last couple of weeks…

            Anyway, we were able to have a really good night to make up for the bad day.  We visited P., who is the non-member mom of A. (a 14 year old recent convert).  P.  Was recently diagnosed with cancer and we shared a message of hope and strength with her.  As I shared some Book of Mormon stories that have helped me in moments of difficulty, the spirit was super strong and we felt really connected and uplifted.

Missionary gift exchange

 Tuesday/Christmas Eve

Christmas with the District

People began showing Christmas spirit by setting off fire-works/mini-bombs on a 1-2 minute basis, and drinking massive amounts of alcohol, and blasting 90’s music with the occasional commercial Christmas song.  Our lunch appointment fell through, and then it started raining a LOT.  Then I got a gnarly blister because I am using new shoes.  So the day stared off really well…but we had an   But as soon as we got back to our soggy day and poopy roads, we ended up having a great night.  (plus, more rain = less fireworks!)

awesome district meeting, followed by a makeshift pathetic Christmas celebration as we had a gift exchange and cake and chocolate. It was actually quite a good diversion, but I was in a bit of a pity-party because I was the only person to not get cards/letter or a package.

            We had an interesting lesson with R, who took the discussions a long time ago, but wasn’t ready to live the commandments so she didn’t get baptized.  She showed up to sacrament meeting and said that she wants to be baptized.  She is a really fun, quirky, and high-energy investigator.  She has quite a few cats that she is nursing back to health.  Anyways, this was our second time teaching her and after 2 minutes all of the lights in her street went out.  She had dim battery operated light and so we all huddled around her tiny light to say the opening prayer.  I started praying and about halfway through the prayer I felt a tiny furry bundle jump on my chair and they start clawing its way up my back. I tried to remain composed, but after several pathetic attempts of stifling laughter the comedy of the situation go the better of me, and I just started laughing.  Everyone opened his or her eyes and R. started laughing like crazy when she saw the tiny kitten on my back.  We all got a good laugh and then we taught the Word of Wisdom. 

Wednesday: CHRISTMAS

            We had a great day of teaching, working hard, sharing messages of Christ, visiting recent converts, and staying incredibly focused on our missionary purpose.  The only time that I felt lonely or homesick was at lunch when we weren’t working. 

            Christmas here is very different from home.  They have a huge meal on Christmas Eve at midnight on Christmas Eve/morning - and then sleep in really late the next day. Then, the next day (Christmas day) is filled with food and family.  There is very little music and spirit of Christmas.  Sister Brown and I had a special moment at the end of our long day.  It is so wonderful to have someone with your came culture and many of the same emotions to share things with.  I hope that we will stay in contact after out missions.

The sisters at the end of a long hot day!

Thursday

            Man we worked hard today!  We taught 8 lessons, contacted a referral, and did 33 contacts.  We taught E. in preparation for his baptism.  He has a really good desire to prepare himself.  We also taught R. with our WML.  Our WML is really going out of his way to help us this week to teach.  I think that he changed after I opened up with my feeling of inadequacy and my desire to work hard and serve and love the people here. He has been a big help with teaching R.

Friday

            Long and incredibly HOT day teaching less actives and E. and R again.

Saturday

            How can it be hotter?  SO MUCH HOTTER!  I think that it reached 106 ish plus humidity.  Sooo. STINKIN. HOT!  My companion is a Rio native, so she is not dying like me.  I reapplied my 50-70 SPF sunscreen and spent the entire day walking around with my umbrella and drinking (water) like a sailor.

            We taught Rs. a lesson. She is a sweet lady who we have been teaching since October.  She makes and keeps all of her commitments except for attending church.  Last Sunday I told her that we love her and are here to help her, but that she needed to act to show her faith.  And guess what, she later told me that she prayed a sincere personal prayer and received an answer that she needed to go to church.  She sacrificed a night of catering and came to church!  I just about peed my pants when she walked in!

Sunday

            We left at 8 am to walk to an investigators house before church and it was already 34 degrees (37 is body temperature for reference).  HOT!! The investigator “wasn’t home/was sleeping” so we walked back to church all by ourselves and then R. and E. didn’t come.  R. called us and had woken up late but wanted to come, so we left the air-conditioned chapel and walked 30 minutes to her house and then back to church in the blistering heat.  It was so worth it because R had a great time at church and the chapel was wonderfully air-conditioned. 

            We had a great lunch with L and H, who are among my favorite people in the ward.  We talked a lot about missions and the logistical difficulties of missions.  (Side note: Bring a debit card on our mission.  If you have an emergency, it reduces a lot of stress.) We had very weak plans after lunch, but in answer to prayers, our WML called us and ended up spending the entire afternoon helping us.  We went to a lot of potential investigators house and we were really efficient because our WML knew all f the streets!  Another answer to prayer: our DL called and said that he got permission to get a street map for me and that he was going to go and buy it for me….BEST DL EVER!!! 

We ended up being on our feet for more than 7 hours in 96 degree weather, but it passed by really fast and it wasn’t until we got home that we realized how physically exhausted we were.

            That is something that is remarkable about a mission.  When we feel our weakest, most humble, most inadequate, and we are battling the desire to quit, lay down and sleep, if we just keep working, loving, serving, and teaching, then our own needs melt away.

Richard G. Scott, “For Peace of Home”:

“When we obey the commandments of the Lord and serve His children unselfishly, the natural consequence is power from God – power to do more than we can do by ourselves.  Our insights, our talents, our abilities are expanded because we receive strength and power from the Lord.”

I testify of the power of obedience, sacrifice, and hard work.  When we’ve given our all, the Lord shows us that with His divine help, our all is a whole lot more.  I know that this is the Lord’s work – if not, I would have buckled and quit a long time ago, leaving this dirty, ramshackled city behind.  But this work is diving and we are literally teaching people how they can come unto Christ, receive purpose and one day return to their Father in Heaven.  It is this message that brings hope, power, motivation, and love to press forward in the face of difficulties.  I love this work. I love this gospel. I love the Lord. 

Nutella is my balm.