Monday February 17, 2014
Dear family and friends,
Wow
this past week was so busy. Things
are really good though. My health has improved dramatically, the temperature has
dropped dramatically, we moved to a dramatically better place, and my companion
and I are working well together.
Sister Rosario is very sharp, though she is a bundle of nervous
energy. She is not timid or
nervous, but she is always anticipating the next step…kind of like how a
thoroughbred is always anticipating your next move. I am learning how to help her take it down a notch, and how
to stop perseverating on one thing.
Also, man is she a talker!
I am realizing that I am not a talker. She is focused on her fiancé and
her family and I am hoping that it is just part of the adjustment process. I am trying to remember that she has
only been on a mission for 4 weeks so it is hard for her to remain focused on
investigators, working with members, and all of the details of missionary work. I must admit that it is hard for me to remain focused when my companion is detailing her love story.
In fact, our entire house has turned a bit “EFY” these past weeks, meaning lots of young energy and talking about boys and stuff… Sister Brown’s companion also has a fiancé, which is pretty common thing down here to serve while being engaged. Sister B. also has at least 9 guy friends who write her regularly. Me? I am the “emotionally liberated” missionary. It is really actually the first time in my life that being VERY single has been a pro. I am able to remain focused on my purpose here and now. I try to keep our house (or at least my companionship) on task.
In fact, our entire house has turned a bit “EFY” these past weeks, meaning lots of young energy and talking about boys and stuff… Sister Brown’s companion also has a fiancé, which is pretty common thing down here to serve while being engaged. Sister B. also has at least 9 guy friends who write her regularly. Me? I am the “emotionally liberated” missionary. It is really actually the first time in my life that being VERY single has been a pro. I am able to remain focused on my purpose here and now. I try to keep our house (or at least my companionship) on task.
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| Zone training |
Tuesday
Zone
training meeting quote of the day, “ If you don’t have a baptismal date marked
for someone, find an inactive family and baptize their kids! The members will
be happy to see a baptism.” Uh…NOT the right way to go about things guys. They just want numbers and aren’t
thinking about whether or not this little child will remain active in the
church, or about the family’s welfare. It’s... whatever. I’m keeping my mouth shut. For now. They also call another zone fast (in
95+ degree conditions). I did not
participate but many people did and they were sick Wednesday through
Friday. Ugghh. The next time this happens, I will
directly call Sister Lima.
Wednesday
It
was a pretty chill day that ended by cleaning the chapel in preparation for our
zone activity, “Capela Aberta”, that we will have tomorrow.
Thursday
We
had our activity. I think that I
detailed this activity the last time that we did it with Sister S. It turned out to be a great
success! Carlos, our WML, was a
huge help and we had awesome members of every organization explaining basic
things to investigators and even people off of the street. We also invited a lot of people to go on
church tours. Our chapel is one of
the biggest and nicest buildings in Santa Margarida, and many people are
curious to see inside. With our
zone's help, we managed 542 contact, 93 lessons, 120 people interested in us
visiting them, 16 people who completed a church tour, and 4 people who
committed to baptism! It was
awesome. Everything was really
well organized (thanks to my OCD and Carlos’s perfectionism.) It seemed like
the other missionaries had good experiences too.
During
the activity, we had J.’s baptismal interview. We asked her, “Why after 7 years of marriage to a member of
the church do you want to be baptized now?” She answered, “Because I want to have an eternal
family.” It was a beautiful
reminder to me that baptism is just the beginning of what we are trying to do
to help people. There are so many
steps that lead to more blessings that come after the first step of
baptism.
Friday – February 14th – SINGLE’S AWARENESS DAY
Sister
R. had a really bad headache and slept through all of our studies and weekly
planning meeting. This was actually a blessing for me because I was able to
organize all of our referencias da atividado (area record book) the way that I wanted to do
it. I came up with a symbol and
color coordinated system based upon the individual’s level of interest. (Which
Carlos basically ended up drooling over, haha!) It was really nice to just be able to “be in my head” and
use some of the gifts that I developed while going to school. This week was a week for
decision-making, problem solving, organizing, and prioritizing.
Elder
A. finally went to the office so I FINALLY got my packages! Holy smokes, I got
four packages as once! I love love
love the bag, shoes, candy, DVDs, cards, snowflakes, calendars, cookie mix,
etc. Everything was perfect! I laughed
and cried while opening all of them. Thank you so much everyone, the packages
definitely help to raise my spirits. The best part was that the valentine’s
stuff actually arrived today. It
is definitely the best valentines day of my life. (I do hope for better ones in
the future.) 
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| It was a long wait for a messenger bag. |
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| Thanks Mom! |
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| Valentines on Valentine's Day! |
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| Horse Snowflake - by my sister the artist |
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| Angel Moroni Snowflake |
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| Maddie sent me DENTAL FLOSS - she knows me so well! |
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| Maddie's package mailed Dec. 3 |
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| It's snowing wiener dogs! |
We
came home early today so that we could MOVE!!!! No more cockroaches and living next to a chicken
slaughterhouse (oops, I don’t think that I ever told you about that part of my living
conditions.) We all worked on getting things ready to go. Sister B and I tried to keep our young
companions on task and we managed to finish the packing around 11:00 pm.
Saturday
Our
District and Zone leaders showed up around 7:30 am to help with the move.
Carlos and our truck showed up shortly after that. Carlos earned at least a 1,000 brownie points this week for
being an amazing WML and problem solver.
I am so grateful that we have a mutual respect that has led to a desire
to go the extra mile. I am really
going to miss him. I am pretty sure
that I will be here to finish Sister R.’s 12 week training, and then I will get
transferred. President Lima wrote
me a letter last week telling me that I am doing exceptional work (quite a
change from “what happened?” a few weeks earlier.) Of course, just as I know
that my time is coming to a close here, I am getting really attached to Santa
Margarida. Like I legitimately
love the members and feel like a real part of the ward. It will be hard to leave after all that
I have been through.
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| It is a happy move! |
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| The Moving Crew |
Anyways,
back to the move. It was actually
legitimately fun. P-day clothes,
cool weather, and a break from the daily grind. The Elders were beasts and we got just about everything
moved in and unpacked and organized by 12:30 pm. I made the Elders cookies and French toast so they were
pretty happy. Our new house is
PERFECT. It is nice, and not just
“Brazil nice”, but actually nice-nice!
(minus the cold showers which is next on my problems that need to be
solved list). The house is huge and has
THREE bathrooms! 
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| New bathroom |
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| New Patio |
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| New Kitchen |
We
had J.’s baptism in the afternoon.
It was simple and special.
Eduardo worked hard to be worthy to baptize and confirm his wife. It was a special moment to witness this
little family make the first steps to an eternal relationship.
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| The BEST part of my great week. |
S.
was on date to also be baptized today, but we got a call from our WML about 2
hours before the baptism. His voice
sounded tight and worried. S. called him and said she couldn’t be baptized
because she was having “lady problems”.
Carlos was like, “Uhh, I’ve never run into this problem before, what do
we do?” We called our District
leader and told him and he was like, “ Uhh, I don’t know what to do, let me
call the Zone leaders.” Haha…all
of the priesthood leaders were flustered over menstruation! We got things sorted out and S. will be
baptized next week. Side
Note: There is a reason why us
Americans have to bring our personal hygiene supplies with us to
Brazil….because people don't use tampons at all down here. There are lots of fears and
misconceptions down here, which have led to a few biology lessons with the companions.
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| S. and her son M with the missionaries. |
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| M. is an outstanding young man, son, and future missionary. |
Sunday
It
was a good day. J. was confirmed,
our investigators came to church, and the weather was so pleasant. We also got rain for the first time in
a long time. Well folks, I think
that brings me up to date. Things
are going really well right at the moment, but I have a feeling that more
trials are coming. It is the
Lord’s way to teach and strengthen his people. I am grateful for the good times
and the hard times on my mission so far. I know that the Lord answers prayers. I know that He always will points in
the right directions, but that it is our responsibility to start walking. I
love seeing people make the first few critical steps of conversion. It is wonderful. My theme for this week is Alma 29. I love you guys. Thanks for the packages, the prayers
and the love.
Sister Colvin
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