Getting back to work feels great!

Us with our AWESOME Ward mission leader and his wife!

My mission "daughter", Sister R.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

            Wow, time is really going by fast! This week has been really good.  Carnival ended and we’re starting to get back into our routine.  We’re continuing to work with Senhor A. And J. and also found several other families to teach.

Ot. and Jos.: Super humble older couple. Ot. was baptized a long time ago, but he went inactive and started drinking and smoking.  He is drunk a lot of the time, but he is a really kind man and everyone speaks well of him.  Jos. has a great desire to read, study, and change.  But it is complicated because she feels loyalty to her husband and doesn’t want to do things without him.  We are working on strengthening Ot.

Pa. and Cl.:  This is another part member family.  Cl. is inactive and her husband Pa. is not a member.  They are awesome people and their son recently returned from his mission, which is of course a huge help to us.  Their daughter recently became re-activated in the church!

Bar. and Ben.: This is and elderly Baptist couple.  Bar. already knows a lot about the church because he gets a Liahona every month and has read last year’s conference editions cover to cover several times. He received a Book of Mormon over 20 years ago and has kept it and read it all of these years.  What is holding him back?  Social fears and habits.  His wife has no desire to change religions and he is very faithful to her.   It is a difficult situation. 

Fer. and Adr.:  Fer. is inactive and his wife is active. We are working to help him remember his baptism and the importance of taking the sacrament each week. 

      It is a huge blessing to be able to have families to teach , but they are complicated.  It is very hard (nearly impossible) to stay within the 45 minute guidelines for teaching lessons.  Yesterday we spent 1 ½ hours teaching and listening to one family.  I was initially frustrated by going so long, but Sister R. helped me to remember that when we are teaching a family, we are essentially teaching two lessons because they are two people with very different needs.

Monday March 10, 2014

     Well, I am sad today. It is probably PMS, but it could have a lot to do with feeling like my individuality is being stifled by mission rules.  The ability to choose and use your free agency is weirdly restricted during a mission. It’s like people are trying to turn us into baptism-producing robotic cookie cutters.  I’ve mostly been able to take Uncle Mark’s salesperson advice especially with understanding leaders, and Dad’s advice to follow the rules, and Mom’s advice to use my unique gifts, BUT, it takes a lot more time and energy to do this.  I see most other missionaries falling into the “routine” and suppressing their personalities. It’s quite sad.
     I might also be sad because there is a garbage strike here and it literally STINKS.

Rio Garbage Strike

Here is a weekly recap:

Mon-Tues: We basically stayed in the whole day on Monday for Carnival and it SUCKED.  Satan works hard when we are not working hard.  On Tuesday we had one of our investigators drop us.  It was Sister R’s first heartbreak, but we ended up having a good discussion about it and it turned out to be a good learning experieince for her. She and I have had a lot of good fortune during our time together.  We have been part of two really beautiful baptisms. I have kept trying to keep things realistic and help her realize that missions rarely move this smoothly. Well, we got our dose of reality on Tuesday.

Wednesday:  We had a great lesson with Sh., then B.(a cute 12 year old), then Con. All of the lessons went well except the lesson with Con. which involved a lot of re-teaching of correct principles that were not previously understood.  Luckily, Sister R. was teaching really well and we actually ended up with a good lesson taught by the spirit.

            It was zone training today.  The theme was ????  I am praying to love and respect a LOT of leaders right now.

Thursday:  We had evaluation of the new missionaries in Andarai, which means waking up at 5 am and taking 2-3 hours of public transportation to Andarai.  I can’t complain too much because Elder Papworth’s area is 8 hours from Andarai!. We travele with Sister Conde and Sister Jamieson.  Sister J is still struggling with culture shock.  She is still in the “I’m stupid, everyone laughs at me, and I’ll never learn this language stage.” I tried to console her and assure her that EVERYONE passes through this phase.  It is rough for her right now.

            The training was pretty chill.  I got to play piano prelude music for an hour because people were late!  My arms hurt the next day (so out of piano shape), but it was totally worth it!

            I think that President Lima was having a rough day because he was very condescending to the American missionaries and their difficulties in speaking and teaching.  He legitimately laughed at them – something that I don’t remember him doing when I arrived.  That was discouraging even for me.

            We stopped by Al. house. She is the young woman who was recently baptized whose mother is suffering with cancer.  Her whole countenance has changed!  She went to the youth conference, made good friends, and she finished the Book of Mormon!  She read it cover to cover!  I love her story because none of her leaders ever believed that she would be active, but Sister S. and I did.  We prayed about her, and did all we could to show love and support.  We served and taught her Mom and then we figured out what was really holding her back from going to church – and that was not feeling socially accepted.  So then we brought 3 different youth to teach with us.  with friends to help her feel welcome, she hasn’t missed a Sunday. It was great to see how love and dedication on the part of the youth of the church can make such a big difference.  It makes me really really happy, deep in my soul, to see the changes that good friendships bring about in people’s lives. 

            Tonight we taught a lesson that was an answer to prayer. We taught Senhor A. and Dona Jos. I sure love them.  They are the old-fashioned type with rich family values.  They don’t like alcohol or loud music.  They also have a profound love and devotion to their family. Senhor’s life has already been changed and improved through the gospel.  That is why I am here on a mission.  He has expressed many time his gratitude to us for the sacrifice we are making to help people like him. We have also been able to reach his wife.  She was timid and closed at first, but after 2-3 visits, she has seen that we genuinely love her family and are concerned about them.  I have faith that with time and patience and love, she too will be baptized.  I have developed a real love for these people…pretty sure that I never REALLY loved anyone outside of my family before my mission. It is cool to see an emotional and spiritual maturation of my capacity to love others take place on my mission.  

Some planners that we made during Carnival!