A FEW MORE STEPS

Melting

November 17, 2014 – 16,876 steps, 5.32 miles

Today was actually a very frustrating p-day, I am so excited for the day when I will not have to walk for miles in scorching heat just to use the internet.  Just 4 weeks….!  Other than the Internet, today was chill.  We got to sleep a bit and get rested up for the week.

         We visited L. and her little kids today.  She was sure happy that we weren’t getting transferred.  She re-committed to come to church this Sunday.  We’ll see.  Her kids are so cute, but they are very disruptive during lessons.  I am learning a lot more patience.

        We also taught my favorite little older man, J. I just have this feeling that he is the reason why I am here, and the reason why I stayed to finish my mission. I feel like it is his time, and we are the companionship that the Lord is using to help him make some progress.  I feel an immense amount of love for this man.  Tonight we got a glimpse of a little bit of progress.  He has had contact with the church for 30 years and has a testimony

November 19, 2014 – 16, 287 steps, 5.13 miles

         Wow, I am so tired and hot! Thankfully it usually cools down at night so from 6-9 pm we don’t’ suffer as much.  Today was a great day where I know that I gave it my all and tried my best to help people. We spent a lot of time on our feet although we did not walk around that much.  We knocked on 17 doors an only found 1 new person to teach.  But we do have a very diverse group of new investigators, which makes lessons interesting.

         I have been reflecting a lot about missionary life and non-missionary life.  I don’t know if there will ever be another time in my life when I and yelled at, chewed out, schooled, belittled, demeaned, humbled, as I have been on my mission.  It is a very frustrating experience.  I have learned to take some things with a grain of salt and not let bother me.  One of those things is the belief that there is a formula that if followed perfectly, will result in baptisms.   I call it the “Magic Baptism Formula Myth”.  Anyway, the myth is alive and well here in Rio.  We have a very new district leader here who has only been out for 4 months.  He is from Chile and has never experienced the summertime in Rio.  Anyway he is all gung ho to have a special district fast to help our investigators come to church.  South Americans must just have a LOT more faith that I do….but here we go again, fasting in temps over 100 degrees. Pray for cool weather for us so we can survive. 

November 20, 2014

         Man, I am tired.  We worked well today, but had a very sad and frustrating lesson with a recently baptized elderly couple.  The husband has decided to go back to his former church because he feels that, “all churches are the same.”  I was really impressed by Sister Viera and her patience.  She helped him to understand more about the restoration and the organization of the church.  He still didn’t get it.  It killed me when after a careful, thoughtful, question filled explanation; he still said that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the same as the Assembleia.  I must admit that I was very direct in my declaration and di not mince words as I testified that the LDS Church is in fact very different from other churches because we have a living prophet, apostles, revelation, the Book of Mormon, priesthood authority, temples, and the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.   These things do not exist in any other church.  It is my purpose to teach and defend these truths with courage and compassion.

         In other news, it’s blisteringly hot.  I am covered in bug bites.  My body aches all the time.  I am so thankful that the Lord helps me get out of bed and get to work every day because I sure couldn’t do this mission on my own.

PMS + fasting + HEAT = dead companion

November 21, 2014 – 12,111 steps, 3.81 miles

         Today was so hot.  The thermometer read 98.6 but the heat index was 105.8.  That is really hot!  We had our weekly planning and then lunch at home and after eating, I tried to lie on my bed for a rest but it was too hot.  I resigned myself to sprawl belly down on the dirty tile floor with a fan blowing on me.  We ended up resting for a good 30 minutes like that.

         Luckily, the Lord really blessed us with many good sit down lessons today.  The ones that stand out were the lesson with our part member older couple and our lesson with a very well educated 50ish year old woman. The lesson with J. was great.  I love that old man.  His progress in really slow, but he is progressing.  Tonight he told us that he feels closer to the Lord and he told us to NOT GIVE UP on him!  I am pretty sure he has no idea how stubborn and persistent I am.   

Fernando, Rosemary and Juca´s grandson

We found the woman we are teaching by knocking on her door because we thought it looked pretty.  Today was our second visit and she welcomed us warmly, gave us juice, and proceeded to detail what she has read in the pamphlet that we left her to read.  She said that it strengthened her faith in life after death.  She warmly and happily accepted The Book of Mormon and seems genuinely interested in learning more. The whole lesson was effortless and spirit-filled. It makes such a difference when people want to learn and when they actually understand the principles that we are teaching them.

November 22, 2014 – 10,206 steps, 3.21 miles

         I tried on the new dress that my mom sent me for Christmas and it is cute, fits perfectly, and is very flattering…but dang it, it is too short for the missionary 2 inches below the knee.  I was so so so sad…I might have cried a little bit. I will just save it and wear it when I get home.

         Guess what…our fast worked!  Usually we don’t have any investigators or less actives that we are working with come to church, but this week was very different.  My favorite old man came and the talks were exactly what he needed to hear.  L. and her little kids came but had to leave early.  Taking little kids to church is hard!  Many less active members came to church including R. who is a really gentle-hearted young man.  Lots of people from the ward tried to help him to come to church but he never came.  We taught him a spiritual lesson on the sacrament this week and then we felt impressed to call him this morning to remind him about church…and he came!  He stayed all three hours and that was the best part about church today.  I think that today was the first fulfilling day at church that I have had in a long time.  

THE COUNT DOWN:

What happens to balloons in this heat!