The Pride Cycle

Lovin my new house and my new messenger bag

 Sunday February 23, 2014 A LOT has happened this week.

Tuesday - 18 Feb, 2014

         Well, I can feel pride and selfishness start to creep back into my life.  Perhaps the shift in self-righteous thinking may be partially attributed to our recent change of living quarters.  Our old house was VERY humble and VERY dirty.  We were confined to tight quarters with all of the sisters in close proximity.  These circumstances were difficult when it came down to using our one tiny bathroom.  But there was very little drama because it was impossible to talk behind someone’s back there.  Here in the “big house” things are a lot more comfortable.  With comfort comes pride and with pride comes judging.  I find that I have been hypercritical of people the past few days.  I have failed once again to “seek the good” within my companionship.  So I am going to focus on her good attributes like her capacity to explain things clearly, her ability to have a good broad picture at the same time as she has a steady grasp on the small details of things.  She loves others quickly and she is a hard worker.

         We had a “caplea aberta” activity in Campo Grande today.  I will once again re-iterate how much I HATE the Campo Grande area.  People are rude, pushy, and constantly in a hurry.  I am speaking Portuguese quite comfortably now, but many people in Campo Grande were like “She talks with a weird accent, therefore she is stupid, therefore I will only talk to the Brazilian.”  It is remarkable how people can completely ignore your presence while simultaneously asking your companion questions about you.  I remember experiencing this during the first few transfers, but I have been speaking well lately, so this attitude was super obnoxious today.  I love my little, kind, dirty, humble Santa Magarida.

         Side note: A member asked me where I was from the other day and was surprised when I said that I was American.  She thought that I was South American. 

Wednesday

         We had a tri-zone conference on Wednesday which was just great!  It is really fun to see a bunch of different missionaries, and to receive training from someone other than a 20 year old elder.  Sister Tingey, Elder Papworth, and Elder Seibers were all there.  ST and EP bore their testimonies because they were the newbies, and man they have strong spirits. There were about ten other people who bore their testimonies, but those two stuck out to me.  I am so happy that they are here and so happy to feel the special spirit that so often filled our room at the MTC. You can tell that ST and EP are still in the culture shock stage where you are just constantly running on adrenaline, but they are both speaking really well! (Side note: Sister T. is so pale, you can tell that she was hanging out in my neck of the woods in the pacific northwest!)  Elder Siebers is his typical optimistic self despite some companionship challenges.         

         Anyways, conference was great and Sister R and I spent much of the 3 hour trip home discussing how we can set goals to improve our companionship.  It was awesome to be able to talk without the pressure of leaders, numbers, commitments, etc weighing on my mind.  We were open with one another ad really listened to what the other had to say. Since then, we have been working a lot better together.  We have very similar personality types which can clash at times, but also which when channeled together makes for a powerful companionship. 

         One of the best opportunities that we have had to work together is teaching Senhor A. He is a 76 year old 5’5” man with leathery crinkles skin, vivid blue eyes, and an expressive smile. He also has a warm welcoming spirit that makes you feel immediately comfortable.  We found him while contacting a referral from the capela Alberta activity.  The referral was for his wife and daughter.  When we went to share a message with them, it started raining so they invited us in their garage, where Senhor was.  His wife is a firm member of a different church.  She told us that we would be wasting our time teaching her husband because he had never shown interest in joining a religion.  He’d also never prayed before. But he was a good husband, father, and grandfather. 

         Of course we talked to him anyway and it soon became clear that he had in fact searched and visited churches but never felt right or comfortable in them.  We ended up returning the next day, and he invited us into his garage, and then the next day he invited us into his house.  Little by little we have gained his trust.

Friday

         This was a weird day.  We met a self professed “profeta” (prophet) today.  She was stamping her feet and yelling that we aren’t Christians. We also had a load of rejection, one of our investigators heavily influences by pain medications, and every single commitment fall through.  We had drama with our district leader and a sick ward mission leader. It was just a weird day. By 7 pm we were struggling to feel the spirit.  We felt prompted to go and visit two elderly ladies in our ward.  We sang a few hymns with them and visited with them.  (Sister R. has a beautiful singing voice.) It was an experience that saved the rest of the crazy day.

S. baptism day.

Saturday

         Today was S’s baptism (finally).  We passed by the church around 12:30ish to make sure that the chapel was clean and the font filled.  We found a dirty mess that the other ward had left in the chapel.  Sister R. and I spent the next 2 hours cleaning, scrubbing, and working in skirts to clean he chapel. Besides that, the baptism was perfect. Senhor A. came.  I played the interlude music (thanks mom for the new binder of sheet music!) I accompanied Sister R. in a beautiful musical number.  S.’s family and friends were all there(including her Mom is recently reactivated).  The bishop explained the importance of baptism by complete immersion (because she had to be baptized three times because her foot kept coming up.) Our investigator felt he spirit and when we asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, he responded with “I would like to!” So we set a date of March 15th for him.

Sunday

         Carlos and Maykon gave our investigator with cancer a blessing.  We had a good ward council meeting which was focused on reactivation.  Next week is Carnival in Rio…a wild and crazy time for sure.  We are restricted from leaving our house after 4:00 pm because of all the shenanigans.  It will be a boring week for us!

MOVING DAY- goodbye dead chickens and cockroaches

 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. 

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.)

It was a long wait for a messenger bag.

Thanks Mom!

Valentines on Valentine's Day!

Horse Snowflake - by my sister the artist

Angel Moroni Snowflake

Maddie sent me DENTAL FLOSS - she knows me so well!

Maddie's package mailed Dec. 3

         

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.

It is a happy move!

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! 

Do you remember the Sim’s game where you could tell how you were doing based on the color diamond that floated above their head?  The color would vary from bright green to deep red.  I feel like at the old house I average a pee- yellow color.  But our quality of life has significantly improved and I am now at a bright green!  Our house is also 1 minute from a supermarket, and 3 minutes from the church.  It’s PERFECT!

New bathroom

New Patio

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. 

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.

S. and her son M with the missionaries.

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

                        

Good Timber

 Letter written on Monday, February 10

My New Companion - Sister R. from Fortaleza

Wow, time is speeding by.  I’ll try to give an abbreviated version of what’s happened the past two weeks since I didn’t have time to write a real update last week.

Sunday, February 2

             Sister Sousa and I worked really well together today.  She bore her testimony and finally taught with confidence.  It was really neat to see her progress.  She has some learning difficulties, but she has so many other abilities and she is eager and obedient.  It was really cool to recognize how much we both grew this transfer.

SIDE NOTE: English is getting much much harder to remember. 

            Sister Brown and I were stressed to know whether or not we would be training.  We had already been told that we weren’t moving.  Usually the AP’s call on Sunday night to tell you if you are training so that you can make plans to go to the chapel near the office to receive the training on how to train….?  Anyway we were anxious, but the hours passed without a phone call and I was thinking, “YESSSS!!! I am going to get a seasoned companion and have less stress and responsibility!”  Sister Brown on the other hand really wanted to train and so she was pretty bummed out.

Monday, February 3

            We had just finished our morning studies and started our P-day, when I got a phone call from the assistant: “Good morning Sister Colvin, you are going to train and BTW, you need to be here (2 hours away) in 4 hours.”  Awesome. It is Sister S. birthday today and we won’t even have a P-day.  Great.  Anyways, after some planning, Sister S. and I did a companion exchange with Sister C. (the super cute young looking Brazilian that arrived with me and is serving in Campo Grande.)  THREE hours of hell  public transportation (106+ degrees on an unairconditioned bus) later, we arrived to receive our “training”.  It was 45 minutes of keep the rules, do practices, and whatever mistake your newbie makes is your fault.  Then we spent the next FOUR hours getting back to our area.  Long. Frustrating.  On the upside, Sister C. is a delight! She’s super positive and kind.

Tuesday, February 4

            We left early for transfers and this time we took a nice bus, with AIR conditioning #bigindulgenceoftheday #Immissingmycar.  We went to a stadium thing where all of the missionaries who were being transferred gathered.  It was really fun to see everyone again especially Sister Z. I miss that hard-working little Bolivian.  I got to talk to Sister S. family when they picked her up so that was pretty neat. 

            Anyways, we arrived at the chapel and were still waiting on the American visa-waiters to arrive, so we got to talk to the other newbies – a LOT of American elders, Sister R, and only one other Peruvian sister.  I talked with the sisters and afterwards thought to myself, “this tiny Brazilian sister is really sharp!”  We hit it off well. 

            We then had some downtime to chat with the other trainers and eat lunch.  Elder B. and Elder Neu are also training.  We also practiced a musical number.  After watching some Elders try to over-complicate things, I took the lead and we ended up sounding pretty good.  I was grateful for my conducting experience.

            It was SO GOOD to see Sister Tingey again.  She’s remembered quite a bit of Portuguese and the same with Elder Papworth.  Sister Conde and I headed out with our new companions and the AP’s, who were headed in the same directions.  They helped us with the bags.  Sister C. new companion is an American named Sister Jameison, and man o man did she looked shell shocked!  Like deer-in-the-headlights, frazzled hair, mouth gaping, disheveled clothes – poor girl.  I imagine that I looked quite similar upon arrival.  After 3 delightful hours of being sandwiched on a hot stinky train, we got back to our area and got right to work!

 

My new companion out in front of the chapel.

           HOLY SMOKES, my new companion is sharp!  She is 21, grew up in the church, was in college studying nutrition, is a middle child, and is dedicated to serving.  Also, she love to ride horses and loves all animals. She obviously worked hard in the MTC and long before because she is very familiar with all of the missionary lessons.  She teaches well and looks to teach to the needs of our investigators.

            That being said, she is focused on missing home and her fiancé.  She talks about them all of the time, and is definitely a verbal processor which helps me with the language.  I am NOT a verbal processor.  I am an internal processor and I like my down time to think about things.  There are a very few moments when she is not talking. I always try to steer the discussions towards our missionary work, but her mind isn’t quite there yet.  She is from Calceia (close to Fortaleza) – actually from the ward where our bishop's son, Elder Curty, is serving.  It is a small world!

Wednesday, Feb 5 – District Meeting

            We had practices and Sister R. and I taught super well.  I just about cried because last transfer was so hard and slow.  I am running out of time once again.  I think that I already wrote mom about my health concerns and such.  Things are looking up down here – thought it is unrelentlessingly (unedited on purpose to show you how difficult it is to transcribe her letters now that she is forgetting her English.)  It never drops below 86 degrees even at night. Yesterday it was 104.8 with a heat index of 113.0…HOT! 

            It is incredible to see how much the last transfer helped me to prepare for this one.  I was reflecting on how this principle applies to so many aspects of our lives. We are constantly being refined and prepared for the next challenge in our life.  I love the poem that our prophet quoted last conference.   GOOD TIMBER.  I am starting to realize how the Lord tests, strengthens, weakens, and re-strengthens his followers in order to increase their faith, deflate their pride, and turn them into dedicated servants.  I have a long ways to go yet.  Heavens knows that there will be other down days or weeks or months, but that is part of becoming “good timber” – strong people, and strong followers of Christ.

Reunion

Familiar Faces at transfer time!

All the trainers were stuck in the primary room for lunch while the new arrivals were oriented.

New to Rio - Sister Tingey arrives!

Yeah, Elder Papworth made it too!

Perspective

 27 January 2014

Housemates

            Sister Brown has been a lifesaver to me.  She helps me keep things in perspective and has taught me how to not be so critical of myself.  She has reminded me that the Lord is happy and pleased when we are making forward progress and making good decisions.  He does not expect that we are going to be perfect.  So, I am going to be more patient and forgiving of myself. 

30 January 2014

Why I wear a pony tail or braid.

            Today was awesome.  We finally began to work together and teach in harmony as a companionship.  We knocked on doors for 2-ish hours this afternoon on a road close to our chapel, and it was great!  We ended up finding several people to teach.

1 February 2014

            Today marks 4 months in Brazil!  Man time sure has gone by fast.  Things are really improving right now.  We have three solid investigators who are progressing.  J. is a 22-year-old young mother who is married to a member and basically told us that it was time for her to prepare for baptism.  S. is the sister-in-law of a member. She is a sweet quiet lady with a tender heart who cares for her elderly father-in-law.  Sh. is the mother of a recent convert to the church.  She has been to church many times and is now starting to read the Book of Mormon. The common theme in all of our investigators is that they have family who are members of the church. This shows how important member missionary work is. 

The backpack named George

Happy Sister S.

Walking home!

           Sister S. has made a lot of progress this past week.  I just love how things seem to get sorted out in the last week of the transfer.  For her sake, I am glad that she gets to end with some really positive teaching experiences. It was a little sad to say goodbye, but it was fun to meet Sister S's family!.  Her sister and her mother picked her up from the mission home.  Sister Brown's companion also finished her mission this week and went home.

Sister S and her Mom and Sister!

 8 February 2014

            I am having a problem today of a recurrent UTI/kidney infection.  IT SUCKS!  It is not debilitating , but it is a pain because if I push through I end up feeling 10 times worse at the end of the day.  I went back to the doctor and he changed my antibiotics so I hope this one works better.  We had orders from Sister Lima to stay in the house all day yesterday and to drink 5 liters of water….that seemed like a LOT of water to me!  (side note: we sent her some information on water toxicity, and when too much is harmful.) But I did it and but I really don’t feel well.  One thing that I know for sure is that I will not be fasting again when I am sick.  

            In other news, I am training again.  This time around I have Sister R.   She has a lot of really good instincts when it comes to helping people.  She is very sharp, quick, hard working, energetic, and a little bit of a perfectionist. She is from Fortaleza, Brasil. I am really looking forward to training with her.

New Companions!