2 BAPTISMS

...we had 2 baptisms this week. A woman named Nuria and her son Niclerson...I know that baptisms are always a success story but this one is a special story. We´ve been teaching Nuria since the beginning of April (which is a loooooooong time here in Brazil). I love Nuria like crazy.

We are getting elders in our branch again, so Sis. Santos and I cleaned the elders´ house before they arrived. After 2 transfers of being empty and with elders being the last people to live in/clean this house you can imagine how disgusting it was.

2 Visions of the Same Work

This week was super special! We had district conference (for the branches) and Zone conference (for the missionaries). I LOVE meetings here in the mission...especially conferences with the other missionaries. There is seriously nothing better than sitting in a room full of missionaries listening to the counsels of a servant of God. I love our mission president! It was pretty sad though, because this is the last time I´m going to see them. Presidente and Sister Tobias are going to be released this month and the last day in June, Presidente and Sister Prieto will be taking over. I´ve really enjoyed having President and Sister Tobias as leaders, but I know that it will be a blessing to serve under the direction of President and Sister Prieto too. It´s something that President Tobias told us...It´s a blessing to have the oportunity to have 2 visions of the same work. Oh....I love them!

So...Sis. Santos had a hole in her tooth this week and we spent a good chunk of time looking for a dentist that was cheap but honest. It got resolved, but I´m hoping that I NEVER have to go to the dentist or the hospital while I am here on the mission.

ERI - KAKA!

So this week the world cup starts...I´m not exactly sure how this is going to work with tracting. No one is going to let us into their homes to teach a lesson in the middle of the game. Just imagine...Can we turn off the tv to offer a prayer? That´s a death wish! I´ve heard that on Brazil´s game days, it´s a study day for the missionaries. They stay home and get a few extra hours of study time...I hope that´s the case with us! That´s one thing that´s changed on the mission for sure. Before I thought that an hour of scriptures study was sooooooo long, but now I´m realizing that an hour isn´t nearly enough time to study all the things that I want to.

Read this scripture...it´s pretty much amazing: Romans 15:4

But one thing that´s good is my language. It sure has picked up a lot with Sis. Santos as my companion and I´m understanding pretty much everthing that our investigators and street contacts say to me. Maybe because it´s always the same questions/comments, but I like to think that I´m finally getting the hang of Portuguese.

Funny story. We were visiting Celia and Tiago this past week and Tiago was explaining what he does for work. He works in the Perdigão...it´s like a giant farm. Most people here in Rio Verde work in the Perdigão. His job is to sort the chicks as they come through on an assembly line. Because the chickens there are raised with chemicals and other junk, the chickens have wierd deformities. He was explaining some of them, including chicks with 2 heads "duas cabezas." When he said this he stopped, looked at me and repeated super slow using hand gestures..."duas" holding up 2 fingers "cabezas" pointing to his head. He had been talking about equipment in the factory, using words I´ve never even heard, but he felt the need to explain to me something as simple as duas cabezas! We all got a good laugh out of it and now whenever he says something really basic, he repeats it super slow for me! Oh the joys of being American.

1. When I think of Rio Verde, I think of this windmill in the middle of the suburb. OH I LOVE THIS CITY!

2. Because of the blazing sun, we bought these umbrellas. They´re made for hot sunny days, and won´t last very long once the rainy season starts again. My umbrella is smaller than Sis. Santos´...I think it´s a children´s umbrella...it would explain the little girl pattern :)

3. I´m not a impulse spender...but I just had to! It´s my name...KAKA! It´s a brazilian jersey for the world cup and this player is apparently super cute. All the brazilian girls in the ward have a crush on him...

O-V-E-N!!!!!

One of our recent converts has been really sick this past month and a half. She refused to go to the hospital because she´s scared of the I.V.s. Instead, she´s been trying to tough it out, but she has been having really bad stomach pains and random fevers. This past Sunday she started bleeding and rushed to the emergency room where she found out that she was pregnant and just had a miscarriage. When we went to visit her in the hospital, she was very upbeat and said that these things happen sometimes, but that we need to depend on God. Yesterday she was released from the hospital so we visited her at her house. It was a surprise visit and we found her and her husband reading the scriptures together. She´s bed ridden for 5 days and can´t do any work for 2 weeks because of the surgery. She has the most faith I´ve ever seen. She gave the opening prayer before our message and instead of saying "Please bless me that I can have comfort in this trial" she said "We´re thankful for our difficulties that make us stronger." I love her and the example that she is for me! Even when things are rough, she´s quick to count her blessings and find the good in the situation.


As you can tell from the photos, we got an oven! Let´s just say it is FILTHY! We had the elders light it up just to make sure there weren´t any rats or cockroaches living inside it. I don´t want to move any diseases into our house! Today we are going to give it a gooooooood scrubbing so that we can use it this week. Have any suggestions on how to remove months of grease and fat from a stove top? But we´re happy that we don´t have to live on microwavable food anymore (although the eggs and cake turned out real well). (Picture: Elder Musshoph e Elder DeSousa, the elders that helped us move the oven to our house. )