2 Baptisms!

This past week we were blessed with 2 baptisms! Deise was baptized and so was Giulia! What was really great was that Deise´s sisters and mother came to her baptism and Giulia´s grandparents also came (they´re not members). It´s so great to see missionary work that happens in our own homes and families. There was good member support too…Deise is already a part of the branch and so many of the Irmãs really like her which is no surprise because she is SUPER special.

This week was super hectic. We got a phone call Tuesday from Elder Reed (the secretary in charge of finances and bus fares and transfers.)

E. Reed: Sister, President Prieto wants to interview you and Sis. Chipman.

Me: Ok

E. Reed: He wants to interview you tomorrow.

Me: Ok

E. Reed: He wants to interview you in Goiânia.

Me: WHAT?!?

Goiânia is a 10 hour bus ride from Patos de Minas! Well E. Reed was kind and offered us 2 options for our bus. We could either leave that night 9:30 pm to arrive in Goiânia a little after 7 am or we could leave 4:10 am the next morning to arrive in Goiânia a little after 2 pm. Well…since I sleep on all the buses anyways, we opted to leave that night. He told us that we wouldn´t be returning to Patos until Friday morning, so we spent the rest of our Tuesday canceling appointments and lunches.

I thought it was a little weird that Pres. would bus us out to Goiânia in the middle of the week when it would be way more cost and time efficient for him to come to Patos. That night it poured rain while we were waiting at the bus station. We got a phone call from our district leader and when he heard the noise in the background he asked us where we were. I told him we were waiting for our bus to Goiânia and he said “You too?” apparently the Sisters in Uberlândia were also going to Goiânia. This confirmed my suspicions that we weren´t going to Goiânia for interviews…

After a looooooong bus ride we arrived in Goiânia and dropped our stuff off @ the mission office. We then went to work knocking doors in Goiânia. I´m so greatful that I´m working in an area that´s a smaller city. I really don´t like the big cities and it took us a while to find a neighborhood with houses and not apartments. I can´t imagine what the work is like in São Paulo.

Well when we were finally allowed to head to the mission home, we ran into the rest of the sisters!!!!! All of us showed up @ the same time and we were told that our Christmas present was a sleep over in the mission home!!!

We ate a big dinner and then got our presents…when we opened the wrapping paper it was to find a scrap of wallpaper and a piece of cardboard. What I´ve always wanted (speaking of presents I got the rest of the packages for Christmas). Sis. Prieto led us to a table full of arts and crafts stuff and let us have at it. My creative little mind was just whirling with ideas. In the end all of the sisters made picture frames or some sort of picture…I made a baby mobile. It´s now hanging above my bed on the same string as my mosquito net.

Sis. And Pres. Prieto shared a spiritual thought and then let us have at it with the pictures. It´s the first and probably the last time that all of us will be together and so we made the most of it staying up until almost 4 am. The next morning we felt the effects when the alarm went off 6:30 am…like always and we were rushed to the bus station to catch our 8 am buses. Sis. Chipman and I spent the day working in Uberlândia with the sisters there and then caught a bus back to Patos the following morning.

Well this was our exciting week this week and I know that until Christmas things are just going to get better!