watermelon in winter

So today has kind of a melancholy note to it....transfers are tomorrow, and 5 hours from now, I'll find out where I'm going, if I'm staying with Sister Frame, or if she is going somewhere. Or if the area is closing. I'd cry if that happened. I don't think that's very likely though. Anyway, so this last week was completely destroyed. Literally every appointment (except maybe 2 or 3) fell through. So we spent a lot of time running around, and then didn't have any new investigators in church yesterday, even though we have some great new ones. We taught some friends of Mauro (remember him?), who are FANTASTIC and so prepared. It's amazing to see how the Lord truly prepares people to hear the gospel. We also taught Claudimere a few times at 9:30am., which destroys our study time, but it's the only time he has. So that's been intersting. Also, remember zone conference last week? I think I forgot to mention that at the beginning, there are always a c...

We are the life coaches here. Woohoo. This week was insane. There's no other word for it. I felt all kinds of things, from pure frustration to joy like none other. I guess that's a part of this work though. So, let me tell you some things. :) We had a ton of rain this week. This was good, seeing as the city hasn't had rain in like a month. So it rained, and we walked aroudn in the rain and got drenched and got filthy. And know how I love the rain at home? Here, it is horrible. There is not even the nice smell that I like, and there are rivers of dirt and waterfalls of filth running down the street. I always heard about the water that runs down the streets here during the rain, and I was reminded again of that this week. But you reach a point when it doesn't even matter, because you are wet and dirty, so all is good. :) The only unfortunate part of the rain is that no one opens the door to you, and no one is in the street with whom you can talk. Anyway, so it rained...

Oi queridos! Funny story. I was writing a letter last night, in English, but everything I wanted to say sounded better in Portuguese. So the letter ended up sounding ridiculous. Haha. Oh well. Just give me a few minutes to get used to English again, and maybe this email will make some sense. :) Okay so NOW my quick overview. We taught a bunch of lessons, invited a ton of people to be baptized, walked even more than not, and slept a little. Oh and ate a ton cuz that's what we do. :) Monday, we had FHE with José, who is a member of the church, but his family is not. We taught his wife the first lesson, even though she had no interest, and invited her to pray about it. We've followed up with her a bunch of times, and though she says she's prayed, she also says she's felt nothing. This is why we need to pray with faith, and really want to know the truth and receive answers. She's a good woman; I hope some day her heart softens and she sees the truth that is literall...

Let me tell you about my week...one day at a time. Last Monday after email, we went out to lunch at a tiny cheap restaurant, a bit far from our house. We spent a bunch of time there, and ended up getting back a few minutes after the soccer game had started...oops! But it was interesting, because we saw the traffic (a whole new level of insanity, if you can imagine it) right before the game as people tried to get home to watch it, and then when it started, it was completely dead on the streets. Stores were closed, there was no traffic outside our house (a really nice break!), and it was fairly quiet, except for the goals Brazil scored! :) Tuesday....we had a district meeting. We got burned for some things that were out of our control, which can be frustrating. It was good to see our friends in the office though! Afterwards, we went to visit Praxedes, remember the one we inherited from the Elders? We've been working with her for a few weeks, but she has to make a decision, and we...

Helllooooooooooooo family! As for news. First of all, last week was transfers. We spent all of Monday with the Elders in our area, because we knew there would be some changes, but didn't know exactly what. We all thought Lee Dee would be transferred out for sure, cuz he already had two transfers here. Anyway, finally the call came that evening....sure enough, there were big changes. Sister Frame and I both stayed here in Vila Industrial (WOOOHOOO!!!!!), and the other Vila Industrial area was closed, and the Elders were both transferred out. Elder Lee Dee is in the interior now, and Elder Paul is on the beach (boa sorte). So that was Monday night...then we realized that we hbasically had to combine two areas, so now we have all our investigators, and those of the Elders, which means we spend a TON of time walking, because everyone lives forever away from each other, and we aren't rich, so we can't take the bus everywhere. So...we use our lamborfeeties. However, it is wonde...