Sister Gubler adds..."And when you keep on taking a shower even when fire comes out...there is something wrong with YOU!"
Last Tuesday, we had our usual district meeting. It was actually a zone meeting, since it was the first one after transfers. Our zone leaders now, Elder Nóbrega and Elder Smith, are hilarious. Basically I have almost never met any combination of people so hilarious....at this meeting, I was laughing so hard I was crying. For real. They like to imitate President, with some of his funny mannerisms, and they set up the zone meeting like a zone conference. And they taught and burned, the same as President. It was hilarious. And in the middle of it, in walked a guy from the street, a nonmember, and Elder Nóbrega invited him in to listen to our training. And he just kept on burning us in front of this guy, but also taught the guy at the same time. Oh, this guy's name is Carlos. Anyway, he invited Carlos to be baptized, marking Nov 14 as the date. Carlos accepted. It was actually crazy. I don't know how that is going though, because it isn't my area, and thus not my investigator. But we are all (all 18 of us) invited to his baptism...can you imagine a baptism with 18 missionaries there?! I think it'd be a little intimidating! Also at this meeting, Sister Gubler and I gave a bike horn to Elder Smith, and now he and Elder Nóbrega use it to knock doors. Oh dear goodness. So that was the excitement Tuesday. Wait, I forgot a part. One of the announcements that Elder Nóbrega made was that Elder C. Scott Growe was coming for a mission conference on Thursday....and when he said "C. Scott Grow"....I busted up laughing, because Sister Gubler and I had been laughing already...cuz it's like "run spot run!". I laughed, Sister gubler laughed so hard she was crying, and all the other Americans in the room laughed! We explained why it was so funny to Nóbrega later, but at the moment he was just laughing at everyone laughing, not even understanding why it was so funny! Oh man, what a day that was!
Oh year, and our house is falling apart. There are termites eating Sister Gubler's desk. Our shower fried (AGAIN)....but we finally got that fixed. President is trying to fix all the missionary houses, so last Monday, a guy from the church called to ask about our hosue and if there were things broken or not working and all...well, I just started listing...the fridge, toilet, shower, walls, ceiling, desk, etc....basically everything! Haha. Oh well. Anyway, the story about the shower is long, but here's the short version. A few weeks ago, it started smoking when I was taking a shower. I just kept taking a shower...sheesh, need to be clean. Well, it didn't work for Sis. Gubler after that. So we used it on a different setting, with less hot water. That worked for a while, but then it started sparking and all, and we had to just take a shower with cold water. For days. Finally, we told someone about it in the ward, and Saturday morning he came and fixed it for us. Haha, oh the mission adventures! There are so many of them!
Wednesday we had a great lesson with Talita, about marriage and eternal families. It was a fantastic lesson! Really. This week, I learned a lot more about teaching by the Spirit than ever before in the mission, I think. Which is good, because it is what I am working to improve. Anyway, it was great. I want so badly to see this baptism of her, because she is stellar, and so ready. We also talked about the Word of Wisdom and are helping her quit smoking now. Wow.
Another stellar thing that happened was that we found an inactive, fairly recent convert who I'd only heard about. But I got her new address from someone, so we went there to visit her. To make a long story short, she didn't even want to let us in when we got there, we convinced her to let us in, and we ended up talking to her and her friend for about an hour, and then she didn't want us to leave! The story is that no one had faith in her when she got baptized, refused to visit her, and she stopped going to church because of this. I heard the same story from the Elder that baptized her, Elder Cunha...he is AP and was here during the conference on Thursday, so I asked him about her. But then the members of the ward tell me different things. Oi....this area is really complicated. And each day, it becomes just a little more complicated! Oh well. It was great to see her, get to know her, and find out that we have a lot of work ahead of us to reactivate her.
Thursday was that conference with Elder Grow. We, because we are far from São Paulo, did not get to go to the conference with the rest of the mission, but all 3 zones of the interior got to watch it together, via satelite. Aí, it was great. We also had a conference of the interior before the conference started. It was a wonderful conference. I got answers to questiosn I had about the work, about some details, and about a ton of things. I learned a ton. I learned how to be a better missionary, which is something I really need. And Elder Grow´s wife made the joke that since they got married, she has been able to "see scott grow"...this time, because we had explained it to elder nóbrega, he was laughing just as hard as the Americans! Anyway, I learned a lot about working with the less active and inactive members, and bringing them back to the church. I have seen some of them return since I have been in this area, so at least I know I am helping in some aspect of the work, even if I am not seeing baptisms or anything of the sort! :) That was good to hear. Ah, I can't even put into words how wonderful this conference was!
Friday was a great day. Our plans were destroyed, because at lunch we got a couple references from members, and went to visit them and taught them instead of visiting the people we had planned to stop by and visit. But it's all good. We've gotten about 25 references in a few weeks, which is basically a miracle. It's really starting to pick up now...but unfortunately, our fireside won't be with President anymore, because the date had to change. We are trying to get our Zone Leaders to come and speak at it. Anyway, Thursday. We went to teach our investigators, Francisca, and while we were there, a bunch of people stopped by from about a million other churches. One of them was Catholic, and he came in and was talking to us and reading from the Bible and all, and praying, and my mind wandered back to years ago...and for the rest of the day, I was remembering stuff from my days in Catholic schools. I think Sis. Gubler got tired of my stories that day! Haha. Also we played with horses. And by "play", I don't mean that we rode horses, becuase that is against the rules, but we did see the horses at lunch, because a member of our ward has 3. I already sent you pictures of these horses, but now I have more! Haha.
Saturday it rained. All day. Just about everything fell through and we got drenched. Sunday started out as an adventure....I woke up to hear Sister Gubler call out "SISTER...HELP!" She had fainted and couldn't get up. So I went to her rescue but really had no idea what to do. That was scary. So Sunday morning was kinda crazy, in that we had to wait for this thing to pass, so that we could go to church. And we ended up getting to church a little late, but it's all good. Also we gave talks in sacrament meeting. I have no idea how I escaped 6 months of being in the mission field without giving a talk in church until this weekend! I ended up not even saying anythinng I had planned! The funny thing is that my topic was about prayer, and how to pray....it's ironic because President is famous for telling us we don't know how to pray. Needless to say, I did a lot of research and studying before this talk, and learned a ton!
And that is about all I have time for. It was an insane week. Ended crazy as well. But now we have a new week. New goals. Everything. I love you all! Thanks for the support and love and prayers....it sure helps!
Tchau!
Karen
Last Tuesday, we had our usual district meeting. It was actually a zone meeting, since it was the first one after transfers. Our zone leaders now, Elder Nóbrega and Elder Smith, are hilarious. Basically I have almost never met any combination of people so hilarious....at this meeting, I was laughing so hard I was crying. For real. They like to imitate President, with some of his funny mannerisms, and they set up the zone meeting like a zone conference. And they taught and burned, the same as President. It was hilarious. And in the middle of it, in walked a guy from the street, a nonmember, and Elder Nóbrega invited him in to listen to our training. And he just kept on burning us in front of this guy, but also taught the guy at the same time. Oh, this guy's name is Carlos. Anyway, he invited Carlos to be baptized, marking Nov 14 as the date. Carlos accepted. It was actually crazy. I don't know how that is going though, because it isn't my area, and thus not my investigator. But we are all (all 18 of us) invited to his baptism...can you imagine a baptism with 18 missionaries there?! I think it'd be a little intimidating! Also at this meeting, Sister Gubler and I gave a bike horn to Elder Smith, and now he and Elder Nóbrega use it to knock doors. Oh dear goodness. So that was the excitement Tuesday. Wait, I forgot a part. One of the announcements that Elder Nóbrega made was that Elder C. Scott Growe was coming for a mission conference on Thursday....and when he said "C. Scott Grow"....I busted up laughing, because Sister Gubler and I had been laughing already...cuz it's like "run spot run!". I laughed, Sister gubler laughed so hard she was crying, and all the other Americans in the room laughed! We explained why it was so funny to Nóbrega later, but at the moment he was just laughing at everyone laughing, not even understanding why it was so funny! Oh man, what a day that was!
Oh year, and our house is falling apart. There are termites eating Sister Gubler's desk. Our shower fried (AGAIN)....but we finally got that fixed. President is trying to fix all the missionary houses, so last Monday, a guy from the church called to ask about our hosue and if there were things broken or not working and all...well, I just started listing...the fridge, toilet, shower, walls, ceiling, desk, etc....basically everything! Haha. Oh well. Anyway, the story about the shower is long, but here's the short version. A few weeks ago, it started smoking when I was taking a shower. I just kept taking a shower...sheesh, need to be clean. Well, it didn't work for Sis. Gubler after that. So we used it on a different setting, with less hot water. That worked for a while, but then it started sparking and all, and we had to just take a shower with cold water. For days. Finally, we told someone about it in the ward, and Saturday morning he came and fixed it for us. Haha, oh the mission adventures! There are so many of them!
Wednesday we had a great lesson with Talita, about marriage and eternal families. It was a fantastic lesson! Really. This week, I learned a lot more about teaching by the Spirit than ever before in the mission, I think. Which is good, because it is what I am working to improve. Anyway, it was great. I want so badly to see this baptism of her, because she is stellar, and so ready. We also talked about the Word of Wisdom and are helping her quit smoking now. Wow.
Another stellar thing that happened was that we found an inactive, fairly recent convert who I'd only heard about. But I got her new address from someone, so we went there to visit her. To make a long story short, she didn't even want to let us in when we got there, we convinced her to let us in, and we ended up talking to her and her friend for about an hour, and then she didn't want us to leave! The story is that no one had faith in her when she got baptized, refused to visit her, and she stopped going to church because of this. I heard the same story from the Elder that baptized her, Elder Cunha...he is AP and was here during the conference on Thursday, so I asked him about her. But then the members of the ward tell me different things. Oi....this area is really complicated. And each day, it becomes just a little more complicated! Oh well. It was great to see her, get to know her, and find out that we have a lot of work ahead of us to reactivate her.
Thursday was that conference with Elder Grow. We, because we are far from São Paulo, did not get to go to the conference with the rest of the mission, but all 3 zones of the interior got to watch it together, via satelite. Aí, it was great. We also had a conference of the interior before the conference started. It was a wonderful conference. I got answers to questiosn I had about the work, about some details, and about a ton of things. I learned a ton. I learned how to be a better missionary, which is something I really need. And Elder Grow´s wife made the joke that since they got married, she has been able to "see scott grow"...this time, because we had explained it to elder nóbrega, he was laughing just as hard as the Americans! Anyway, I learned a lot about working with the less active and inactive members, and bringing them back to the church. I have seen some of them return since I have been in this area, so at least I know I am helping in some aspect of the work, even if I am not seeing baptisms or anything of the sort! :) That was good to hear. Ah, I can't even put into words how wonderful this conference was!
Friday was a great day. Our plans were destroyed, because at lunch we got a couple references from members, and went to visit them and taught them instead of visiting the people we had planned to stop by and visit. But it's all good. We've gotten about 25 references in a few weeks, which is basically a miracle. It's really starting to pick up now...but unfortunately, our fireside won't be with President anymore, because the date had to change. We are trying to get our Zone Leaders to come and speak at it. Anyway, Thursday. We went to teach our investigators, Francisca, and while we were there, a bunch of people stopped by from about a million other churches. One of them was Catholic, and he came in and was talking to us and reading from the Bible and all, and praying, and my mind wandered back to years ago...and for the rest of the day, I was remembering stuff from my days in Catholic schools. I think Sis. Gubler got tired of my stories that day! Haha. Also we played with horses. And by "play", I don't mean that we rode horses, becuase that is against the rules, but we did see the horses at lunch, because a member of our ward has 3. I already sent you pictures of these horses, but now I have more! Haha.
Saturday it rained. All day. Just about everything fell through and we got drenched. Sunday started out as an adventure....I woke up to hear Sister Gubler call out "SISTER...HELP!" She had fainted and couldn't get up. So I went to her rescue but really had no idea what to do. That was scary. So Sunday morning was kinda crazy, in that we had to wait for this thing to pass, so that we could go to church. And we ended up getting to church a little late, but it's all good. Also we gave talks in sacrament meeting. I have no idea how I escaped 6 months of being in the mission field without giving a talk in church until this weekend! I ended up not even saying anythinng I had planned! The funny thing is that my topic was about prayer, and how to pray....it's ironic because President is famous for telling us we don't know how to pray. Needless to say, I did a lot of research and studying before this talk, and learned a ton!
And that is about all I have time for. It was an insane week. Ended crazy as well. But now we have a new week. New goals. Everything. I love you all! Thanks for the support and love and prayers....it sure helps!
Tchau!
Karen
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