May 27, 2009
Hello!
How is everyone . . . first off . . . Mom and Dad went boogie boarding... a thought that can only bring laughs!!! Did you take pictures? I want some!
Well last week Jaine was baptized. These girls we are baptizing are so special! It all started with a girl in the branch named Thais. She started giving referrals and . . . now we have baptized a lot of her friends. Kerolainy is doing so great. She sent all her clothes to a seamstress so that she could have modest clothes. We didn't ask her to do that she just did. She said she read in the For Strength of Youth about clothes and felt like she needed to start wearing modest clothes. Jaine is her friend so of course Jaine is wearing modest clothes as well. I think these girls are going to stay strong in the church. The Young Women's president here is so good!!! She has started all of our recent converts with their "Personal Progress." Is that what its called?
As for this week . . . I am nervous. We have three people who could be baptized but Satan is giving us a strong battle. One women. . . Joseffa, lives with a member. She accepted baptism, but now her old church is starting to talk bad about the church. We went to teach her and she had left the house (that's a bad sign for Brazilians.... it means they are not interested) then we passed by the next day and she said she was to busy to talk with us. (another bad sign . . . a worse sign) She told us she still wanted to be baptized, but that she was in a fight with her daughter or something and that she didn't want to be baptized this Sunday because her feelings towards her daughter. All I could think was . . . ICEBERG! (if you study preach my gospel you´ll understand that.) We are going to pass by there tonight . . . it could get ugly! I hate going after icebergs . . . it's like pulling out slivers! The other girl (Natalia) is a referal from THAIS! However, Natalias mom is really . . . really . . . faithful . . . to a different church. She told us how our church is different because we don't fall on the ground when we pray, or scream. You guys really need to see these churches here. So we´ll have to work with the mom this week to see if she´ll let her daughter be baptized. The other is a 80 yr old man, a members Dad. He is so sweet. However, he was a drug trafficer! He was in prison but they let him out because of his age, or something. We have to see if he completed his sentence in order to be baptized. If he didn't complete his time . . . I don't know what will happen. So as you can see I am a little stressed out.
My birthday was fun. I am so fat! I am gaining wait in this area. They give me so much food. One day I told one of the sisters I would not eat anymore food and she got mad.... here in Brazil, if you're a missionary you're expected to eat and eat and eat.... but I am going on strike again! Anyway, my birthday - I ate two cakes! Not by myself . .. but the girls we baptized, Kerolainy and Jaine made us a cake and then that night Erica through us a suprise party. It was my birthday and Elder Newbys (24th). Erica told us on Friday that we need to pass by her house on Saturday night because she needed to talk to us about something serious. She said come over at 8:00. We had a meeting on Saturday morning with her . . . and she didn't say anything . . . then lunch was in her house on Saturday . . . and she didn't say anything again. So we thought something was up. Then we visited an investigator with a sister in the branch, and when we got to her house she said . . . "Are you going to go Erica's house tonight?" We said "yes and how did you know that Sister Sofia?" She said something . . . I can't remember what . . . and then she said... "We need to stop at her house before we visit because I need to leave this pop at her house." So Sofia totally gave it away. Then this other girl was talking about how her mom makes way good cake and then she said "Oh, my mom made a cake for...." she paused and looked at us "tomorrow!" The members were not the best at throwing a surprise party. It was fun though! Well that's about all. Just pray that all will work out this week. I love being a missionary! I love you all!
Elder Perry