26 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

It was a good week here. We got to do a lot of stuff. We made some homemade bread. Some members showed us how to make it. They wanted to put ham & cheese inside and roll it. But we're Americans and we put apples and cinnamon. It tastes soo good, it's like cinnamon roll. All we need is frosting. We also made some brownies because my comp got 2 packages from his mom. They were the best brownies I have ever had, I'm not sure why. This past Saturday was the best ward party that I have ever been to! It's called Junino. It goes all June and part of July. It's a Brazilian holiday. Everyone dresses up like hillbillys and they paint mustaches and stuff. It was fun. I did some square dancing with my companion too. It was a fun time. We won the best couple award. 

I had an epiphany the other day. I'm going to be a waiter at a Brazilian restaurant when I get home. That way I can eat the food whenever I want. Mexican food is better though :)

My companion was telling me about his mom the other day and I had another epiphany! You should go back to school and then you can go work! It'll give you something to do.

Teaching is a good way to teach yourself. I spend a lot of time studying so that I can teach. It's hard to keep it all in your head though. I want to be better at knowing scriptures and stuff like that. My scriptures are all marked up in my pretty marking system, so that helps me a bit. It's hard to teach different things though. I always try to teach in a new way, or say new things. It's too easy to get into a routine.

I've been thinking lately about when I was set apart. Grandpa told me to write it down in my journal. One of the things that was said is that I was close to the spirit and I should grow and recognize that more. I have never felt that I was close to the spirit, but I guess I have to grow and learn.

26 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

Good news, this last Thursday I resumed my roofing services. It was fun, but I got a sunburn on my knees since I was sitting on the roof all day. More perilous rotten wood stunts :) I can't think of a better time to die: On a mission doing service :) Maybe drowning while you baptize someone. [We will keep in mind your newly acquired skills for when the next round of hail passes through Fort Worth.] Well if you have switched to terra cota roof than I'll be in business. We are only allowed to provide service for member. When I 1st got here we could help whoever, but the people started using the missionaries as slaves and president stopped that. Speaking of President...he leaves tomorrow :( We got some good news today as well. Apparently, they opened a new branch in Trindade which is in Piauí (another state) from what I hear. I didn't know that we had another state in our mission. It's in the middle of nowhere. I think they have 4 missionaries there. They will be doing some pioneering. It's all good news. 

We had an awesome party this weekend at church. I sent pictures. You dress up as a hillbilly and do redneck stuff. It was cool, I like it a lot. I got to square dance with my companion. I also got to have a mustache and beard. It's always good to have an excuse to be a redneck.  

This week we had a miracle happen with one of our investigators. We were teaching a reference but we realized that they guy wasn't really paying attention. I was talking about the Book of Mormon and then my companion pulled out the Word of Wisdom pamphlet. He said he felt like he should teach it, but I didn't know that at the time. Usually we wait a bit before we start throwing out the commandments. It started out rocky... they had problems with 4 of the 5 things. They were the 1st people that I have taught that were drinking black tea. Then we asked the man if he would stop drinking and I was thinking "He is going to say no..............blah blah blah" but he said yes. He stood up and grabbed a bottle of vodka from the fridge and gave it to us. When he did that, I felt the spirit like never before. Everyone was teary eyed and I'm sure everyone felt the spirit. It doesn't matter to me if he keeps drinking, it won't take away what we all felt. It'll be sad for sure, but it will be his loss. It's always hard to see the wife trying to follow Christ but the husband has no interest. They usually bring down the wives and then nothing happens.