February 25, 2009

Hello!
We just got back from bowling at the Del Rey Shopping Mall.
It's Elder McArthur's birthday so we all went there to celebrate. I celebrated by beating him 133 to 128, bowling three strikes in a row in the last frame to take the lead and win it. I felt kind of bad because it's his birthday, but... three clutch strikes in a row on the last frame is pretty sweet. He seemed okay about it. Tonight we will have cake and ice cream at President's house.
Yesterday President let us eat lunch with all of the zone leaders who came to Belo Horizonte for the monthly Zone Leader's Council. That was fun because I got to see Elder Markowski, my companion from the MTC. He just turned Zone Leader this transfer. After that we all played soccer on the court that they have at President's house. So it was almost like 1 1/2 Pdays this week.
To top it all off, Gilvano is having his baptismal interview tonight, and if everything goes right he'll be baptized this Sunday along with Andreia. But keep those prayers a comin' cause they haven't gotten in the water yet.
I can't remember if I explained the Gilvano situation last week, so I'll summarize it really quick: he's the fiancé of an inactive member. Elder Anderson (the Financial Secretary before me) baptized her son and kind of reactivated her, but when I got her she was inactive again. Two weeks ago, she and her fiancé showed up at church telling us she had decided to come back. When we went to visit them that night, he was excited about the church- he said he knew it was the only thing that could make his family united and happy. So we marked a date for this Sunday and he gladly accepted.
On Sunday night my trainee will get here. His name is Elder Montgomery, and he just barely made a year in the mission. I forget where he's from... I think Arizona. Apparently he's a pretty bright guy- I don't really know him that well, but I think it'll be fun.
The pictures I've attached are the Staff (Elder Rodrigo, Elder Do Nascimento, Elder McArthur, Elder Sisco) with Sister Frei and the flowers we bought her for her birthday a few weeks ago, and me at the chapel/house that serves as our meeting place.
Love,
Elder Sisco

February 19, 2009

Well, Andreia didn't get baptized on Sunday. We finally got her to go to the baptism interview, and so on Friday night I did a division with Elder McArthur so he could interview her, and Elder Rodrigo went with Elder Do Nascimento to the Assistants area. We picked her up at her house and got on the bus to go to the chapel. Everything went perfectly; when she came out of the interview I went over to see how it had gone and she said, "I'm going to be baptized on Sunday." I was thrilled.
On Saturday night when Elder Rodrigo and I went to accompany her she had completely changed ideas. She was resisting everything we said. She knows it's true, and insists that she WILL be baptized, just not now. It was really disappointing.
On Sunday, we decided that she needed to see a baptism, so we skipped out of church half an hour early, and one of the members of the stake high council brought us (Andreia, her member friend Erika and us missionaries) to the other ward where the assistants go and where they happened to be having a baptism at noon.
The baptism was awesome; the Spirit was fantastic and she loved it. But she continued with the same story about wanting to wait. We even gave her baptismal clothing to bring home and pray about and get ready for her baptism that night. But she resisted.
On Sunday night at 8:00 she called us and said, "I want to be baptized."
I was maaadd. If she had called an hour earlier, we could have arranged something with the Bishop and some of the members, but at 8:00 at night it was too late for us to do anything, and we were way far away from the chapel.
When we went back on Monday to talk to her, she had decided she wants to wait until after Carnaval (which is this weekend, by the way). She's driving us crazy!!
We went to eat at this Chinese place yesterday with the assistants and invited her and Erika, and we decided not to even mention baptism or church or anything, because it seems like the more we push the more she resists. The person who talked most about baptism yesterday was her! She kept asking us all about how many people we had baptized in our missions haha.
So anyway, keep those prayers a-comin'. I'll be so grateful when she is finally baptized. Elder Rodrigo and I were talking the other day about how she's the kind of person that you want to help not because of numbers or goals, but because it'll be fun to hang out after this life. She has even talked about serving a mission already. She's not even a member yet!
The other night I was talking to this guy on the bus and he kept asking me if I was German, or Croatian. And I noticed he was constantly sniffing a dirty white rag that he had crumpled up in his hand. He was definitely high- it was one of the stranger conversations I've had.
Love,
Elder Sisco

February 12, 2009

I'm afraid I don't have much to tell this week. I'm kind of in an office slump- I'm pretty tired of being here. I'll be glad when I get out. We have so little time to work in our area, we barely manage to accompany one or two people per night. Only on the weekends do we actually get to really work. We haven't had a baptism in two months.
We're teaching a girl named Andreia who is 25. She lives with a member in an apartment, and her baptism is supposed to be this Sunday. We marked her interview for tonight, but we haven't been able to get in touch with her all week- the last time we talked to her was Sunday. We know she's afraid to be baptized, so her being at the interview tonight is essential because we know that Elder McArthur will get her excited and ready to go. I'm just worried that she's gotten lazy. She has kept all the commitments- she stopped drinking and drinking coffee, which was her biggest problem. She knows the church is true, she just needs to take the necessary steps now, and she doesn't think she's ready. It would be nice if you could pray for her. So anyway, I'm kind of tired of not being able to teach people as much as I would like.
Last night we scheduled an FHE at the chapel, and 10 minutes before it was supposed to start, the rain came. It poured, and poured. We were on our way to the chapel with an investigator and we all got soaked. We got to the church looking like we had all just jumped in a pool with our clothes on.
There were only like, 12 people there, including 4 missionaries, but it was good- everyone who went liked it.
There's a new elder who just got here this month named Elder Poulson. It's weird to see him interacting with people and trying to talk to people because I look back at the beginning of my mission and wonder if I had that much difficulty understanding and communicating with people. Then I realize that yes, I most certainly did. And I'm very grateful that that part is over, and I can speak Portuguese now.
I think it would be an interesting experience to train an American. Last Sunday I helped Elder Poulson give his first lunch message- it was gratifying.
I've been reading A Marvelous Work and a Wonder by LeGrand Richards. It's pretty cool. I don't have that much time for "leisure reading" but I pull it out sometimes before study and before I go to bed at night. I'm about halfway through it.
Oh, we're also teaching a rich guy (which is rare)! And he already has a date for his baptism (22nd) and he's received an answer to his prayers about the Book of Mormon and is excited. So that is something that gives me hope. His wife worked for a bank for 28 years and is now retired and takes care of 52 old people at an old folks home volutarily. He is a construction worker. Theirs is one of the coolest apartments that I've seen so far in Brazil. It's blatantly obvious that the Lord has blessed them for their generosity and willingness to help. We called him on Saturday to see if we could pass by his house and he was like "no, I can't, I'm at the nursing home fixing some of these doors." And he does it for free! His apartment is sweet. It has two stories, and a pool on the second story balcony. And they're already friends with the Bishop because his wife used to work at the same bank as him. She's hardcore catholic, but little by little she'll get there. So I'm excited about that.
Well, that's pretty much all the news I've got. Today for PDay we're going to go home and sleep. Everyone is exhausted.
I love you all and pray for you constantly.
I love being on a mission. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord for two years straight. I know that this is the true church- there is no back door to salvation, and I'm happy to be sharing the truths that we know with the people of Brazil.
I know that the Lord blesses us as we follow him and his commandments. The more we go out of our way to serve him, the more he goes out of his way to bless us. The church is a church of service and sacrifice.
There's a guy in our ward who always says that "in the service of the Lord, the salary isn't very good, but the retirement is worth it."
Love,
Elder Sisco

Last weekend we went to this guy in our ward's house and he had prepared a special lunch for us. It's called Rabada. It's a soup made out of cow tail. The actual cow tail, not those delicious caramel candies with creamy centers. It had lots of huge tail bones in it, and when made properly the meat should just fall off the bone according to Elder Rodrigo; but I'm not sure he did it right, because it didn't do that.
The very next day, we ate lunch at one of our Recent Converts' house and what did she make for us? Rabada! Except the one she made was AMAZING! The meat literally fell off the bones when you passed the fork over it. She really knows how to cook, I love going there.
Sorry, I had written a lot more, but I just lost it and don't have time to rewrite it.
Love you guys and am looking forward to hearing from everyone next week!
Elder Sisco