On Sunday we had three people lined up to be baptized. Only one of them went. Marcia, from Paraopeba, the lady who had a fear of water and backed out of her baptism while she was changing clothes came by herself on Sunday on a bus and was baptized.
Sunday was the Sete Lagoas Stake Conference from 9-11 and then from 5-7. Henrique's family all went (five in total), and Henrique was supposed to be baptized after the first session, but he backed out at the last minute. He had even brought a towel and underwear and everything, and was all excited. I think he was sad that he wasn't going to be baptized together with his dad. But on Sunday we are preparing for the whole family to go together.
President Parrella was there on Sunday for the conference and he stayed to watch Marcia's baptism, which was a blessing because I think that if he hadn't been there with Sister Parrella she may not have gone, they gave her so much support. After she came out of the bathroom she didn't smile anymore, she was scared to death. President and Sister Parrella talked to her quite a bit and calmed her down. President Parrella suggested that when she was baptized, everyone stay in the cultural hall and wait, and not to fill up the room, so just he and I and the Bishop and Sister Parrella went to watch the baptism.
The first time didn't give, her head popped out of the water. The second time the same thing happened. Because of her fear, when Elder Vasquez tried to immerse her in the water, she stiffened her whole body and didn't bend her knees or do anything to facilitate the baptism. After President talked to her again while she was standing there in the water, and explained to her a little bit better, the third time she was baptized. It was very exciting.
Elder Vasquez underwent a mini-surgery for his ingrown toenail this morning. The doctor told him that he has to stay 2-3 days at home resting, so we have to find members that can divide with us so that we don't have to abandon our area in this critical moment.
The other night I did a contact with two ladies and one of them kept asking these stupid questions about the church, and making ridiculous, false comments, but after she left and we were talking to her friend, her friend said, "I think that she's of the Devil, but I want you guys to go to my house." And then she told us about how she use to be from the Universal church, but she didn't like how the pastor talked so much about money, so she prayed and asked Heavenly Father to enlighten her. She opened the Bible, and read that scripture in 1 Peter 5 that says that people who take care of the church shouldn't be paid, but should do the work voluntarily and for love, and so she stopped going to the Universal church and said she was looking for the truth.
We went there yesterday and taught the restauration to her. The Spirit was very strong. At the end of the lesson I asked her, "how are you feeling right now?" and she said, "I feel like an emptiness that was inside of me has been filled." We invited her to be baptized on the fourth of October and she accepted willingingly.
"Os eleitos ouvirão a minha voz e não endurecerão o coração."
"The elects will hear my voice, and will not harden their hearts." (I think that's what it is in english)
I love and miss you all,
Elder Sisco
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
On Thursday morning Elder Leme my Zone Leader called me and told me he needed me to go to Curvelo with him to do baptismal interviews. Curvelo is a 3 hour bus ride from Sete Lagoas. We left at 2:00 and got there at 5:00. The Elders showed up way late and we didn't start the interviews until 7:00. Luckily, because there were two of us, it was fast and we were able to catch the last bus at 8:00 back to Sete Lagoas. We ended up getting to his apartment at 11:00 at night. Traveling is tiring.
On the bus ride there there were two girls sitting behind us who kept asking us questions. First they wanted to know about the church, so I explained to them about the Book of Mormon and bunch of other stuff, and then I guess they got tired of that so they started asking things like, "do you have a girlfriend?" "can you date people that aren't from your religion?" "can you have sex outside of marriage?"
They promised they would go to church on Sunday to see us, but they didn't go. That's probably a good thing.
On Sunday, though, we did have nine investigators at church. Everyone from the Family we're teaching, plus three cousins went. We also had a woman named Carla that we're teaching there. It was very fun to enter into the sacrament meeting with that huge group of people. I think the members were impressed.
That night, we marked a Family Home Evening at the Bishop's house with the family. Everyone except the oldest daughter went. They loved it. It was a success.
The bus company that we use to go to Paraopeba called us and told us that they found our cell phone. I was so relieved. Now I don't have to pay for it.
Marcia, the woman from Paraopeba who was supposed to be baptized but ended up not, went to church on Sunday and told the members there to tell us that she wanted us to go to her house. We went there on monday and she said that she wants to be baptized, and that she overcame the fears that she had. We marked her baptism for Saturday. I'm skeptical, but we'll see what happens. I called the Bishop and told him, and he was also skeptical, but I think she'll go through with it this time.
Today Elder Vasquez and I slept for 3 1/2 hours after our study. From 10am to 1:30pm. It was one of the best naps ever. I think I probably wont sleep again until tomorrow night.
Well, that's all the news for this week.
Love you guys,
Elder Sisco
On the bus ride there there were two girls sitting behind us who kept asking us questions. First they wanted to know about the church, so I explained to them about the Book of Mormon and bunch of other stuff, and then I guess they got tired of that so they started asking things like, "do you have a girlfriend?" "can you date people that aren't from your religion?" "can you have sex outside of marriage?"
They promised they would go to church on Sunday to see us, but they didn't go. That's probably a good thing.
On Sunday, though, we did have nine investigators at church. Everyone from the Family we're teaching, plus three cousins went. We also had a woman named Carla that we're teaching there. It was very fun to enter into the sacrament meeting with that huge group of people. I think the members were impressed.
That night, we marked a Family Home Evening at the Bishop's house with the family. Everyone except the oldest daughter went. They loved it. It was a success.
The bus company that we use to go to Paraopeba called us and told us that they found our cell phone. I was so relieved. Now I don't have to pay for it.
Marcia, the woman from Paraopeba who was supposed to be baptized but ended up not, went to church on Sunday and told the members there to tell us that she wanted us to go to her house. We went there on monday and she said that she wants to be baptized, and that she overcame the fears that she had. We marked her baptism for Saturday. I'm skeptical, but we'll see what happens. I called the Bishop and told him, and he was also skeptical, but I think she'll go through with it this time.
Today Elder Vasquez and I slept for 3 1/2 hours after our study. From 10am to 1:30pm. It was one of the best naps ever. I think I probably wont sleep again until tomorrow night.
Well, that's all the news for this week.
Love you guys,
Elder Sisco
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
This week, on Thursday, we went and did some visits with Paul, the guy from London that's in our ward. He said he has 30 references of people that he wants us to contact, so he drove us around and we started contacting them. We got 7, I think, it was good. The problem is that he doesn't really speak Portuguese, but we were able to help him out. He's very outgoing and talks to everyone about the gospel. He does more missionary work than anyone else in the ward.
Our ward has an attendance rate of about 160 on average. It's close to being split.
On Sunday Irmão Branco, the high counselor who is in charge of Paraopeba went there to see how things are going and he said that Marcia was there and she told him to tell us to go back to her house because she wants to be baptized. He also said there was a married couple who talked to him and also said they wanted to be baptized. We thought, "fantastic! three baptisms this Sunday!" So we went there yesterday to teach this couple and see how marcia is doing. I personally don't really have much faith in her anymore, but we went to see.
Marcia wasn't home, so we went and invited the couple to the house where we have the meetings so we could teach them. They're from the Assembleia de Deus (Assembly of God? Does that exist?) They were very nice. Deli, the husband, has already worked for a church-owned business, so he knows much about the church already.
We taught them the first lesson, and the Spirit was very strong. Then we arrived at the end, and I said, "knowing from God that all of these things that we have said right now are true, would you follow Christ's example and be baptized in the church on the 20th of September?" But really, I didn't get to the part about the date, because before I finished Maria Lucia, the wife, said "No! no, no, no. I have already been baptized in the Assembleia church. Absolutely not." I was a little taken aback. I looked at Deli, and asked him and he said the same thing. We spent another 20 minutes talking about authority and Joseph Smith again, but it really didn't help. We ended up leaving the Book of Mormon with them and inviting them to church. So that was disappointing. I have no idea how Irmão Branco understood that they wanted to be baptized.
On the way to Paraopeba, Elder Vasquez called Sister Parrella, but she didn't answer so he waited for her to call back. He handed me the phone, but I said "no, you can keep it. After she calls give it back to me." He put it on his lap and fell asleep. She never called. Then our stop came and we got off. And the cell phone? It's still on the bus.
That means that I'm going to have to pay R$100,00 (like, $60) out of my missionary allowance to cover the lost cell phone. Really, it's not my fault, but since I'm the senior companion, the phone is my responsibility. The situation is under control, though.
So, now we have no cell phone and no communication with anyone. I talked to Elder Rospirski today and he said that by next Tuesday we'll be able to get our new phone.
Love you guys,
Elder Sisco
Our ward has an attendance rate of about 160 on average. It's close to being split.
On Sunday Irmão Branco, the high counselor who is in charge of Paraopeba went there to see how things are going and he said that Marcia was there and she told him to tell us to go back to her house because she wants to be baptized. He also said there was a married couple who talked to him and also said they wanted to be baptized. We thought, "fantastic! three baptisms this Sunday!" So we went there yesterday to teach this couple and see how marcia is doing. I personally don't really have much faith in her anymore, but we went to see.
Marcia wasn't home, so we went and invited the couple to the house where we have the meetings so we could teach them. They're from the Assembleia de Deus (Assembly of God? Does that exist?) They were very nice. Deli, the husband, has already worked for a church-owned business, so he knows much about the church already.
We taught them the first lesson, and the Spirit was very strong. Then we arrived at the end, and I said, "knowing from God that all of these things that we have said right now are true, would you follow Christ's example and be baptized in the church on the 20th of September?" But really, I didn't get to the part about the date, because before I finished Maria Lucia, the wife, said "No! no, no, no. I have already been baptized in the Assembleia church. Absolutely not." I was a little taken aback. I looked at Deli, and asked him and he said the same thing. We spent another 20 minutes talking about authority and Joseph Smith again, but it really didn't help. We ended up leaving the Book of Mormon with them and inviting them to church. So that was disappointing. I have no idea how Irmão Branco understood that they wanted to be baptized.
On the way to Paraopeba, Elder Vasquez called Sister Parrella, but she didn't answer so he waited for her to call back. He handed me the phone, but I said "no, you can keep it. After she calls give it back to me." He put it on his lap and fell asleep. She never called. Then our stop came and we got off. And the cell phone? It's still on the bus.
That means that I'm going to have to pay R$100,00 (like, $60) out of my missionary allowance to cover the lost cell phone. Really, it's not my fault, but since I'm the senior companion, the phone is my responsibility. The situation is under control, though.
So, now we have no cell phone and no communication with anyone. I talked to Elder Rospirski today and he said that by next Tuesday we'll be able to get our new phone.
Love you guys,
Elder Sisco
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
here are some pictures, finally !
The first is Luiz's baptism, from two weeks ago. From the left to right is João, his son, Ednaldo, family friend, the Bishop (herton) who baptised him, Luiz, his wife who was baptized last month, Elder Vasquez and Me. I think I got that right, I didn't see the picture.
Next is me and Elder Vasquez with our district t-shirts: Missão Brasil Belo Horizonte - Missão de Metas e Milagres (Brazil Belo Horizonte Mission - The Mission of Goals and Miracles. Sounds cooler in Portuguese)
And then me with a parrot in Paraopeba.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
So lots of exciting things have happened. And lots of not exciting things.
Let's start on Saturday. Saturday night we went to our investigator Kesley's house. He's 12 and his mom doesn't want him to be baptized. He's Stanley's brother, the drug addict who got baptized, and went back to drugs and is now in rehabilitation. He goes to church every Sunday with us, and has been for a month. But she's afraid that he'll baptize and then fall away just like Stanely (although Stanley didn't technically "fall away" he was more like "forced away by the habit of drug abuse and his family who sent him to a farm to get off of drugs". He can still get confirmed when he gets back in March). On the bus home from Paraopeba on Saturday I felt that we should go visit him and ask his mom one more time for permission to baptize him. We planned a lesson on the bus and when we got back to Sete Lagoas we went straight there and started the lesson with her and Kesley. Before we started, Elder Vasquez had pulled Kesley aside and told him our plan, and at the end of the lesson, before I asked her to sign the slip, we prepared him to bear his testimony to his mom. The lesson went great, she was very interactive, made comments and is very understanding. When we touched on baptism though she started talking a bunch and already showed that she didn't want him to be baptized, but then she slowed down, looked at Kesley and said "but that's just my opinion, what's yours?" Elder Vasquez and I both got excited at this point and looked at Kesley for him to bear his testimony. He thought for a second and then said, "Well, I'd like to keep going to church a little bit more to get to know things a little bit more, and who knows, maybe I can be baptized sometime in the future." I wanted to punch him. He got scared of what his mom would say if he said the truth, and just said what he thought she wanted to her. We lost the Spirit, and all was lost. It was very disappointing.
But on Sunday we had Marcia, from Paraopeba, who was a firm baptism. I went there Sunday morning with the High Counselor and picked her up to go to church with us. She watched the meetings with us and then we all got in the car to go to Sete Lagoas for her to baptize. Marcia, by the way, is the same Marcia who ran away from baptism for fear of water. But she came back.
On the way to Sete Lagoas, I sat in the backseat, in the middle between Marcia and Marileine a member from Paraopeba who came to accompany Marcia. Halfway there, Marcia put her head in her lap and when we asked her what was wrong she said, with her head still in her lap, "headache," and just stayed in that position. She didn't want to stop for air or water or anything, she said to just keep going. After time, her positioning slowly changed so that her head instead of being on her own lap buried in her arms, rested on my lap buried in her arms. It was incredibly awkward, and I had no idea how to stop it. I didn't want to be rude, and I of course was conscious that she was having a bad headache so I just waited patiently. She didn't get up until 20 minutes later when we finally arrived in Sete Lagoas. The member who was seated in the front said that she looked back and saw me turn green, yellow, blue, red, and all sorts of neat colors, haha.
So we got to Sete Lagoas and Marileine stayed with Marcia while we prepared the baptism with the Bishop. Church had ended and everyone was in the sacrament room waiting for the meeting to start. My companion had already changed into his white clothes to do the baptism, and we were just waiting for Marcia to change into the baptismal clothing so that we could start. And so we waited. And waited. And waited some more. And she never came out of the bathroom. Finally, Rejane (the can opener woman who I love), the Relief Society President went in to talk with her to see what was going on . She was in the bathroom holding the clothes in her arms and crying. Rejane started talking to her about the church and her feelings to try and figure out what was going on. She told Marcia to pray about what she was about to do, and ask God to confirm for her that is was right, and then came out of the bathroom running telling us to hurry and pray for her to know.
Marcia came out of the bathroom and said that she didn't want to get baptized. We invited her into the Bishop's office to talk to her and see what had happened. It was Marcia, The Bishop, Rejane, and me and my companion. It should be mentioned that Marcia does not hear well, so we always have to talk a little bit louder than normal for her to hear us. And the Bishop has a tendency to speak very softly. He started talking with her and bearing his testimony about the church and how her life would change after her baptism, and lots of other good things. I think he must've talked for a solid five minutes, and then he looked at her and said, "what we want to know from you Marcia is, are you ready to make this covenant with the Lord?" And there was silence. Then she looked back and said, "what?"
"Are you ready to make this covenant with the Lord?"
"Sorry, I still didn't hear you."
So Rejane yelled in her ear, "DO YOU WANT TO GET BAPTIZED TODAY, OR DO YOU WANT MORE TIME TO PREPARE??"
"oh, I want to wait."
And that was that. We gave her money to get a bus back to Paraopeba, and sent everyone home to eat lunch. It was tragic, really.
I almost cried.
Then on Monday we spent the whole day waiting for President Parrella to call us and tell us who was going to be transferred. Except he failed to mention to everyone that the new system is, "whoever doesn't get a call can just assume that you're not going to be transferred." So we waited all day anxiously for the phone call that never arrived. Finally, at 8 o'clock at night, we found out that he had finished the calls, and that no one was going to be transferred. So I am staying her in Sete Lagoas for six more week. Six. More. Weeks. Possibly twelve, who can tell? I was devastated. I wanted so badly to go to a new area. In my whole mission I've only worked in Sete Lagoas and Belo Horizonte. There are 10 other zones that I could have gone to. But, I stayed here. Again. Oh well.
Then, after all of this disappointment and devastation, on our way home Monday night, an investigator saw us in the road and went over to say hi. When I stopped to greet him, a bomb from above fell and covered my shoulder, my back, my backpack and got a little bit in my hair. I should have been more careful, I had seen all of the pidgeon poop on the ground where we were standing under the tree. I think it was God's way of saying, "See? Things could always be worse." Thanks.
It was the perfect way to end my perfect weekend.
Ah, here are the latest Paraopeba experiences: On Sunday, when I blessed the sacrament, as I was kneeling saying the prayer the four year old son of one of the members ran over to the table and stuck his hand in the bread tray to try and steal some bread. I grabbed his hand and we battled while I continued saying the prayer. By the time the prayer was done, he had returned to his seat.
Then Marileine, the lady who went to Sete Lagoas with us that day, got up to give her talk. The talk was nice, minus comments like, "I think all of the churches are led by Jesus, ours just happens to be the true one." Then at the end, she closed in the name of Jesus Christ, and said "now, to finish, I'd like to pray. May I?" No one argued, so she stuck out her arms towards the heavens and said this half-Mormon half-evangelical prayer, that used the phrase "in the name of Jesus" a lot. It was entertaining, at least.
Well, I think that's all the news for this week.
I love you guys, and will be home in three months.
-Elder Sisco
Let's start on Saturday. Saturday night we went to our investigator Kesley's house. He's 12 and his mom doesn't want him to be baptized. He's Stanley's brother, the drug addict who got baptized, and went back to drugs and is now in rehabilitation. He goes to church every Sunday with us, and has been for a month. But she's afraid that he'll baptize and then fall away just like Stanely (although Stanley didn't technically "fall away" he was more like "forced away by the habit of drug abuse and his family who sent him to a farm to get off of drugs". He can still get confirmed when he gets back in March). On the bus home from Paraopeba on Saturday I felt that we should go visit him and ask his mom one more time for permission to baptize him. We planned a lesson on the bus and when we got back to Sete Lagoas we went straight there and started the lesson with her and Kesley. Before we started, Elder Vasquez had pulled Kesley aside and told him our plan, and at the end of the lesson, before I asked her to sign the slip, we prepared him to bear his testimony to his mom. The lesson went great, she was very interactive, made comments and is very understanding. When we touched on baptism though she started talking a bunch and already showed that she didn't want him to be baptized, but then she slowed down, looked at Kesley and said "but that's just my opinion, what's yours?" Elder Vasquez and I both got excited at this point and looked at Kesley for him to bear his testimony. He thought for a second and then said, "Well, I'd like to keep going to church a little bit more to get to know things a little bit more, and who knows, maybe I can be baptized sometime in the future." I wanted to punch him. He got scared of what his mom would say if he said the truth, and just said what he thought she wanted to her. We lost the Spirit, and all was lost. It was very disappointing.
But on Sunday we had Marcia, from Paraopeba, who was a firm baptism. I went there Sunday morning with the High Counselor and picked her up to go to church with us. She watched the meetings with us and then we all got in the car to go to Sete Lagoas for her to baptize. Marcia, by the way, is the same Marcia who ran away from baptism for fear of water. But she came back.
On the way to Sete Lagoas, I sat in the backseat, in the middle between Marcia and Marileine a member from Paraopeba who came to accompany Marcia. Halfway there, Marcia put her head in her lap and when we asked her what was wrong she said, with her head still in her lap, "headache," and just stayed in that position. She didn't want to stop for air or water or anything, she said to just keep going. After time, her positioning slowly changed so that her head instead of being on her own lap buried in her arms, rested on my lap buried in her arms. It was incredibly awkward, and I had no idea how to stop it. I didn't want to be rude, and I of course was conscious that she was having a bad headache so I just waited patiently. She didn't get up until 20 minutes later when we finally arrived in Sete Lagoas. The member who was seated in the front said that she looked back and saw me turn green, yellow, blue, red, and all sorts of neat colors, haha.
So we got to Sete Lagoas and Marileine stayed with Marcia while we prepared the baptism with the Bishop. Church had ended and everyone was in the sacrament room waiting for the meeting to start. My companion had already changed into his white clothes to do the baptism, and we were just waiting for Marcia to change into the baptismal clothing so that we could start. And so we waited. And waited. And waited some more. And she never came out of the bathroom. Finally, Rejane (the can opener woman who I love), the Relief Society President went in to talk with her to see what was going on . She was in the bathroom holding the clothes in her arms and crying. Rejane started talking to her about the church and her feelings to try and figure out what was going on. She told Marcia to pray about what she was about to do, and ask God to confirm for her that is was right, and then came out of the bathroom running telling us to hurry and pray for her to know.
Marcia came out of the bathroom and said that she didn't want to get baptized. We invited her into the Bishop's office to talk to her and see what had happened. It was Marcia, The Bishop, Rejane, and me and my companion. It should be mentioned that Marcia does not hear well, so we always have to talk a little bit louder than normal for her to hear us. And the Bishop has a tendency to speak very softly. He started talking with her and bearing his testimony about the church and how her life would change after her baptism, and lots of other good things. I think he must've talked for a solid five minutes, and then he looked at her and said, "what we want to know from you Marcia is, are you ready to make this covenant with the Lord?" And there was silence. Then she looked back and said, "what?"
"Are you ready to make this covenant with the Lord?"
"Sorry, I still didn't hear you."
So Rejane yelled in her ear, "DO YOU WANT TO GET BAPTIZED TODAY, OR DO YOU WANT MORE TIME TO PREPARE??"
"oh, I want to wait."
And that was that. We gave her money to get a bus back to Paraopeba, and sent everyone home to eat lunch. It was tragic, really.
I almost cried.
Then on Monday we spent the whole day waiting for President Parrella to call us and tell us who was going to be transferred. Except he failed to mention to everyone that the new system is, "whoever doesn't get a call can just assume that you're not going to be transferred." So we waited all day anxiously for the phone call that never arrived. Finally, at 8 o'clock at night, we found out that he had finished the calls, and that no one was going to be transferred. So I am staying her in Sete Lagoas for six more week. Six. More. Weeks. Possibly twelve, who can tell? I was devastated. I wanted so badly to go to a new area. In my whole mission I've only worked in Sete Lagoas and Belo Horizonte. There are 10 other zones that I could have gone to. But, I stayed here. Again. Oh well.
Then, after all of this disappointment and devastation, on our way home Monday night, an investigator saw us in the road and went over to say hi. When I stopped to greet him, a bomb from above fell and covered my shoulder, my back, my backpack and got a little bit in my hair. I should have been more careful, I had seen all of the pidgeon poop on the ground where we were standing under the tree. I think it was God's way of saying, "See? Things could always be worse." Thanks.
It was the perfect way to end my perfect weekend.
Ah, here are the latest Paraopeba experiences: On Sunday, when I blessed the sacrament, as I was kneeling saying the prayer the four year old son of one of the members ran over to the table and stuck his hand in the bread tray to try and steal some bread. I grabbed his hand and we battled while I continued saying the prayer. By the time the prayer was done, he had returned to his seat.
Then Marileine, the lady who went to Sete Lagoas with us that day, got up to give her talk. The talk was nice, minus comments like, "I think all of the churches are led by Jesus, ours just happens to be the true one." Then at the end, she closed in the name of Jesus Christ, and said "now, to finish, I'd like to pray. May I?" No one argued, so she stuck out her arms towards the heavens and said this half-Mormon half-evangelical prayer, that used the phrase "in the name of Jesus" a lot. It was entertaining, at least.
Well, I think that's all the news for this week.
I love you guys, and will be home in three months.
-Elder Sisco
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
This week we experienced one of the biggest miracles of my mission. Luiz, Rosa's husband (who we baptized two transfers ago - her son is on his mission, left in may), was baptized. We ate lunch at Regina's house on Friday who is Rosa's visiting teaching companion, and Rosa was there. They said that Luiz commented that he was contemplating being baptized, he just didn't know when. He goes to church every Sunday and is keeping all of the commandments, he just needed to be baptized. We marked to go visit him that very night. After lunch, we started a fast specifically for him. Regina said she would prepare a message about temples and eternal families and then would pass it to us for us to challenge him for the baptism.
That night, at 7:30 we all went there and sat in their living room with Luiz, Rosa, Regina, João (their 14 year old son who's also a member), me and Elder Vasquez. We started by watching Together Forever, that old, cheesy church film. It brought the Spirit, and then Regina talked about eternal families and temples and then passed the lesson to us. I talked about what a blessing being sealed to my family was, and talked about all the blessings that they would receive when they are sealed together, and then said "but in order for that to happen, everyone needs to do their part. In order to enter into the temple, everyone needs to be a member of the church, and we'd like to invite you, Luiz, to become a member of the church by being baptized on Sunday." He evaded the question and changed the subject. Then I asked again, and he evaded the subject again. Then there was silence and Regina said, "Lu, the Elder asked you a question." And he said, "what's the question again?" and I said, "will you be baptized on Sunday so that your family can be sealed in the temple when Felipe gets home from his mission?" And he sat, and thought, and then said, "yes." Then everyone jumped out of their seats and hugged and it was a marvelous experience.
Our bishop baptized him after church on Sunday, it was great. We took lots of pictures. I have a stronger testimony of the power of the fast.
That's the biggest news of the week.
We also had our first interviews with the new president on monday. The interview was different, but really good. He's a very spiritual man. He's changing lots of things in the mission.
Last night we did visits with Junior, the 18 year old that Elder Martinez and I baptized. He's dating a member and is already excited about his mission. He will be eligible in July of 2010. He said if he doesn't leave the country he wont go haha. I'm going to give him some ties. One of my mission goals was to baptize a future missionary, so I'm really excited that he's really excited.
Next week is transfers, I'll probably be transfered out of here and to my last area.
Three months left!
Love,
Elder Sisco
That night, at 7:30 we all went there and sat in their living room with Luiz, Rosa, Regina, João (their 14 year old son who's also a member), me and Elder Vasquez. We started by watching Together Forever, that old, cheesy church film. It brought the Spirit, and then Regina talked about eternal families and temples and then passed the lesson to us. I talked about what a blessing being sealed to my family was, and talked about all the blessings that they would receive when they are sealed together, and then said "but in order for that to happen, everyone needs to do their part. In order to enter into the temple, everyone needs to be a member of the church, and we'd like to invite you, Luiz, to become a member of the church by being baptized on Sunday." He evaded the question and changed the subject. Then I asked again, and he evaded the subject again. Then there was silence and Regina said, "Lu, the Elder asked you a question." And he said, "what's the question again?" and I said, "will you be baptized on Sunday so that your family can be sealed in the temple when Felipe gets home from his mission?" And he sat, and thought, and then said, "yes." Then everyone jumped out of their seats and hugged and it was a marvelous experience.
Our bishop baptized him after church on Sunday, it was great. We took lots of pictures. I have a stronger testimony of the power of the fast.
That's the biggest news of the week.
We also had our first interviews with the new president on monday. The interview was different, but really good. He's a very spiritual man. He's changing lots of things in the mission.
Last night we did visits with Junior, the 18 year old that Elder Martinez and I baptized. He's dating a member and is already excited about his mission. He will be eligible in July of 2010. He said if he doesn't leave the country he wont go haha. I'm going to give him some ties. One of my mission goals was to baptize a future missionary, so I'm really excited that he's really excited.
Next week is transfers, I'll probably be transfered out of here and to my last area.
Three months left!
Love,
Elder Sisco
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
We found Stanley, the investigator that ran away. He fell to the power of drugs again, and sold his brother's bike and his cell phone for more, so he was afraid to come home for fear of his brother.
Today he went to a rehabilitation clinic where he will stay (it's like a farm in the middle of nowhere) for the next seven months. Which means that he will not be confirmed and will have to be re-baptized when he gets out. I'll have to leave a post-it note on the wall or something for the Elders that will be here in March.
Marcia, the woman from Paraopeba that was supposed to be baptized on Sunday fled from us. I went there with a member in his car on Sunday morning. We went to get her at her house and she answered the door and was ready to go already, we didn't even have to wait for her. We went to the church/house where we have the meetings and she watched the sacrament meeting and then in the interval before Gospel Principles she came up to me and said "I'm just going to run back home to invite my niece to the baptism and grab the things you told me to bring to the baptism (towel, sandals, etc.)." I, suspecting nothing, said "that's fine, we'll pass by your house to pick you up and then we'll all go to Sete Lagoas together for the baptism." She agreed. When church ended (in Paraopeba it's only 2 hours), we went to pick her up and her mom said that she had left and that she said she didn't want to be baptized anymore. We went to the house where her mom said she had gone, and the people there said she had just left. We're going back this week to see what happened.
It's difficult to work in two areas. Everyone who gets baptized from Paraopeba has to go to Sete Lagoas, because there's no baptismal font in Paraopeba. It's rough.
So, my birthday was yesterday. For lunch the members whose house we ate at made a special meal (beans, rice, french fries, and these parmesean chicken things - excellent. I loved it) and then at night we had an appointment at Rosa's house, the lady who Elder Martinez and I baptized last transfer. Turns out that it was a surprise party, and her husband was doing a churrasco (barbecue) for us, with all of my favorite meats. It was awesome. He also said that he's going to be baptized. Probably next Sunday. All in all, it was a blast. I think I ate cake in four different houses. By the time we got home, I was dead from having eaten so much during the day.
Elder Rodrigo (remember him?) sent me a really expensive cologne called Carpe Diem from some perfume store called Boticário. I've never heard of it, but my companion said it's really expensive. I don't even use cologne, but I guess I can start now. Anyway, that was neat.
Today we played soccer, and a bunch of our investigators went. Soccer is the best integration tool that exists in Brazil.
Love,
Elder Sisco
Today he went to a rehabilitation clinic where he will stay (it's like a farm in the middle of nowhere) for the next seven months. Which means that he will not be confirmed and will have to be re-baptized when he gets out. I'll have to leave a post-it note on the wall or something for the Elders that will be here in March.
Marcia, the woman from Paraopeba that was supposed to be baptized on Sunday fled from us. I went there with a member in his car on Sunday morning. We went to get her at her house and she answered the door and was ready to go already, we didn't even have to wait for her. We went to the church/house where we have the meetings and she watched the sacrament meeting and then in the interval before Gospel Principles she came up to me and said "I'm just going to run back home to invite my niece to the baptism and grab the things you told me to bring to the baptism (towel, sandals, etc.)." I, suspecting nothing, said "that's fine, we'll pass by your house to pick you up and then we'll all go to Sete Lagoas together for the baptism." She agreed. When church ended (in Paraopeba it's only 2 hours), we went to pick her up and her mom said that she had left and that she said she didn't want to be baptized anymore. We went to the house where her mom said she had gone, and the people there said she had just left. We're going back this week to see what happened.
It's difficult to work in two areas. Everyone who gets baptized from Paraopeba has to go to Sete Lagoas, because there's no baptismal font in Paraopeba. It's rough.
So, my birthday was yesterday. For lunch the members whose house we ate at made a special meal (beans, rice, french fries, and these parmesean chicken things - excellent. I loved it) and then at night we had an appointment at Rosa's house, the lady who Elder Martinez and I baptized last transfer. Turns out that it was a surprise party, and her husband was doing a churrasco (barbecue) for us, with all of my favorite meats. It was awesome. He also said that he's going to be baptized. Probably next Sunday. All in all, it was a blast. I think I ate cake in four different houses. By the time we got home, I was dead from having eaten so much during the day.
Elder Rodrigo (remember him?) sent me a really expensive cologne called Carpe Diem from some perfume store called Boticário. I've never heard of it, but my companion said it's really expensive. I don't even use cologne, but I guess I can start now. Anyway, that was neat.
Today we played soccer, and a bunch of our investigators went. Soccer is the best integration tool that exists in Brazil.
Love,
Elder Sisco
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
On thursday I went to a city called Curvelo to do baptismal interviews with one of the zone leaders here. It's two hours from Sete Lagoas, but they're rebuilding the highway and there's a part on the way to curvelo where they only allow one lane to function at a time, and the stretch is large. We sat in the non-moving bus for an hour and a half while all the cars going in the opposite direction drove by us. What should have been a two hour journey lasted three and a half.
When we got to Curvelo the Elders there met us at the bus station and took us to the area. It was already 8:00 so we had to go fast. Two of the people that were supposed to be interviewed traveled without notifying anyone and so they weren't there. I ended up doing one interview with another one of their investigators.
While we were there at the bus station waiting, we saw this truck filled with frozen foods parked on the side of the road and there was a guy unloading a bunch of boxes behind it. All of a sudden, the brakes went and the truck started rolling backwards because it was on a hill. It rolled over the guys leg and broke it and totalled the front of the car that was behind it. It was scary, but cool to see. The guy with the broken leg was fine - aside from the broken leg.
When we went home the next day we sat in the bus watching the cars go by for another hour.
On Friday we went to visit Rosa, the woman Elder Martinez and I baptized a few months ago. Her family was there, and there was a member who is a friend of her son that was also with us. She gave us dinner and everything, it was great. And then when we had to leave we asked the member to say the closing prayer for us. Everyone was sitting around the table while he prayed, and then in the prayer he said "please bless Irmão (brother) Teodoro that he will get well, and that his recovery may be quick" and Rosa in the middle of the prayer said "he died last week!" Then, without stopping, he said "Then bless him that he may rest in Paradise." Haha no one had told him that this Irmão had died. It's the same guy that we went to give the blessing to in the hospital two weeks ago, and then he died two days later. Now that I think of it, I don't remember if I mentioned that or not.
I did a contact with a group of kids the other night - 4 teenage guys. When I asked them what the most important thing in their lives was, one said "girls." So I said, "you should come to church with us. In the church of Jesus Christ there are lots of girls just like you." I don't think he liked it. I was trying to say that there were lots of girls who had the same age and ideas as him, but it came out wrong, and I didn't have time to correct myself.
Training has been an adventure so far.
The guy we baptized last Sunday, Stanley, went to work on Saturday and never came home. Even today, his parents don't know where he is. He used to be a drug dealer, and they're afraid that either he relapsed and is using drugs again or that someone who he owed went after him to collect. We've gone all over the city looking for him. He didn't even get confirmed on Sunday. So that worries us. The message for the Family Home Evening at one of the members' homes on monday was his. They think that he was fleeing from giving the message.
Today we played lots of soccer and then had a Churrasco at a restaurant where some elders are teaching the couple that owns the restaurant. They wanted to do something nice for the elders, so they said that all the missionaries in the zone could go to their restaurant for this churrasco (like, a barbecue, but better). It was fantastic. We ate a lot.
Tomorrow is zone conference in Belo Horizonte. We're going to have to wake up at 5:30 to get the bus on time. Ouch.
I love you all.
Have a good week.
-Elder Sisco
When we got to Curvelo the Elders there met us at the bus station and took us to the area. It was already 8:00 so we had to go fast. Two of the people that were supposed to be interviewed traveled without notifying anyone and so they weren't there. I ended up doing one interview with another one of their investigators.
While we were there at the bus station waiting, we saw this truck filled with frozen foods parked on the side of the road and there was a guy unloading a bunch of boxes behind it. All of a sudden, the brakes went and the truck started rolling backwards because it was on a hill. It rolled over the guys leg and broke it and totalled the front of the car that was behind it. It was scary, but cool to see. The guy with the broken leg was fine - aside from the broken leg.
When we went home the next day we sat in the bus watching the cars go by for another hour.
On Friday we went to visit Rosa, the woman Elder Martinez and I baptized a few months ago. Her family was there, and there was a member who is a friend of her son that was also with us. She gave us dinner and everything, it was great. And then when we had to leave we asked the member to say the closing prayer for us. Everyone was sitting around the table while he prayed, and then in the prayer he said "please bless Irmão (brother) Teodoro that he will get well, and that his recovery may be quick" and Rosa in the middle of the prayer said "he died last week!" Then, without stopping, he said "Then bless him that he may rest in Paradise." Haha no one had told him that this Irmão had died. It's the same guy that we went to give the blessing to in the hospital two weeks ago, and then he died two days later. Now that I think of it, I don't remember if I mentioned that or not.
I did a contact with a group of kids the other night - 4 teenage guys. When I asked them what the most important thing in their lives was, one said "girls." So I said, "you should come to church with us. In the church of Jesus Christ there are lots of girls just like you." I don't think he liked it. I was trying to say that there were lots of girls who had the same age and ideas as him, but it came out wrong, and I didn't have time to correct myself.
Training has been an adventure so far.
The guy we baptized last Sunday, Stanley, went to work on Saturday and never came home. Even today, his parents don't know where he is. He used to be a drug dealer, and they're afraid that either he relapsed and is using drugs again or that someone who he owed went after him to collect. We've gone all over the city looking for him. He didn't even get confirmed on Sunday. So that worries us. The message for the Family Home Evening at one of the members' homes on monday was his. They think that he was fleeing from giving the message.
Today we played lots of soccer and then had a Churrasco at a restaurant where some elders are teaching the couple that owns the restaurant. They wanted to do something nice for the elders, so they said that all the missionaries in the zone could go to their restaurant for this churrasco (like, a barbecue, but better). It was fantastic. We ate a lot.
Tomorrow is zone conference in Belo Horizonte. We're going to have to wake up at 5:30 to get the bus on time. Ouch.
I love you all.
Have a good week.
-Elder Sisco
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