We had 3 baptisms for this week - 2 from Paraopeba and 1 from Sete Lagoas - but it's not looking good for them. One is an elderly lady and her daughter, and this week her grandson went and said a bunch of trash about the church and talked her out of being baptized. We're going there on Friday to talk to her. The other one is this kid who has been to church a bunch of times. He is 18, and is friends with a ton of members from our ward. He's a sure baptism, we're just having trouble getting in contact with him this week for him to be interviewed and prepared by Sunday. His name is Junior.
This transfer it's looking like our only baptism is going to be Wilson, who we baptized on the first Sunday of the transfer.
Speaking of transfers, we will go to Belo Horizonte next Wednesday. I don't know if I will stay or go, but imagine that I'll stay since my companion was already here one transfer when I got here, and we've been together for two. Usually missionaries don't stay longer than 3. We'll know on Monday night.
Today was our zone pday. We went hiking up a big mountain that is here in Sete Lagoas. We hiked up one side and down the other and at the bottom there was a little pond with a playground and a beach volleyball court, so we spent most of the day playing volleyball, which is always fun. Not as fun as soccer, but fun. I'm exhausted, just like every Pday. We never get to rest here, there's always something going on.
Tomorrow we will go to Belo Horizonte to have a mini-Zone Conference with President and Sister Parrella, our new Mission President. President and Sister Frei fly home today, and the Parrella's arrive at the same time.
We're working a bunch in Paraopeba. On a division with one of the Zone Leaders we found a family of 11 people (the youngest girl is 9) that were interested in the church. On Sunday, 5 of them went. Elder Martinez and I showed up at their house yesterday and they gave back the Book of Mormon and said they didn't want to hear the messages anymore, but didn't say why. I think it has to do with having to give up coffee. We're going to go back on Friday to see if we can save them. They love us, it just appears that they love coffee more, and didn't completely understand the things we taught.
On Monday I went to Paraopeba with Elder Leme, one of the zone leaders, and we went to visit a family that we're teaching there and only the sons were home and they hid from us. Their neighbor, some little kid, who was visiting came out and told us that no one was home, but he was obviously lying. We gave him 2 Halls and told him to suck on them. Then we gave him a glass of water and told him to drink it all. He didn't finish the cup of water, he spit it out because of the burning.
We went into the house and the sons were on the couch watching a soccer game and drinking beer. We reprimanded them, and left, but they told us to come back later in the afternoon for a Churrasco (like, a barbeque, but better). We went. We decided that they're not interested in the church, but are only interested in having our friendship. It seems like everyone in Paraopeba is falling.
I guess I don't have much else to say. I love you guys and miss you.
-Elder Sisco

On thursday the whole zone went to Belo Horizonte to have our last zone conference with President and Sister Frei. It was very cool. Sad, but good. Sister Frei made a giant quilt out of ties from every missionary that has ever passed through this mission since she got here. Every time a missionary leaves she cuts one of his ties, and this past month she's been asking that everyone send a tie so that she can finish the quilt. It turned out really neat. Each one has the missionary's name on it.
I've been sick since last Monday. 9 days now. It's rough. I had a cold, then it turned into something else and then a sore throat. I've been through a whole medical dictionary of sicknesses this past week. Just today I've started feeling a little bit better. Good enough to play soccer at least.
Raimundo and Beatriz did not get baptized on Sunday. They both got sick and were unable to travel to Sete Lagoas to attend our ward conference and be baptized afterwards. We are accompanying them this week and preparing them for the 21st.
Yesterday I did a division with Elder Kim in the area where I started my mission. The guy who owned the old house where we used to live saw us and stopped me in the street and we talked a little. He said that he would go to church on Sunday because of me. We met some other girls who said they would go to church on Sunday to take a picture with me, because I look like Harry Potter. I told them only if they went to church that we would do that.
Love you all,
Elder Sisco

Not too much to report this week. We're going a lot more during the week to Paraopeba to teach the people there. The work is going really well there, we have a lot of good investigators. Unfortunately, half of the city is living together, but not married.
We're teaching an elderly coupled named Raimundo and Beatriz. They live in front of the house where we have our meetings on Sunday. They went to church once, and to a Family Home Evening that we had there last week. They love it and are preparing to be baptized this Sunday. Unfortunately, Beatriz has been in the hospital since Friday, and we don't know where she is or when she's coming back. But if she comes back by Friday, we will get them interviewed and ready to go by Sunday.
We were teaching a girl that's addicted to crack and living with a drug dealer, but she never went to church so we'll probably stop going to her house. Also, if we managed to get her to stop using drugs, I'm afraid that her crack-head boyfriend/dealer might come after us.
-Elder Sisco

Today I am broken. We played soccer this morning and everything hurts. I'm not sure why, I must have played harder than usual. We usually play for like, 3 hours.
Elder Martinez and I have been jogging in the morning when we wake up, so maybe that has something to do with it. I like running around here in the morning when hardly anyone is out yet, it's a pretty place.
On Sunday I went to Paraopbeba for church. Nothing of great significance happened. The Group Leader whose house we meet in works every day of the wekk until 5am and so he doesn't get a lot of sleep on Sunday because of church. During the sacrament meeting he sneakily put on a pair of sunglasses (bearing in mind that he sits in the front) so that he could close his eyes and sleep without anyone noticing. When I looked over from the sacrament table and saw him I almost laughed out loud; I had to control myself.
I gave the Gospel Principles lesson on Faith, and aside from the mini-apostasies it was a good lesson. After that we drove back to Sete Lagoas.
On Sunday afternoon Wilson was baptized. We found him through a contact that I did in the street. He chose me to baptize him, and I was nervous because he weighs about 180 pounds, I didn't know if I could handle it. Before we went into the water, I told him that, and then when we went to do the baptism he threw himself into the water and back up, which made things a lot easier for me. Unfortunately, I left a word out of the prayer and had to do it a second time. I looked up at the guy who told me to repeat it and told him, "but at least the baptism part worked out." The second time everything went great.
Afterwards, Wilson told us that when he was in the water, despite the fact that it was freezing cold because the water heater is broken, it was really "gostoso" (felt really good) to be under the water, and he wished that I had left him under longer.
Wilson is unemployed and we've been trying to find him a job. He is an ex-paramedic and is trying to get back into the field. On Sunday night, he got a phone call from a guy he used to work with asking him to come back and work on the Ambulance team because they need him. He has to do a 6-month course to finish his qualifications and it costs R$2,000 (about $800) but we're trying to see if the church can't help him out with that. When he called us to tell us about what had happened, I told him "the Lord didn't even wait one day after your baptism to pour out the blessings!"

Today was transfers. I am staying in my area here in Sete Lagoas with the same companion, Elder Martinez, but we had to go to Belo Horizonte to watch the transfer meeting because I had a District Leader meeting afterwards. It's always fun to travel a little bit, even if it's only an hour away. And it's good to see friends that you haven't seen in a long time.
On Sunday we baptized two people. Rosa, the mom of a missionary (Felipe) who left from our ward three weeks ago and is now in the São Paulo South Mision and Fred, that kid (22 years old) who appeared out of nowhere last Sunday. Hopefuly Rosa's husband will go soon as well. We had marked a date with him for this Sunday, but he decided he didn't want to on Friday.
Everyone in the ward was very happy. Or rather, very happy with the baptisms, but not so enthusiastic about the fact that during church on Sunday I forgot to fill up the baptismal font, so everyone had to wait 45 minutes in the chapel for it to fill up after church ended, and that my companion forgot the baptismal clothing at our house so he had to go home with one of the Bishop's counselors to get it. During all the post-church/pre-baptism confusion the bishop came up to me and, in english, said "I want to kill you." He was kidding, though. I think.
Every wednesday night our ward has an activity, and last wednesday when we went there Fred gave us a scare. One of the members came up to us in the chapel and said "Fred is on the corner, run there!" So we ran. He was sitting on the curb of the sidewalk cradling his head in his arms and crying and rocking back and forth.
I thought he was having some sort of seizure or something. We ran over to him and starting talking to him. He understood everything we said, but couldn't communicate very well. I started telling him to focus on breathing, and when he did that he fell over on his back. I told my comp to call an ambulance, but Fred was coherent enough to tell us (or at least signal to us) that he didn't want that.
We finally got him up on his feet and into the church and he calmed down a bit. We sat down and tried to talk to him, but he ended up storming out of the room and back into the street where he stayed pacing on the other side of the street in front of the church.
This whole scene lasted about an hour. Finally, one of his friends came, talked to him and got him to calm down. He later came and apologized for the event. He apparently had had some kind of nervous breakdown. He said that he's having a lot of difficulties at home, and he has been searching for a job and he's not finding anything, and his love life is a mess, etc. and it all built up and he never let anything out, and so it just exploded all at once inside of him. But by the end of the night he was back to normal and we even got to teach him a few gospel principles. He was interviewed the next night and baptized on Sunday.
We have an investigator named Wilson who was interviewed yesterday and will be baptized on Sunday. I think he's the investigator that I've most made friends with of all the people that I've taught here in a year and a half. He's an unemployed paramedic from São Paulo that moved here to live with his family. He lives with his Mom, Dad and one younger brother. He's 34 years old. He loves us. Every time we go to his house, we plan to stay for no more than 45 minutes and end up staying for an hour and a half. It's impossible to leave. I always try to bring the subject back to what we're teaching him, but I always get lost in what he's talking about because he's so interesting. He also served in the army when he was younger. In 1999, he ran head on into a Semi-Truck going 105 MPH. He almost died. Lots of his insides came out. He showed us all the scars that he has where they grafted skin over where he had lost it. He spent nearly three years recovering in the hospital, and then quite a bit more recovering at home. He wants me to bring him to the United States and wants to meet my family. I told him Mom would make dinner for him if he wanted to come over and stay for a night, but that I couldn't promise much more than that.
That's all the news I've got for now. Love you all, and am looking forward to next week!
Elder Sisco

On Sunday we met a guy named Frede. He's 22 and is dating a member of our ward. She brought him to church for the first time. On Monday we went to teach him at another member's house. We taught him the first lesson and explained about the church and at the end asked him if he would pray and ask the Lord if it was true. He said, "I don't need to ask, I already know it is. I received a confirmation at church yesterday." Our jaws hit the floor. So we invited him to be baptized on Sunday and he willingly accepted.
Yesterday we taught him the Word of Wisdom and at the end when I asked him if he had any difficulty with any of the five substances, he said "Just coffee, but I'll stop drinking it now." Then he started asking us about missions and how he could serve one. I think he's the most elect person I've ever taught in my mission.
Felipe's parents, Luiz and Rosa are progressing. She went to church on Sunday, but he had to work. We finally marked their baptismal date for the 24th. On Friday they will be interviewed, and hopefully everything will work out. Please pray for them, I'm nervous about them.
We're teaching a guy named Wilson that I did a contact with in the street last week. He's an unemployed doctor and he served in the army for two years. He's 34, and would like to be married. He loves us, and every time we go there it's almost impossible to leave. Our lessons end up being two hours long. The problem is that he's so interesting to talk to that I always get into what he's talking about and forget that we're there to teach him. We invited him to go play soccer with us today, but he woke up this morning with a fever. I think he might have a touch of depression as well.
On Sunday I went to Paraopeba. I blessed the sacrament, gave a 25 minute talk about repentance and gave the Gospel Principles lesson. I can't wait for that place to get more members.
Transfers will be next wednesday; I imagine I'll probably stay here at least one more since I just got here. We'll see, though.
This next transfer will be President Frei's last, and then President Parrella from São Paulo will take over.
Today we played soccer... again. Just like we do every pday. Not that I'm complaining; I love it. From here we're going to eat lunch that some sisters made.
'Til next week,
Elder Sisco

We had a great experience last night with the couple we're teaching whose son left for his mission two weeks ago. Last week we talked a lot with his Mom, Rosa, about the Book of Mormon and marked several different parts for her to read (she's already in Second Nephi on her own, but we marked some other special parts we thought she might like) and invited her to pray about it and ask if it's true. She said she would.
When we went back last night we asked her how the reading went, and if she had said a prayer to ask. She told us that on Thursday afternoon she grabbed the Book of Mormon and sat down to read it. She read the parts that we marked and started saying a prayer to ask the Lord if what she was reading was true. Before she had even finished the prayer her dog started barking so she got up to see what it was. She went to the front door and saw that the mail had arrived, and when she grabbed it she saw that her son had written her a letter from the mission. In the letter he talked about everything he was learning in the mission, bore his testimony about the church, and said how happy and excited he was to see his family progress in the gospel. I told her she couldn't have gotten a response any clearer than that.
We managed to mark a baptismal date for her and her husband for the 24th of May, though her husband was a little bit more reluctant. He hasn't read the Book of Mormon yet, but said that he would.
On Saturday we're going there and we're going to watch "Joseph Smith: The Prophet" at their house with some members.
We're teaching a guy named Dirceu, and he has stood us up three Sundays in a row. He still hasn't gone to church. We went there on Sunday night to see what happened, and basically with the intention of letting him know that we weren't going to be passing by anymore to teach him, but when we got to his house and started talking to him he started talking about "a problem" that he has. He didn't go into details, but by the questions I asked and the way he answered them basically what we figured out is that he didn't just use drugs, but he also trafficked them, and that when he went to leave for church on Sunday morning the people that he used to work with started giving him trouble. He didn't want to go into details because his family was present, so we marked with him to go to a member's house that's a friend of his tonight for him to tell us the whole story. He will be baptized on the 24th by this friend of his if everything works out right.
On Sunday night before we talked to our families we watched a Fireside Transmission from BYUI with Elder Bednar. I thought it was cool that he talked from the same stage that I played guitar on once.
Welp, I'll talk to you all next week.
Elder Sisco

I loaned my copy of the Restauration DVD to an investigator for her to watch this week. When we went back and asked her how it was she said "my son broke the remote control, so we couldn't change the language options. We watched it in english and I didn't understand anything, but the images were pretty."
On Monday I did a division with an elder from my district. He came to my area to work for a day. There is an old lady in our ward whose husband went to church on Sunday so we went there to visit them and see if he would let us teach him. He's old and crazy. He told us that he's a prophet. We talked to him (or rather, he talked to us, since he was the only person doing any talking) and then his wife (the member) came out with a tray and offered us coffee. When we declined, she insisted several time and finally brought the tray back into the house and gave us water instead. I think someone needs to have a talk with her.
Sunday was my week to go to Paraopeba. I went with Gabriel, the second counselour of our ward this time.
Since we have our meetings in this guy's garage, sometimes things can be a little informal. For example, at 9:00 everyone had arrived and was sitting down waiting for the meeting to start. Alcide's (the guy who owns the house) daughter was still in the bathroom getting ready, and so he stuck his head in the window of the house and yelled "HEY, JESSICA, WE'RE WAITING FOR YOU, LET'S GO!" And then she came and we started sacrament meeting.
Since it was Fast Sunday, we were nervous that there would be a lot of dead space during sacrament meeting, since there are only about 12-15 people who go every Sunday. Things went pretty well at first, and then after everyone who wanted to had borne (word?) their testimony, there was a dead space. Then this old lady looked around to see if anyone else would go, saw no one and got up for the second time and bore her testimony again. Only the second time she bore her testimony that Joseph was NOT Jesus's father, he was his Step-Father. She made that very clear, stating it several times, and then sat down again. The meeting ended on that spiritual note.
This is the same lady who makes comments to everyone on every person's testimony after they're done.
Afterwards, I gave the Gospel Principles lesson about the Priesthood. I think it went over pretty well. I hadn't given a lesson in church in my whole mission until Sunday.
A year and a half ago, some missionaries baptized a kid named Felipe. On thursday he left for his mission in São Paulo. His parents are not members. The missionaries have been teaching them ever since Felipe and his brother were baptized. Now that their son has left for his mission they are showing more interest in the church, and are even attending church and reading the Book of Mormon. We're going there tonight with a member (Felipe's future mother-in-law) to teach them. Wish us luck!
The work here is going incredibly well. I've gained a strong testimony of obedience, and how we can obligate the Lord to bless us when we obey his laws. This week has been great so far. Yesterday we found seven new people and marked seven baptismal dates. It was great.
The Bishop here in our ward is amazing. Remind me if I'm ever bishop that I want to be just like him. He's very kind, spiritual, and everyone loves him. Every time we go to his house he gives us fruit.
A girl that was baptized a few months ago had an epillepsie attack out of nowhere and went to the hospital yesterday. We went there to see her, but she was sleeping. Hopefully she gets better.
-Elder Sisco