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
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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
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
Saturday, May 16, 2009
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
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
Thursday, May 7, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Hello! Once again I have no time to write everything that I want to write. We need to leave basically now to get home on time and start proselyting.
But lets see what I can get out really quickly.
Tomorrow we are going to Paraopeba again. I'm excited to work there. On Sunday we had 7 investigators in church in Sete Lagoas and 2 in Paraopeba. All of the investigators that we invited and that I went to get with a member on Sunday morning fell, yet somehow a bunch of members brought friends to church so we had a ton of now-investigators there. If it wasn't for the members here, we would have had 0. I love this ward. Now we have a bunch of referralls from members to visit. There's a kid named Felipe who's going on his mission tomorrow. He was baptized a year ago, and his parents aren't members. They went to church to see him speak, and he told me last night that his dad says he wants to be baptized. We're going there tonight. His parents love the missionaries, they know all the missionaries that have passed here in the past year, but they never got baptized. Now that their son is going on a mission, it looks like something has sparked. They are GREAT people, and will make great leaders in the church. Pray for them that we can do a miracle in their house. I don't know their names, I just know them as Felipe's Parents. Thanks!
We're also helping a guy named Dirceu. He has a proble mwith 4 of the 5 prohibited substances (he just doesn't drink tea, but coffee, drugs, cigarettes and alcohol he does use) but has a great desire to change. He is keeping all the committments so far (except he didn't go to church, but he is readin gthe BOM).
I did 2 divisions this week. One for 24 hours and the other for 48 so Martinez has basically been taking care of our area this week. The 24 hour one I did last week was great. We found some great people. I marked a date with two teenage boys and they went to church on Sunday and are excited to be baptized on Sunday. Too bad it's not my area, but I can't help but feel a little bit of pride in that. One is in a wheelchair, he got shot in the back by a drug dealer last year. He is an elect.
The 48 hour one wasn't so successful, but it was neat because it was in the area that I started my mission. I went to visit some recent converts and that was fun.
I gave a training yesterday morning to my district. A lot of people in this mission have done this "collective faith" thing where they all pray at a certain time during the day for the same objective. With my district, we decided that instead of just saying a prayer for our goals at 6:00 every day, we would knock doors and ask to say a prayer in someone's house until they let us in. That way our faith is being demonstrated by our actions. On the division last night, we knocked 10 door before someone let us in. It was a nice, normal family with 3 kids. We left a brief message and marked to come back. It was fantastic.
Anyway, things are great. Hopefully next week I'll have more time.
Next Sunday is my turn to go to Paraopeba. I have to give the Gospel Principles lesson, bless the sacrament and possibly give a talk as well. Should be a blast.
Love you all!
Elder Sisco
But lets see what I can get out really quickly.
Tomorrow we are going to Paraopeba again. I'm excited to work there. On Sunday we had 7 investigators in church in Sete Lagoas and 2 in Paraopeba. All of the investigators that we invited and that I went to get with a member on Sunday morning fell, yet somehow a bunch of members brought friends to church so we had a ton of now-investigators there. If it wasn't for the members here, we would have had 0. I love this ward. Now we have a bunch of referralls from members to visit. There's a kid named Felipe who's going on his mission tomorrow. He was baptized a year ago, and his parents aren't members. They went to church to see him speak, and he told me last night that his dad says he wants to be baptized. We're going there tonight. His parents love the missionaries, they know all the missionaries that have passed here in the past year, but they never got baptized. Now that their son is going on a mission, it looks like something has sparked. They are GREAT people, and will make great leaders in the church. Pray for them that we can do a miracle in their house. I don't know their names, I just know them as Felipe's Parents. Thanks!
We're also helping a guy named Dirceu. He has a proble mwith 4 of the 5 prohibited substances (he just doesn't drink tea, but coffee, drugs, cigarettes and alcohol he does use) but has a great desire to change. He is keeping all the committments so far (except he didn't go to church, but he is readin gthe BOM).
I did 2 divisions this week. One for 24 hours and the other for 48 so Martinez has basically been taking care of our area this week. The 24 hour one I did last week was great. We found some great people. I marked a date with two teenage boys and they went to church on Sunday and are excited to be baptized on Sunday. Too bad it's not my area, but I can't help but feel a little bit of pride in that. One is in a wheelchair, he got shot in the back by a drug dealer last year. He is an elect.
The 48 hour one wasn't so successful, but it was neat because it was in the area that I started my mission. I went to visit some recent converts and that was fun.
I gave a training yesterday morning to my district. A lot of people in this mission have done this "collective faith" thing where they all pray at a certain time during the day for the same objective. With my district, we decided that instead of just saying a prayer for our goals at 6:00 every day, we would knock doors and ask to say a prayer in someone's house until they let us in. That way our faith is being demonstrated by our actions. On the division last night, we knocked 10 door before someone let us in. It was a nice, normal family with 3 kids. We left a brief message and marked to come back. It was fantastic.
Anyway, things are great. Hopefully next week I'll have more time.
Next Sunday is my turn to go to Paraopeba. I have to give the Gospel Principles lesson, bless the sacrament and possibly give a talk as well. Should be a blast.
Love you all!
Elder Sisco
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
So I'm finally out of the office, after seven months of being the financial secretary. It is a huge relief. Although I'm not entirely free. It's 4:00pm and Elder Montgomery has already called me three times with questions. Soon he'll get through that phase though.
My new area, like I said last week, is in Sete Lagoas - the same zone where I was born. Making the grand total of zones that I have passed in my whole mission: 2. But I'm happy to be here, it's the "Promised Land" of the BH Mission. I'm now working in Ala 1 (1st Ward).
I think I forgot to mention the fact that not only is my district big and possibly problematic, but we are opening a city! There is a city 40 minutes outside of SL called Pareopeba (possibly misspelled) where the SL Stake is trying to form a branch. Right now they have one Melchizedek priesthood holder there. They need three to form a branch. It is however an official "group" and they are free to have independent meetings on Sundays. They usually have between 20 and 25 people there every Sunday.
I talked to President Frei about how we should work the area and he told me to get two priesthood holders and for one of us to go with one guy to our area in Sete Lagoas to bring the investigators to church and the other one to go to Pareopeba to get the investigators and bring them to church there. How sweet is that! I'm excited. The church is new there, and so the people there don't know much about it, and are apparently very open. We're going to have much success there. I'm excited!
My new companion is Elder Martinez from São Paulo (my third companion from SP). He is apparently a very good missionary. The assistants spoke very highly of him. I'm excited to get to work with him.
Elder McArthur went home today. It's always sad to lose close friends in the mission.
Easter was great. Everyone in the office got an Easter Egg from President and Sister Frei (I can't remember if that has the same meaning in the States. It's one of those big, hollow, chocolate eggs with a prize inside. Delicious).
On Sunday, miraculously, José and Gabriel were baptized. I baptized Gabriel, and Elder Montgomery baptized José, making in total seven baptisms that we had during our time together. Gabriel was the first person I've baptized on my mission that I had to repeat. Apparently his knee popped out. Only one person saw it, so I'm suspicious, and would like to think that my perfect record still continues. But oh well, no one's perfect.
When we got to their house on Sunday afternoon to pick them and their mom up to go to the baptism, I was doing a contact with a guy in the street while Elder Montgomery knocked and waited at the door. While I was still talking to the guy, the mom answered and said, "Oh, it's you guys. Well, I have some bad news, my sons aren't getting baptized today. In fact, they're not even here." and E. Montgomery started freaking out and asking why, and she was like "look, Sisco is leaving us this week, and there's going to be just you to take care of them, and I don't want that." And after Elder Montgomery talked her ear off for a few minutes, she smiled and said, "I'm just kidding, they're getting ready right now. Why don't you come on in and have a seat while you wait for them." He wasn't pleased.
I thought it was funny, though.
All three of them went, and she said she liked it. I have a strong belief that she will get baptized too. It wont be easy, she smokes, but I think that she'll see the changes in her son's lives and will have the same desire that they have. If Elder Montgomery and Rospirski keep at her, I believe she will.
-Elder Sisco
My new area, like I said last week, is in Sete Lagoas - the same zone where I was born. Making the grand total of zones that I have passed in my whole mission: 2. But I'm happy to be here, it's the "Promised Land" of the BH Mission. I'm now working in Ala 1 (1st Ward).
I think I forgot to mention the fact that not only is my district big and possibly problematic, but we are opening a city! There is a city 40 minutes outside of SL called Pareopeba (possibly misspelled) where the SL Stake is trying to form a branch. Right now they have one Melchizedek priesthood holder there. They need three to form a branch. It is however an official "group" and they are free to have independent meetings on Sundays. They usually have between 20 and 25 people there every Sunday.
I talked to President Frei about how we should work the area and he told me to get two priesthood holders and for one of us to go with one guy to our area in Sete Lagoas to bring the investigators to church and the other one to go to Pareopeba to get the investigators and bring them to church there. How sweet is that! I'm excited. The church is new there, and so the people there don't know much about it, and are apparently very open. We're going to have much success there. I'm excited!
My new companion is Elder Martinez from São Paulo (my third companion from SP). He is apparently a very good missionary. The assistants spoke very highly of him. I'm excited to get to work with him.
Elder McArthur went home today. It's always sad to lose close friends in the mission.
Easter was great. Everyone in the office got an Easter Egg from President and Sister Frei (I can't remember if that has the same meaning in the States. It's one of those big, hollow, chocolate eggs with a prize inside. Delicious).
On Sunday, miraculously, José and Gabriel were baptized. I baptized Gabriel, and Elder Montgomery baptized José, making in total seven baptisms that we had during our time together. Gabriel was the first person I've baptized on my mission that I had to repeat. Apparently his knee popped out. Only one person saw it, so I'm suspicious, and would like to think that my perfect record still continues. But oh well, no one's perfect.
When we got to their house on Sunday afternoon to pick them and their mom up to go to the baptism, I was doing a contact with a guy in the street while Elder Montgomery knocked and waited at the door. While I was still talking to the guy, the mom answered and said, "Oh, it's you guys. Well, I have some bad news, my sons aren't getting baptized today. In fact, they're not even here." and E. Montgomery started freaking out and asking why, and she was like "look, Sisco is leaving us this week, and there's going to be just you to take care of them, and I don't want that." And after Elder Montgomery talked her ear off for a few minutes, she smiled and said, "I'm just kidding, they're getting ready right now. Why don't you come on in and have a seat while you wait for them." He wasn't pleased.
I thought it was funny, though.
All three of them went, and she said she liked it. I have a strong belief that she will get baptized too. It wont be easy, she smokes, but I think that she'll see the changes in her son's lives and will have the same desire that they have. If Elder Montgomery and Rospirski keep at her, I believe she will.
-Elder Sisco
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Okay, so these pictures aren't that great - but they were on the computer anyway so I figured I'd send them to you.
Here's us with the secretaries from the Belo Horizonte Leste (east) mission. We slept at their house last weekend for two nights while we were being kicked out of our house. They have a sweet apartment in the center of BH.
The next one is Elder Rodrigo and Elder Montgomery playing on the bed in the hotel.
And then me planning in our old apartment, in the middle of all our things which were being prepared for the move. We didn't even have chairs to sit in!
Love,
Elder Sisco
So, we're being kicked out of our apartment. We've all spent this whole week looking for new apartments. They made changes in the contract with the apartment building and they no longer allow resident changes. Whoever lives there, has to stay and you can't keep changing residents. That presents a big problem for us, since it changes every 6 weeks. The problem we've run into now is that no apartment building in the center accepts these changes. We have to clear out the apartment by the 17th.
All of our suitcases are in the office. We took all of the beds, tables, chairs, desks, etc. and put them in the back room. We're sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Four people in one room, and three in the other. Every night when we go to leave for our area to work, I have to remember to grab some essentials from my suitcase and stick it in my backpack for the next day. So our house is empty, and currently being remodeled.
On top of looking for a new apartment, packing all of our belongings, remodeling our old apartment, working in the office during the day and working in our area at night, we have the yearly audit of the mission office on Monday and Tuesday. The guy who is responsible for our mission that works at the church headquarters in São Paulo is going to come stay with us for two days and make sure that we're doing everything correctly and that everything is in order. I imagine he'll stay in a hotel- if not, someone might have to sacrifice a mattress on the floor for him. So this last week has been pretty stressful. And I imagine that it will continue to be until we leave here.
The amazing elect lady that we found last week fell last night. She didn't go to church on Sunday and stopped reading the Book of Mormon. I had promised her that as long as she was reading the Book of Mormon she wouldn't have even a desire to smoke. She did it, and didn't smoke on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. On Sunday, when she stopped keeping the commitments we had made with her, she returned to her cigarettes. I believe that her daughter and son-in-law who are from the Assembléia de Deus (Assembly of God? Does this church exist in the states?) probably talked bad about the church to her and she got scared or something. I told her "we knelt on the ground with you and prayed to know that these things are true, and I know that you felt the same Spirit that I felt; there is no way you can deny that these things are true." And she literally said that she knew it was true, and that if she were to die tomorrow she "wouldn't go to a very good place" but that it just "isn't something I can do right now". I was sad for her, needless to say, but the work continues.
Love you guys!
Elder Sisco
Here's us with the secretaries from the Belo Horizonte Leste (east) mission. We slept at their house last weekend for two nights while we were being kicked out of our house. They have a sweet apartment in the center of BH.
The next one is Elder Rodrigo and Elder Montgomery playing on the bed in the hotel.
And then me planning in our old apartment, in the middle of all our things which were being prepared for the move. We didn't even have chairs to sit in!
Love,
Elder Sisco
So, we're being kicked out of our apartment. We've all spent this whole week looking for new apartments. They made changes in the contract with the apartment building and they no longer allow resident changes. Whoever lives there, has to stay and you can't keep changing residents. That presents a big problem for us, since it changes every 6 weeks. The problem we've run into now is that no apartment building in the center accepts these changes. We have to clear out the apartment by the 17th.
All of our suitcases are in the office. We took all of the beds, tables, chairs, desks, etc. and put them in the back room. We're sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Four people in one room, and three in the other. Every night when we go to leave for our area to work, I have to remember to grab some essentials from my suitcase and stick it in my backpack for the next day. So our house is empty, and currently being remodeled.
On top of looking for a new apartment, packing all of our belongings, remodeling our old apartment, working in the office during the day and working in our area at night, we have the yearly audit of the mission office on Monday and Tuesday. The guy who is responsible for our mission that works at the church headquarters in São Paulo is going to come stay with us for two days and make sure that we're doing everything correctly and that everything is in order. I imagine he'll stay in a hotel- if not, someone might have to sacrifice a mattress on the floor for him. So this last week has been pretty stressful. And I imagine that it will continue to be until we leave here.
The amazing elect lady that we found last week fell last night. She didn't go to church on Sunday and stopped reading the Book of Mormon. I had promised her that as long as she was reading the Book of Mormon she wouldn't have even a desire to smoke. She did it, and didn't smoke on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. On Sunday, when she stopped keeping the commitments we had made with her, she returned to her cigarettes. I believe that her daughter and son-in-law who are from the Assembléia de Deus (Assembly of God? Does this church exist in the states?) probably talked bad about the church to her and she got scared or something. I told her "we knelt on the ground with you and prayed to know that these things are true, and I know that you felt the same Spirit that I felt; there is no way you can deny that these things are true." And she literally said that she knew it was true, and that if she were to die tomorrow she "wouldn't go to a very good place" but that it just "isn't something I can do right now". I was sad for her, needless to say, but the work continues.
Love you guys!
Elder Sisco
Thursday, March 26, 2009
I'm three weeks away from leaving the office. Woohoo! Only two more Pdays after this one and I'm out.
This week we had one more baptism. Adriene (see photos), Andreia's neighbor was baptized. She has a very strong testimony about the Book of Mormon, and had a great desire to be baptized, but the problem was that she worked on Sundays in the morning. We finally convinced her to just simply tell her boss "I can't work on Sundays anymore" and she did. And he was fine with it! It was fantastic.
This week President Frei got a letter from the First Presidency stating that Pass Along Cards are no longer to be used by missionaries. Only members can give them out now. Now we no longer have an "in" to talk to people. I always go up to people in the street with a card in my hand and say "can I leave this present with you?" and then start in on the conversation. Now I have to find a new tactic.
But on Monday, our first day without cards, I got off the bus and the very first lady that I went to talk to was very excited to talk to me. I got her address and marked to go to her house the next day. On tuesday when we went there, we taught her about the Word of Wisdom and the Book of Mormon with her. She gave us all her cigarettes and lighters and we marked her baptismal day for the 5th of April. We went there again last night and she not only read the part that we marked for her, but five more pages. She hasn't smoked since we took her cigarettes and is very excited to go to church with us on Sunday and to be baptized on the 5th.
We got kicked out of our apartment last week because they made a new rule in the apartment building that says that the people who live in the apartment have to remain there, and since the assistants and secretaries are always changing and every six weeks people come and go we have to find a new place to live. We'd been looking all week, and finally found one that accepted us. We'll probably move in next week. Unfortuantely, I wont have much time to enjoy the new house.
Elder Rodrigo's birthday was on Tuesday and some of the members made a cake and threw a party for him (see photo). Then on Wednesday President and Sister Frei invited us all over for cake and ice cream to celebrate as well. Score.
'Til next week!
Love,
Elder Sisco
This week we had one more baptism. Adriene (see photos), Andreia's neighbor was baptized. She has a very strong testimony about the Book of Mormon, and had a great desire to be baptized, but the problem was that she worked on Sundays in the morning. We finally convinced her to just simply tell her boss "I can't work on Sundays anymore" and she did. And he was fine with it! It was fantastic.
This week President Frei got a letter from the First Presidency stating that Pass Along Cards are no longer to be used by missionaries. Only members can give them out now. Now we no longer have an "in" to talk to people. I always go up to people in the street with a card in my hand and say "can I leave this present with you?" and then start in on the conversation. Now I have to find a new tactic.
But on Monday, our first day without cards, I got off the bus and the very first lady that I went to talk to was very excited to talk to me. I got her address and marked to go to her house the next day. On tuesday when we went there, we taught her about the Word of Wisdom and the Book of Mormon with her. She gave us all her cigarettes and lighters and we marked her baptismal day for the 5th of April. We went there again last night and she not only read the part that we marked for her, but five more pages. She hasn't smoked since we took her cigarettes and is very excited to go to church with us on Sunday and to be baptized on the 5th.
We got kicked out of our apartment last week because they made a new rule in the apartment building that says that the people who live in the apartment have to remain there, and since the assistants and secretaries are always changing and every six weeks people come and go we have to find a new place to live. We'd been looking all week, and finally found one that accepted us. We'll probably move in next week. Unfortuantely, I wont have much time to enjoy the new house.
Elder Rodrigo's birthday was on Tuesday and some of the members made a cake and threw a party for him (see photo). Then on Wednesday President and Sister Frei invited us all over for cake and ice cream to celebrate as well. Score.
'Til next week!
Love,
Elder Sisco
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