Companion: Elder Passarin
Hey Everybody! It still amazes me that Christmas is less than two weeks away! I have to say there isnt a ton of Christmas spirit here, and it is a humble Christmas for many people here, but even though it doesnt seem like a big deal for people here, it is a big deal to me! I am so happy to be out here and serve a mission and feel the Christmas spirit a little different this year.
So i forgot to tell you about last monday a little more. Last monday we went to play basketball, but the court just got painted so we couldnt play. But there was a track outside so i went and ran a couple of 400´s for fun. It was so cool! i can still get under a minute! though it was 59 sec. Then afterward i went to cut the hair of one of the elder´s here, Elder Wells. So i was cutting his hair and we were talking and what not, and then he asked for a little more off one of the sides. I was playing with the guard of the trimmer and was cleaning it, but my mind was occupied with whatever we were talking about and i accidentally cut without the guard! it was horrible. But we spent the next half hour fixing it and now you cant even tell that it happened... but i felt pretty bad! maybe bringing clippers was a bad idea.... haha. then later that day we went to eat some pizza and there was some really good country music playin and it made my day!
Tuesday we had the usual district meeting, and by the way, when i went on a split with Elder Gessel we talked about how the Jenkinsens are in our ward... small world neh? Anyway he is the District leader and so i see him every week. Then after district meeting, we had a really good day! My companion was with me, but he pretty much let me teach all of the lessons alone, which at this point really isnt too hard! We did a lot of contacting as well and had some ward family home evening thing later that night. So tuesday was a really good day.
Wednesday started off so good. That morning we went to the zone leaders house and picked up a bunch of stuff! I received my mission bag (should be a picture attached of what that is... basically a big fanny pack with an over strap), I got 2 packages (thanksgiving and the first christmas one with the build your own tree), a letter from G & G Smoot, the transition glasses from Elder Blackham, and two new name tags! I was thinking JACKPOT! So that was really cool. That night we taught these two couples that are looking awesome right now. The first is Emilton and Rosenir, and we contacted to find them and man Rosenir just has a ton of faith and will do about anything and is bringing her husband with her. So i really hope we can get em baptized! and the next is Ciro and Vanessa, who will be baptised, but need to marry first. So basically we found out though that it takes a little longer to get married then we thought so they cant get baptised until January... which is after this transfer so we´ll see what happens.
Thursday morning i finished the Book of Mormon which was cool. It was a pretty basic day and many of our investigators were ´busy´ for some reason... So a lot of our appointments fell through. Later that night we were passing another church, and a lot of the churches are like outside in the street almost, and anyway a person was singing How Great thou Art for their church! it was pretty funny... but good song, so why not use it right?
Friday i read those Christmas books you sent and read the thanksgiving 5 kernels which were all really good. During the day we passed my black friend Vitors house, which is where he cuts hair, and he gave me a haircut. He is really tight with us and has an amazing knowledge of the bible and stuff and so he´s super cool. Again a ton of our appointments fell through so i tried to do some contacting and man i cant even count how many times i was rejected! it was a ridiculous day.
Saturday we were studying and what not, and my comp started to do companion study... So first we talk about what we studied in personal study. That was good and then he started talking about how he was reading in the bible and started talking about if it was important if we were circumcised or not. I was like really? how is this important? and ya he got mad again, so i had to study alone for a while. I am telling you my comp is a cool guy sometimes, but he is crazy. Anyway it was just one of those days ya know? one of those days you could live without. It was a long, boring, and hot days. That night i got in and showered and just went to sleep and it was nice.
Sunday was really cool. Instead of normal church we had district conference, but not a normal one. We started by watching the christmas devotional, which i was so happy i got to see! and then had a broadcast from Salt Lake with Pres Uchtdorf, Niel L Anderson and a few others that was really cool to watch. They talked a lot about how we need more members and it was really really cool. Uchtdorf talked about tithing, which a lot of the people have problems with basic stuff like this, and he said it wasnt a matter of money, but a matter of keeping the commandments, which is so true. Anyway it was amazing. Then that night was crazy!! it started raining so hard! Next thing i know is there were about 200 bugs in the kitchen. Me and Elder Robertson had a half hour battle and killed almost all of the bugs. I used my racket and the broom and everything. So after all of that i go to sleep, and i have water dripping on my head! we had about 5 leaks in the roof! so i spend the next few minutes rearranging things and got some buckets to set around the house. Though i got to sleep a little late and the rain was super loud, i slept super good.
So today it was raining a little this morning, but it stopped right now, so its a little humid right now. Well this morning we went to go play basketball again because last week it was being painted. So we played with Elder Wells, Robertson, Melo, Ferreira da Silva, me and my comp and it was sweet! My comp isnt a sports fan so he didnt play much and didnt like going too much, but i loved it! man it was so cool and i was happy i finally got out to do something. And after we passed a sisters house in our ward and she gave us chocolate milk and this cake type stuff which was amazing! it has been a great day so far.
As far as other things go....
Quick question.. I dont think you can, but my comp was wondering if you can get your Duty to God past 18?
and Should i wait till Christmas to open those presents for Christmas that you sent? I gotta admit i already looked at the watch and chapstick... hehe but i havent looked at the others... what do you think?
So a funny thing about my comp... he tells me that he is a Teacher (which is true) but also that he is a Doctor (and everyone in brasil thinks there a doctor.. for example when i had the rash, every house i went to wanted to give me a remedy to get rid of it, which was super annoying! but it left already), he says he is a massage therapist, Dermotoligist, Hair Stylist (because i let him cut my hair once, which was his first time), and a professional cook.. its pretty funny!
Ok so the guy here is closing down the lan house to go to lunch!! dang, maybe i will go finish at another place if i can... so talk to ya later! maybe not till next week haha tchau!
Elder Smoot
(after an hour)
Just to wrap things up...
Sorry i didnt have time to finish up... the guy closed the place down to go to lunch. Ridiculous!
ok so thats sweet that Nate Spinder got his call! wohoo for Brasil! Porto Alegre looks really cool and i knew some people in the CTM going there so he should enjoy it.
My mission bag should have been in some of those pics i sent.. i hope. Its cool and it helps a little with the heat.
Ok so this week we are going to Teresina for training with the seventy area representative Massagardi. We are going with Parnaiba, Sobral, and Teresina areas. So that should be cool! and i think this is the only big thing we will do right before christmas. Christmas day will be our P day for the next week so we will spend a lot of time together and with other members having Christmas... cause obviously christmas is a lot different here then at home!
As far as the mission phone call goes, i think we will call from the church building. I dont have the number.. but i have a cell number for our phone. My plan is to just call you first, then you can call me right back from the church, or with one of the members cell phones. So really dont stress it, ill figure it out! and if you have any questions or whatever you want answered, write them down and ask me on christmas.
Dad i loved that video you sent me and it means a lot. Do you have room for Christ? This week was rough with the contacting and i will tell you an experience i had. We were trying to mark a day to come back and teach more about the restoration and the gospel. She started sayin oh i travel a lot and need to go to the grocery store and wont be in my house much for a while. I straight up told her... `ok you have time to travel, time to shop, time to relax, where is your time for Christ and God?´ Haha it was pretty funny. She just kind of agreed and asked us to leave.. good stuff.
Well i cant think of much more to say. Last week my comp sent a letter to you mom, and i sent some letters on Wednesday and this one is with the card so hopefully you´ll get that this week! let me know please.
Love ya,
Elder Smoot
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