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| --on the bridge with e Cunha |
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| --porto das barcas... christmas |
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| -they asked us to take a pic with her... haha it was funny |
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| --festa of Ana Luíza.. 1 year old! |
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| --dogão! |
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| with Pires, Olson, Smoot, & Cunha! |
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| --Elder Pires 1 year on the mish |
Area: Parnaíba
Companion: Elder Cunha
christmas lights... here there are very few... mostly just one strand
of lights and usually inside the house... being outside, someone would
probably steal them haha. Im sorry you kind of got sick dad... thats
no fun. and mom i know what its like to be extremely tired and with a
headache... if i could help i would but im kinda far to do anything! I
still love ya though.
This week was just another week in Parnaíba. Get up on tuesday, get
ready and head to the church that is luckily very close to the house.
We have a district meeting there then after we head out to lunch at
the Branch presidents house, President Rocha. Unfortunately the house
is not in my area, so after we have to walk back a ways to get back to
our area. On last tuesday we ended up going with João Paulo again and
we passed in a couple houses who werent home.. but ended up talking to
ana rita and her mom... they are kinda.... i dont know, wishy washy?
Not super solid yet... We then went and talked to Felipe, the kid that
i baptized... we read a story about nefi in the book of mormon and
invited him to church on sunday because it was going to be the primary
program... He said he would go if someone passed by to walk with him.
We taught Brendon and Barbara who are doing great. They are planning
on getting baptized on the 17th so hopefully it will all work out.
Later that night we talked with Viviane who also is working to get
baptized...not as solid as brendon and barbara but we also planned on
the 17th with her.
Wednesday we were supposed to have a training with president. on
tuesday the zone leaders called and said that we will have a meeting
with president at 6 in the morning... or that is what my comp heard.
unfortunately it didnt start till ten... my comp called and confirmed
2 times to make sure it was at six... but an american was talking and
said ´dez´ but my comp heard ´seis´ which sound pretty much the
same.... so we went at six and waited.... and waited... and nothing.
so we called them and they said its at ten. so we went back home and
waited till 10. our training was about these new dvd players we got to
use for studying. we will watch the district movie and stuff and learn
how we can do better... its pretty cool. The day was pretty rough
after lunch.. there was pretty much noone at home.. but at night we
planned a family night at mayza´s house with tereza cristina and
viviane... it was a pizza night and we left a message about missions
and why it is important for us. it was pretty cool.
Thursday morning i got up to shoot some hoops! finally the court was
done and it is fun.. but man i stink at basketball now. i only play
soccer. We had lunch at maria de jesus´s house and it was good.... we
came back to barbara´s house to teach her.. we are just teaching her
the commandments and confirming the 17th for baptism, which she is
doing very well in her preparation. we then talked to livramento who
was more or less... she was kind of distracted and drinking coffee
when we taught her so... yeah. We then went to joão´s house and his
friend fábio came over. he is 18 and has had a drugy type life and
wants to get away from it. so it was cool. We came back to the church
to have an activity, but ended up playing a little volleyball instead,
then we had a cool opportunity to teach some new investigators in
english. My comp taught well i was impressed with how much he knew in
english. anyway they were very smart 17 year olds, a guy and a girl,
and they actually understood what we were talking about! it was a
miracle... hard to find here. and we had bought guaraná jesus earlier
so that was the cherry on top of our day.
Friday we played some basketball in the morning... it was pretty fun
but everyone got tired super fast haha... good thing we only had a
little time to play. We had lunch at a little restaurant thing, what
they call ´lanchonete´ and my comp and elder pires were still hungry
so we went and got a little more food after... we visited nonato after
that.. he is struggling a little. i think he has messed up a little or
something because he has been weird lately and has a lot of drug
influence and stuff around him.. but he came to church again on sunday
and is doin better. We then taught Italana who we´ve taught for about
a month now.. she just faults going to church with us now... We then
taught Junior, the cousin of mayza and sávio... it was cool and he is
12 and has a good desire to get baptized. Later that night to celebrat
Elder pires 1 year on the mission we went to Dogão lanches... a
restaurant here.. it was pretty fun. later he burned a shirt haha.
Saturday morning we went and played some soccer as our excercise
time.. it was pretty fun. we got some young men to come play with us
at 6 30 and worked out well. we then got 10 reais for lunch... doesnt
really work for 4 people. so we grabbed some of our own money and made
lunch at home. We went and taught junior at mayza´s and savio´s
again... he had talked to his mom and said that she wants for him to
wait till he is older to get baptized... then mayza and savio´s
parents showed up so we talked to their dad. we had never met him
before but he is a really good guy. he said that other missionaries
left him with a book of mormon and he likes to read it.. we taught
raimundo, joão, fabio, and nonato again. it was really good and they
commited to go to church on sunday.. we got all of them, but joão
there. we then had english class which was decent. we left a message
about christ again and talked a little more about christmas terms. My
comp went with elder pires and taught barbara and viviane when we were
teaching english class, then we met up again and went out to ana
luiza´s party. she is the daughter of josieda who is a recent convert
and a sister of joelda who we teach. they told us to come to her party
so we did. it was quite the party for a 1 year old! i guess they have
big parties here when you turn 1, 5, and 15..or something like that.
anyway it was very cool. Then we were asked to take a picture with her
in her princess dress haha it was funny because we felt like VIP´s at
this party. we go over there a lot so we know the family well and so
they gave us extra food and stuff while we were there... cool party.
Sunday we had church again... but before church we walked forever. we
went to go get fabio and then joão said he already went, so we left
then had to go back, missed the van and had to walk back to the
church.. by 9 30 i was already dead! But we were trying to do
something that elder bednar taught at the training... he said
something about that prayer that happens in church that says, ´bless
those who were not with us today that they can come next sunday´... he
said, what do you think? God will just do some magic and they will
come the next week... no. Go get those members that arent coming! that
is your responsibility as a member of this church.... anyway, i
thought it was a cool thought. we got to the church, brendon and
barbara came... it was nice. also joao paulo is in the swing of
things.. sharp lookin kid in his church clothes and he is passing the
sacrament every sunday! We had lunch, came back, then took Viviane to
the afternoon ward.. AFter that we had another meeting with the
leaders of the organizations (ym, yw, primary, bishopric, etc.) then
we went to Antonio and Osailde´s house. We planned to paint some doors
at their house on friday and they offered their phone for the
christmas call! so i will go over there. also the president said we
can use skype so i might try it. my comp made an account and added dad
i think... so if there is a estefano da cunha.. its him.
Another cool thought. i noticed that most of the elders from the
states here were born and grew up in the church.. A lot of people say,
oh you are just following what you grew up in and making your parents
happy. It is hard sometimes but it is interesting because the same
testimony that we have, the brasilians that have just over a year in
the church, or that have only 5 or 6 years in the church, they are
here for the same reason... This church is in the whole world and it
is true... i see that a lot being in a whole other universe it seems
like, but the testimonies are the same.
Well love you all, thanks for the email and the pics they are awesome.
I am excited to finally start opening the presents ive had for the
past month haha.
Merry Christmas.
Elder Smoot
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