Monday, April 7, 2014

A mother does not want to hear these mission stories....

Wow, this week was packed! With Conference and everything, and considering how small our area is, Elder Brooks and I probably invited everyone and their dog to come and watch Conference with us. Sadly, not many showed up. But this next week, we have a baptism! 
Anyway, this week was also packed with quite a few laughs. First off, while we were walking to pick up a member to go on splits with us, some big group of teenagers stopped us, and then one girl came up to us asking "Hey, you guys speak English, right? How do you say 'I love you?' And how do you say 'Will you marry me?'" And I was all like, "Pst, Elder, what do we do?!" And Elder Brooks was just holding back from bursting out laughing. And the girl, seeing that we were hesitating, said "It's not important anyway. Will one of you guys marry me, though?" And then we decided to tell her about the mission rules. She was a little disappointed, but with the same enthusiasm asked, "Well, after your mission then, one of you guys should come back here and marry me." And then we had a really good night teaching a bunch of people with our member. Apparently, from all the stories I've heard, this is actually quite common. Also, that I should expect at least five more women to ask me to marry them while I'm here serving.
And another fun thing; our investigator, Paulo, is a super genius at being hilarious and absolutely crazy at the same time. For example: last week he scared the living Gringo out of Elder Brooks and I by hiding behind some corner and jumping out at us holding a gun-shaped object up against my head. Also, he had his shirt tied around his head. Then, another day, he was walking his dog, and everything that walked by (which means any other stray dog, cat, and us), he would order the dog to kill it, which it then tried to do. Don't worry, he always yanks his dog back when it gets too close. Kids in the favelas never get old.
And that's it for all the hilarious stuff, but the awesome stuff happened during Conference. 
Our Stake President is American, so every Conference he sets up a room for the American missionaries to listen to Conference in English. He also brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It is hard to describe the joy on all the faces of the American Elders and Sisters, but I imagine it a little like when a bear suddenly discovers a pool of honey, with a bunch of salmon swimming in it. Also, I don't think that happens to bears very often. But think how happy he would be! That's how all of us felt. And with Conference in English, with so many awesome talks, my week was made!
And that's it for this week! Tchau!
Elder Bishop


Our Stake President is an American, an ex-CIA agent, and used to be the Mission President here, so we got to watch conference in another room, with him and all the American Elders in our Zone. I loved Conference! But there were a few times when the TV had some problems, so we also missed a few of the talks. And no, I don't get the Ensign, but we do receive the  Liahona, which usually has the Conference talks, too. 
Elder Brooks and I are getting along great. We arrived at the same time in Brazil, so our communication with Brazilians here is a little shot, but we get the message across. Also, before he got here, he was serving in Gardner, in our home mission! He was only about 40 minutes away from you guys! And he's definitely an extrovert, and quite a lot like Brandon. It makes things really strange sometimes, because I feel like I'm talking with Brandon a lot, but he's different enough that it isn't too weird. 
I'll talk to you next week, Mom! I love you!
Elder Bishop

No comments:

Post a Comment