Package to Brazil has arrived to RIO.....

ward Sponsored FHE: a Brazilian tradition

Hello everyone! This week was pretty sweet. A bunch of people went to church yesterday, and we are hoping that even more come this next week. In our area, we have been having a lot of trouble with people commiting to coming to church. For this reason it has been really hard to baptize here. However, this week seemed to change things.

First off, we found three amazing families this week. Also, every family has more than six people in it. So that was cool. Let´s talk about how we found these families.

Our first family, I got to admit, it was pretty awesome how we met them. One of our recent convert families was having a little trouble staying active, and the birthday of the wife was coming up, so the we, the missionaries, and the ward marked a Ward Family Home Evening with them. This is actually quite common in Brazil, because many families of the church aren´t all members. So the ward sponsors Family Home Evenings when they need to. Anyway, this family showed up to the Family Home Evening, and we got their addresses, and taught everyone (Members, Non-members, and our Recent Converts) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then ate cake.

Later in the week we passed by the house of this family, and it turns out that we were actually really late for our appointment. I feel it´s pretty cool how different the Lord works with time and how we try and make use of it. This time, the Lord made much greater usage of our time. Let me explain why. We showed up at the house, just in time to catch the family leaving. They then randomly invited us to go with them to a surprise birthday party, which was the cause for their leaving the house. This may sound a little rediculous and like it would never happen, but people in Brazil are cool like that. And so we went to the surprise birthday party, wished happy birthday to the surprised birthday partyist, and taught the Restoration to this family and two others. We then ate more cake.

Later in the week we decided to stop by and buy pastéis with the other Elders. Pastel (singular form of the word that flipped your brain in the previous sentence) is a fried food that is super good that they have here. While waiting for the order to arrive, the other Elders started a staring contest, which began to weird some customers out. Apparently this game isn´t common in Brazil. However, we got some contacts off of their staring contest! We explained to a few people what they were doing, and then explained about the Church. Weirdest contact ever. However we managed to find our second family in this way. We then ate pastel.

And then, at the end of the week, we were contacting less actives from a list we got from the ward, and found our third family. They were pretty cool, and there´s like ten of them. However we didn´t get in much to say this week because they live on the limit of our area. We did teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we invited them to be baptized, which they accepted. We then ate.... actually we didn´t eat anything that day. Oh well.

And that was my super awesome week everyone! Enjoy!

Elder Bishop

Teaching in English

Our week was pretty cool. We had a really awesome/ funny/ strange experience that I'll tell you all about.

First off, though, I have to say that here in Brazil, it is quite common to hear people trying to speak English. All the schools teach it. However, it is VERY hard to find someone that actually speaks English. Mabye because the schools teach it wrong. The point is, is that everyone pronounces English as if it were portuguese. For example, when a kid wants to say "Good Night" it'll sound like "Goodgey Nichey!" and so on and so forth. However, I've thought awhile and it's like the same thing in the US with spanish. I feel like many tidbits of spanish that are said by Americans are mispronounced. Mabye. Is that a thing? Actually I have no idea, because it's been awhile since I've been in the States. Anyway, this is English in Brazil.

HOWEVER, this week we were walking in the streets like any other normal day. Then, out of the blue, some guy turns the corner, sees us, and starts yelling at us in perfect English. That was quite a weird thing. Besides my first companion here in Brazil, Elder Dup, I've never heard someone speak such good English. Anyway, this guy starts talking to us, and it is quite apparent that he is a little bit drunk. However, his English is still solid. I literally thought this guy was American, and so I asked him why he was here in Brazil. Then he was all like "Well, I'm Brazilian, why wouldn't I be in Brazil?" Good question.

And so, the slightly drunk guy starts to talk to us, invites us to his house, and treats us like we're old friends. I decided that it would be fun to try and teach him in English, because it's been a long time since I've taught anything or rather said anything in English (outside of the emails). So we went to his house, met his family who was a little annoyed that he was drunk, and then he ordered pizza for us. And we taught him. I've got to say, I don't think I've ever seen a smarter drunk guy. He understood very vividly all of the things we had to say, and took the message very well. He said he's been looking for truth in his life, but not being able to find it, he sort of fell into a little depression and every once in awhile he drinks away his depression. We left him with some materials to read and ponder, because I was thinking that there's a possibility he would forget all that we taught since he was a little drunk.

And that was my first lesson in English here in Brazil. Until next week!

Elder Bishop

Elder Bishop is missing his camera.....

This week was quite interesting. For example, our house was robbed. That was quite interesting. 

So yeah, that happened. However, the guy didn't take much. It looks like he just took three cameras (which included mine) and left. We haven't found anything else missing, which I suppose is a blessing. Also, he left us his hat! It was kind of torn up though. I think the poor guy must have got a little frustrated, because he probably thought there would be all sorts of expensive stuff in the house (everyone here thinks that all Americans are rich). Unfortunately for him, we're missionaries, and we don't have expensive things. I guess he missed out on that memo. 

Basically, the house's security is going to need a look over. It appears like he entered into the tiny window up top (our house is the second story). This guy must have been pretty skinny, because I didn't even believe that a stray cat would be able to fit through that window. 

On a happier note, we found a family of four (a mom and three sons) that are really excited about learning more about the Church! They have really shown commitment in searching out personal revelation about the truth of the restored gospel. I'm excited!

The work goes onward! See you all later. Tchau!

Elder Bishop