My first transfer! Woot! I am in the same area with the same companion! I am excited to stay here in Itauna. I finally adjusted, it would be so hard to be transferred again. Sister Fjord is staying too, but got a new companion from North Brasil, she is super fun. This will be a great transfer, we have a lot of really great people to teach. Sister Silveira my companion, after this transfer will have been here for almost 8 months, we like to joke that her mission is Brasil Belo Horizonte Itauna.
I had some really neat experiences this week. One was with Lucimar. It was about 8 o clock, I was really tired and we had just had a really spiritual but really depressing conversation with a member. We were walking home and passed by this man who I felt I should talk to, but really didnt feel like it. So we passed by, and seriously I almost heard a voice say No, you need to talk to that man. So I turned around, went up to him, invited him to church and said we were missionaries, and he proceded to cry and say he had had a very hard week and this was a miracle, and was embarassed of his tear and walked away, we caught up with him, got his address and promised him a visit by the other sisters(he isnt in our area). This was such a neat experience, for me, to have the opportunity to follow promptings like that.
We are teaching a family right now that I love! The mom is Mariesmerelda and has four children, Francielle, Tales, Bianca and Isabelle. She is an inactive member, and none of her children are baptized. All but Isabelle are old enough to be baptized. Mariesmerelda is very shy, she will basically never look you in the eye, she has a lot of shame for many reasons, some we can guess and others I know we cannot understand. But every time we visit she smiles more and looks up more, and her kids are so inteligent and awesome! I attached a picture with them! Her husband, well boyfriend I guess, they arent married(this is a huge problem in Brasil because it is so expensive to get married people just dont) is always in another room while we teach, and sometimes expresses his discontent. But, he is an amazing painter and he painted the picture of Jesus and a baby lamb-the photo on the cover of the Restoration pamphlet, and last lesson he listened! What a miracle! They live in a very small concrete house, with three very small rooms, and not everybody can come to church because their door doesnt lock. Its so sad to see this but I am excited to help them!
As for the funnies, we killed a RAT. Okay Sister Silveira killed it. This was no ordinary house mouse, this was an ROUS RAT. More than 6 inches, its body. Yeah. I know. We found its, well, leftovers of meals lets call them so we knew we had a rat. The other day we were studying and heard rustling in the kitchen, lo and behold, we had a rat. A RAT! So after two hours of standing on chairs, and screaming, and laughing, and more screaming and smashing, Sister Silveira killed it with basically a broom. Yes, it did cry and scream too. DIS. GUST. TING. But hey, this is my life now, I am growing up! And mostly praying that we will never have to do that again.
Love from South America!
Sister Holmes
I had some really neat experiences this week. One was with Lucimar. It was about 8 o clock, I was really tired and we had just had a really spiritual but really depressing conversation with a member. We were walking home and passed by this man who I felt I should talk to, but really didnt feel like it. So we passed by, and seriously I almost heard a voice say No, you need to talk to that man. So I turned around, went up to him, invited him to church and said we were missionaries, and he proceded to cry and say he had had a very hard week and this was a miracle, and was embarassed of his tear and walked away, we caught up with him, got his address and promised him a visit by the other sisters(he isnt in our area). This was such a neat experience, for me, to have the opportunity to follow promptings like that.
We are teaching a family right now that I love! The mom is Mariesmerelda and has four children, Francielle, Tales, Bianca and Isabelle. She is an inactive member, and none of her children are baptized. All but Isabelle are old enough to be baptized. Mariesmerelda is very shy, she will basically never look you in the eye, she has a lot of shame for many reasons, some we can guess and others I know we cannot understand. But every time we visit she smiles more and looks up more, and her kids are so inteligent and awesome! I attached a picture with them! Her husband, well boyfriend I guess, they arent married(this is a huge problem in Brasil because it is so expensive to get married people just dont) is always in another room while we teach, and sometimes expresses his discontent. But, he is an amazing painter and he painted the picture of Jesus and a baby lamb-the photo on the cover of the Restoration pamphlet, and last lesson he listened! What a miracle! They live in a very small concrete house, with three very small rooms, and not everybody can come to church because their door doesnt lock. Its so sad to see this but I am excited to help them!
As for the funnies, we killed a RAT. Okay Sister Silveira killed it. This was no ordinary house mouse, this was an ROUS RAT. More than 6 inches, its body. Yeah. I know. We found its, well, leftovers of meals lets call them so we knew we had a rat. The other day we were studying and heard rustling in the kitchen, lo and behold, we had a rat. A RAT! So after two hours of standing on chairs, and screaming, and laughing, and more screaming and smashing, Sister Silveira killed it with basically a broom. Yes, it did cry and scream too. DIS. GUST. TING. But hey, this is my life now, I am growing up! And mostly praying that we will never have to do that again.
Love from South America!
Sister Holmes