Bagunça 6/14/14

This week officially started the 2014 World Cup here in Brasil! And man is it just crazy! People here have been doing a lot to get ready for it, including painting the streets, hanging up Brasilian flags on whatever surface they can find, and wearing all yellow and green and blue. Haha it has been interesting to watch people get so pumped up for it! We had a pretty normal week, last weekend was spectacular as we had Stake Conference, with the adult session on Saturday night and the general session on Sunday. On Sunday it was a broadcast from SLC, it was for all the stakes and districts in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Carol M Stephens spoke, she talked about Preach My Gospel and that the families who have missionaries out in the field should all read it... and send their insights for their missionaries... I really liked her talk! Haha also Ulisses S Soares, from the Presidency of the Seventy, who is also Brasilian, spoke and did a great job. Then Elder Richard G Scott spoke in Portuguese, haha it was so awesome, it was kind of a mix of Portuguese and Spanish, but mainly Portuguese, overall I was super impressed and it was weird to hear him in a different language, but he did a great job speaking and focusing a lot on God´s love for us. Then Elder Russell M Ballard finished it up and spoke on a lot of the concerns that face modern society and families such as technology and the destruction of the family. I was really uplifted and it was cool because we had 5 of our investigators come and watch it and they all really enjoyed it!

The rest of this week was pretty normal, we had a good Zone training on Tuesday and I enjoyed being instructed; I was able to get a few ideas out from it that we are now implementing in our area. 

Last weekend the office staff was kind of a mess with the three other secretaries all being super sick, it wasn´t very fun for them. Well then on Monday I started to feel under the weather and by Tuesday it had hit me fully. I got this crazy brasilian virus that only has a cure in the amazon and the mission had to ask for it to be shipped here super fast but the person getting the vaccine got eaten by an anaconda... actually no, it was just this nasty little cold, but it felt not very fun at the time. So this week has been a bit of a blur as I was not able to function at my best, but thanks to Sister Martins and her medicinal advice and some good purchases of American-safe medications I am feeling better.  Actually the thing that has been the worst is that I lost my voice, but I have had to talk a lot and do a lot of things on the phone this week so it has been killing me, haha missionaries who know me keep on asking who is talking to them because my voice is so different!

But now I am feeling better, so woo!

On Thursday the World Cup started and we worked in the office until 4 pm, one hour before the game started, and by then we had to be in our house to wait out the rest of the day. That was a bummer, I wanted to work, but that is ok! I was going to study but due to me not feeling good at all I considered it a blessing and slept a bit. So now every Brasilian game we have to stay in our houses for the rest of the day, which just means we will have to prioritize and be even more effective in our proselyting time, so it will be good!

Jandira is progressing but is really hesitant to get baptized, she feels like she needs to be perfect to be baptized... which means she will never get baptized, Haha we actually told her that, and had a great lesson about faith and baptism and it went really well. Also we had a good lesson with Givaldo, he has a date for this next Saturday, the 21st, I so hope and pray that he will get baptized. He will be such a powerful example for Emanuel and Reuza and Nabil and Nilza and the rest of their family! Well, I have a true testimony of the tender mercies of the Lord. He truly is in this work. I am so grateful that he loves me and blesses me so immensely in all aspects of my life. I love my Savior and I love my Heavenly Father. I need to be humble to see His hand in my life, and I am grateful for the opportunity to be grateful. I also am super grateful that I have such a great earthly father as an example to me. Thanks for being such a great dad, Dad! Love you all and Happy Father´s Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!