Monday, June 16, 2014

June 16, 2014

We had a missionary conference on Friday in Caico with the Sousa and Caico zones. I got to see Sister Young, Sister Acosta, all of my Sousa friends, and Elder Cluff, who was in my district at the MTC and has finally arrived in Brazil and is serving in the Sousa zone. (He is dying in the heat though, seeing that he is from Alaska, but I truly think it was inspired that he was reassigned to serve in Florida for a while, seeing that he was able to literally "warm up" to the weather.)  It is actually getting colder here.  Winter has arrived.  At times it gets down to 81-82 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill/rain helps us cool down (at times it's almost a bit too cold though).  I don't know how I'm going to survive when the time comes for me to return to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and below.

At conference we were blessed with the opportunity to hear from Elder Leal, the area 70, and his wife.  It was a great conference and changed Sister Olla and my vision of the way we serve. Elder Leal talked about many things.  He told us that we should try to spend more time sitting than standing/walking every day. That night, Sister Olla and I started to apply the things he taught us and we found more than three new families to teach, although two of them were references for the other sister's in our ward.  Sister Leal talked a lot about family history.  She has done her family history literally back to Adam (I am not joking.  I am absolutely serious.  Adam's name is in her genealogy family tree. I saw it).  She talked about how family history is one of the best ways to do missionary work.  Imagine how many people you can help enter the waters of baptism just sitting in your home on the computer and then going to the temple.  She encouraged us to get to work.

The World Cup game (Brazil vs. Croatia) was this week.  Sister Olla and I were thinking about going [to a church member's home to watch on TV], but I was feeling really sick (stomach problems) and so we ended up staying home.  (Although we knew every time Brazil scored a goal due to all the cheering and fireworks that came from outside.)  Talking about the game with people on the streets helped us make a lot of contacts and invite people to church though. 

Funny experience of the week:

Tuesday, the day of the [Brazil world] cup [match], I had stomach problems (ugh)  Sister Olla and I decided to go out to visit one of our investigators at the park. I was determined to make it there.  We were about halfway there when I knew that I wouldn't make it. Sister Olla made me turn around and we walked home (me, very awkwardly. Don't worry I made it back in time)

A little later, after the game, I told Sister Olla that I wanted to go out, but I didn't know if I could.  Here is our conversation:

Sister Olla:  Do you want to try an experiment?
Sister Dyer: What?
Sister Olla:  Do jumping jacks.
Sister Dyer:  What?
Sister Olla:  Do 25!
Sister Olla (while Sister Dyer is doing jumping jacks):  Is it working?!?!
Sister Olla (after Sister Dyer finishes 50 jumping jacks):  How do you feel?
Sister Dyer: I don't feel anything.
Sister Olla:  Ok....You're healed!!!

We ended up going out and I didn't have to return home this time.  Sister Olla has personal revelation. lol.

We had stake conference yesterday.  There were 5 recent return missionaries who were called up to bear their testimonies. One of them, an Elder, returned this week and asked to be released on midnight the day he arrived.  He proposed to his girlfriend the next day.  There's Brasileiro culture for you.  I would not want that to happen to me. In my opinion, you gotta get to know each other in person again just to make sure all is well, but I send my best wishes to them.

After all the return missionaries spoke, the stake president took us by surprise by calling Sister Olla and I up to bear our testimonies.  Wow!  I did not expect that one coming. To tell you the truth it was kind of a punch in the face. (not in a bad way, but just really, really unexpected) I think he chose us on the spot, seeing that we were sitting near the front and he didn't know my name ("Sister Olla e sua companheira"). So we went up and bore our testimonies in front of 3-5 wards (not sure exactly).  It went well.

More funny experiences of the week:

Sister Olla and I went to visit one of our investigators this week who is the wife of a less active member. We gave her a Book of Mormon in which I wrote the steps of prayer down for her and later explained it to her.

1. Pai Celestial
2. Expresse os sentimentos (agradeca, peda, e pergunte)
3. "Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem."

Translation:
1. Heavenly Father
2. Express your feelings (give thanks, pass gas, and ask questions)
3. "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

The verb "pedir" means to ask.  I was trying to come up with the command form of the verb, which is actually "peça" and accidentally wrote and said "peda"

The verb "pedar" means to pass gas, which is why you can never call P-day (pee-day) Pay-day because pedei means (I passed gas).

Thankfully, the investigator wasn’t listening very attentively when I explained it to her and she also can't read very well, so hopefully I will be able to change what I wrote in her Book of Mormon next time without her knowing it.

Sister Olla and I tried sushi here for the first time last p-day. People here love cheese/mayonnaise/margarine/butter.  The sushi had a bunch of cream cheese/mayonnaise in it, so it wasn't the best, but it was a wonderful feeling to use chopsticks again.

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