Splish, Splash
July 29, 2013
MOM!!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THOSE KIDS! [Haha, KIDS! She’s talking about Elder and Sister Noteware, the senior missionary couple who run the mission office. I sent them some thank-you items.] Elder Noteware calls me BFF, and Sister Noteware is always “mommying” me around: buy these drugs, wear the boot, and you have to rest! Hahaha!
Shout-out for Mature Couples For those who have felt to sing the song of redeeming love (insert that Alma 5:26 scripture here), I exhort you with all the energies of my heart to go on a mission. Alma 5:26
And now, behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? These newbies, these 18- and 19-year-olds, need more than a president and his wife as their parents. I don’t know what I’d do without Elder and Sister Noteware. That’s why I count my lucky stars that I go home BEFORE they do, hahaha.
Zina, Warrior Princess, is Catholic Traffic, flashy yellow backpacks, tacccccky tourism, everything you can think of happened, except for extreme mobs of vandalism like we had for the bus protests those few weeks ago. I must admit that I feel super privileged to use air-conditioned busses at the same price as the others, though. So, the Papa [the Pope] is shaking things up. I only got a little razzed at the fact that when we made street contacts, EVERYONE thought we had something to do with the Pope. I’m sorry to disappoint, but we follow a living prophet and 12 apostles, not a religious idol. He’s a great man, and I hope that this cat-out-of-the-bag excitement will really help people devote themselves more to their Savior and Redeemer in order to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. We are working more with members and were given a referral/ex-investigator to visit. She’s an old lady who has lost a foot and has had quite some miracles that have happened in her life. The greatest miracle is that she has a member of the Church who doesn’t give up on her, just as the Nephites never gave up on the Lamanites. This ex-investigator is named Zina. Yes, Zina, Warrior Princess [though, this time it’s not spelled Xena]. I sure believe she lost her foot in a battle to the death. She showed us her cabinet fuuuuuuuuuuuuuull of her saints, whom she worships every waking day and every dusky night. We’ll see what we can do with her. I bet she’d like the Alma chapters in the Book of Mormon ;) Splish, Splash It has been cold lately. Okay, so... maybe cold for 3 days. But Carioca [resident of Rio] cold is 14 degrees [57 F]. People say that the world will end soon, hahah. I love Carioca dramatization. The problem with any kind of running water/rain is there gets to be a sloshy mess in the gutters. During the first few weeks of Sister Rodrigues’ life in the new area, she was kindly greeted with a few gutter baths. So, maybe, I should have warned her to look for the signs of puddle splashing on the street. My bad. As a result of my slackerness, Sister Techmeier and I got a little humbled from a puddle shower. Heh heh. Questions Answered Calm down, everyone. John the Baptist wasn’t BAPTIZED when he was 8 days old. He was CALLED by an angel (D&C 84:27, 28). The age that God said is Genesis 17 JST. Too bad it was lost in translation. We made a contact with a man who is on the verge of depression because, for 3 months now, he lives alone. He went through an ugly divorce a year ago and was spending break with his son. We went there with President Damaceno, and he was SO great in exciting him to go to church. In the end, we heard the same answers we hear EVERY DAY: “Se der, eu vou. Não vou prometer.” [If I can, I’ll go. I will not promise.] Well, if we want to get technical, yes, you DID promise already. In the life before this, we lived with our Heavenly Father, we studied about and promised to follow His plan, which was to follow His Son, our Redeemer; and what better place to follow Him than in His own church? We called him, and he answered the phone saying he wouldn’t go. It was cold outside, and he wasn’t animated. You’re kidding. It’s exactly what he NEEDS to “fill that empty space in my heart.” You’re not gonna find it on facebook, my friend. I love you, and for this you should love me back and follow my advice. I got sad and have concluded asking God how He loves His rebellious, ignorant children. I now understand why He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” How many people have already expressed their love for us missionaries and then done nothing but ignored the commitments we extend as representatives of Jesus Christ? IF you really love us, you will understand who we represent. The answer, so far, is this (God always loved teaching me by answering my questions with more questions): How do you think I loved you before the mission when you didn’t read your scriptures daily nor pray daily? And so I say... oops. Okay, then, it sure is possible to love these people because they have great potential. They’re sons and daughters of God who have forgotten who they are. Love takes time. |
I’m trying to repent because I haven’t sent many pictures, but I keep forgetting the other memory card that has the transfer of Sister Céspedes. Booooo. Pictured above is my granddaughter, Sister da Silva, on our first division together! She has grown soooo much (doesn’t need to physically, that comes in the family genes). Sister da Silva is my granddaughter because she was trained by Sister Carvalho. I have a great granddaughter because Sister da Silva trained Sister Lopes.
Sister Techmeier went on a division with me because she’s in Niterói. She’s from Brasilia and is training Sister Wells from Virginia, an American. We rode the bus with a cushion [more like a mattress] because there's one really bad one in the other house. I felt a bit silly as we waited for a bus and as we blocked people’s vision on the bus. But from then on, I was like, “Okay, so let’s put this heavy cushion on our heads. We’ll conserve our energies and eliminate our pride, hahaha. Oh, the stories!!
Jose Adilson Oliveira is an ex-macumbeira. He will now follow Jesus Christ and desenvolver [develop] his gifts through the Holy Ghost.
He was spiritually drained after the baptism.
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