Novos Comecos (New Beginnings)

All,

 

What a joy this Sunday was! Our family of four was NOT at church! Guilherme, the future Elder was NOT at church! In fact, NO ONE WAS AT CHURCH! Joyful.

 

The family of four is not doing well. They are all discouraged and out of it and they said they didn't have money to catch the bus to church. We visited them after church and we discovered that their excuse was not valid, that they haven't been reading, studying, praying, or living the commandments, and that they have been avoiding us and cancelling appointments just because. Our lesson gave them new hope. We left them with the Book of Mormon in their hands, and told them to read together the moment that we left. We will see. We are only going to go back on Saturday.

Guilherme got a new job selling coconut water on the beach. In Vittoria. And so, the whole week, we have been out of touch with him because he always says that he will be at home tomorrow, but tomorrow never arrives. He was selling coconut water yesterday instead of visiting the church.

So, what I want to communicate isn't sadness or disappointment, but simply the news of what has been getting in the way of their progress.

 Elder LeFoll and Elder Dance have been trying to scare us the past few days, but they have failed three times.Maybe because they always call us mysteriously and ask us where we are so they can hide in the dark at the end of the day to try and startle us.

There was a fireside put on by the Relief Society last night that was pretty neat with speakers and a musical number by the missionaries. We sang Brilham Raios de Clemcia aka Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy. The Relief Society President in our ward is awesome, and she is only 23 years old! Everyone respects her as if she were 50.

I bought a towel with the emblem of my chosen Brazilian soccer team, Corintians. They are pretty neat. Look them up!

Andressa received a calling! She is a ward missionary now! She is excited and is still really active and is now coming to church in dresses that are much more elegant and modest. Progress. We read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with her this week together with her two cousins and her mother. They are respecting her and the church a lot more after seeing the wonderful changes that she is making in her life.

We ran into Mara on the street. Remember, her husband is not letting her go to church. She told us that she thinks that her husband will accept visits from women in the ward, so we talked with the president of the Relief Society and got her visiting teachers, and I am pretty sure they went to visit her yesterday. We hope to see her and Victoria confirmed.

Have a good week.

Elder Bodily