DEAR ALL
I have officially survived my first six weeks of living in real Maceió with a real live Brasilleira speaking broken but real Portuguese. WHOOEY! It was the fastest slow experience ever. And the verdict is in, I am blessed to have 6 more weeks in BEBEDOURO! I am stoked.
Well six weeks here and we still are at zero with baptisms, but we have a big teaching pool and we havent even scratched the surface of the amount of people here. Im stoked and im ready.
Last week Heavenly Father led us directly to a family that i think i mentioned in my last email. The dad, Wagner is a less active member and he has two kids Barbara 11 and Venicious 13 that are not baptized. Weve been teaching them. Last Friday Venicious said he was ready to be baptized he read the BOM prayed and recieved a response that it truly is the word of God. Unfortunately last night we went to visit and teach some more. Barbara said she believes that it is the word of God but doesnt want baptism and one of Venicious´ friends said some stuff about the Book of Mormon and now he is confused about baptism. I thought things would get easier once i started to understand this language, but i found out last night that the heartache just burns a little more. Venicious is one of those sweet spirits that you cant help but love, i could see the sadness in his face when he was telling us about his confusion. Everytime we find someone prepared and ready who has recieved an answer, Satan is not far behind. We left him with our testimony that people can lie to you, people can be misinformed, but the only way you can find truth is through the confirmation from God. He cannot lie. I have hopes that he will read and pray and search and that Heavenly Father will come through and help him, if not now, later in his life.
For this transfer i have set some goals, challenging but possible and I am excited to push myself to accomplish them. A lot of the problem is getting past myself: my insecurties with the language, with teaching, my laziness, its rough sometimes.
A lot of people have asked me about the food here. Let me tell you one thing: you havent lived until you have had juice in Maceió. They have so many fruits so delicious and the juice makes the juice in the states seem like gatorade. I have also encountared Macashera or Mandioca. It is a root that is a lot like a potatoe but (i never thought i could say this) a billion times better. I cant even describe it.
I realized earlier this week that I dont eat a lot of green vegetables here. They dont serve them with our lunches at members houses much. I usually always have rice beans spaghetti noodles that are usually orange from some sort of spice and chicken or beef. And we always have suco (juice) or soda. The only soda i have had here is fanta, guarana and coca cola. I never really drank soda before this but i really love guarana. It is hard because i feel like i eat a lot and im not hungry and then the people tell me to eat more and are offended if i dont. A lot of the time we will go to someones house and they will just bring us food and we have to eat it or they are offended. It is a good thing i walk so much. Last week i asked the bishops daughter if she wanted to be a missionary (she is 7) she replied with, I did but then i realized that you guys walk a lot. Haha.
Christmas was good with the bishops family Christmas Eve. The Sisters nearby stayed at our house. Christmas Eve, apparently people party all night which was apparent at 3 in the morning when i woke up to music blasting from all directions. They love to party here.
It was great to talk to you on Christmas. I felt like 45 minutes definitely wasnt enough but i love you all and thank you for your love and support.
Proud to wear the tag,
Sister Peterson
No comments:
Post a Comment