Week 22

Oh man this week has been tough for us. We scheduled so many appointments with our priority investigators, but we only got to teach 2 of them. Our golden families are either traveling or keep bailing out on us for reasons they think are more important than finding the gospel. Not to mention it´s been pouring rain almost all week, and on Thursday, I lost my umbrella somehow, so I had to borrow one from a member for a day. It was hidious green and leapord print. Que vergonha cara. 

We finally have another date for baptism. OOOOH my goodness it´s so hard to get anyone baptized here. First they have to accept the invitation to be baptized. We had 2 dates before, but they both fell through because they weren´t progressing. They just wanted to keep learning from us, but they would never read, never go to church. It´s driving me crazy. It´s so frustrating when we explain it all very clearly that our message does them no good until they act for themselves, keep our commitments, go to church, and get baptized. The thing that bothers me most is when people say ``Oh, I´ve already got a church, thanks.´´ It´s not A church, it´s THE church. It´s like if they said ``Thanks, I already have a watch,´´ but that watch doesn´t have batteries. It´s doing them little good without the authority. I swear no one here gets it. Maybe this boy Alexandre we´re teaching gets it. He said he´s recieved an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. That´s way cool. He knows it too, and he´s accepted the invitation to be baptized. The only problem is his dad was baptized a long time ago and stopped going to church after only a few months of his baptism. His mom now is very religious in her church, and I´m pretty sure she doesn´t want him getting baptized. He´s 18, so he doesn´t NEED her permission, but  I think he´ll chicken out if his mom shows any opposition. Oh man it´s tough work down here.

I just got two packages today. One from you guys with two books. Following Christ and Discourses of Brigham Young I believe. The customs thing said candy bars, but there weren´t any. The cake is a lie. I guess the candy bars too. I also got a book from Grandpa. It´s from the MTC. I´ll have to write back saying thanks. 

The 'snakes' here are stupid. They like to try and talk English to you, but it´s more like they´re talking at you. They just shout things like Hey baby wait for me, I love you, Delicious, Sexy, etc. It´s abnoxious. Elder Davis and I decided that the way they  influxuate their words sounds kind of like Stephen Hawkings wheelchair talking, just with the timbre of a girls voice.

Oh ya, Elder Davis and I are staying here in São Domingos for another transfer for sure. We found out today, but we kind of already knew it. I woulnd´t be surprised to see one more.

So as for members homes, we don´t really chill at them. I always feel bad after a talk I hear by Elder Bednar. Basically, there were some Elders at his house one day, for like 3 hours or so, just playing around with the kids when they could have been working, and afterword, right before they left, they asked if Elder Bednar had any references for them. Elder Bednar said something like ``Elders, we love having you over, but you just sat around playing and watching TV for 3 hours. We don´t have any references for Elders like you. You should have come in, eaten dinner, and left a message in about 45 minutes, and then gone out immediately to do the sacred work for which you are called. Come back in a few weeks, try again, and maybe we´ll have some references for you.´´ I´d have pooped myself if that ever happened to me by Elder Bednar, so I always remember that talk when we´re at a member´s home. If it wasn´t your home they were going to, I´d maybe recommend finding that talk online and printing it off for them as the Ward Mission Leader.

Well, that´s about my week. Hopefully this next week has some cool or exciting things to talk about. Have Sister Barrett send Elder Barrett my address if she hasn´t already. I haven´t heard from him since the MTC, and I´ve mailed him a letter since then. Have a good week back at school and stuff. I´ll send a few more pictures now.

--
-Elder Candland

Some sweet watches everyone has here. You can mix and match all the different colors and stuff. They´re too hip.

A delicous pizza we bought this week. It´s condensed milk, bananas, cinnimon, and mozzarella cheese. Oh my goodness it was so good.

Pizza and KUAT! Guaraná. WUAT?!

This is Wemmerson. He inhabits the section of the white board that holds our baptisms. He only appears when we don´t have baptisms.

This is Demi and her cat Kimi. We found them on a notebook for little girls and we decided she should inhabit the board when we have a date on there.

We like this cake thing here called Panetone. After Christmas it goes on sale.

Here´s my nametag. I found the super macro setting on my camera and started messing around.