Among the Gaúchos: Unexpected Surprises!

A picture of the Zone -everyone with their companion behind them.

6/15/2015

This week went by well. It's starting to get cold here, around 30 some degrees in the early morning. Sometimes I think Elder Alencar is joking shivering in the street... but he's not joking, haha. He says that he can't support the cold very well but that he is liking the experience. We'll see how he feels about the cold in a few weeks. He promptly denied my proposition to run around in a field of frost one morning. Funny thing down here, frost is the ultimate sign of cold because it doesn't really snow anywhere in Brasil. Most all Brasilians have never seen frost and many people don't understand that the frost doesn't "fall" but forms on the ground, haha. When I tell them about how I had to scrape the frost off the car early every morning to leave for seminary they just look at me with big eyes O.O

Anyway this week I had two surprises, one way cooler than the other. So I'll start off with the less cool but funny story. We taught a lesson to an investigator with the bishop's wife one night. The lesson went well but the investigator wasn't too interested in actually going to church but in just receiving visits. OK that's normal but after the lesson was over bishop came to pick his wife up and give us a ride to our next appointment. As he pulled up he drove over the sewer "lid" (? it's the concrete slab over the storm drain) and here in Brasil things are a bit... less sturdy you could say and the concrete slab was shifted so that it wasn't square over the hole. Since it was dark the lid moved without us noticing. In a line Sister Claudia (bishop's wife) stepped on the lid to get to the car, then Elder Alencar went in the same path no incident, but when I stepped on the concrete slab the next thing I knew I was in the sewer, haha. The concrete had flipped and I was in the hole up to my mid chest but surprisingly, I didn't hurt myself at all just a bump or two on my knees.

Suprise number 2 is much better. I was on an exchange with our Zone Leader Elder Edwards when we got a call from his companion and Elder Alencar back in my area. They had gone to visit a couple that we are teaching named Leandro and Fernanda. Leandro and Fernanda are super special and we received another witness that the Lord really is preparing people to receive the restored gospel. We already knew that Leandro had quit smoking for over a year and drinking for more than 5 of his own accord which is a huge step. But when I heard Elder Edwards repeat to me (he was on the phone at the time) "huh!? they are married??" (pretty much no one is married here in Brasil so that's a huge time process while people are preparing to be baptized) I dropped what I was holding in my hands and my mouth dropped. Then he said "you marked their baptism for the 4th of July and they accepted?!!" At this point I fell to my knees (this actually happened before the sewer incident) in the middle of the street (street in a manner to say in public we were actually on a sidewalk) and began to give thanks on high (thankfully it was night and no one was around, haha). So that was a super awesome unexpected surprise! Many prayers will be needed so that everything can come together for Leandro and Fernanda to be baptized on the 4th but I know that it is possible and that the Lord truly prepares those we teach :)