Monday, February 24, 2014

Sweet Week

February 24, 2014

Alrighty.

This week was flippin' sweet! We've got some great people we are teaching and everyone in our teaching group wants to be baptized. There are some who are firmer than others and some that just accepted the invite just to be nice. That's how the work goes in Brasil. You pick up people who know that they have to be baptized but they don't want to do anything to get there. I think the main factor here is laziness. But man I love the people we're teaching. I can honestly say that I get excited to teach them and to see how they're doing and to get them a little further along their way to baptism. I was thinking about the mission yesterday as a whole and I think my perspective has changed a lot. I no longer have the urge to go home and see people. I no longer get super anxious to get on the computer on pday. I no longer think about what life will be like after the mission. Quite the contrary. I'm scared to go home because I feel like I'll be super bored. I know it won't be like that but I can't imagine myself being normal at this point. The work is just getting too good. I've learned how to love the people and how to feel the Savior's love too. I'm still learning patience... I think that's a thing that everyone needs to work on...Like when your companion does something that bugs the heck out of you, or when you're teaching a lesson that isn't going anywhere. I think it's the Christlike attribute that I have to most develop. If you think about all the things you have to work on to be like Him, you realize just how perfect he is. It's incredible. I've learned a lot from my companion how to be patient. He's a super chill guy. Probably more chill than me. And that's saying something. It's amazing how he left everything to be a missionary. I can't even begin to describe what he sacrificed. It made me realize how blessed I am. But we get along perfectly and probably joke around way too much. I think sometimes the people in the streets look at us weird because we just laugh at everything!

Well, we're teaching this lady named Nilma. Remember Joseano who we were going to baptize but moved back to the interior because his mom had a stroke? Well, we were teaching him in Nilma's house because he's friends with her son. We started teaching her after he left because she would always come and go during the lessons but she never stayed so we thought we would give her a chance and see if she had potential. Turns out that she does. She told us that she was always wanting to talk to us but we were always teaching Joseano. We thought she wasn't interested because she always left during the lessons with him. But she said she was praying that the Lord would show her the right way to go and when we showed up she knew it was us. She thought we were going to stop visiting because Joseano went away. Nope... We're here to baptize you too! She's a cool lady. Likes to talk your ear off and is kinda crazy. I think she says about 500 words a mintue. So it's fun to joke around with her during the lessons. She cried when we talked about the commandments but we assured her that she's on the right path and that the Lord is happy with her. It looks like she was prepared to meet us because she used to abuse everything in the Word of wisdom. And she liked to party too but all of a sudden she just stopped. We marked her for this week. She really likes church and always tells us what she learned. We're really excited for her. Her son is inactive, so this will really help him out too.

We baptized our ex-atheist yesterday, His name is Victor and he's super legit. In his interview Elder Quispe "invited" him to take his earrings out and he said, "You're right...Christ wouldn't use earrings.".... He's freaking awesome! His baptism was super special and all of his friends from church were there. His mom went too. It was a great spiritual experience for everyone. It was just awesome to see someone who didn't believe in God get baptized into his kingdom. The Dark Side always loses. He used to have no friends but after the baptism we saw everyone hugging him and congratulating him and it was just awesome. His mom was crying. We visited her afterwards because we're teaching her too and she said she loved the church. She said it wasn't just a church, but a family, and she loves that her son always goes and participates. We're gonna throw her in the water too. We told Victor that we were going to baptize his Mother but not to tell her. She was right there and heard what we said. It was funny. She accepted baptism but needs to let a few things go first.

Transfers just happened today and we're staying here. There was an Assistant going home this week so our joke of the week was,  "Dude when you're Assistant...."  It was funny because neither of us wants to be the Assistant. But I'm glad to be in this area. Great people and great vibes.

Hey Landon... Have fun!

Love you family!

Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll

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