Just Another Rainy Week

May 5, 2014

This week was just water....

So I think that this is the worst possible area to be in during the rainy season. Usually in April it just pours about every day here in Recife. The roads don't have drains good enough to flush all the water out so the roads end up flooding and we end up taking forever to get to our appointments because we have to take the dry roads to get around the flooded ones. We knocked some doors while it was just pouring and everyone who answered the door just felt bad for us. I think it made them see that we are really dedicated and really take our mission seriously. Needless to say we didn't enter in any houses, but we just have to teach by example sometimes. Polishing our shoes is a daily task. But it's not just to make them look nice. We have a sweet polish that doesn't really let water in.... whatever we can do to keep our feet dry! Some days we went out when it was completely sunny without clouds and by the time we finished eating lunch, the clouds came and were just drowning our area. So we ended up getting super soaked and our scriptures swelled up with water. We went to a sister's house from our ward and her face was just priceless when we showed up just sopping wet without umbrellas. Her daughter just got back from Argentina so she understood. Mission moms are the best!

So we baptized a kid named Roberto yesterday.  It was awesome! He chose me to baptize him so that was sweet since it had been like 6 months that I didn't enter in the water.  It was special because Roberto doesn't really have a good family life.  His mom died and his dad got remarried.  His step mom doesn't like him so his Dad is always kicking him out of the house.  He pretty much lives with Adrian Lucas, one of the young men in the ward. It was hard to get the dad's signature but when we got it we just went. Everything I say he just laughs so we're good buds. I think he needed something just for himself for a day. Seemed like he was really happy and everyone in the ward was supporting him. Bishop Gustavo even invited him to a family night so he's got support from everybody.

Yesterday we went visiting people with Eminho(Emerson, the kid who wrote you on Face book mom) and Jéssica.  Jessica just got back from Argentina so she's got some good mission experience under her belt. We visited Edinete and Flavio, our family we've been visiting forever.  It's the couple that dad said would pay for their wedding.  So we were talking and joking around like we always do and the subject of marriage came up.  Edinete is dying to get baptized/married, but Flavio is trying to put it off for later.  I told them how I talked with you guys and how y'all wanted to know how our investigator are doing and what they need to get baptized.  I told them that we talk about them and how they just have to get married to be baptized.  I told them that Dad asked how much he would have to pay to get them married and how much the dress would be.  Edinete was almost in tears and Flavio said, "They really do want us to get married"... Then there was a pause and Flavio said that he wanted to get married in September.  DANG IT!  It got awkward and then Jessica said,  "The woman wants to get married now!"   "It was funny because he knows she wants to and knows that they have to get married to get baptized.  He kept saying,  "It's a lot of pressure!  It's soon!" because everyone was just giving him a hard time.  Edinete kept saying, "It's not too soon!  We've been waiting for 15 years!"....Yeah, she's kind of right... it's a good thing we are friends and can say stuff in a funny way with some seriousness backing it up. So they said they would think about it some more.

Well it was great to talk with y'all.  It was weird because I didn't get all emotional this time.  It was just like a normal conversation.  I think it's because Ashton and Landon weren't there and because we'll see each other in 5.5 months, which is super short.  I just wanna let y'all know how much I know that this gospel is true.  Christ is real.  He's not just a story we read in the scriptures.  He's real and needs to play a real part in our lives.  That's the only way we will find happiness.  REAL happiness. The atonement is perfect and covers everything.  His love is endless and matchless.  Sometimes I wish I could make the people accept the Gospel so that they can be really happy.  But it doesn't work that way. The Spirit has to touch the people's hearts.  Love you all and hope this week is great.  Happy Mother´s Day mom!

Love
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll