It has been quite a
week here in Brasil. Elder Permann had to go to a meeting in Campinas this week
so I stayed with another Elder in Itatiba and worked with him in his area. We
had a family home evening with a recent convert family and they have a son who
was a familiar face from Campo Limpo. It was a fun time, the only problem is
that they had a pool and one of them looked like Tiger Woods so I found the hole in my heart for swimming and golfing that night. No worries I filled it
up with work.
Anyway that all went
well then the next morning we had a district meeting and it was pretty good. I
was super happy to see my Elder Permann again and I was reminded again about
how blessed I am to be his comp. We got back home to Amparo and got some
tracting in right before we had a family home evening with some recent converts
in our area. I was a little upset about using what little time we had this week
to walk to their house (an hour away) and they didn’t even go to church this
past week. So I kind of let em have it but in a nicer way, and let them know
how much I love them and then the wife just yapped for an hour about her life.
All in all it was a really good night, and I felt like I had grown a lot. We
had really seen a difference in their happiness and I felt bad for thinking so
negatively earlier.
The rest of the week
we visited Angelica and Leandro and they are doing good and are reading and we
invited them to church so they could actually progress. Same with Natal and
Michelle but they really have lost it and we ended up inviting them to church
even though they seem quite disinterested. We had a few solid appointments set
up for the first lesson and each one canceled so we went right back to tracting
until Saturday arrived. Saturday is the busy day where we walk everywhere and
invite everyone to church again.
Our lunch
appointment ended up going for four hours and by the time we got out I was so
angry. They were a huge family of grown up northerners with awful Portuguese so
I couldn’t understand much, but they all just fought the whole time and
wouldn’t let us leave, and thought they could give us some advice on how the
church should be ran.
So we finally got
out of there and went to talk with some little girls who had been to church
several times already, we just finally wanted to get them on solid ground and
start the whole baptism process with those who had parents that would approve
of it. Well we walked there and they were all like drunk and were hitting on
me. So that is that.
We killed out the
Saturday and Sunday morning rolled around, we left the house early to go to an
appointment right before church and nobody answered the door. So we went to
church, and none of our investigators showed up... it was kind of frustrating,
and then this big strong gay guy who has been harassing Elder Permann came. It
was kind of crazy, and almost a situation to laugh at that the only person who
came to church was the one person we didn’t want to. So family, this week we
have almost a clean slate of investigators, the only ones we are holding onto
are Angelica and Leandro with hopes that something will catch with them. The
recent convert family showed up to church and they have become so strong in the
past two weeks. It was so great to see them and they said that they want to go
make a visit with a less active member with us and we went after our lunch
appointment with the branch president on Sunday. The mother of the recent
convert family, Adrianna, just laid into the less active guy and did it in a
way that didn’t make him mad. I was so proud of her and to see that they are
doing the Lords work and that they are of the few who are really caring for the
branch here. What great people and I look forward to our family home evening
this week.
After the visit last night we were asked to go
to the stake priesthood meeting in Itatiba and it was so great to go with some
of the members of our branch. We have very few priesthood holders in our branch
but for the most part, the ones that go have great testimonies. It was fun to
carpool with them and it was a fun ride. I sat next to the patriarch, his name
is "Patriarca Jesus" and he is the happiest 5'0" little black
guy. He is my favorite member here and he is a celebrity in the stake, everyone
stopped by to hug the man after the priesthood meeting. It was really nice to
be there and to talk with a bunch of RMs and to see the power of the priesthood
and to imagine the capacity that the men in the chapel held. How incredible.
Well family and
friends I love you all much and hope you are doing well. Its a new week here
and miracles are going to happen, this is the true church of Jesus Christ, I
know we have a living magnificent loving prophet who gives us such wonderful
guidance from our Father in Heaven, I am so happy to be able to share such a
joyful message with the people here whether they will accept it or not. I love
being able to wear the name of my Savior and to feel his love every time I tell
these strangers whom I represent. This is His work, and it is marvelous. I love
you all. Have the greatest week ever.
Elder Paynter
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