Transfers

And now the latest news from Elder Monzingo:


YEAH! Wasn´t transferred. Both I and Elder Borges are staying here.
But like, eh I would like to stay here at least this transfer and I
got my wish! But next one is iffy.    I´ve been here 4ish months
and have probably at the maximum 2 more. But really this transfer is
probably my last here in Óbidos. But who knows, I´ll just have to wait
and see. But We had the Baptism of Everton which was pretty cool. He
was someone that we had been trying to contact but hadn´t been able to
because of time and stuff. Then one day he was heading into church and
we ran into him and he was like ``alright you guys have these days and
this time to talk to me in my house this week´´ That was rather cool.
It was really something that he wanted and has been following and
coming to church for really about 1.5ish months without meeting with us
so yeah. But we´ve been working a lot these weeks. Already hit our
goal for the month and are hoping that we can pass it. We have some
people who, like I said, need just a little bit more time. Really
it´ll be their decision completely. I don´t actually know if they´ll
decide to open that door until after I leave here. But I hope that
they do it. It´d be cool if I was here to see it and everything but if
not oh well. At least I helped.

also we got spiffy mormon helping hands hats.

Stake Conference

This weekend was our stake conference. Stake conference is always good but one of the special treats this conference was Janice Kapp Perry. She and our stake president have been collaborating on music for a long time. Our ward's Relief Society sang one of their songs during the Saturday night session. Sister Perry gave a fireside Saturday morning. Jacob had a soccer game so I wasn't able to attend. I did get a pretty detailed report from my friend. Among some other remarkable facts, did you know that Janice Kapp Perry did not start writing music until after she was 40? The family TV broke and they couldn't afford to fix it for about a year. Without that distraction all the members of the family started developing their talents.

I've been thinking a lot about what I should do with myself. We've managed to get one kid out of the house and another will soon. Before too long they will all be gone. I have several paths to choose. I'm interested in many things and capable of doing many things. Should I focus on my creative skills? Which ones? Do I start a theatre? Focus on design? Teaching? Do I change directions and start training as a midwife? I wish I could do everything. I really want to do everything. It is hard to pick. Honestly, I am also a little afraid to start. It is irrational. Nothing I've considered is impossible for me to accomplish. And still I can't seem to get past the doubt. The small fear. I'm not even sure why I am afraid.  Maybe it is because I can't see the end. I really do like a well laid out plan. I really do like knowing what is going to happen. Alas, life is not always so kind as to give us answers. As Boyd K. Packer said, "Sometimes we have to step into the dark and then the light will follow."

So. Here I go into the dark.

The Miracles of Waiting

From Elder Monzingo. The weather today in Obidos is 81 (feels like 89) and cloudy:

First off, funny story. Our zone leaders decided to come here this
week. So we are about 8 hours on a boat ride from Santarém, where they
live. So they went to go catch the boat, but when they got there it
had already left. So there´s a boat that goes to another city where
there are missionaries that makes a stop in Óbidos. So they got on
that one. But whenever the boat made said stop they thought they had
about 10 minutes. Not the 2 that it really is. So when they looked up
they saw the boat turning and freaked out. but it was too late. Soo
they went another 3 hours to Oriximiná. Where they caught a bus ride
and lost their phone.  Fours hours later they show up in the church with
shorts and t-shirts on. And yeah. It was both really annoying and
super funny. It was a little, ``These are the guys that are supposed
to be responsible for us but it´s us taking care of them´´ But yeah.
Honestly though they are really cool. It was nice having them here for
a time. 

This week we had a baptism that without a doubt was a
miracle. Elson is the boyfriend of one of the members here in the
ward. He´s been coming to church for truthfully about 2 months with
her. But in the past whenever we asked him if he had time to meet with
us to learn more he always said no. One or two times the question was
``You don´t have 10 minutes to listen to the words of Jesus Christ´´
``No.´´
 So we just left him to come to church and whatever else. And
so last Sunday my companion was standing next to him and asked him if
he was liking church. He responded ``yeah. I think I´m gonna get
baptized this week.´´ 
So we went through all the lessons with him,
which was really more of a review cause he has already been taught by
other missionaries before us. But it was just a gradual thing that he
went to church and got the desire. 

Lots of times I think it becomes
easy to focus on getting the people who are ready to accept the gospel
now or whatever when there are a lot of people that are ready. Just
maybe slightly slower than we´d like. That really do need to just feel
the spirit a bit more in their lives through church or scriptures or
whatever. So at times just leave it to wait. That doesn´t mean give up
or anything. You gotta get them to church and to read the scriptures
and you don´t get to give up on them. But let them feel the spirit
without feeling like you´re pressing on them to do something more. I
love you guys. Have a great week.

Mother's Day

Do you realize how wonderful technology is? We got to Skype with Daniel. What a miracle to see his face and to hear his voice. Kermit hooked my laptop up to the TV so we got to see his face in a big, big way. It was fantastic. When I was in high school I would regularly write to a friend who was serving in Mexico. It was fun to practice my Spanish. We wrote a few times over the two years he was gone. Letters are slow. I get to communicate with my boy every week via email. And to be able to see him and to hear him. Just awesome. He looked and sounded good. His companion was in the background. Every now and then Daniel would rattle off some Portuguese. He even forgot a word in English. Couldn't think of what the room was called he was using. I believe the word he was searching for was "office". The connection only froze a couple of times. Sometimes it was hard to hear him.  I just didn't care. It was too, too wonderful to see him. He did have a list of requests. If anyone wants to send a care package, these are the items that are desired:

poprocks
Nutella (He says it's crazy expensive.)
M&M's
Snickers
Peanut Butter (It doesn't exist in Brazil)
Sour Patch Kids
Gobstoppers/jawbreakers
Jelly beans
sunflower seeds
candy canes
His companion would like a Dallas Cowboys t-shirt

His address:

Elder Daniel Monzingo
Av. Nazaré, 532 Sala 412 4º Andar
Nazaré Royal Trade Center
66035-135 Belém - PA
Brazil

Even though we just talked to him, we still got a weekly email. It is very short.

SO firstly Mother´s day. Mother´s day is a great day. Without said
people. We don´t exsist. I think that people that don´t understand
that need to start school again probably from kindergarten cause
Nothing happens without moms. But speaking of which I got to talk to
mine yesterday through skype. Her and the rest of my family. Except
Joe. You guys should totally encourage him to talk to me. Cause yeah.
It´s good to talk to family. But Anyway we also had a service project
this week that was cool. We filled like six dump trucks with trash and
assorted tree bits and whatnot. It was the last of these service
projects to clean up the different neighborhoods in the city. But it
went really well. But there should be more projects somewhat realated
to it I think. But yeah. This week our family Edilson, Valda, Thayan,
and Thais were confirmed. That was awesome. I really hope everything
goes well for them. If I dont get some news in about a year About them
heading to the temple and being sealed that would suck. But yeah
that´s it. I love all you guys.

Oh. And pictures. We got pictures.

Edilson and Family

The latest news from Elder Monzingo:

So this week we had the baptism of Edilson, Valda, Thayan, and Thais. A family we´ve been teaching for a while. But they got baptized this week. That was really cool. First family that actually both of us have baptized. I was rather glad for that. 

I am rather grateful for the probably 8 different syrup ideas I received and that I received almost
all of them within about 15 minutes of sending out said email. So that was rather nice. Although truthfully as of yet I have not done really any making of syrup as an opportunity has not yet arisen. So yeah. But
the next great adventure is cookies. Only thing is there is no reliable way to tell what temperature the oven is and I don´t exactly know where I can find chocolate chips. But other than that everything else is set. I think. 

But anywho the week was good in general. We had a service project again with the cleaning up the city on Saturday which went well. And we are going to have the last one this week. After that. I don´t know. But yeah. I think that that´s really mostly it for said this week. 

But remember that there is a lot out in the world that tries to distract us from what´s important. Try not to let
things distract you from scriptures and prayers. Cause really they help quite a bit. I love you guys. Talk to you later.