Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Elders Were too Busy Harmonizing

Ola familia!!
Well, it´s been quite the week here in Belem, but I´ll just share two of the highlights.
We have this area in our zone that is really struggling.  More than half the ward is inactive, and they only have a frequency of 50 people on Sundays.  So, on Saturday, our zone leaders divided the area into sections and sent each of us with a member to track down the inactive in each part.  Most of them had moved or were ´´sleeping´´ ( a common ailment amongst native Brazilians that seem to miss every appointment and sacrament meeting), but it was a good experience.  This area is A LOT more poor than mine and the people were not really interested in what we had to say. People lived in wood huts with dirt floors and flat screen TVs over sketchy, bubbly water.  It made me really grateful for my ´´fancy´´ area with cars and bars and members that actually help out.  Seriously, member missionary work is so important!  Make a friend; sit with an investigator!
Also, Saturday was the baptism of Renata!!  Oh my goodness, I LOVE Renata!  We call her ´´Eva´´ because she´s so sweet and loving and usually when we come to see her, she wearing this pretty much transparent, short white dress that blows in the wind...  Anways, on Friday we came to do her baptismal interview with the elders, and after clapping in front of her house, she runs to the door with absolutely nothing on.  My companion and I screamed and Renata freaked out and ran away.  Thankfully, the elders were too busy harmonizing some song that they didn´t even look up.  It was hilarious.  So, we baptized Eve on Saturday.  We couldn´t find a white jumpsuit for her, the piano was broken, and she had to use already used water because there were other baptisms before hers, but she was just so happy to be there.  Then, miracle of all miracles, her brother who doesn´t believe in God and is usually pretty rude to us, showed up!  We all cried, but especially Renata.  After her baptism, while we were in the bathroom helping her get changed, Renata just kept saying ´´obrigada gente, muito obrigada´´ over and over.
Best birthday present ever.  I love you all!
Sister Barkdull

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