April 14, 2014

questions- 

me and elder simonson, my new companion. he is pushing me while i am riding a tricycle.

1. well, for starters my comp's name is elder simonson. he is from a small town in southern Idaho near Pocatello (here is a shoutout to grandpa Wilson). he has 17 months on a mission. He has the same views about American football as i do and he served here in this city almost a year ago, so the members like him. 

2. itaporoca is not really 3rd world...i don't know, its hard to describe how life here in Brazil is compared with how you would think coming from America. just know that it is nothing like America, yet at the same time you have everything that you need. 

3. also as further proof, remember my comment about the water. yeah that was on the best day. in general its available about 20- 25 minutes right when we wake up. we spend the time filling up many water bottles, and buckets then we take our showers from the buckets. who says that you wont experience something new on a mission. lol. all joking aside. that is one thing that America does better.

A goat i encountered. the funny thing is that about 3 seconds later it charged me and i almost got mauled. awesome!

so far our teaching pool is pretty small. we had a few hold overs from the last elders but we cut most of them so we have been doing a lot of street contacting and had reasonable success until Sunday when everyone had a desculpa (no English equivalent. its like a sorry or an excuse) and we ended up with no investigators in church...frustrating. i wish that people would stop lying to us. if you aren't going to come to church then just say so and save both of our time. 

as far as the branch, there is a frequency of 30-40 with 200 on the rolls of the church for this city. so yeah a lot of less actives. but i like the branch especially the youth. all of the ones that i have met are fun and like the missionaries (and they love to correct my Portuguese). so this week a young man named Carlos asked me what the phrase "piece of crap" meant. apparently a missionary had taught it to him but not explained it. fubeca. so that was interesting.  

This is Carlos from the branch. he stole my tag so i made him take a picture as elder Wilson in the guise of the missionary he will be one day.

the people are spiritual and open to the gospel in general but in general only to listen. everyday we talk to people and it goes like this:

do you have faith in god? of course

what are you doing to show your faith? i dont know

will you go to church this Sunday to show your faith? (we get a variety of answers here) who knows, we´ll see, one day, and the most annoying of all, "si deus quiser" if god wishes. really bro? where do you think that God wants you to be on a Sunday morning. 

but anyways, i always try to keep it in the context of everyone we talk to is one closer to the elect we are seeking. the ones who say yes.

anyway. i am aware that all of this may seem dreary. but its all part of the experience and if u take it with a grateful heart knowing that everything that happens gives me another story to tell about my mission. lol

i am well and it is not as hot here in itapororoca so that is great thing. and our apartment has a veranda, which is way sweet. and don't worry too much about the water we are in the process of moving apartments. 

please pray for us to meet people prepared to accept the gospel.

love elder Wilson