My oh my, has this been a crazy week! Super nuts. We have been having some crazy weather here in Maracaju. Last week, every day was getting hotter and hotter, and by Friday, I thought that I had been transferred back to Cuiabá for a second. On Saturday, it suddenly started getting windy and the temperature got down. But Sunday was FREEZING!! Oh my goodness.The entire day was super cold, and this morning was just as cold. It apparently got down to 1 degree Celsius today, but it´ll just keep getting colder for us. Everyone says that it´ll drop down a lot more. I´m wearing 2 sweaters right now! Nuts. I might buy a scarf, just to make the best of it, because I know that I´ll never use one in Mesa. Thankfully, the members here are awesome and gave me some jackets to use. When we go to Ponta Porã, which is on the border with Paraguay, I´ll buy a fancy jacket for cheap cheap.
Things are going well though. Every morning I eat cream cheese grilled sandwiches and tangerines. It´s the life. I´m trying to eat more healthy. WOMP. This Sunday, we had Anathayla´s baptism! Anathayla is an awesome girl. We taught her all of last week, and she didn´t have a single problem: no coffee, boyfriend, nada. She´s friends with Brenda and Ellen, who are 2 great young women in the branch. They talk to people about the Church and make cake for us! Every day they went to teach Anathayla and helped her out. On Sunday, it was freezing cold, but the baptismal font water was lukewarm somehow. We also found a dress type thing- baptismal macacão (I don´t remember the name in English). Sweet! Elder Furtado and I sang "I Am a Child of God" with Brenda and Ellen at the baptism. We switched verses in English and Portuguese to mix things up, and it turned out cool.
Yesterday night, we went to Anathayla´s to make a cake and watch "The Restoration" movie. Anathayla lives with her mom and little 4 year old sister. Her mom, Eva, came to Church and REALLY liked it. Elder Furtado and I weren´t sure how she could have liked it so much, because there were only 30 people there, but she did. (We´re always laughing because we teach and tell people that everything in the Church is really organized and there is a place for children, young men, adults, etc. Then they come to Church and find that there is no Primary teacher or Young Men´s President, etc.) After the movie, they were saying how cool it was and how they believed that Joseph Smith really was a prophet. We invited her to be baptized next Sunday and she ACCEPTED! YES! She is such a cool lady. I´m super excited this week.
We also had Marcus (who got baptized 3 weeks ago) ordained to be a deacon. Our goal is to have him distribue the sacrament next Sunday. During the week, we were looking for people to teach and we found this girl was is a member but hasn´t gone in 2 years. We taught her cousins, who weren´t too interested, and then invited her to come to Church. She said, "Yes, I wanna go." Then, she came with us to Church! It was really neat. So, we´re helping her on her journey back. She has the same birthday as me too! Score!
Elder Furtado is super funny. He´s been one of my favorite comps for the entire mission. He comes from a firm family and came with PURPOSE to the mission. We work really well together. His dad served a mission in Porto Alegre (which is the most southern freezing part of Brazil), but they live in Terezina (which is really hot up in the north of Brazil). Furtado did a year of study to be a doctor and is really smart. We were talking about the old University days (I was talking about my labs back at ASU with the lab partners that didn´t do much, and he has had similar experiences). Furtado speaks English really well, so we practice in the street in between contacts. I try to imitate his accent, but it´s kind of difficult. We have fun talking about how everyone here is a hick and talks really ugly. He´s an awesome guy. I wouldn´t mind staying another transfer with him. He tends to space out sometimes, which makes me laugh a lot. And he´s not afraid to tell members when he doesn´t like food, which has made for some funny situations. I always eat whatever they´ve got.
Wonderful week to all! I love you. Look for the small opportunities for missionary experiences.
-Elder Carpenter
Brazilian Fact: Here in Mato Grosso do Sul, they love making this dish called Sopa Paraguai (Paraguay Soup), except it´s actually this salty weird pie thing. It looks like corn bread and has corn in it. The members love it, but don´t be deceived because it´s gross!
Pics: Making cake, Maracaju chapel, Anathayla´s baptism (her 2 friends are on the right side)
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