WEEK 42: WE GOT BIKES!!!!

WEDNESDAY

WE GOT BIKES TODAY. HALLELUJAH GENTE. We went to the bus station at 9 and waited two hours for the bus to arrive with our bikes. They're broken so we have to find a way to repair em, BUT WE HAVE BIKES. This is gonna make a world of difference once we get em all fixed up.

Tonight we walking down our road and heard some pretty Christmas piano music being played so we knocked on the door and this lady came out and talked to us. We told her how we're missionaries and she wasn't very interested because she's already a missionary for her church. Then Elder Franca was like "A Senhora não é Brasileira né?" (You're not Brazilian are you?) and in perfect English she was like naw I'm actually from Kansas. My jaw dropped lol. I haven't met a single American (except for fellow missionaries) since February. I wanted to ask her what on earth she was doing here in Tocantins, Brazil but I guess she could ask me the same question. It was way cool though, I hope we cross paths again when she has more time to talk.

THURSDAY

Today had really nice weather. It was about 70 degrees out which is decently chilly nowadays. We slept with the windows open and I actually felt kinda cold.

SATURDAY

The other day we met a lady that doesn't speak any Portuguese. She's Venezuelan, and her family escaped to Brazil with a group of other Hispanics to flee the government problems there. They've been here for about three years already. When I learned Portuguese ALL my high school Spanish just went out the window so Elder Franca and I weren't really able to communicate anything complex to her. We scheduled for Elder Apaza to come teach here since he's Bolivian and speaks fluently. I wasn't at the lesson but Elder França & Apaza said that it was really spiritual. 

The lady and her family said ever since they moved to Brazil they hadn't felt at peace, even at the church they are currently going to. She said that during the lesson she felt peace again. Her husband said the same thing. 

They're afraid to leave their own church right now because religious culture here in Brazil can be BRUTAL. For example, if you leave some of the churches here, they try to make your life miserable by spreading lies about you to your friends, spying on you, and cursing your name. The pastor loses his $ when people leave so he goes out of his way to stop it. Some pastors are some of the richest people that live here. Interesting dynamic. It's disheartening to see how a lot of them treat their members. We're gonna keep working with this awesome fam and help them with this transition. I've gotta brush up on my Spanish.

SUNDAY

Lots of meetings today. We're starting to find a few people to teach.

Elder Young

PICS:

1-3) Elder Apaza hit one year on the mish so he set fire to one of his ties (a missionary tradition)

4) Post-one-year depression

5) My bi-weekly Ice cream cuz its so dang cheap

6-7) Ice cream again (there's a black friday deal for all of November)

8) Turned the camera on, wasn't ready