September 20, 2010 A Week in Cocaia

Hey Y'all!

Wow, this past week just flew by! I can´t believe it! I only have one week left in my first transfer and I passed the 3 month mark 4 days ago! Isn´t time moving crazy fast!?! Man, it is so weird! Sometimes it doesn´t feel real, I have to stop and ask myself if I´m really in Brasil on my mission.

This week was really good. E. Tibbs had leadership training this week so we did a companion exchange for 4 days! I went to Cocaia and was with E. Griffin and it was a blast! E. Griffin is from Newton! For those not in the know, Newton is a small farming town outside Logan that is really cool. One of my distant relatives has a farm there, shout out to Aunt Dorris and family! Anyway we had a really good time and became fast friends. It was cool to be there because I had an opportunity to meet new people and really push my Português skills.

Cocaia is further away from the center of the city than Grajaú so there is a good mix of what I´m used to in Grajaú and random little spurts of farms and forest. I got some cool pics. Cocaia has 4 missionaries so we ate lunch with E. Cowley and E. Machado everyday. The Chapel is in there area so we were around it a lot. The street our Chapel is on had 11 other churches on it! That´s a lot even for Brasil. One thing you notice in Brasil is that every street has at least one bakery, one church, and one bar, and sometimes all three are the same building! Evangelical churches are everywhere here and they all have crazy beliefs, if anyone says Mormonism is weird tell them to look up some of the evangelical churches.

Anyway, the exchange was fun but it couldn´t last forever. We traded back this weekend and E. Tibbs and I moved all the furniture in our house. I was having a down moment because our ward missionaries are a little frustrating and I felt like we had no control over anything. At least I can organize the furniture to the way I want it. haha!

Sunday was way interesting. We got Dna Nila and Katia to church and they became best friends in a matter of minutes. It´s funny cause Nila is like 60 years old and Katia is in her 20s. They are planning on studying the Book of Mormon together! haha! Awesome! Anyway when we walked into church the temporary bishop told me I would speak in Sacrament meeting! I was so freakin nervous! I spent the first two hours preparing. I think it actually went really well! Our ward is usually really loud but it got way reverent when I spoke. I talked about repentance and how it should be centered on Christ. Lots of people told me I did really well and that my Português is great! Confidence boost! Sunday night our zone leader planned a big devotional for all the investigators. We got Nila, Katia, and Valeria to come. We had to get a ride because it was far away. It was pretty cool. After all the investigators and all the missionaries went in separate cars, and the missionaries all rode in the back of a truck. It was kinda scary and with a brasilian car on brasilian streets with a brasilian driver... I got a little car sick. But I didn´t throw up! Promise.

Today is E. Tibbs´ last P-day so we´re having a Churrasco! I´m excited! This time next week I will have a B

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"Efforts and Courage are not enough without Purpose and Direction" - JFK