November 29, 2010 And the Holiday Season Starts

Hey Everyone,

First, Happy Thanksgiving! There isn´t a holiday like Thanksgiving here so it was just a normal day. I definitely felt a lack of turky and stuffing but I´m trying to lose weight anyway so I guess it´s better this way. haha!

So E. Pereira is still struggling with his health. Some days are great and other days he struggles to get out of bed so it´s a bit of a rollercoaster, but we´re still working really hard and helping lots of people. Monday he had a scary incident in a hot crowded bus that resulted in a visit to the nearest health post (like instacare). He staid in bed on Tuesday so I made visits with Enais, our Ward Mission Leader.

We meet the most snaky snake (snake is a word we missionaries use for women that chase after missionaries because they think we have lots of money) so far on the mission. Her name was Regina and she was a reference of Nila. She was VERY inappropriate. It was pretty interesting and funny.

I had a division with the Elders in Noronha (the Zone Leaders) this week. I stayed with E. Justino in Noronha. It rained the whole day and I forgot my guarda-chuva (umbrella). All of our appointments fell through so we were soaked at the end of the day. Noronha is further away from the city than Grajaú and the Zone Leaders´ house is pretty scary. I was swatting away bugs the whole night and when I woke up my arms were covered in red spots from all the bites I got throughout the night. The mosquitos here are really dangerous so I´m lucky I didn´t get sick.

We´re getting really close to baptizing Denis and Derrick. Missionaries tend to have crazy goals (like baptizing twins) and I already have the opportunity to do it! Denis was going to be baptized last week but we didn´t think he was ready so we´re going to see what happens this week. He already knows the Book of Mormon is true so he will be baptized it´s just a matter of when.

Our new Bishop has started emphasizing missionary work in the ward so hopefully we´re going to get more help from the members here.

This week we also had a really trunk-tastic opportunity. Irma Ieda and Leda (the irmas we live with) asked us to help them decorate their little Christmas tree. Fake trees are really expensive here and they don´t have the realy thing so everyone just had little trees. It turned out beautifully tacky. After Irma Ieda made us a cake! It was awesome!

Well that´s my week! Love you all!

Elder MacLane Taggart