Last week at the grocery store we got some ketchup-flavored cheetos. They sell
ketchup-flavored chips too, but I don´t know that we will get those anytime
soon. The cheetos are actually pretty good, and they really do taste like
ketchup. The only fish I´ve had so far are frozen fish sticks, but for what it´s
worth, they were really really good fish sticks. We don´t really have too much
time to cook, so we eat a lot of cereal and sandwiches and things. Oh yesterday
we went to a family´s home for dinner, and for dessert we had Jello with whipped
cream on top. I was glad to know that this particular bit of LDS culture is not
limited by geographical boundaries.
This week had it´s ups and downs as
I´m sure every week will. Every single day, Monday through Friday, we had all
but one appointment canceled. And some of those days were booked solid! And we
didn´t even meet that many new people, and some of the old people wouldn´t
answer their phone. And then Saturday was pretty golden. We lost two
appointments, but the rest were so so good. We taught one of our investigators,
and she said she wanted to be baptized on March 4. She is 18 years old and so
excited about the gospel. But here is the tricky thing: Her mom is totally fine
with us teaching her and her going to church and things, but her dad doesn´t
like us very much. And she can get baptized without her dad´s permission because
she´s old enough, but it´s always easier when the parents are supportive. And so
Sunday, we called her phone before church, and she didn´t answer. And then we
went to her family´s apartment and no one was there. So she didn´t come to
church. Apparently her dad, who was actually supposed to be out of town, didn´t
go out of town and then wouldn´t let her go to church. So she can´t get baptized
on March 4 because she needs to go to church twice before she can get baptized,
but she is so determined that I think she will get baptized soon. I am praying
and praying that her father´s heart will be softened and that he will be okay
with this.
Sunday was kind of hard because on Saturday about seven people
had said they would come to church, but when we called Sunday morning to remind
them none of them answered their phones. And so only one investigator came. This
investigator is an interesting guy. He is 24ish and going to school here in
Braga, I think he´s from Mozambique. He was taught a lot of lessons a while ago,
but stopped really investigating because he had a serious problem with one of
the commandments. We´ve been teaching some of his roommates, though, so we talk
to him once in a while and he comes to a lot of the YSA activities. So he came
to church on Sunday, and the Sunday School lesson in Gospel Principles class was
the exact thing he is struggling with, which in some cases might be bad but in
this case it was good, he needed to hear that lesson. And then later that night
we had a really good lesson, and I think he is slowly becoming more willing to
change his heart and change his behavior. I am really hopeful.
Braga is a beautiful place-- there are
orange trees everywhere, and other fruit trees too, and some parts of Braga are
really old. The chapel is a beautiful building as well.
Anyway, I
love you all! Have a great week!
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