This week was probably the craziest and funniest week ever. I love it here. It´s basically like we´re in a soap opera.
On Tuesday during district meeting the elders flooded the capela. They don´t have gas in their house because they broke it, so they always cook at the church. They invited us to stay for lunch. The sink apparently leaks and there is a bucket underneath to catch the overflow, but they forgot and it overflowed and filled the entire relief society room with water. Took about 40 minutes to mop up.
On Wednesday, we went to LISBOA. We got our residency cards! So now we´re official. We went to a mall and got these really nice pictures taken, then went and sat in this DMV-like place for five hours. Finally they took my fingerprints and my signature and sent me on my way. Luckily we only live a 30-minute train ride away. But we got to see a lot of people from our MTC group. Everyone is more blonde and more tan. And can speak better Portuguese. The best part about it was that afterwards they took us to the escritorio and we got to get some pedidos and some mail. We finally got some pamphlets and things we needed. (And I got a package from Aunt Miriam that was super awesome!) When we got back, we had a meeting at the capela. The elders met us at the comboio station because we were bringing them a bunch of Book of Mormons. This lady stopped us and wanted the address of the headquarters of the Church. She wanted us to call the prophet and get the address and was really confused why we couldn´t...
Thursday was a great day. We talked to a ton of people. We also had Aula de Inglês, which is my favorite time of the week. This little old man in our ward always comes (apparently he is the stake patriarch. I didn´t know that until yesterday). So we had taught colors and clothing items so we decided to play "I love my neighbor" to help them learn. This is the game where you sit in the circle and someone in the middle says "I lvoe my neighbor, except for those with___" and whoever is wearing that has to switch chairs, and the person in the middle tries to get a seat. So this man got to be the one in the middle, and he looked around, then as seriously as possible said "I love my pants!" He quickly looked around for a spot to sit, but no one had moved, so he said it again louder "I LOVE MY PANTS!" We helped him... While trying not to laugh. Basically every game is better when the people playing don´t understand the language. To end the class we did a nice round of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" because our zone leader said they love it. And they did. Everyone went crazy.
On Friday all of our compromissos fell through so we ended up goign to the north end of our area to try to find people. The only ones we met were a guy who said "I´d love to talk but I´m drunk right now" and a guy I think was on drugs. He was practically confessing his love to us as we walked away.
Saturday was hilarious. We went to a dinner compromisso but the lady got confused when she found out Sister Juilfs is allergic to meat so we ended up sitting behind the family at the table, and she fed us maria bolachas (these graham cracker-like cookies) and juice while the family ate chicken and rice. It was so confusing. We also met a man who grabbed our hands and read our palms. He told me I am good at art and drawing (yeah right), that I am going to have at least two children, and that I love cats. I tried to say "actually I don´t really like them" but he said "No I KNOW you like them. It is written. Here, in your palm. It is written."
Yesterday I got to play a violin! The elders had a baptism and wanted a special musical number so a ward member lent me her violin and I played "I Feel My Saviour´s Love" with Elder Taylor (he played the piano). I think it turned out alright. We also had someone tell us that the Book of Mormon isn´t true because the picture of Jesus in the front is white and "with where He was born He couldn´t have been white". So that was interesting.
The best part of the week is JESSICA. She is the best investigator ever. We were really worried earlier this week. Sister Juilfs and I both feel really strongly that she needs the Holy Ghost next Sunday, and so she has to get baptized before church. She didn´t want to get baptized yesterday because she wants her family there (makes sense), but also she wanted her friend to baptize her, and he will be in Spain until late Saturday night. So We were worried that she wanted to wait. But she said "No I´ve been praying. It has to be this Saturday. I don´t care who baptizes me as long as it´s on Saturday." So the member we had with us will be baptizing her. Also, her favorite scripture is 1 Nephi 3:7. "The Lord has already prepared a way for me. I just need to cumprir His ordens". She knows that there is a path for her; all she has to do is follow. I feel like SHE is the one teaching US-I always learn so much when we teach her.
I feel like there was more that happened this week but I can´t think of anything right now. Basically it is hard but we are having a TON of fun. I love my companion, the elders are hilarious, and I LOVE our investigators. (Not as much as some of them love us but.. that´s a story for another day). I also love you all TONS. I) hope you are reading the Book of Mormon. I am on chapter 16 now (in Portuguese!) Also one thing I have been doing that I love is writing down a miracle every day. Some of them are a stretch, but it is amazing to see how blessed we are. Good luck with the first few days of school--the Church is true and I love you!
Tchauzinho,
Sister Gidney
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