This week we were very blessed to have the baptism of two young girls, Christina and Kauane. They are both amazing and will be great mothers some day. We also had a branch Christmas party where we got to know many people who we will be able to teach starting this week.
The weather this week has been similar to that of an Oregon spring... lots of rain. The roads in Colombo often turn into small rivers of mud and rocks which makes things a bit interesting at times.
Taking our cameras with us during the day is a bit of a risky proposition, because of the high crime rate here. At first we weren´t too concerned about it, but every single day, someone new tells us that we need to be out of Jardim Esmeralda and Villa Novo by 7:30 at the very latest... We feel like God is trying to tell us something if everytime we talk with someone they tell us to be careful. But we are going to start taking many more pictures during the last couple weeks of this transfer.
Christmas is going to be great. We are having jantar with several families on Christmas eve and almoço com another family on the 25th. It was funny to watch a bunch of families quarrel of who got to have the missionaries over... and who had them last time, and how since they already ate at their house this week that it is only fair to have them at a different house for Christmas, and how since they gave the most references they should get to, etc... :) I am looking forward to Skyping with the family on Christmas Eve and seeing everyone´s faces! Letters here move VERY slowly. This week I got the letter that Calli sent on Thanksgiving.
It is interesting to hear people ask about the end of the world... Here people are generally unconcerned, but they are interested to hear what two gringos have to say about it. And what we think about all the big soccer games... such as the one between the Corithians of Sao Paulo, and Chelsea of England, that took place in Japan yesterday. Corithians won, which was obvious from the honking horns and fireworks that started making all sorts of noise during church yesterday. Of course we don´t know anything about Brazilian soccer, but it seems to always come up.
Well the work goes well here in Colombo! I am looking forward to another week of preaching the gospel with Elder Trevisanut
Love,
Elder House
This week has been amazing. We still haven´t visited all of our area, and last night was the first time we´ve had to go out of our part of Colombo. We payed a visit to the "center" of Colombo, which is actually away from most of the people, and where we live, but it has a huge concentration of Italians, and it certainly has a different feel than our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is called Osasco, and in this part alone we have found enough people to teach to keep us busy. We really need two more sets of missionaries just in this branch to cover all the area!
This weekend we will have a baptismal service for two younger girls named Christina and Kauane who are very excited. Their parents aren't members, but most of the rest of their extended family here are and they are so excited to be baptized and recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
It seems like everyone here is related somehow... and it is impossible to keep track of :) People ask us about who we were visiting and it seems like every time, we hear that they are somehow related. And then they're surprized when we can't remember all the connections. Hahaha, I love it here.
Our house is going to be very fancy by missionary standards once we can figure out how to fix the shower and find a way to rig up a sink. Luckily we have today to prepare, and we'll probably spend some time trying to figure all that out...
Christmas is coming up and you can see advertisements all over the place with pictures of snow and pine trees, which all seems slightly odd considering the last time it snowed here was in the 70's. But I do like all the cards that we see around here... if you thought American greeting cards are cheesy, you should see the ones here!! Everyone has a little christmas tree made of plastic, but the other day we were in a member's house with a real live Christmas tree! They keep it in a pot outside, but for the Christmas season, they bring it in to the house... very "chique" (that's Portuguese for fancy)
Next week I'll have pictures a plenty!
Love you all,
Elder House
I am done with training and finally in the field. My first area is Colombo, which is a suburb on the northern side of Curitiba. My companion is Elder Victor Trevisanut from Vancouver WA. And he is a great missionary.
On tuesday, all we recieved were keys to the house and "boa sorte" to open the area for missionary work. So instead of having everything all set up with a companion who had been in the Branch of Colombo, or a nice list of people who were taught the last time there were missionaries in the area, we walked in blind... So what do you do? Go to work!!
We've already met with dozens of families to teach about the restoration of Christ's church again on the earth. The people here are so friendly. Colombo is somewhere between 2nd and 3rd world, and the people are very humble. Our house as of yet has no sink, and no hot water, but we do have a few pans and a fork :) That's all you really need right?
Yesterday was a great blessing to be able to meet with the members in the branch. They are excited for the work, and the people here are excited to learn. By the time I leave the mission, there will be a ward here for sure, probably several. The biggest challenge right now is that the chapel is several Km away... and it costs 5 reais for a bus pass to and from church. Multiply that by 5 or 6 in a family and we're looking at a very expensive trip. Very few members have cars, and those who do are already helping to bring people to church. For now, we are hoping that we can get authorization to use a different building in Colombo instead of the chapel in Boa Vista until we have enough members to build a chapel here.
I have to get off, but I want to testify of milagres. Each day, we are seeing incredible things happen, certainly more that I can write today. But I am very happy to be here, and so far, the people of Colombo seem to like this gringo with a super heavy American sotaque.
Love Elder House
