Colombo semana 9

Well we broke a rule this week that most missionaries never break... On Friday we went swimming. We swam for about 5 miles from out in the boonies, back to our house so we could change clothes. :)

We had been teaching out in a little neighborhood called Jardim el Dorado (which is kind of a Portanol name that means golden garden) that is quite far from our house. We had several appointments scheduled for the late afternoon/evening in the same area and were there for most of the day. But when we had left in the morning, we didn´t take umbrellas with us because it was bright and sunny. Every single one of our appointments fell through, but we stayed in the area talking with new people while we were waiting for our later appointments. At some point we saw a huge thunderstorm developing off in the distance and realized that we were going to die if nobody was home... sure enough, no one was home... So at about 7:00 we started heading back when IT arrived. At first we thought that maybe we were just going to catch a little corner of the storm, so we hid under a tree in the jungle just on the edge of the neighborhood. We were sorely mistaken. We caught the full brunt of a huge storm that moved through and turned all the roads into decent sized rivers of mud and rock. I had my rain jacket with me, which I tossed over my backpack but there´s only so much you can do when the rain is coming from every direction :) We started `swimming` home (which is only a slight exaggeration) and by the time we got to any sort of store/restaurant where we could hide out, we were already completely soaked... So we swam all the way home to change clothes and get ready to go visit a family in the branch. It was great! Singing all the way :)

But apart from the rain, we are doing very well. This week was very productive. We are helping a man quit smoking and drinking but he is having a very hard time. He has already left the hard drugs, but these last two addictions are very hard for him. It also doesn´t help that there are 3 bars on every block, including two within spitting distance of his house... But he is making steady progress.

Good to hear from Travis! I hope all is well in P-town, and that O-chem doesn´t kill you :) Paper letters take about a month to get here, but I´d love to hear about happenings. And Christmas was great!

Well Mom said that Carsten is driving... Don´t know how I feel about that ;) Glad that I´m far enough away that I´m not in danger... I know he´ll be great!

Love,

Elder Conner House

Columbo Semana 8

Well we had a great little week here in Colombo. Miracle and all.

Sometimes in Colombo, we lose water. Don´t know exactly why, but about once or twice a week we don´t have water when we wake up... usually when we have to wake up early to go to a meeting or something. But here on Saturday it was just a normal day and we didn´t have water when we got up. So I exercised for the alloted time but still no water to take showers, cook, and get ready for the day. So I suggested to Elder Trevisanut that we just switch up our shcedule just a little, shifting our study up an hour earlier and get ready at the end... and use our time as effectively as possible to study for the full time. The FULL time. So we did just that, we prayed and studied the scriptures for the hour of personal study. Then we did our two hours of companionship study/new missionary training. Sometimes during we get a bit sidetracked as we study together, but on Saturday, we were dead focused. About 20 minutes before we were done, Elder T asked if we should go check the water yet. I told him that I´d turned the faucet on the shower so we would hear the water when it came on. So we kept studying diligently. And at 10:00 exactly... exactly... on the second according to Elder Trevisanut´s watch, we heard the shower downstairs start pumping out water.

Miracles happen.

But the miracle we see most is the change of heart that we as missionaries see in people nearly every day. And to watch it happen is a great blessing. The thing about miracles is that if you don´t believe that God has the power to work them, he won´t let you see them nearly as often. And if you don´t give thanks when you have them happen, you will probably stop recognizing them in your life.

Love,

Elder House

Colombo 2013!

Long time no email... Desculpe

On Christmas, President asked that we not email because we were skyping/calling. Then on New Year´s all the internet houses in our area were closed. In the city, things stay open, but in the favela, everything shuts down for about 2 days before and 2 days after. And this week, we had a temple trip yesterday so our p-day got switched around. The Curitiba temple is gorgeous... The grounds, the interior, and the artwork are all amazing! It was nice to be able to worship in the temple again after a couple months. Hopefully we´ll get to go every once in a while.

Well we got an announcement that Elder Oaks, Elder Costa, and Bishop Stevenson are coming to visit on the 26th of this month. Usually when an Apostle comes to visit a mission, they visit several at a time. But this time, they are flying into Curitiba for a few hours for a special mission conference and flying back out... as in more time on the plane than on the ground... So they must have something special to tell us. Exciting!

New Years was crazy... The air was filled with fireworks. But people here don´t like big sparkly fireworks, just really loud booms! So it sounded like a war zone for a good hour. We went over to the house of a member and had churrasco which was awesome. In winter I hear that´s just about all we eat. Maybe not awesome with the word of wisdom, but I´m looking forward to it :)

Okay, so maracujá is probably passion fruit... but it is sUUUuper good. You have to buy one that when you shake it, you can feel stuff slosh around inside it. Cut it open and pour the goop, seeds and all, into a blender with a bunch of sugar and milk. Walah! Vitamina de Maracujá!

Thanks so much for the Swedish fish and Jelly Beans. On Christmas we took them to a dinner to share and everyone loved them!

Well the work here is going a little slowly. We are teaching tons of lessons, but we need to marry tons of people. We have 10 couples who need to marry before baptism. But that isn´t as simple as it ought to be... one of the two doesn´t want to, or they don´t have the right paperwork, or it costs a bunch for people who are from a certain town, or they don´t want their children from a different person to feel bad about not being married to their dad, or they want to have a dinner with all their family who they haven´t seen for 15 years and probably won´t see before they die... you get the idea :) But hopefully we´ll have the first wedding in two weeks, and get the ball rolling!

Well the first transfer is over, and Elder Trevisanut and I are still together. He is district leader now so we are gonna have some extra duties. But it is really cool because everyone in our district is either training or being trained. And one elder is only two transfers in and already training! But that is gonna be the story of our mission starting in about 3 months... we are going from 180 to 300 missionaries this year! So everyone will be training, and opening areas. Which is really cool!

Welp I hope all is well at home and that the New Year has begun well. 2013 is gonna be great!

Love,

Elder Conner House

President and Sister Cordon

My Mission President and his wife during Christmas.

Baptismo

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

Week 2 in Colombo

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

Curitiba...Well Actually Colombo

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