Bazinga!
Random Thought: Playing solitaire with real cards isn't as fun because the cards don't do that cool bouncy thing when you win.
Great week! Not a ton happened but what did happen was great!
Wednesday morning we did some service with one of our awesome investigators Edilson! He is 20 and he is getting married in January so he is getting a house ready for him and his wife to be. So we showed up in the morning and he showed us around. I have to say that this was the first time I truly thought about living in Brazil. His house isn't huge but for he and his wife, it'll be great. The back yard has all kinds of fruit, oranges, star fruit, abuticaba, limes, mango, graviola, ect. So it was way cool. The plot of land is right on the river too so he can go fishing any time he wants! I even was kind of jealous.
Wednesdays we have been having English, guitar and piano classes! Not a ton of people come but it is really fun to teach. Elder Grantham teaches Guitar and Elder Bresciano teaches piano. Since Elder Shuss and I don't play either so we teach English. It's weird because you end up learning a lot about your own language too.There's a young man who has showed up every single time now and he asked me,"when will I be able to speak these phrases without looking at the paper?" I told him that if he practices everyday it'll be about three weeks. He looked shocked and was really excited about it.
The next day our zone leaders came over from Campo Grande to do divisions with us. Now this was the first time I had seen either of them so I didn't know what to expect. I ended up doing divisions with Elder Furrar. It was weird because I always thought he was Brazilian because of his name but he is American and VERY white and has blonde super curly hair! People here say that's what angels look like so a lot of people call him an angel. The divisions were awesome and the zone leaders brought the cool weather and rain! It has been on and off since Thursday but right now it is raining and has been all day! I love the rain!!
SUNDAY!!! Wooo! We had three more baptisms and the other dupla in our district had two! We are super excited about all this because all the other missionaries told us that it would be super hard and that this area was dead, but we are putting everything we have into it and we are seeing results!! Two of the baptisms were the parents of a family and we should be baptizing three of their kids here pretty soon! Pray for these kids.
D&C 64:9-10
Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Week #24
Bazinga!
Random Thought: I made a key-chain out of a cow tooth.
Another great week on the mission! Tuesday we had a service project painting all morning. The colors they choose here...let's just say I wouldn't choose them. I guess I'm just not used to the exotic-ness yet. Anyway it was fun!
BENTO is the MAN!! We went to his house to see how he liked church. He said,"I loved it! I definitely want to keep going and I want my family there too." So I'm thinking that this is great! Now I'll ask about The Book of Mormon and we'll try to answer his questions. So I asked,"Remember that book we left you? The Book of Mormon? Wha..." He cut me off and said, "Yeah! The Book of Mormon! That is a really good book. It's definitely true. Can you mark some more parts for me to read?" Elder Bresciano and I looked at each other and just gave each other the surprised "are you kidding me/this never happens" look. Then we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and asked how Bento felt about baptism. So we were already ecstatic about the visit and then Bento says,"I don't think I want to be baptized this Sunday...but the Sunday after that I do!" WOOOO! This guy has got some serious faith!
Thursday had an amazing lunch with one of the member families and it was incredible. When lunch was ready we walked into the room and we were shocked! There was a TON of food! Like maybe more than we have at Thanksgiving back home! I just thought, "Wow she made all this for us. I am going to eat as much as I possibly can." It was nice. It felt more like the holiday season.
After lunch we went to visit an inactive family and it turns out the Dad there just got home from hernia surgery too! So we went in and talked with him, which was kind of funny because he was still drugged up from the surgery. Before we left we gave him a blessing and left him a foto of him baptism that he never received.
Thursday was also the birthday of Albert! One of the young men we just baptized a couple of weeks ago. So Elder Bresciano and I went to a store and bought him a white shirt and tie! On the way to his house we were stopped by a man named Sampaio. He asked,"Hey are you looking for me?" Elder Bresciano said,"We are now!" Ha we talked for a while and he asked us where we were from. We asked what he thought and he said that he didn't have any idea! We told him we are both American and once he found out he started speaking English! Now some of you may be thinking,"Why would he have to find out, of course Elder Laws looks American!" Well with my accent and how I look everyone here thinks I am German! Anyway we went to this guy's house and it turns out he is an inactive member because he works on Sundays, but that's going to change at the new year! So we are going to try and work with him and get him active again! We finally got to Albert's house after that and gave him his presents and he seemed pretty happy about them.
Friday we always have soccer at the church. While playing Elder Grantham and I jumped into the air at the same time and just slammed into each other. My knee hit his hip. So there was a huge mark on his hip and my knee got pretty messed up, but it's all good now! I'm walking fine and don't have pain anymore! Have a great week and say your prayers!
Moroni 7:5
Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws
Random Thought: I made a key-chain out of a cow tooth.
Another great week on the mission! Tuesday we had a service project painting all morning. The colors they choose here...let's just say I wouldn't choose them. I guess I'm just not used to the exotic-ness yet. Anyway it was fun!
BENTO is the MAN!! We went to his house to see how he liked church. He said,"I loved it! I definitely want to keep going and I want my family there too." So I'm thinking that this is great! Now I'll ask about The Book of Mormon and we'll try to answer his questions. So I asked,"Remember that book we left you? The Book of Mormon? Wha..." He cut me off and said, "Yeah! The Book of Mormon! That is a really good book. It's definitely true. Can you mark some more parts for me to read?" Elder Bresciano and I looked at each other and just gave each other the surprised "are you kidding me/this never happens" look. Then we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and asked how Bento felt about baptism. So we were already ecstatic about the visit and then Bento says,"I don't think I want to be baptized this Sunday...but the Sunday after that I do!" WOOOO! This guy has got some serious faith!
Thursday had an amazing lunch with one of the member families and it was incredible. When lunch was ready we walked into the room and we were shocked! There was a TON of food! Like maybe more than we have at Thanksgiving back home! I just thought, "Wow she made all this for us. I am going to eat as much as I possibly can." It was nice. It felt more like the holiday season.
After lunch we went to visit an inactive family and it turns out the Dad there just got home from hernia surgery too! So we went in and talked with him, which was kind of funny because he was still drugged up from the surgery. Before we left we gave him a blessing and left him a foto of him baptism that he never received.
Thursday was also the birthday of Albert! One of the young men we just baptized a couple of weeks ago. So Elder Bresciano and I went to a store and bought him a white shirt and tie! On the way to his house we were stopped by a man named Sampaio. He asked,"Hey are you looking for me?" Elder Bresciano said,"We are now!" Ha we talked for a while and he asked us where we were from. We asked what he thought and he said that he didn't have any idea! We told him we are both American and once he found out he started speaking English! Now some of you may be thinking,"Why would he have to find out, of course Elder Laws looks American!" Well with my accent and how I look everyone here thinks I am German! Anyway we went to this guy's house and it turns out he is an inactive member because he works on Sundays, but that's going to change at the new year! So we are going to try and work with him and get him active again! We finally got to Albert's house after that and gave him his presents and he seemed pretty happy about them.
Friday we always have soccer at the church. While playing Elder Grantham and I jumped into the air at the same time and just slammed into each other. My knee hit his hip. So there was a huge mark on his hip and my knee got pretty messed up, but it's all good now! I'm walking fine and don't have pain anymore! Have a great week and say your prayers!
Moroni 7:5
Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws
Monday, December 3, 2012
Week #23
Bazinga!
Random Thought: Naked mole rats are super ugly.
What a week!!
On Tuesday our zone leaders wanted us to go to Campo Grande (about 2 hours away) for a zone conference. So we moved all of our appointments back a day so we could attend this meeting. When Tuesday came we got up at 3:00am (that was the only bus that would get us there in time) and walked to the bus station about a mile and a half away. We got there and then waited until the bus came about ten minutes later and it turns out they had no seats! So we walked back home and went back to sleep. We were kind of frustrated because we had a busy week and we moved all our appointments because the zone leaders insisted that we attend...and then we end up not going. BUT while we were walking home Elder Bresciano and I saw an ant eater! It was huge! Like as big as me! He was pretty ugly. So something good came from waking up early!
On Wednesday we had lunch with this lady in our branch and after lunch we were going to teach with her! As we were walking I noticed we were going to a part of the area that I had never been to before, so I looked at Elder Bresciano and asked,"Hey where are we going?" and he just said,"I have no clue, we´re just following her." So that's what we did. We ended up in this pretty poor neighborhood where all the houses are made of tree bark and tin. I've never seen anything like it. We taught a married couple (Bento and Maria) the first lesson and Bento was really interested and even came to church yesterday! As we were leaving an older man showed up and we found out he was Maria's dad. He told us that he has been to many different churches and each one had rejected him for one reason or another. He started crying and said that he just wanted to be a child of God. We bore our testimony that he is indeed a child of God and that God loves him very much. He is now one of our investigators and thus far he is really liking our message!
Later we went to a different appointment but she wasn't there so we just had a friendly conversation with her grandpa! He is 102 years old!!! He is nothing but skin, bones and tendons and he is very proud of the fact that he does NOT take medicine. He said,"I´ll die when God wants me to." It was really interesting to talk to him. That night we went to teach a less active member that lives pretty far away. We showed up and talked with her for a while and then left a spiritual message. Afterward she asked if we wanted a little snack. Of course we wanted a snack! So she brought out this GIANT watermelon and said we could eat as much as we wanted! So my companion and I ate about half of it! Delicious!!!
Our next and last stop of the night was Edilson. We met him on a street corner while playing a tiny four stringed banjo and found out that he is 20 and in the military but plays his little banjo on the radio for fun. Way cool! He asked us what we were doing in Brazil so we explained a bit and asked if we could stop by his house later in the week to talk more and he accepted. Anyway! Wednesday night we went to his house and talked with him and his mom for a while and then got into the lesson! I have NEVER felt so directed by the Spirit in my life! We really just opened our mouths and they were filled!! At the end of the lesson we asked Edilson if he would pray about what we talked about and to know if it was true. He paused and thought for a second and then said,"I'm going to be honest with you guys. For a while I was searching for the truth and looking for a church, but all of them I went to just had something missing. So I stopped looking because I felt like I was shaming myself and God with my unbelief. But not long after I stopped, you two showed up. I think that God is trying to tell me that He is still here and that I shouldn't give up." What an answer huh?! He accepted our invitation to pray and we were about to leave when he asked,"Hey, my girlfriend will be here Friday night. Would you mind coming back and teaching her as well?" We accepted and told him we would come back! It turns out she didn't go to his house that night so we just taught him some more. It was another great lesson.
Saturday we had three baptisms! Emerson, Albert, and Matheus! They are all going to be in the young men's program with their friend Keven who was baptized a few weeks ago! They all were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. I got to confirm Emerson! That's the first time I have ever done that! They all have the priesthood now too! The young men's president was super happy because now we have a young men's quorum! There wasn't one before now.
Well that's about it for now! Thank you all so much for the love and support from back home!
Jacob 1:19
Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws
Random Thought: Naked mole rats are super ugly.
What a week!!
On Tuesday our zone leaders wanted us to go to Campo Grande (about 2 hours away) for a zone conference. So we moved all of our appointments back a day so we could attend this meeting. When Tuesday came we got up at 3:00am (that was the only bus that would get us there in time) and walked to the bus station about a mile and a half away. We got there and then waited until the bus came about ten minutes later and it turns out they had no seats! So we walked back home and went back to sleep. We were kind of frustrated because we had a busy week and we moved all our appointments because the zone leaders insisted that we attend...and then we end up not going. BUT while we were walking home Elder Bresciano and I saw an ant eater! It was huge! Like as big as me! He was pretty ugly. So something good came from waking up early!
On Wednesday we had lunch with this lady in our branch and after lunch we were going to teach with her! As we were walking I noticed we were going to a part of the area that I had never been to before, so I looked at Elder Bresciano and asked,"Hey where are we going?" and he just said,"I have no clue, we´re just following her." So that's what we did. We ended up in this pretty poor neighborhood where all the houses are made of tree bark and tin. I've never seen anything like it. We taught a married couple (Bento and Maria) the first lesson and Bento was really interested and even came to church yesterday! As we were leaving an older man showed up and we found out he was Maria's dad. He told us that he has been to many different churches and each one had rejected him for one reason or another. He started crying and said that he just wanted to be a child of God. We bore our testimony that he is indeed a child of God and that God loves him very much. He is now one of our investigators and thus far he is really liking our message!
Later we went to a different appointment but she wasn't there so we just had a friendly conversation with her grandpa! He is 102 years old!!! He is nothing but skin, bones and tendons and he is very proud of the fact that he does NOT take medicine. He said,"I´ll die when God wants me to." It was really interesting to talk to him. That night we went to teach a less active member that lives pretty far away. We showed up and talked with her for a while and then left a spiritual message. Afterward she asked if we wanted a little snack. Of course we wanted a snack! So she brought out this GIANT watermelon and said we could eat as much as we wanted! So my companion and I ate about half of it! Delicious!!!
Our next and last stop of the night was Edilson. We met him on a street corner while playing a tiny four stringed banjo and found out that he is 20 and in the military but plays his little banjo on the radio for fun. Way cool! He asked us what we were doing in Brazil so we explained a bit and asked if we could stop by his house later in the week to talk more and he accepted. Anyway! Wednesday night we went to his house and talked with him and his mom for a while and then got into the lesson! I have NEVER felt so directed by the Spirit in my life! We really just opened our mouths and they were filled!! At the end of the lesson we asked Edilson if he would pray about what we talked about and to know if it was true. He paused and thought for a second and then said,"I'm going to be honest with you guys. For a while I was searching for the truth and looking for a church, but all of them I went to just had something missing. So I stopped looking because I felt like I was shaming myself and God with my unbelief. But not long after I stopped, you two showed up. I think that God is trying to tell me that He is still here and that I shouldn't give up." What an answer huh?! He accepted our invitation to pray and we were about to leave when he asked,"Hey, my girlfriend will be here Friday night. Would you mind coming back and teaching her as well?" We accepted and told him we would come back! It turns out she didn't go to his house that night so we just taught him some more. It was another great lesson.
Saturday we had three baptisms! Emerson, Albert, and Matheus! They are all going to be in the young men's program with their friend Keven who was baptized a few weeks ago! They all were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. I got to confirm Emerson! That's the first time I have ever done that! They all have the priesthood now too! The young men's president was super happy because now we have a young men's quorum! There wasn't one before now.
Well that's about it for now! Thank you all so much for the love and support from back home!
Jacob 1:19
Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws
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