8 Months!‏

Hey everyone!!

How are you all? Thanks so much for the pictures, videos and letters. Also, I let Mom know already about the unfortunate package incident - just remember to put something vague like "missionary supplies" where it asks you to declare, so it doesn´t get taxed. But thanks so much - I love hearing from you all :)

So to sum up this week! First of all, I´m fine, obviously - I didn´t even hear about the earthquake in Chile until a few days later. So we´re all fine, no worries! But it was an interesting week. We met a lot of cool people, so I´ll tell you about some of them!

Probably the funniest experience of the week has been meeting Souza. I´m going to tell you all this story, but don´t freak out and worry about me teaching weird people - they´re all weird, and it´s fine, don´t worry! I wouldn´t teach him if I thought he was dangerous or something - he´s just funny weird. So, with that disclaimer, here we go:

So Tuesday night, Sister Draut and I were walking down the street, about to turn the corner, when a man carrying a few plastic bags almost runs into Sister Draut. We look at each other and after recognizing me, he bursts out, "Where have you been?? I want to be baptized!!" So, that phrase is music to our ears, obviously. But the slightly slurred tone of voice was a little strange....who was interesting character?

Turns out it was Souza, a man about in his 50s who I had already met back in December when the Elders were teaching him. The Elders had told me the story of when they met him, and it was basically the same thing. They were just walking along when he stopped them in the street and said he wanted to be baptized. So after talking to him for a bit, they said the first thing he needed to stop drinking immediately. They said that they would come by with us, the sisters, a few days later, and if he was sober we could teach him the first lesson. I´m not sure why us - I think because he lives closer to us. So this was all back in December. But Sister Velasquez and I went by with the elders, and after talking with him Elder Arruda determined he wasn´t sober enough for the agreement they had made, and we left, despite him swearing he was completely sober.

So....this was the person we met in the street Tuesday night. He was exactly the same, slurred speech and saying the same thing over and over. I asked him if he was sober and he said, "Of course, ever since those boys told me I had to stop!" But he reaffirmed his desire to be baptized and said, "Ok, Thursday come by my house and we´ll see how soon I can be baptized. Ok? Ok. I´ll wait for you Thursday." So...for some reason, this man has a burning desire to be baptized! Which is great, I wish everyone did, but I just wonder where he got it. I´m still not sure - I never get a straight answer from him.

But so, when we went to his house Thursday, we sat down with him and he said, "Alright. First thing, I want a prayer from her *points to Sister Draut*". So he basically started directing the conversation, asking what he had to do to be baptized and everything. I told him he had to stop drinking, and he claimed again that he was sober since December. And....really, guys, I have no idea if he´s telling the truth or not. To me he seems obviously drunk, slurred speech, red eyes, just acting....totally drunk. But he doesn´t really smell like alcohol, and he always swears he´s sober, so....could it be that years of drinking have just made him permanently like that? I don´t know. But this is about the gist of our conversation:

Souza: "Ok. Saturday, you guys are coming by in the afternoon. Sunday, I´ll be at church at 8:30. *getting sad and shaking his head* I went to church in shorts last time! I was so embarrassed. Sorry my hands are so dirty. Last time, someone there in that class [at church] drew a picture of a spider on the board. He drew a spider, and that really stuck with me, you know? So, Saturday you guys are coming by, and Sunday I´m going to church. I went to church in shorts!"

He just started the same loop over a few times. It was hilarious - I can´t convey it in writing. But S. Draut almost lost it a few times. Oh, and also a hilarious part was that his cousin was sitting there with us! Since we couldn´t be alone with him, we made him get his cousin. His cousin just sat there, mostly quiet and nodding along. Afterwards, we were saying how much they reminded us of a movie duo. And then we realized who: Souza is like a drunk Michael, and Eloir, his cousin, is Mose! They´re *so* funny. But I really did feel like Pam talking to Michael - being super firm, making him understand the rules. I made him take a questionable picture off his wall, and looked in his fridge to see if there was alcohol in there (there wasn´t - could it be he really is sober?)

So...S. Draut and I have been quoting Souza all week - "Sorry my hands are like this. I went to church in shorts!" And...that´s the funniest part of the week! He´s so interesting - I really want to find out how he came to know about the church and got this burning desire to be baptized. I´ll let you know when I find out!

Another awesome part of the week was meeting Amanda Post. She´s a reference from the elders, who said they had talked to a girl named Amanda Post, and we should go there and say, "We´re American and we want to talk to Amanda". I thought she must be American, but no! We went there, and shés definitely Brazilian, but she´s finishing her Master´s in language aquisition, and speaks english fluently. So we went there, she came down and answered, we went up to her apartment, and talked to her for almost two hours! She´s amazing - I really like her and feel like I know her really well already. At the end of our conversation I felt like we were all the best of friends - she invited us back on Friday and said she would make us all kinds of Brazilian desserts, and we said we´d do our best to bring an apple pie! The conversation we had was so great - all about what she believes, who she is....it was amazing, and so different, because it was in English! :) So we shared a scriptures and our testimonies with her, and invited her to church.

So when we went to go get her Sunday morning, we buzzed her apartment and sat there crossing our fingers.....but she came right down! She said she had been up all night finishing her thesis, "but I really wanted to go with you this morning", and she would be ready to go in just a minute! So....she´s pretty incredible. She loved church, and we´re going back on Friday after she defends her thesis to have dinner and teach her more. So she was my favorite part of the week. I can´t wait to see how she progresses.

So I´ve spent all my tme telling you crazy stories!! I hope you liked them. I hope you guys are all happy and healthy and everything - I´m always praying for you, every night. I love you all so much and love to hear about how you´re doing. I love being here and doign this work - I´m the luckiest person in the world to be able to bear my testimony and help people all day every day. Thank you so much for your love and support. I love you all and can´t wait to hear from you again soon! Have an amazing week!!! :)

Til next week,
Heather