September 22, 2010

hey so i dont have that much time today...once again ha. this week we
are going to the botucatu waterfalls!! i am pretty excited! but sounds
like you guys are doing great. missy and becca are probably dying of
heat right now. but at least you are going into winter now. it is
starting to get really hot here!!!! haha i dont know if i am ready for
the rainy season here but whatever "só vai!" but i guess i will tell
you about my week
i will start by telling you about last pday. we played basketball in a
sweet gym. well its not really a gym because it isnt a wood floor but
there is stadium seating and it had the first glass backboard i have
seen since i left for the mission!! i was so happy as i walked in!! it
was really nice to play. there were some other pretty good players
too. elder nothum plays well and so does elder fa, a tongan from mesa,
arizona. it was a great zone activity.
we werent able to teach leticia this week. we marked with her but she
called to tell us that she couldnt. sima and daniel were in são paulo
so we couldnt teach leticia at their house. so that was a bummer! we
found some other investigators but our week was a little weak. this
weekend i spent the whole time in Jaú. i was with elder fa on saturday
and sunday. i was there to interview people. there is a companionship
of sisters and one of elders in jaú. i interviewed a lady that the
sisters were teaching. the sisters said that it would be a really hard
interview but it was like the easiest one of my life haha. i just
asked the questions and she said she was real excited for the baptism!
thats how it is with the sisters here. the person is really ready for
the baptism or they dont even want to be baptized and havent even read
the book of mormon and dont know that their baptism will be the next
day! they never tell about the investigator's situation either so that
makes things a little harder but this one was great! then i
interviewed the elders' investigator! that was a hard interview! she
is that type of lady that like shakes her head as she talks and cant
do anything that anyone says. so when the missionaries ask how she
feels when she reads the book of mormon, she says, why do i have to
tell you about my feelings and she does everything to avoid answering
the question. that was frustrating for me during the interview.
on sunday, i taught the class in jaú. (i stayed there for the meeting
too). i didnt know that until about 20 minutes before the class. then
afterwards, we started filling up the baptismal font for the sisters
baptism about 5 minutes before sacrament meeting. the branch president
came up and asked me to give a talk hahaa. i gave a little chuckle and
said alright. i think he might think i was laughing like "i cant
believe he is asking me right now" but i was really laughing because i
elder nothum had to talk in botucatu in my place. i thought i was out
of giving a talk but i still gave one ha. luckily i was already
preparing one earlier in the week ha. then we had lunch, the sisters'
baptism, and the afternoon session of church(the other branch). then i
did 65 street contacts in about 2 hours!!! it was so crazy!! but we
made our goal on street contacts for the week!!
on monday i got so frustrated during a lesson. the lady was talking
bad about the church and saying that there is no way that can happen.
she wouldnt listen but i was able to bare my testimony to her. i felt
like i bore a pretty strong testimony. she promised to read, pray and
go to church this week and for conference! that was pretty strange
since she didnt want to accept anything the rest of the time!
yesterday we had a district meeting and we taught about receiving
revelation through the book of mormon. that was a great meeting!
everyone had great comment and the practices were awesome!! our zone
didnt baptize very much this month but all the other numbers have been
great!!! it has been a great transfer and i cant believe it is already
over!!! this next monday we will have transfers again. i think i will
stay here but i think i will get a new comp. so i guess i will let you
guys know next week!
love you guys! you are the best! oh and missy and becca dont be sad
that you are away from home. you can talk everyday! just keep yourself
busy and remember that it will be even better when you can live close
by again!
love you all,
elder long