posso pegar açai sem kiwi e com O BECO

This week was great! But super tough!

I'm getting transferred out of Pedregal today. I remember during an interview before the mission, my stake president told me how much love I would have for the people and how hard it would be on the busride out of that first area. He was right as heck. 

I'll be going to an area called Cristalina and I'll be finishing the training of Elder Teran (from Mexico but lived in California for a little while). I've heard really good things about the area. Apparently it is a small farm town with a lot of poverty,so I'm thinking it'll be pretty similar to my current area.

We were supposed to have four baptisms this past Saturday but they fell through at the fault of some members. It really killed me to reschedule the baptisms for next Saturday when I knew I wasn't gonna be there and when all four people were excited and ready to go . I've been working with all four of them for almost the whole 18 weeks that I had in that area. I might get permission to go to the baptisms this weekend, but we'll see. 

Edson got married this week. Him and his wife, Leice, really like us and invited us. Edson was one of the four that was supposed to get baptized on Saturday. He's one of the most spiritually solid people I've taught on the mish.

On a happier note, after their marriage we were walking through the streets of Gama to take the bus back to our area. There was this huge crowd standing outside a restaurant. They were all watching us because a blonde gringo is a sight to behold here. This bird flew right in front of me and I accidentally kicked it pretty hard. I think the bird was okay so TUDO BEM.

A family here named there dog 'Juju MacLay' a while back. What an honor. I'll attach some pics of her.

I don't have a lot of stories to tell, but I got about one kabillion pics so enjoy.

<3 Elder MacLay

"Jesus é meu despertador"

I've got it made in my area Pedregal. We have transfers next week so I'm hoping to stay and finish Elder Almeida's training. Business is booming with teaching and I've got some really good relationships here. One investigator, Luan, is already planning me a birthday party (in hopes that I stay one more transfer).

We've been working with this less active member named David. He saw us walking on the street one day and we just vibed right off the bat. He lives in another area but comes to our area all the time because he recently started a little American-themed burger place here. It's about the only good place to eat in my area, and to make matters better, he gives us burgers FOR FREE.

We had a dinner appointment with the craziest lady this week. I could probably write several paragraphs about this experience, but I'm gonna keep it short. Basically, she didn't stop talking, to the point where I was trying to figure out how she breathes in between all this talking. She made the food in front of us which made me lose my appetite. She was just touching everything with her hands, including grabbing handfuls of the beans to "see if they felt ready." I ate practically nothing and I did not mark a second appointment. I think my favorite quote from her was "I don't need an alarm clock because Jesus is my alarm clock." 

I just want to ask everyone to pray for my friends here. There's a lot of investigators and members I know here going through really hard stuff. People tell us about their family problems and addictions. One family we are teaching literally doesn't have any food to eat (the mom is pregnant to make the situation more difficult).

 Serving a mission can be pretty heartbreaking at times. I've been getting a lot of situations to "mourn with those who mourn" and to "comfort those who stand need in comfort."

Every week, I have so many things I would love to include about the progression of investigators and my friendships with the people here, but I don't know where to start and I don't have time.

Today for Pday, we went on a sweet hike to a waterfall. I cut some jaca fruit off from a tree but refused to eat it because it's disgusting. I'll send some pics.

Have a good week! Be happy!

<3 Elder MacLay

 

vou pegar o beco mano

Serving a mission is cool.

The group of Pedregal had our first sacrament meeting together in a little elementary school. We had a really powerful testimony meeting. 35 people showed up, which is a really good turn out for a group. 

We started working out in the mornings with our investigator Ruy. He gives us little personal training sessions. Before the first sesh, his wife said, "I want you to kill Elder MacLay." Sure enough, I about died. I was limping the next 3 days through the streets of Pedregal because my legs were so sore. We have to walk around 10 miles a day so it was rough, but I have no regrets. 

A really old drunk guy came up to talk to us the other day. This actually happens about every day, but this guy was exceptionally hammered. He couldn't walk or stand up without help, so he kind of just layed on the ground while talking to us. He insisted that I change the language settings on his flip phone to Japanese. Unfortunately, his flip phone did not have Japanese. He was not happy about that.

This week I had some really cool experiences with spiritual promptings. I've been trying to be really in tune with the Spirit and be guided by the Spirit. I have some cool little miracles to show for it:

First, we were in a big stake priesthood conference at the stake center in another town. To make a long story short, I had a feeling that me and my companion should leave while the meeting was still going strong. A member was wanting to join us with some visits and I felt like that was what we needed to be doing at that moment, even though the priesthood meeting was really good. We rushed back to our area and in our first visit, we set 4 baptismal dates for November 16th with a lady named Lidiane and her 3 kids. 

Second story. One morning during study, I couldn't stop thinking about this one house. I had never talked to the people that live there and I had never tried knocking the door, but I couldn't get the picture of the big yellow gate with black graffiti out of my mind. So right after study, we went to that house. We did some really good contacts on the way there. I knocked on the gate of the house and a really nice girl named Idaserma answered. We set up an appointment to return and the first lesson went super duper well. I see potential with them. 

The Spirit is a missionary's number one HOMIE.

We've been super busy but I don't have a whole lot more to report.

Go out there and have yourself a good week.

<3 Elder MacLay