That I Might Bring Them Joy: Ola!!!!

Yes, I know I'm in Texas, but I can still put the subject in Portuguese if I want to! :P

Tuesday was pretty otimo. We had two lessons! One to Derrick and Brian, and another to an older lady named Lela. For Derrick and Brian's lesson, as we were preparing in the morning, we felt really stumped. We felt like it should be a member present lesson but we didn't know who. Sister Elliott felt that we should call Brother Stewart, which didn't make any sense. They don't live close together, aren't close in age, and don't really have a similar background. Nevertheless, Brother Stewart came and it was awesome. They were able to connect and Brother Stewart was able to answer some questions we didn't quite know how to answer. We went over the baptismal interview questions with them, and had a better idea of what to teach them. They are so prepared.
Lela is ready to be baptized, but she just doesn't see it. We also went over the baptismal questions with her. She knew every answer, and I could tell that she realized that she was ready. She told us that she will talk to her children about it before she commits. Her husband passed away years ago and her children are all she has. If they are going to disown her for it, she won't do it because they are so important to her. She needs them. Hopefully her children will allow her, because she is so ready for it. She knows its true.

Wednesday, every single one of our appointments fell through. Such is the life :) So, we visited an inactive named Barbara Roberts. We visited her before and helped her a little. This time, she was in a much better mind frame. She loves having us over but has decided to move to Washington (the state) because her whole family is there. Sad day for us :( She will need help moving though, so we're going to help her with that. She likes havin us over a lot :)
From there, we tried to visit a woman named Sarah Noble. This is one of my favorite stories now. So, we're back in the woods by the national forest park place, Sister Kyles is scared of the woods a bit, so the car doors are locked and we get to a dead end road with some houses and trailer house thingies. We drove past the house once, then realized we passed it and pulled into the dirt driveway thing. I could see some people and a dog outside. As soon as we started to get out of the car, the dog started barking and a man called out "Who is it?" Sister Kyles bravely souted, in a cheerful voice, "Its the Sister Missionaries!"
The response we got was, "Oh, we're not home!!" So of course, I'm trying not to crack up laughing because all I can think of is that part in Despicable Me when they come up to the guy's door and he tells them he's not home and says "This... is a recording! Leave a message at the beep... BEEP!" But, of course, it probably wouldn't help to laugh, so I'm just smiling to myself. Then the dog comes up and starts barking and growling at Sister Kyles and I! That forced the man to come out of hiding. "He's all bark and no bite, don't worry!" He asked who we wanted to see, told us to leave (nicely, ish...) and thanked us for coming by. "I made it very clear to Brother Corbridge that I would come to church when I was ready!" So, we said goodbye, wished them a good day, and got in the car to leave. As soon as we pulled away, I started laughing. It was just too funny! Its a joke between us now. "Uh... We're not home!" Haha, oh really? I'm laughing again just thinking about it!
That night we also went on splits. Sister Elliott and Sister Kyles went to a dinner appointment where there was supposed to be a nonmember and I went to teach a recent convert lesson with a 19 year old girl named Kaisha, who is actually leaving tomorrow for her mission to Ecuador! Of course, the Riveras (the people we were going to teach) forgot and as soon as we got there left to go out to eat.. So, I directed Kaisha to a park where we sat on the swings and talked about her concerns for her mission! I was able to relate with her well since we're both learning another language. Also, I analyzed all the people at the park as we were talking. So, when there was a lull in the conversation, I said, "Alright, we're gonna go talk to that lady!" Kaisha is very shy, and she was like, "Uhhhh, okay! I'm following you though!" And she basically hid behind me as we walked over. I told Kaisha exactly what I was going to say and try and talk about, and that I was going to introduce her to the lady, and then we were going to do a "park" contact. It went very well! The lady had just moved to this area 2 months ago, and has a bunch of Mormon friends where she moved from. I was able to testify of the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, I didn't get her number because her kid fell off a swing :( He was okay though! I did give her a pass along card with the picture of the SLC Temple on it though! Kaisha was amazed, and I don't really know why. I just talked with the lady! I made Kaisha analyze what I did so that she could take it- good and bad- and apply it to her mission. Hopefully it helped her out! Sister Elliott and Sister Kyles had a great dinner, and unfortunately, the nonmember didn't show :( Such is the life!

Thursday we went to a recent convert's house, the Calderons. We talked to Lisa, the mom, about her 2nd oldest, Derrick. He doesn't feel comfortable at church because he doesn't know a whole lot doesn't know if he wants the Priesthood, and he is 12. So, we are going to teach him! Derrick and I are good buddies now because we are both dorks about the same stuff- like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, reading, etc. He opened up to me a little bit and really paid attention. We had him teach us what we taught him and he did such a good job. We challenged him to memorize the part of the 1st vision we tell to investigators! He wasn't sure, but after I recited it in Portugese, he decided he could do it in English just fine :P
We ate dinner at the Saavedra's. Sister Saavedra is from Peru! And if people in Brazil cook beans, rice and chicken like she did at all, I will get fat. That's all.
There was a gross bug that looked like a cockroach in our apartment, and Sister Elliott captured it. As we took it out to the trash, we ran into a lady walking a great dane. Her name is Randi, and she wants to learn! Heavenly Father works in strange ways sometimes.

Friday we had Zone Meeting, which was otimo! We also saw Lisa Snively. We taught her the first lesson, and she was understanding until we talked a little about Priesthood. Because she didn't understand that, she shut down. We are going to keep teaching her, and reading scriptures with her though! Hopefully we can help her to not be so confused. She is going to court on Tuesday for the custody of her son, so hopefully that goes well for her! She said she was at peace with it, but didn't realize that that peace came from God.

Saturday was so OTIMO! We did a church tour with Derrick and Brian! We started in the baptismal room with the doors to the font open. When we walked through the chapel, some random man was playing beautiful music really well. The Spirit was so strong and we had a wonderful lesson there. Satan is working VERY hard on them. Derrick had a last minute meeting on Sunday and couldn't come to church. They are sitll planning on getting baptized though!

Ahhhh, time is running out! I'll try to send pics.

love,
Sister Shell