Hey everyone!
So this week was pretty exciting. We had a surprise visit from a General Authority, Elder Gavarret of Uruguay. We only found out two days before, so it was a little crazy getting ready. He spoke a lot about the Book of Mormon and ways we can better help our investigators have a solid conversion. It was a great conference and I really really liked it. He speaks fluent Portuguese, so no one had any trouble undderstanding what he was teaching. We're going to start applying a lot of the suggestions he made in the coming month.
In other news, it was finally my turn to go to the hospital this week, for an old sports injury I didn't want to admit to anyone but that had been getting a lot worse with walking so much every day. When Sister Monteiro said "Go to the hospital", I was like "I WILL NOT" because there was no way it was urgent, but then I discovered that the phrase "Go to the hospital" here in Brazil really means any sort of medical care, be it emergency room, doctor's office, urgent care clinic, etc. So I got it taken care of and I shouldn't have any problems now.
One neat thing I found out: this week at the conference, I had the opportunity to talk with the sisters who are still in Bom Retiro and they told me that Lélia, the mother of André, got baptized last week! She had been coming to church every week since her son's baptism, but she'd been pretty icy and difficult to talk to every time we tried to teach her. But somehow, the sisters worked a miracle, which is great because both she and Andr'e need to support one another in this. Sister Eulogio showed me a picture taken immediately after the baptism, with Lélia soaking wet and grinning ear to ear, which was the first time I or the sisters had ever seen her really smile. So that was pretty awesome to see miracles still happening there.
As for our week, we knocked a lot of doors and procured a lot of new investigators. We had one really frustrating day where we knocked for hours and not one person let us in, and then another day where it seemed like everyone was begging us to enter and we ended up teaching 9 lessons that day. This was in the same neighborhood, so I don't know what happened. For the most part, our area is pretty safe (which is good because we don't go home each night until well after dark). We do have one favela, but it's really small.
Someone asked if I've had any more serious communication issues and I can't really think of any this week, though I remembered one from my first week here. A lot of times, we get the response "Deus é um só", meaning more or less "God is one" (which, by the way, is a lie put out by the devil because in this context, it always means that it doesn't matter what you do or what church you go to as long as you think God is in your life). As missionaries, we hear people say this a dozen times a day. But when I first arrived, I was hearing "Deus é um SOL", which would mean "God is a sun" and I was like "What is this country of crazy sun-worshipping people?!" until Sister Medrado set me straight. So far, I've gotten really good at avoiding when men try to kiss me (cause cheek kisses are a customary greeting here but as missionaries you can only do that with women), though occasionally, I have people lunge before I can stop it. I've learned the proper way to clap outside gates and actually be heard, though Sister Lima tells me I look like a seal when I do this.
I n]know there's plenty of stuff I could write about, but frustratingly enough, my mind always goes blank when we do emails. So rest assured that I'm still alive and well and really, thanks so much for all the responses I get from everyone. Love you all and remember, this Church is absolutely true and the only way you can achieve true happiness in this life or the next!
Sister Nielsen
