Sunday, March 25, 2018

January 22, 2018

Ok I have a billion and one emails today so this might be kind of short. I also have l think seriously at least a hundred pictures to send, but the computers at the library in Vitoria were under maintenance so we ended up having to come home, and I'm not gonna risk losing all of them! Super sorry :( I promise I'll send them as soon as I can!!
This week wasn't quite as amazing as last week, unfortunately. We got stuck several times because we wanted to work on the other side of our area, the closed side, but the members that we asked to go with us either couldn't go last minute, or couldn't stay very long, but we managed to at least visit Aliny and family pretty consistently. In other news, we had a surprise zone conference this week, and we have surprise interviews tomorrow, so it's been kind of crazy. Also, we hiked to the most beautiful place on earth today and I can't wait to tell you all about it! But first, the people.
Aliny - She's awesome, as always. Was supposed to be baptized yesterday, but she's still struggling with smoking. Or she was, until Saturday, but we set a new goal so that she can be baptized this Saturday. Her body really isn't taking it that well, but she received a priesthood blessing yesterday, and she has lots of support.
Sara is working on giving up smoking as well. Still unsure about baptism, but she's reading the book of Mormon, and planning to come to all of the activities! Also, she made sure we helped her give a donation yesterday because she really wants to help.
Wanderley! It's hard to tell where he stands because he takes 10 minutes to answer a yes or no question, ;) but he also absolutely loves coming to church and the activities! Also, I challenged him to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the transfer (30 days, which is about 8 chapters a day--it's possible!) because he was getting super hung up on the details (he thinks too much. Know a couple people like that!) and he accepted! Was actually so excited that he took out his bookmark and said he's gonna start from the beginning. Also, we challenged him to stop drinking coffee, and he has been proudly reporting every single day that "this is the X day without coffee!" He's adorable. And in case you're wondering, he's 37 and a professor of philosophy, not 10, but idk, sometimes I wonder haha.
Angelita. I know I've mentioned her family, we don't usually spend much time with her. But yesterday she asked us to come over and study the scriptures with her two 11 year old grandsons. Well, not study. She wanted us to help them get excited about the scriptures. So we went over and just had an awesome experience reading the Book of Mormon, and discussing how we can teach/learn something from any verse (I used a fortune teller to pick scrips at random). I wrote a lot more about it in my journal, but you'll have to wait until I can send pics.
Some unfortunate things: Rita is struggling a little right now because Rodrigo ran away (again) with her TV and also stole a member's bus card, which also means he fell back into his drug addiction. Thankfully we have an awesome Bishop who is taking care of that. We were also prohibited from teaching Ivan, because he apparently has a lot more problems than we thought, but he's still coming to church. We also weren't able to visit a couple of people, because of time constraints and lack of members, but I think we'll do better this week!

AAAAAnd then there's the Convento! It's an old catholic church that was built literally on top of a very green hill right on the edge of the bay. Whatever you're imagining, it's even more beautiful and more breathtaking. We had an embarrassing situation with a lost nametag that the police had to get involved in fishing it out of the post (my lovely companion was taking a picture--without holding onto it--on top of an open sign post) but other than that, it was an awesome trip!! Between the 4 of us, I think we have hundreds of photos, plus a couple videos, and I was super duper duper excited to finally be able to show you all what kind of beauty I live in, but unfortunately that's gonna have to wait. Sorry!!

Ok I spent way longer than I wanted to on this, and didn't get to everything, but I have journal pages and pictures to come!
Love you all!

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