Well, here in Araraquara today, it's a chilly 25 degrees
with cloudy skies and threats of more rain! That's the kind of weather that I
like to see! It seems like the weekends here like to stay rather cold, but then
it gets super hot during the week. Which means that people don't always go to
church... If it rains, everyone stays at home because of laziness and lack of
desire. That's pretty frustrating to me, considering how much it actually rains
in Oregon compared to here. But that's alright! That's where I'm here for! To
help the people come to church even when it is raining!
So this week was rather difficult in terms of the work. We
knocked doors. Every day. And had almost no success. I will give you an example
of a normal door contact here.
Dona Maria - "Oh, I already went to your guys' church
and I already know lots of members of your church."
Us - "That's great! How did you like attending the
church? Were you baptized?"
Dona Maria - "I liked it, yeah. But I don't remember
much about it. I went like 20 years ago. I never got baptized because I already
have my own church."
Us - "Ah, I see. Well did you ever have the chance to
read the Book of Mormon?"
Dona Maria - "No, I never have. But I read the
Bible."
Us - "That's really good. Would you like a chance to
read more of the words of God?"
Dona Maria - "No, that's alright. I already have the
Bible and that's all I need."
(Insert 2 Nephi 29 here...)
Us - "Alrighty then... What church is it that you
attend?"
Dona Maria - "Oh, I don't go to church."
Us - "..."
Dona Maria - "I think the work that you young men do is
beautiful, but I don't want to mix my religion with yours. One God, one faith,
one baptism, right? We're all worshiping the same God, so I think we're all
good."
Us - "Alright, have a good day."
And then we leave. It's quite obvious that almost nobody
here wants to accept us... However, we are being blessed with other people who
are helping us out. Our ward mission leader here knows pretty much everyone in
the city, so his connections are helping us found people a lot. Also, we had a
new young man move into the ward recently. He is from Ribeirão Preto Ala 1. If
you remember correctly, that's a ward that I already served in! I knew that I
recognized him from somewhere, and he said the same thing, and that's when we
realized the connection. He's now living here with a different part of his
family (who aren't members of the church), so he asked us to go to his house
this week. We're going on Tuesday. It should be pretty great!
We might have a baptism this week... I'm still not sure how
solid it is. But many prayers and some fasting and we'll see what we can do!
So a couple of a weeks ago you asked about tan lines and
junk... Well, I took some pictures of my arms for you to see. It's pretty
great. And it'll only get worse, I'm sure.
Hope you all have a fantastic week! I know I will!
Interviews with President on Wednesday! Woo!!
Love you all!
-Elder Hopper #1
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