#73 Transfers are weird...

Transfers here are weird.
So, Elder P got sick this week, it looked like dengue, so we almost didn't do transfers, but turned out not to be a problem, so I dropped him off at the bus yesterday, and I'm camping out in Palmas with Elder C (awesome guy) until tomorrow. Dunno where, but Elder P is in Brasilia, as well as Elder C's comp. I'm going to get an almost newbie American (third transfer, training just ended), and that should be really fun!

These last two weeks CRAWLED by. I noticed yesterday. But, now we can start again…Turns out Elder Co was Elder G's companion a little after I was, and we sat around talking with him last night. Wow. It's so weird, now that he's gone; I'm the last survivor from my first house in Paranoá. Weird.

I actually don't know what will be happening with transfers. . . I think it's a 6-weeker though. (It’s a 5 week this time). They are planning on changing a few things in the near future.

And yes, we had the great blessing of our time changing back to normal! I've never had such difficulty getting up at 6:30 in the mission... But now it's super easy! It's not super dark when you get up, so your body is actually willing to get up now! So good.

To be honest, very little happened this week, considering carnival ending and Elder P getting sick... But hopefully this next week I'll have some fun stuff for you.

Sorry about the typing. This keyboard really is AWFUL.

So, until next week

Tchau!
Elder Funnell

#72 I am tired of talking...

Wow. He is old. (We had Jon’s 16^th B-day yesterday)

I enjoyed the idea of taping stuff to death. Sounds quite annoying :P

It's always fun to have stuff move around in the wards. (We had our Women’s organization, Relief Society and our young children’s program given new Presidents and leaders yesterday) These kinds of changes happen MUCH more often here (considering that half of the ward is one family. . .). Two weeks ago someone was called as primary president. Then yesterday someone else was.

Coolest thing ever about yesterday... WE HAVE A WARD MISSION LEADER!!! WHOO!!!

And he's really cool too. M, the guy I talked about last week that came back from Rio recently. He's really neat, he just works a lot. Sounds like we will have an LMA every other week, but that's WAY better than never!

In other news, I gave a class and a talk yesterday. . . Tired of speaking now. Usually when the missionaries talk, it's just to introduce themselves or to fill a 5-10 minute hole in the program. This time they gave me the fifteen minute spot. Bother. So the surprise talk on Saturday was followed by the surprise class yesterday when we realized that the gospel principles teacher wasn't there. So I taught about Adam and Eve. At least it wasn't a hard one.

That, and the Sacrifice talk from last May (since I still don't have the recent conference) ended up being fun-ish, but I have no desire to do more.

This week was wierd!

So, Elder P was supposed to leave last Sunday, until we received the call that he needed to leave Friday. We got everything all set up to go, got to the bus stop and everything, and right when the bus got close, the assistant called me saying "DONT GET ON THAT BUS!!!"

...

Okay...

So he was moved to Saturday. Sounds like there weren’t any more spots in the bus to Brasilia.

So we dumped his stuff back at the house, and the assistant called a couple hours later to inform us that he simply won't be transferred until transfers.

...

Annoying.

So he's still here in Miracema! 

I find it very likely that I will stay this transfer. If Elder P stays again he will explode.

As for cool news, lessons, or persons, we met a bunch of less actives and family in a part of the city that Elder P never went to. But that's about it. We'll see where they can get this week.

Well... I think that's about it for the day... So I'll just leave it at that.

Tchau!

Elder Funnell

#71 An adventure and more pics!

WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

We went on a little adventure today. It was fun, AND productive. More on that later.

R is back!!! One of the awesomest families in the ward came back! (They’ve been gone since I got here basically)

Which also means that MY HAIR GOT CUT AGAIN!!! I almost had to pay to get it cut. . .

Sacrament meeting was THE BEST!!! Never seen a sacrament meeting that was so cool here. (Too bad C didn't go...)

Aaaaaaaaaaaand... emergency transfer! YAY! NOT!

What fun this week neh?

So, I'll start in the middle. Sacrament meeting was awesome. The church was without energy, so the mic wasn't working. Funny thing is, when everyone is babbling during sacrament meeting, you can't hear anything USING the mic. BUT, when there is no mic, you can hear perfectly because everyone shuts up.

I feel like everything that was talked about was perfect. I loved it and anyone else loved it too. Oh, and the theme of just about everything this week was BoM, which is cool too.

First L told us about how she finished the BoM for the 17th time in 10 years of the church... I thought, "Gee... I'm finishing 4th in 12 years. . ."

M (R's husband) gave an awesome testimony about a ward that he passed through on his trip. There was a kid with serious mental difficulties. He is incapable of talking, walking, or doing just about anything. He is limited to just a few simple gestures. One of the motions that the kid has learned is how to hold the sacrament trays. He has to exert himself a lot, but he manages to serve the sacrament to everyone in his area with the help of one more deacon pushing him. He said that if this kid, with so many difficulties, works so hard to serve the Lord, how is it that he, as a 'perfect' man, can't serve better.

R (ward secretary, nice, shy kid) bore his testimony about how great the gospel is and how sad he is that his family isn't a part of it. M talked about "exceção de pessoas", about how God loves everyone equally. R was then talking about how it's great to have a place like that... that he is happy to stop by in the many members' houses and feel truly welcome, while in his own house there is rarely true happiness. 

This was followed by the several messages of love for him, about how he truly is a part of that family. This ward really is a family. A kinda ugly one with lots of problems still... but it's got the love of a family.

Senhor A (OLD guy. Quorum president's dad) told about how he can't read... but that he has no doubt that the BoM is true. This guy lives EXTREMELY far away, but you can be sure that he will be at church, you can bet that he will be at any activity and service project, and you can bet (regardless of his lack of education) that he participates in every way possible in the church, including giving talks about doctrine (not using any resources except those things that he learns and remembers from church meetings).

In the end, I determined that I'm very lucky to be here in this amazing ward. I feel that I learned as much as anyone else this week. Very neat experience.

So, second item, president. It was kinda funny, our cell phone lost coverage the night before president came, making it VERY difficult to schedule. In the end, he found us randomly on the street on Wednesday. Sister went bonkers about the house because:

1: That house was VERY MESSY when we got there. It has a very bad history of cleanliness.

2: It was one of the cleanest houses!!!

Yay.

She just gave us a couple of things to buy (new window panes, cover thingy for the washing machine, easy stuff) and sat there complimenting us.

President doesn't seem super-duper excited like normal. Sounds like there's a lot of drama in Tocantins. But, he also seemed pleased with the house (minus the fact that he wants us to find a new house and move because this house is falling on us...) and he seemed happy with us as well. He hinted that Elder P might very possible become senior next transfer, and that he WILL be leaving (after six months, it's about time). He also said that that means that I stay. Duh. Unless he needs something else.

He talked about being LD and stuff, about how I can be one blah blah blah, but that he's happy sticking me where he sticks me (never being an area that has an LD). And said that probably I'll be one soon. Bother.

And I think that's about it. It was a very nice visit (as always) and I enjoyed seeing them again. It's been a while.

Oh, he also said congratsa at not being a total slacker. Apparently missionaries that live SUPER far away (like us) tend to do stupid stuff... I'll continue avoiding stupid stuff, sounds bothersome.

Next up, emergency transfer! To be honest, it's the weirdest emergency transfer ever. Usually, as the title "emergency" infers, the transfer is done the morning after you receive the info. Well, Elder G called me on Saturday saying bye bye to Elder P. He's headed back to Brasilia a little early. BUT, we received a few more calls later explaining that it won't happen until Friday. . . hence the not-so-emergency transfer. . . Sounds like he will be senior companion in Gama, and that Elder A is coming here. Weird, considering he was our LD in Recanto... But whatever, president must be wanting something weird. Perhaps I'll be leaving this transfer after all... Or not. Dunno again.

And finally! Today we went to Tocantínia. It's the itty bitty 'city' on the other side of the river. I learned many things there (mostly that lots of Indians live there and that they sell cheap stuff). It was fun going to the other side, and I think I managed to get some stuff that maybe Maryn will like. I hope.

If not, someone will I'm sure :P

So I'll be getting a box out there (finally) soonish.

Oh, and our attendance was 55 this week. Very normal...

Anyhow, busy week. I'll give yu time to read the mass of type here...

Tchau tchau!

Elder Funnell

#70 More pics this week!

News report from the land of HOT:

"It is once again, VERY HOT in the land of HOT. The specialists were very suprised.

A sign with the city name of Miracema HAS been found. Investigations about picture taking will proceed shortly.

The two newest members of the land of HOT were confirmed this week. Will the family follow?

There has been much talk of marraige this week. Will the Elders go bonkers?

Find out at 7:00"

Yeah okay, or now.

Yes, I WILL go bonkers. A's mom is pretty much a member. She is super perfect. She doesn't even drink coca cola because her mom told her it's bad. . . BUT. She doesn't want to get married much. She heard the whole "Blah blah blah it only get's worse after marraige blah blah blah" and so she doesn't want to.

*Sigh*

We'll have to take the bishop back there some day this week, because it may be that she doesn't care about what I have to say about marraige (being un unmarried non-parent)... We'll see.

That truly is one of the biggest problems in Brasil. NO ONE MAKES COMMITMENTS WITH ANYONE!!!

BLAHHHH!

And then they wonder why so few relationships/families work out right. . . duh.

It was kinda funny though, out of nowhere, D asked if some sins were worse than others. 

-It's good to note that he likes to make questions that he will bark at you no matter which way you answer-

I said yes AND before his very fast protests said that there were three that were worse.

I caught him off guard :P`

"Which?"

Deny the holy ghost (probably doesn't care)

murder "ah, alrighty, easy"

and adultery "oh... ..."

Yeah... imagine which one applies to him too?

We already knew, but it's interesting when the investigator actually figures out how bad it is in God's eyes.

There's another couple that lives right next to the church, but prefers to sleep in. AND, L is still married to someone else. . .

To be honest, out of the MANY people that we visit, I'm pretty sure there's only two that are actually married. One member that is a little distant at the moment, and one other couple that is quite lazy (and lives far away, bad combination)

But anyway. Ranting over.

The week went quite well actually. We managed to teach A's family a lot, which was great, and maybe someday over the rainbow there will be another few baptisms there. But for now, the baptismal font is quiet.

Met a few new people this week. S is super cool. One of those 'nicest lady in the world' kinda people. She basically taught us the entire gospel of jesus christ. And she's catholic. 

She taught US about needing an age of accountability for baptism... but she's catholic. . . we'll see where she goes this week too.

This week we will be raiding the area book and attacking everyone that ever showed interest. Should be a fun week. Lots of new people.

interviews were not last week. It's impossible to know when what happens. Maybe he did Brasilia last week and saved us for this week.

Anyhow, Elder O said that President would visit their house 8:00 today, so perhaps he's already in palmas. We don't know when he will drop into miracema though.

Cooling off? Not much. Some days are still just hot, others are hot and wet, and I think myabe ONE was slightly less-hot and wet.

Clothes? Fine. I think. It would be good of me to count again...

But, I'm out of words now. So, I'll go ahead and let you read this while I read the weekly bulletin.

Até mais!

Tcha tchau!

Elder Funnell