What a week!
So, I´ll cut right to the point and say that yesterday we did not have a baptism. HOWEVER, I learned so. much. this week. On Tuesday, we tried to meet with Cacau and his lady friend after lunch, but by the time we showed up, she had already left, and Cacau had taken his medication and was napping. We showed up later that night and taught him about the Plan of Salvation...and he cried. We kept checking up on him each day until Friday, which was the next day his lady friend would visit. We had been fasting that her heart could be softened, and that everything would turn out right. When we showed up to visit, Cacau was in the front, and told us that she was there, but he didn´t want us to meet with her. He said that she was still completely against the baptism, and that if we met with her, he was sure that she would say many offensive things. He didn´t want any conflict or for us to feel uncomfortable in his house. He tried to warn us that she was hard headed and perhaps a bit ignorant, but in conversing with him a little longer, he let us enter.
I´ll cut right to the point once again in saying that she tried to tear apart our religion from every point. She told us we were not sent by God, but by men, and that we don´t read the Bible, and that we are wasting our time, and that we need to pray and ask God if we should be serving a mission for this church, and that when he says no, we need to redirect ourselves to the right church. She also thought we couldn´t give blood and that we worship Mary, and other beliefs that belong to other religions, not ours. Basically, she just ranted for a good bit. Then we simply and calmly bore our testimonies about how we came to know the church is true and corrected the false doctrine. She didn´t listen to a word we said, and started repeating the same spiel. We decided to leave it alone, and return later to talk to Cacau alone.
That night, once again, we managed to teach him the importance of baptism and committed him, but when Saturday rolled around, he was still letting his lady friend yank his chain. He told us that he knows the truth, and wants to be baptized, but not yet. There was nothing we could say to convince him otherwise, and he wasn´t accepting our challenges anymore, so we have to postpone the baptism for a little longer.
Sunday was crazy as the Branch President and his whole family left on a trip to I don´t know where. We were left with basically four missionaries and the Presidents of the Elders quorum and Relief Society to run all three hours of church. The other three missionaries gave talks in Sacrament meeting, and I taught The Gospel Principles class (alone--in Portuguese. Language experience LEVEL UP!) and it was a success (extra experience points). I also was the chorister in Sacrament meeting, which meant no piano player. I decided to sing the last few lines of the hymns to set the tone, and then bring in the congregation at the beginning;The reaction was better than I could have ever hoped. I´ve never heard the congregation get so involved with the hymns and sing with such conviction because the group is so small. They really liked it and there were many teary eyes. Even though we didn´t have a piano, we managed to bring the spirit to the meeting through music--and with a very small group of people, too! It was a neat experience.
That was my week! One more week, and we´ll know about transfers! We all have two transfers or more here, so anything can happen! EEEE! Love you all, and see you soon!
Elder Crapo
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Maio 12, 2014
Family and Friends,
Okay, so to be honest, everyone here is on a bit of a post-phone call home hangover, but it was so good to talk to you guys and we´ll just be glad it´s p-day today so we can wait out the side affects. :)
We had a really good and exciting week this week. I think I told you about Irmão Pedro, but I´ll just tell you again how awesome he is. He´s super excited about missionary work, and he´s been inviting everyone to hear our message. Seriously everyone. We´ve only met with some of the people he´s invited, but he´s really making a big difference in the branch here. His referral, Cacau, will be baptized on Saturday! We´re pretty excited to see this man make this important change in his life--and he´s pretty excited, too! There are so many miracles happening around us these days! This week was spent teaching a new pool of investigators all because of Irmão Pedro´s hard work.
On Friday, we had a huge rain and thunderstorm! lightning was striking every 10 seconds, and one even struck the Cristo Redentor, and we lost power for the rest of the night. The streets flooded, and it was...pretty interesting. But exciting!
Other than that, we´re just pushing through as usual. I´m loving my mission, and I´m just trying to take advantage of this time here, because I know it passes fast, and I can´t get it back. Every day we´re fighting against regretting not working hard here. I love you all so much, and I´ll see you soon!
Elder Crapo
Okay, so to be honest, everyone here is on a bit of a post-phone call home hangover, but it was so good to talk to you guys and we´ll just be glad it´s p-day today so we can wait out the side affects. :)
We had a really good and exciting week this week. I think I told you about Irmão Pedro, but I´ll just tell you again how awesome he is. He´s super excited about missionary work, and he´s been inviting everyone to hear our message. Seriously everyone. We´ve only met with some of the people he´s invited, but he´s really making a big difference in the branch here. His referral, Cacau, will be baptized on Saturday! We´re pretty excited to see this man make this important change in his life--and he´s pretty excited, too! There are so many miracles happening around us these days! This week was spent teaching a new pool of investigators all because of Irmão Pedro´s hard work.
On Friday, we had a huge rain and thunderstorm! lightning was striking every 10 seconds, and one even struck the Cristo Redentor, and we lost power for the rest of the night. The streets flooded, and it was...pretty interesting. But exciting!
Other than that, we´re just pushing through as usual. I´m loving my mission, and I´m just trying to take advantage of this time here, because I know it passes fast, and I can´t get it back. Every day we´re fighting against regretting not working hard here. I love you all so much, and I´ll see you soon!
Elder Crapo
Maio 5, 2014
Dear Family and Friends!
We had a really good week! We actually managed to find some inactive members! The miracle is that we found them...on the road. ...literally, we stopped them on the road and asked them if we could write down their addresses and give them a message about the gospel. It usually goes like this [Please excuse the terrible translation from Portuguese to English, it really is more interesting in real life] :
Elder: Hey, Good evening! Can we talk to you real quick?
Person: Umm...sure.
Elder: Great! Hey, we´re missionaries, and we have this great message about Jesus Christ to share with you! ^.^
Person: uhhhh...
Elder: So, could we take down your address and pass by your home another day?
Person: ehh...sure but I´m certain you guys already have my address. (They always have to be super vague and beat around the bush until the Elders guess that they´re inactive members)
Elder: Really? You´ve met with missionaries before???
Person: mmmhmm.
Elder: Great! It´s just that the missionaries here move around a lot, so your address was probably lost, etc. (Additional explanation of transfers added here if necessary).
Person: uh huh okay, but I´m still pretty sure you already have my address...
*At this point a good missionary tries not to get frustrated and annoyed, but usually...yup.*
Elder: ...Are you a member of the Church?
``Yup´´
(WHY DIDN`T YOU JUST SAY SO???)
Anyway, we end up taking down their address regardless so we can pass by their home and help reactivate them. The joys!
The members are starting to kick it into high gear with the missionary work, and it´s really great. This week we took an elderly member, Brother Pedro, with us, and he helped us so much! We visited a friend of his named José Carlos, but everyone calls him ``Cacau´´. Cacau really likes our messages, and accepts all our invitations. He accepted a baptismal date, and came with Brother Pedro to church yesterday!!! Cacau really enjoyed the feeling he feels in our lessons and at church, and we are preparing him to be baptized soon!
Anyway, that´s our biggest development this week. I hope you all have a great Mother´s Day! See you soon!
Elder Crapo
We had a really good week! We actually managed to find some inactive members! The miracle is that we found them...on the road. ...literally, we stopped them on the road and asked them if we could write down their addresses and give them a message about the gospel. It usually goes like this [Please excuse the terrible translation from Portuguese to English, it really is more interesting in real life] :
Elder: Hey, Good evening! Can we talk to you real quick?
Person: Umm...sure.
Elder: Great! Hey, we´re missionaries, and we have this great message about Jesus Christ to share with you! ^.^
Person: uhhhh...
Elder: So, could we take down your address and pass by your home another day?
Person: ehh...sure but I´m certain you guys already have my address. (They always have to be super vague and beat around the bush until the Elders guess that they´re inactive members)
Elder: Really? You´ve met with missionaries before???
Person: mmmhmm.
Elder: Great! It´s just that the missionaries here move around a lot, so your address was probably lost, etc. (Additional explanation of transfers added here if necessary).
Person: uh huh okay, but I´m still pretty sure you already have my address...
*At this point a good missionary tries not to get frustrated and annoyed, but usually...yup.*
Elder: ...Are you a member of the Church?
``Yup´´
(WHY DIDN`T YOU JUST SAY SO???)
Anyway, we end up taking down their address regardless so we can pass by their home and help reactivate them. The joys!
The members are starting to kick it into high gear with the missionary work, and it´s really great. This week we took an elderly member, Brother Pedro, with us, and he helped us so much! We visited a friend of his named José Carlos, but everyone calls him ``Cacau´´. Cacau really likes our messages, and accepts all our invitations. He accepted a baptismal date, and came with Brother Pedro to church yesterday!!! Cacau really enjoyed the feeling he feels in our lessons and at church, and we are preparing him to be baptized soon!
Anyway, that´s our biggest development this week. I hope you all have a great Mother´s Day! See you soon!
Elder Crapo
April 28, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
This week, I´m really grateful to be a missionary. I remember when I arrived in this mission, everyone told me that there was just one place in the mission where you don´t want to go. I turns out that today, I´m serving in that exact place. True, the branch here struggles to get the attendance of 20 people each week at church, the people are really closed in their houses and in their religions, it´s super hot, everything is expensive, and the only decently priced computer lab is very far from home and closes frequently just when you need it. However, I have a great companion, and a great friendship with the other Elders here, and I´ve been finding a lot of things in scripture and old issues of the Liahona about the purpose of this life and how even when we do our best, we probably will not have reached where it is that we were trying to go. That´s why the Lord sent His Son to the earth, that after we´ve done all we can do, the Lord will fill in the rest through His mercy.
I don´t have a whole lot to talk about this week. We´re just plugging along, and we´re working hard. We´re happy, and we know that God is preparing us for the future. Although we may not see many fruits today, someday we´ll know why we pass through our difficulties. I love you all so much, and I´ll see you soon!
Elder Crapo
This week, I´m really grateful to be a missionary. I remember when I arrived in this mission, everyone told me that there was just one place in the mission where you don´t want to go. I turns out that today, I´m serving in that exact place. True, the branch here struggles to get the attendance of 20 people each week at church, the people are really closed in their houses and in their religions, it´s super hot, everything is expensive, and the only decently priced computer lab is very far from home and closes frequently just when you need it. However, I have a great companion, and a great friendship with the other Elders here, and I´ve been finding a lot of things in scripture and old issues of the Liahona about the purpose of this life and how even when we do our best, we probably will not have reached where it is that we were trying to go. That´s why the Lord sent His Son to the earth, that after we´ve done all we can do, the Lord will fill in the rest through His mercy.
I don´t have a whole lot to talk about this week. We´re just plugging along, and we´re working hard. We´re happy, and we know that God is preparing us for the future. Although we may not see many fruits today, someday we´ll know why we pass through our difficulties. I love you all so much, and I´ll see you soon!
Elder Crapo
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