Missionary Monday - Alcohol, the good the bad and the ugly
So much to write, so little time.
I have found the purpose for my existence here in Cocaia. His name is Wellington. I love him so much. There is no doubt in my mind that God has prepared and led us to him. Especially because the way we found him is crazy. One day we got to our lunch and it wasn't prepared yet so we left to go do something for 30 minutes. Then we leave the house, walk about 30 yards and stop to figure out what to do. Then some drunk guy in an Elvis shirt starts waving at us from the bar and comes and talks to us. He told about how he used to talk with missionaries and about how he loves America and Elvis and stuff like that. He said he does shows as an Elvis impressionist and started to sing for us. Ha. He actually did look a lot like Elvis. He was super funny. So I wrote him down as a potential investigator because first, I've learned not to turn down an opportunity, and second, he was funny. Elder Knechtel thought I was joking. Then a few days later we had nothing to do and I suggested we go see Elvis (I was serious) and Elder Knechtel said no. Then a few days later I suggested it again because we had absolutely nothing to do and I needed a good laugh. So we went and Elvis wasn't there, but his brother Wellington was. Wellington used to own his own business, but recently got divorced and lost his business so he moved back home with his parents and is working in a law firm. I might dare to say he is the only person in Cocaia that works in a law firm, which is why he is such a miracle. It is so hard to find a smart educated person here, but we found him! Those are my type of investigators. The rest of the missionaries in this mission have a pretty good handle on baptizing kids, so if finding the people like Wellington is my purpose, I am okay with that. Wellington has gone to a lot of different churches and never felt at home in any of them. And when his brother Elvis (real name Walter) was taking the missionary discussions he was 14 and heard all of them, but never went to church because he thought he needed to be invited. He and his dad came this Sunday and loved it! He came dressed in a suit and everything. The members were all buzzing about him because of how awesome he is (Kingdom Builder). Anyways, I don't want to jinx anything, but I would really appreciate your prayers for him. And all of this THANKS to alcohol. Toma satanas.
On the down side of alcohol we found one of the inactives we have been working with drunk and that was really sad. He was funny too though. He was talking about soccer and asked us who the best player in the U.S. was and we had no idea. Then he asked who was the best player in Brazil and we knew that it was Neymar. He thought it was really funny that we knew the best player in Brazil, but not the U.S. and was laughing, but then got really serious and said, "but do you guys know who the best soccer player in the world is? Jesus. So lets hear a message." It was hilarious. So we asked what he wanted to hear about and he thought for a minute and said "I want to know why we have different languages. Because I ask myself, if we are are children of God, why is it that when the missionaries come over I can't understand what they say."
gtg love you
Pic 1 - What I thought Brazil would be like.
Pic 2 - What Brazil (where our mission is) is really like.
Pics 3&4 There is this sweet island in our area and we had lunch there this week. It was awesome, but there are some man eating spiders there. If we are being honest, I don't think I'm man enough to be in a jungle mission.
