Missionary Monday - 2nd Week in Noronha

November 25, 2013

Missionary Monday - 2nd Week in Noronha

It rained almost everyday this week. And when it isnt raining it is like 40 degrees C, whatever that is. I am pretty much wet all day from either sweat or the rain. Its a pretty big change from cruising around in an air conditioned car all day in Michigan. I was looking forward to doing laundry so that I could have clean things again, but the washing machines here pretty much get your clothes wet and then you hang them on a line. If there is any kind of stain you have to scrub it out by hand first, but even then it doesn't really come out. Brasil has a special kind of filthy that I can't find a way to shake.

Unfortunately Brasil has mosquitoes as well and if you don't sleep under your covers they get you all night. When I get to the other side I am going to have a talk with whoever's idea it was to create mosquitoes. I guess it's just one of the few downsides to having back to back summers. Ha.

I went on divisions like three times this week, which I'm not a huge fan of. I was with this one elder twice because his companion was in the hospital and he doesn't speak a lick of english and he talks really quiet and fast. The biggest reason I don't like working in other areas is because I will never see the people I meet again. I like building relationships with people. In Michigan I liked to go to other areas to see new things, but pretty much all the areas look the same here. Speaking of which, if you want to google map it or something, I am in Noronha in the Grajaú area of São Paulo.

The other churches here are funny. In our area at least, they meet in garage looking buildings and they meet EVERY night. And they are super loud. Preaching and singing. Our church, in comparison, is enormous and only meets on Sundays. It is a pretty obvious difference. You can see the difference in the members too. They dress like normal people, and have nice homes, and happy families. They are basically the same as members in the states, but compared to the rest of the people in Brasil its like the difference between first world and second world.

Remember how I said we teach a lot of kids? Well the next day we were informed that they've made a new rule for investigators between the age of 8-15 that they have to attend church for 3 months before they can be baptized. Ha. I think that will have a pretty big effect on the work.

Thats all I got for this week.

Elder Beck

Pic 1 - There are tons of stray dogs roaming around here and they are mostly all muts, so you get some crazy looking breeds. Ha ha. We found this one just chillin outside our door one morning.

Pic 2 - We have the new rule for baptizing children, but they said it didn't apply to those that were already in our teaching pool... So I baptized two of them this Satuday. The one on the left is Marcus Antonho and the other is Retano. Renato teaches me colors and really likes to have thumb wars.