In the Field - "Porque não?"

That's right. We had one of God's elects tell this to us when we invited him to baptism.

We did a lot of searching this last week for new people to teach, and it was wearing us down as the new weekly cycle started to come to a close. But the last lesson, on the last day, on a Sunday that had work delayed two hours more than usual, we got the Standard of Excellence for the daily work.

Know why?

I don't. XD

But yeah! Work, work, work - no substitute for this in the mish field. I'm changing for it, you know. I'm going bald. I'm getting guitar fingers (long story, see photo below!). I'm pretty sure my feet will never be the same. But I'm also learning a ton about things I'd never considered, both from my companion and from the questions that have been asked of us while we taught this last week. I'm glad for my awesome companion, and I'll be sad to be parted from his when the transfer ends. Still...that's more than a week away! No time to think about that junk now: it's time for photos and anecdotes!

GUITAR FINGERS

First off is the title of this post. Yes! After a week of getting weak investigators, we have somebody that's resolved himself completely to discovering the truth of the Mormon message! He's had a lot of good experiences in the past with the Church through his girlfriend, who's the member that referred us - but hey, he's still an elect! We're gonna freaking BAPTIZE this guy. :D And he'll be a great member that will help a lot of other people in the Itabaiana Branch!  

Oi loro, beleza?

The elects, the men and women prepared for the gospel, exist! You just have to find them!

Another interesting anecdote I have is about another elect, an 8-year-old who's determined to see herself baptized despite having her family against it. When we talked with her 16/17-year-old sister, who'd actually already been baptized, her sister said that she thought it was too early. The 8-year-old right then and there just BURNS her sister, and says (translating here) "The Elders described the baptism as Jesus beckoning to us. We don't follow Jesus after a few months to make absolute sure we're prepared - if we can walk, we get up and go right follow him now!". **insert Brazilian finger-snapping right here**

Also had our first almost-Bible-bash. We stayed in this super-Christian person's house for 2 HOURS going back and forth on doctrine, and her giving us what she thought would be hard questions. The only reason we stayed was because she seemed genuinely interested in our message - but I don't want to repeat that again! My head hurt after that. :/

Finally, another type of investigator I've discovered is what I like to call the "ghost investigator". We have an investigator that had a pretty good first lesson, and accepted the commitments we extended to her - but then we were never able to find her again. From all appearances, it seems the house was just...abandoned. Weird, huh?



In the meantime...here's more photos and junk: it's time for me to run!

I like this picture. :D

Cabras! Muitas cabras suculentas!

Sei lá.

A watch from my first Zone Leader, who's gone home. I call this "Chandler's Final Lesson".

Gospel study is one of my favorite parts of the day. I've got a real curiousity going on for church history right now, and I've recently been finishing up Jesus the Christ for the first time in my life. I love the book. The problem is it's so HUGE. And I also need to devote time to developing responses to the questions I can answer better in lessons, which is why my current companion is an incredible asset right now. Next transfer I'm probably going to be on my own while I train somebody - Prez. Gonzaga's philosophy is to have the missionaries train early in their time here, and hoooo boy that's gonna be stressful. Perhaps I'll train a Brazilian - that might simplify a few things. But training an American would be awesome too. I'm just nervous about being Senior for the first time for two transfers - I don't feel like I know nearly enough to train somebody properly! But hey, missionary work has one principle only - just work. Work work work, and you'll learn eventually.


E. Erich Gubler (AKA Gublinho)

Awww man. There's so much stuff to discuss. I guess I shouldn't complain that I get to pick and choose, huh?

Well, I know I've missed out a couple of weeks now. I don't have time to recapitulate everything, and that's why I won't! However, in this area I've had a couple of firsts I thought were worth mentioning:

• First failed baptism! The mom didn't give permission right at the end, despite repeated affirmations that she was okay with the missionaries, the church, and baptism. :/ Keep moving forward! Raaawr! 
• First failed confirmation! Somewhere between the baptism and the church the next day she lost all desire to return. SAY WHAT. D:
• Confirmation of firmness of first man baptized on my mission! Woo! Stay firm, Luis Carlos!
• First Brazilian companion! He speaks English fluently, but hey. Now people are starting to think I'm from Brazil, because he's really helping with my accent and vocabulary. The only problem is I'm starting to think in Portuguese. 
• Made fetching TRUFFLES. Check this out: http://imgur.com/a/ul9N7
• First: Aw yeah. The fruits of our labors. I love it. :D 
• Second: This is me and one of the sisters in the branch I'm working with. She's teaching me the secret technique. :D
• Third: Bought an umbrella, coincidentally from another member of the branch. The fairs here can get pretty crazy - I really need to check out the other cities, get more of a feel for what it's like in Brazil as a whole! 
• Fourth: Fetching good. Not sure what to call them in English, though.
• Fifth: Beans, rice, pasta, and some manioc flour here (commonly called "farinha"). Eat it every day here!
• Sixth: MEEEAT. It's not beefcake, but it helps with keeping you preach the gospel!
• Got up the other day at 4 in the morning to help a less-active member shell coconuts, if you can believe it. Here's his expression when we arrived: http://imgur.com/LVF7g

As always, challenges are being faced, and triumphs and defeats are just part of the day-to-day routine now. The only thing that's important is to never, ever give up! Keep on going, until the very end - that is, always the next step. I'm loving my mission! I'm trying my best to make everybody at home proud! I would like to take my leave for this week with two quotes for everyone:

• "Thou that fillest my mailbox, expect nothing but recompense." Hint hint!
• Matthew 5:46-48 - "...Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

-Erich

Don't joke about the heat. It's completely normal for me to have a thin layer of sweat over my entire body right now. I'm pretty happy, though - I fixed our warm-shower-head by replacing the resistive elements, and the entire house is super happy. :D That's a cheap thrill too, but hey, simple pleasures are making life awesome right now! Like taking off my shoes. I'm enjoying that way too much every day.

Hmm. I wish you guys luck on the camping trip! It builds character. Try doing it for a month straight - you'll really appreciate warm showers and carpet after that. I've yet to find a single carpet that isn't dead, bug-infested, or just plain not really carpet. There's NO carpet here, and for health reasons. But yeah, enough about that!

-Erich