I'm kind of sad. One of my favorite missionaries of all time, E. McOmber (whom you guys don't know) went home because he had broken one arm and troubles with the other. He had served a good half of his mission with his right arm in a sling because he just wanted to work work work...and he's a really good missionary. I don't know I could ever be like him, but I'd really like to have the same positive impact like he had on the mission. It'd be really great to be able to help other missionaries out like he did, because the divisions he did with me were always very valuable and unforgettable learning experiences.

 

But I dunno. All I know is that I'm really happy because our district finally broke the baptismal curse that's been on it since July and somebody was finally baptized in Viçosa (a reaaaally far out countryside town). I took a bunch of pictures - I think Dad would like them in particular. It's Northeastern Brazil, Dad! Whatcha think? If you guys come out here, you guys can see it too...wink wink. Just saying, don't mind being your tour guide here.

 

The new guy that got transferred to Viçosa's a Brazilian - he's a laid back guy, but I believe it's what that little country town needs. After doing a split with him, he seems like a capable missionary who relates really well to others. His name's E. Barros - he served in the Brazilian army before coming on his mission. Cool, huh? Military guys are getting more respect from the Gubler.

 

Last week has been an interesting experiment with sunscreen. I believe that sunscreen from here is designed to make people sweat - because that's all I do when I use it! I ran out of American stuff here, and I never had any problems with it. But it's alright! I'm just applying it carefully so that it doesn't turn my collars orange - that's what sunscreen does to shirts here. Weird, huh?

 

Bandannas are another thing that are weird here. Nobody uses them. But everybody that's heard that E. Gubler has a bandanna wants one. I've gotten some pretty nifty trades with some spare bandannas I brought here on the mish - they're excellent for staying asleep when the sun comes up at 5 in the morning. Perhaps an order for more wouldn't be uncalled for - it may very well result in some more excellent missionary tech coming my way. :3 Right now I'm in the business of giving basic stuff to the newbies - I'm making tie fasteners right now for 3 new Elders that happen to get to know me in the future.

 

Splits with people that AREN'T missionaries are also pretty awesome too. We've done 2 days of division for each of the last 2 weeks, and man...it's awesome. I really like getting individual members trained and excited to do missionary work. I just gotta figure out how to do it with the women/young women safely, and I think this ward will be a baptizing ward again. We got 10 (!!!) references in the last 2 weeks, so I'm feeling pretty good about life. I'm gonna be having a big activity soon that I've masterminded and delegated to people in the ward (though it looks like I'm gonna have to annoy a few people into doing their part). It'll be cool! The "trained" members will give trainings to the "untrained", and we'll be focusing on just getting out of one's shell and doing member-missionary tasks. I've got some high hopes for this activity, though it'll probably require a little personal money - I'm gonna go to a graphics solution store and buy a bunch of stuff we can hand out at the end as both momento and something to remind people of the trainings we gave.

 

I could theorycraft all day about it. But dude. It's awesome. I'm really excited for this transfer and the possibilities that exist.

 

This week, I also have a personal quote I'd like to paste here:

 

"Nobody gets qualification [from God] against their will."

 

Remember the book of Jeremiah, anybody? He got qualified. He was a stuttering boy that was called as a prophet. In the same way, every day I'm seeing Elders get qualified for their callings because God helps them make 100%. But some...don't. Because they don't want it. And they wonder why they don't. This is the primary lesson I've learned this last week - there's something called "sacrifício" ("sacrifice" in Portuguese) and then there's something called "sacrifácil" ("fácil" means "easy"). You don't have any guarantees until you're sacrificing until it wears you out. The sacrifice will require "all [our] heart", as it is said in the chapter 29, verse 13 of the same book.

 

Anyway. </rant>. I'll be seeing you all next week! Don't forget to WRITE and send this missionary some love. For those who don't know my address...it's on the top of the blog page!

 

Love,

 

-Erich