Sunday

January 4, 20  Sunday 

Our first Fast Sunday in Brazil.  Merl had been working on writing his testimony in Portuguese for the past week, with David reviewing it for grammatical correctness.  I have attempted a simple one that Camila has reviewed. 

The morning was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky - and with a weather forecast for rain all day.  Some of us took guardachuvas and some did not.  I did not, thinking that if it did start raining before we came home from church, it wouldn't matter by then - walking in the rain is refreshing.  The whole day stayed warm and sunny.

The now typical Sunday schedule was for me to play prelude and opening song in Relief Society, then moving over to Primary.  Primary usually starts late, so I can do both.  Lauren (one of Ann's students) was to play for Sacrament meeting, but didn't come, so I played there, too, and afterwards was another baptism.  I can play the piano in any language, and I would rather do that than speak.

I am certainly not complaining, as David really had the responsibilities of the day.  He taught the priesthood lesson, conducted Sacrament meeting (as no one in the Branch Presidency was there), confirmed two new members, and was a witness for the baptism of Cintia Gomez), the first member in her family.  She has been attending Young Women's with friends, and now her family is being taught by the missionaries.  Her family was at her baptism, so that is encouraging - for her and them.

Merl bore his testimony in Sacrament meeting today - I am sure it was a very frightening experience speaking from the pulpit in a foreign language and needing to read most of it to get the correct pronunciation of the words. 

After the meetings, the missionaries all gave Merl a big bear hug indicating their appreciation for his testimony and courage to do it in their language.  Many branch members also expressed their appreciation.  As we were leaving the church, Wilson (the young man we are working with on his house), gave Merl a big handshake and hug.  We were given a ride home with one of the counselors in the Branch Presidency who dropped by after he got off work.  He does nothing slow - talking too fast to be understood and driving too fast to be comfortable riding with him ( Joãn Machado (wife is Fabiano).  The sun continued to shine!

We had a nice lunch of lasagna, cabbage/apple/orange/pineapple salad, and the last of the home-made sorveti.  I thought the afternoon would be for studying our Portuguese homework for class, but instead we walked to Presidente Anderson's home (who was home sick with a stomach flu) to check on him and to discuss next steps with Wilson's house.  Ann and Camila researched the internet for Portuguese Primary helps - found that there is a lot there.  This will help Ann in preparing her sharing time presentation in a couple of weeks.  We are also working on a bulletin board in the primary.  They have no pictures, no color, no warmth. . . just white walls and tile floors.  So we are doing a bulletin board outlined with a red border, taking picture of each of the children and putting them on a cutout footprint.  Then placing on the board walking towards a picture of Christ.  The saying on the bottom of the footprint says "Eu vou seguir O Salvador" (I will follow the Savior). 

We met the missionaries as we were leaving Pres. Anderson's home, and invited them over for popcorn while they and David could review membership records and determine where everyone lived.  David and Ann went directly home to prepare, and Merl and I walked up to the cathedral to see if we could find out the schedule for the concerts.  Mass was being held, so we stopped by a close hotel.  We approached the front doors and it said "empurre" (push); then as we left , we pulled the door open - "puxe."  Another example of the words seeming to be opposite of English -so confusing!  We noticed a crowd looking up at the top of the steeple and saw a man photographing something.  Crazy. . . later as a helicopter flew over us, we determined that it went to pick him up. 

We arrived home to find two of the Elders eating pancakes and scouring over maps on the table.  Soon after, the other Elders arrived - so another batch of "American Pancakes" was made.  They were in heaven eating the pancakes with hot maple syrup.  I brought several containers of maple flavoring because you can't find it here. 

I guess we will have to study our Portuguese lesson tomorrow. . .