Sunday Meetings, Baptism, Sad News

February 8  Sunday

Merl (Journal entry):
"David and I arrived about 15 minutes early. No one was there and the gates were locked.  I looked around and observed a line of cutter ants crawling along the cement curb. So, I thought, I'll find their nest (holes into the ground) and see how far away they are obtaining the leaves to cut. I found both. The area where they were cutting the 'dried' leaves was about 250 feet from the nest! So, I timed one of the ants to see how fast it was traveling in five feet. It took about two minutes to travel five feet, so that means it takes 100 minutes to travel 250 feet, and 200 minutes to travel the distance both ways. That is 3 hours and 20 minutes to get one small, (big for them) piece of leaf to the nest. There seemed to be leaf debris much closer to the nest. I wonder how they found this far away place and why they chose it?  I also saw many ants making the journey but apparently not carrying anything back with them. Maybe they trade off carrying the load, or they are replacements and the burial crew if the ant that carries the load doesn't make it all the way.

President Caio Paraja (counselor) came at 7:00, and we all went in to the meeting. However, President Nunez didn't come until 7:15.  He had slept in.  He called on me to say the prayer. I pulled out my Portuguese version and read the prayer. (I know, we don't usually read prayers in church).  David gave a spiritual thought and then there was about a 10 minute discussion about something.  At 7:30, President Caio and I excused ourselves and headed back to the bus station to go to São Francisco de Paula.  He was coming to speak and to observe the situation there with me (1 1/4 hours on the bus). We met Kathlyn getting on the bus in Canela. I think she was happy to see us.

We arrived in Canela just a few minutes before 9:00 am. There was not a soul at the church and the doors were still locked. Thank goodness I now have a key.  Pres. Caio started cleaning up the baptismal room, I worked in the utility room, and Kathlyn gathered up garbage and prepared the Primary room. Soon some primary children and some young people showed up.  Kathlyn took the primary children (ended with 24 in attendance), and President Caio took the 3, then 4 young men.  He had them sit in the chapel area and started Priesthood meeting with a song and prayer . . . then gave the lesson.

I stood at the front door and welcomed people as they came for the next hour and a half and directed them to where they needed to be.  By the time Sacrament Meeting started, we had 80 people in attendance.  Marcos and Rodrigo took about 45 minutes to drive around town and gather up all the people. There were no primary leaders or teachers that came, but there were some other class teachers. There were many non-member investigators that were there today. Eleven were to be baptized after Sacrament Meeting.
 

Just before the sacrament was to be served, there were a number of young people running around so I stepped down from the stand and gathered them up to come in to sit quietly for the sacrament. Amazingly, they all came in and sat generally quiet during the sacrament. After the sacrament, I returned to my seat on the stand. \

Then, one to two at a time, about a dozen children got up and went out the front door and started running, climbing the tree and playing on the front yard of the church. This time Kathlyn got up, went outside and gathered the kids out of the tree and yard and herded them back into the church. That worked too, for a bit. Reverence and discipline are not characteristics that have been taught to these children very much. We made it through the meeting.

 After the meeting came the baptisms. That morning when we arrived at the church, we found the hbaptismal font full to the top - too full. We put the top cover on it and took care of the meeting situation.  Later when the missionaries were preparing for the baptism, they removed the cap from the font drain and began draining the font. They left, with the plug, into the other room. When I walked into the room, the font had drained out enough for baptisms, but the missionaries were gone. They were several older primary boys playing at the side of the font, so, when I got there attention to let them know we needed to plug the hole, one of them stuck his big toe into the drain opening.  It worked great.  I found a plastic bag that I put on the inside so the water pressure would force it into the opening.  When that happened, he pulled his toe out and that worked until the missionaries came back with the cap.


The missionaries started the baptism with an opening prayer, and then started baptizing. They had to do it in shifts because they didn't have enough clothes for all eleven. They would baptize two or three and then change clothes and baptize the next two or three until all were baptized. The Elders were leaving soon for Porto Alegre for transfers so they didn't have a lot of time for a full baptismal program. I sure hope these people feel the spirit of the importance of what they are doing. Many of the individuals were a related family.

During the baptismal service, President Caio was with the Branch Presidency in the clerks office going over branch records, etc.  After these meetings we attended a small Branch Council Meeting. The challenges facing this branch and time schedules were discussed and the upcoming youth camp. Money for some of the youth and the branch as a whole is a big issue. I offered some help if they needed it. We will be attending the youth camp with them this year.

(L-R: Cintia, Edison, Carina, Denise (sister),
 Aline Front: Rikelme)

After meetings, we chose to ride the bus back home with President Caio.  He says he doesn't like to drive and he can sleep on the bus. I just don't like riding with President Marcos because he drives way too fast.  We arrived home at just after 4:00 pm. Kathlyn fixed us a very good salad for dinner, and we spent the evening at home - reading, writing, or whatever."
 

Canela Report:
The missionaries baptized members of the Cabral family.  What an exciting weekend they have had - first a marriage and then baptism. 

Ann told us that earlier in the day they had received a phone call informing us that Bro. and Sis. Copa's son was killed in a skiing accident. They were purchasing tickets back to the USA to be with family. We (the Egberts) were asked to take care of the Youth Camp FHE on Monday evening for the Copas. Wow, what a strange and sad occurrence!