Bringing the Gospel to Brazil: Cheerleading

Well, another week in the bag, and I’m feelin’ better than ever. My comp and I put in so much work this week; my body is aching from the pain. But, it’s all worth it cause I know miracles are coming. This week had many highlights, but first off, I’d like to give you some deets about my comp. First off, his name is Wenderson (never heard this name in my life.) He has 4 years in the church. His pre-church life was pretty crazy if you ask me. Let’s just say he spent most of his time in the street, but when he was baptized he never looked back. He told me the 1^st year and ½ of his time in the church, he didn’t have a single friend, but he went every Sunday. As you will see by the photos, he is hilarious. Always cracking jokes, singing Bob Marley Portuguese style, and loves anything that is free or a present. He also loves to use scriptures, which is great but sometimes leads to a good old Bible Bash. Haha. I’ve never bible bashed so much in my life. I’m getting along with him though because he’s all about being obedient so we’re retidoive and the Lord is prepping so many people to hear our message. This week we found tons of teenagers and young adults. Junior is progressing a ton and had everything ready for his baptism, but he has still got some things with Word of Wisdom to resolve. But next week is his week. We are teaching this awesome couple named Lorissa and José They have been praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and have been wanting to go to church. Only problem is she is more than 9 months pregnant, so we got to have a little patience. We found 2 awesome part member families. One part member fam has 7 people, and they love Elders, so they have been treating us super well. We just got to reactivate them. We taught a teenager named Leonardo this week, and he loved the message. We said he would pray, read the Book of Mormon, and when we asked him to go to church he said it would be hard to get him to go to church because he is pretty active in his current church. So frustrating, I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me. The people you teach say they understand, but in reality, their hearts are closed off. But that always will happen, so you just got to accept it and pray to find those who are prepared. This week had many funny moments. My comp is trying to learn English so in the street we converse very basically. He asked me “How are you?” I replied, “Good, how about you?” and he said, “Sergipe.” (which is where he is from). Pretty classic. Also we were walking on the highway when a motorcycle screamed past us, a minute later the same motorcycle had u-turned and was slowly approaching us. The motorcyclist stopped and said, “You’re an American.” I replied, “Yes.” He then explained how he was an English teacher and needed my help. He took out his phone and showed me a picture of a phrase and told me to translate it: Have you ever not accepted someone’s apology? LOL I tried my best, but there isn’t really a direct translation for apology in Portuguese. Then he started to ask questions about the present perfect tense, and let me tell you, I was lost. I’ve forgotten all English grammar rules. When he left, I thought to myself, “That was so random.” There were many funny experiences including singing Akon with 5 Brazilians, trying to be male cheerleaders, and just being with my comp is a laughing experience. Overall, another awesome week. Please pray for Junior that he can be baptized this week and avoid temptation. Thanks for the prayers, love and support. This gospel is perfect.

Love, Dave

Omni 1:25-26