Macaquinhos!

Some Pictures for you to enjoy:

1. Elder Rocha burning his 1 year shirt

2 - 3. Monkeys playing around near our apartment today

4. Near the edge of my area (We had lunch there on the horizon that day!)

Hello Everybody!

It feels like it’s been another really long week... probably because there has been a bunch of travel for me!

So, Tuesday, we had district meeting like normal and we were late to lunch... like normal. Lunch was a little weird though... we had to get there real fast, and it was hot (when is it not?) and we were all sweaty. The sister who gave us lunch kept on insisting that we take a shower there. It was even weirder because she wasn´t like a sweet old lady just being grandmotherly, but she was like 40. Elder Francis and I were really creeped out. After that, we headed out and knocked doors, which is a little different here. No one refuses you, so we just knock 3 doors, and there goes 2 1/2 hours.

Wednesday, we had lunch at the Campos’ house. There is like 8 people living in that house, and they all love us, so it’s always a treat to go there. After lunch, we went and taught with Jane (who lives there). We passed by Carole, Dianna and Kezia with her. Kezia is less active since she moved here, but she is thinking about coming back after we visited the first time. Jane didn´t even know that she was a member haha. Then we went by another member´s house to get a reference he wanted to pass to us. It turned out she was there talking with him, but he had to go work, so we only had to time to get to know each other a little bit, and then mark another appointment, which we did for the next day.

Thursday, I have this written in my planner. ´´O nosso onibus bateu num carro... que vergonha!´´ I´ll get to that later though. So we had interviews with President at 8 in the morning, but the earliest we could get there was 9:30. We were going to stay at the Secretaries house, but President said it was fine to be a little late. So we got there, and thank goodness our zone is small! When it was my turn, President did the normal greetings and whatnot. Then he said that the interview was going to be more of a conversation. Then he asked ´´So Elder, what do you want to talk about?´´ I kind of just that there with a blank stare and said ´´Well I don´t know!´´ President kind of chuckled and said ´´How do younot know?´´ to which I responded ´´Well, you were the one who called me here!´´. That was pretty much the interview. It was maybe 10 minutes, which I´ve come to find, is a good thing; We finished up at about 130, then headed out to get lunch. Elder Rocha wanted to go to some place across the street that was a buffet kind of place. We get there and Elder Francis just stares at the food... for like 5 minutes. Then he says ´´I have one chance this transfer to eat something OTHER than rice beans, macaroni and chicken... I´m going to Burger King´´. I laughed and quickly followed him out of there. I had a whopper instead hehehehe. After that, we trekked across the Center to the bus station, and got on our way. AS we were about 10 minutes from Horizonte, the bus is pulling off towards a turn about thing they have here, and the driver doesn’t even look and totally nails a car in the right lane! The car saw him coming and sped up to get out of there, but he wasn´t fast enough. The bus got the car on the side as it was going in front. The car´s door got bent in a little but nothing really actually happened. Then we had to push the bus out of the road, and as we were, the driver almost backed into the patrol car parked there hahahaha. Then we got home way late, and that was that day.

Friday, I had splits with Elder Rocha. WE headed out way early... like 9:30 to teach someone who works at noon (Dianna and Dené). Then we had lunch at Luquinhas´s house (he is one of my favorite people here on the mission). After we ate, we out behind his house and got coconuts and drank the water. Always awesome. Afterwards, we went and taught an old investigator who started going to seminary with his friends again, and some other old investigators. Then we went and visited Kezia and her Mom, but her Mom didn´t get back from work that day until later. WE ended up talking to Kezia about church and why the Book of Mormon is so important to us. Then we went to the Campos´ house and again and we watched a church film with a bunch of investigators/references; Then we went to a less active member´s house to help him stop smoking. He really likes us, so it was really neat... and I ended up leaving with a pack of cigarettes! When we got back we were just joking around with how we should get rid of them and Elder Francis with a big grin on his face, said ´´Let´s burn them!´´ Har. Har. Har.

Saturday, we walked about an hour to get to lunch. It was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY out there. On the way, I had the idea to have someone send me a pedometer so I could see how much I actually walk here. After that, we just went by people who were going to go to church.

Sunday, there was a little thunderstorm... and it was pretty cool that day, so it was good to walk around in. So we had lunch with the Bishop´s family, and then visited Dianna and Dené again. After that, we headed out to church where we had 10 investigators practically out of nowhere. We were pretty happy though, since we had been lacking in that area as of late. Then we headed back.

So what I learned this week? Looking back, someone made a comment about how one of the greatest miracles of Jesus was the woman touching his robe and being healed. I commented that without faith, there is no power for him to do anything. Now, looking back on the topic of temples and covenants there, I realized how it seems like there is so much that the Lord has promised us, but it is really nothing without our faith. Just that grain of faith could move mountains, but more importantly, it raises us up into the presence of our Eternal Father. And not just us, but we can do the same for others as well. Maybe that is why faith is the foundation of the Gospel. Without it, there is no way the Lord has any power to do anything with us. Pretty Amazing.

So that´s all I have for this week! Looks like it was a meaty letter! Just one request for Mom, could you send me a word document of the family recipes again? That would rule!

Love you all!

Elder Cornwell