Ok something I learned in my first few weeks is that
Brasileiros use the word 'bravo' a LOT. And at first, I thought it was just one
of those words like 'cereal' and just meant brave or something. But with the amount
of times they said it and the intensity didn't really make sense (kind of like
I thought they were saying açai all the time but it was really 'sair' which
means 'to leave' lol). So I came to find out that when Brasileiros say
"Você fica bravo quando..." it actually means "You get ANGRY
when..."
Now for the tagline of the week.
So you know how we have that recent convert José right.. the
one who was praying about which missionary to marry? Well we think that he um
"received" an answer. At first it wasn't very obvious but this guy is
calling us ALL the time, ALL hours of the night just to see how we are doing,
he knows when and where we go to email our families, he ALWAYS has the elder
missionaries over at his apartment, and he is VERY involved in the lives of the
missionaries right. So when we finish teaching Luca all of the lessons that he
needs to learn before he is baptized (which honestly has been one of the most
tender, fun experiences of my entire life - Rachel I taught him our handshake I
hope that's okay) and we had a baptism service all set and ready for Sunday
after church. Beleza. (Beautiful) But the thing
is, José continues to call us and set up more lessons with Luca, even though we
really have nothing left to teach and Luca REALMENTE (really)
KNOWS TUDO (all). So we are sitting in one of
the lessons and José says, "So I don't think that Luca is ready to be
baptized this Sunday. I think that he needs AT LEAST another week of
lessons" - and this is coming from a guy that knows that as soon as we
finish teaching his son that we won't have an excuse to come by as much. So we
sit there for more than an HOUR trying to convince José and understand what he
is thinking or why Luca is not ready and boy, that man pulled every excuse I
have ever heard. But the one that REALLY killed me was "I don't think that
Luca is keeping his compromissos (commitments). He is not praying morning and night or
reading the Book of Mormon with real intent to find an answer."
THIS IS A 9 YEAR OLD KID WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
And the thing is, this week was transfers so we know that
Sister Carvalho was going to be transferred to a new area because she has been
here forever and this was her LAST weekend. I get home that night and I am just so
frustrated. We are trying to explain what happened to the other sisters in our
apartment and I am just RAPID FIRING.
SISTER STAHELI FICA BRAVO right. And all of my companions
are just dying because apparently I had literally NO ACCENT, and spoke like a literal
Brasileiro; it was INSANE. I guess all it takes for me to learn this language
is to be angry - dicas (tips) anyone? ;) But it
was hard because we bore our testimonies about the importance of sacrifice and
about faith. How we don't have to have a perfect knowledge, a concrete,
physical, tangible stepping stone to take the first step. My District leader
(who was also there - we had an intervention of CINCO missionaries there to teach
José - we don't mess around when it comes to people's salvation folks) asked
José:
"José, are you the same person that you were when you
were baptized 2 months ago?"
And of course José says, "Well, no."
And Lugem goes on to talk about how if we always sit and
wait for the perfect circumstances, a perfect knowledge of what is going to
happen or how things are going to change, then nothing will ever happen. It was
BECAUSE of the fact that José decided to be baptized that he was able to grow.
With that first step into the slightly unknown, it is scary because the unknown
is something that we don't always have control over. But where would he be
without that act of faith is the real question. And the thing is, the unknown
doesn't have to always be so scary because we aren't meant to do it on our own.
The amazing thing about each individual is that you already have someone who
knows the path to ultimate happiness before you even when you can't, and He is
doing everything He can to help you find your steps forward. Heavenly Father
uses people around us, He uses the scriptures and the words of our Prophets and
leaders, and especially, He uses the Spirit to help us discover the joy in the
unknown in our lives. Each person is placed in a life that God has prepared for
you and has placed us in the paths of others to help love and guide each other
back home to Him. And that we really have to act FIRST in order to grow, even
if all the other logistics aren't perfect you know?
That moment I realized that there was no reasonable thing we
could say that would ever be able to convince José to let Luca be baptized.
It was just the simple act of reminding him of the testimony he had and letting
the spirit speak to his heart in a way he could not deny.
Guess who was baptized at 6:15 at night in the quickest most
unconventional yet beautiful service I have ever attended?
Guess who lead the music without a piano and so had to sing
the first line solo so that everyone knew the tune and then stayed up for the
spiritual thought and then took all the pictures and then cut the cake all
because it was her first baptism?
You already know.
God is good guys. The spirit is one powerful witness.
MUITO AMOR,
Sister Staheli
