HI all!
This week was great! It was my first week in the Iputinga ward. It´s not too far from UR-7 and is part of the Recife stake (the center of mission activity!), my new companion´s name is Elder P. Santos and he is pretty tall! He is from Minas Gerais (General Mines in English) and is pretty funny. He´s also a really good listener, he gains people´s trust quite rapidly usually.
We managed to meet quite a few members with various different personalities and a ton of different backgrounds, and I received a warm welcome. In the area the people are very friendly towards the missionaries, people with varying financial situations, beliefs, and backgrounds here are quite ámigavel! Sometimes I feel like, maybe this isn´t real, maybe I arrived in Zion because I´m not sure why some of the people in this ward are so nice haha. We entered one gated apartment complex with a very nice young couple, the mom, Kessie, recently finished law school with three children and is now officially a lawyer! (Was quite impressed), anyway, there was a part where her daughter said, but mom, I don´t know how to share the gospel, I´m not a missionary, then she replied ´Todo membro e um missionario!`Every member is a missionary!`
We also had lunch in one apartment with a beautiful, beautiful view of the ´baixo nobre´ that the Sisters take care of, wow, the room let in just the right amount of light with silk curtains, with the high raises and tropical overgrowth in the distance, fantastic. It was funny because during the irma commented about me Òh, wow, he stops to talk, and then eats, and then he continues-he´ll never finish!-The guy there replied Íf you don´t stop talking then he will never finish will he! hahaha All of us in that moment, um, okayyy, everything´s fine. Let´s continue almocando.
We also had a nice meeting with two recent converts, young woman, Elizabete (Elizabeth) & Gabrielle, I was quite impressed by their faith and their focus on and defense of the gospel. Elizabete present us to 3 of her neighbors already and commented, hear the missionaries, ´com certeza voce vai gostar´in a sweet and simple manner. When one appointment fell through, she got all said and commented, ´How come this happened if someone marked with you? Why do some many people here get led on and deceived by bad things? (as in the rest of the world, lots of commandments are broken daily here). And we spent some time explaining to her the way God helps and leads and the way Satan tempts and leads with his various deceits and enticing traps.
She listened attentively. I was quite impressed by the purity she showed in her heart.
Gabrielle also commented about when she lost patience with people saying that our religion is a ´seita´and got all irritated and said, ít is not a seita, and your church is basically macumba with all those crazy things they say there! haha It was kind of funny, but we talked a bit about patience as well.
There was another sister that I met recently, we walked in and I was quite impressed because the audio from the General Conference was playing and you could feel the spirit´s presence in the apartment. She was quite friendly (she´s also a temple worker!) and made a very interesting commente, she remarked, everything here on this earth is basically trash. People get so attached to the little things and trinkets of this world not processing that it doesn´t last. Only the gosepl is eternal.
Also interesting because a lot of people (usually my companion and members) here find me funny, and sometimes I´m not sure why. You guys know how that is! haha
Also saw Lidiana´s (less active member-gente fina! super cool) boyfriend in the Avenida Caxanga, they´re from the other ward, who saw me and shouted ´Voce esta andando de mais!!!` passing by in the car hahaha
Also, the Recife stake conference yesterday was AWESOME!
Don´t have enough time now to right about, but will write more next week!
Elder Talentino
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