My oh my. One more week here in Pombal. The fun just never ends. Yesterday
we had district conference with all the branches in Sousa. I have been
looking forward to it for weeks because President and Sister Hall would
be there and it is the last chance to hear Elder and Sister Petrie and
it's always way good to see the other missionaries in the zone.
Unfortunately we left on a bus with all of the members from Pombal to go
the conference and in the middle of the deserted highway the bus broke
down. No, I'm not joking. We sat on the side of the highway in the
blazing sun for over an hour with screaming children and whiny parents
and nothing to do. It was bearable and I have been in worse situations,
but the whole time I was just thinking about what an awful impression
our investigators were having. Of course we had more investigators than I
have had come to church my entire mission and we only made it to the
church for the last 10 minutes of the conference. Our branch president
hitchhiked into Sousa and asked for the bus who brought the other branch
to come get us. Then after the conference we were stranded at the
church for 4 hours waiting for another bus. Once again with screaming
children and unhappy parents and at this point everyone was starving
because we left Pombal at 9 a.m. and it was now 3 p.m. Luckily a member
showed up with a pot of rice and beans leftover from their lunch so
everyone had a little something to eat. I literally drank bean juice
from a cup with a few beans left in the bottom because there wasn't any
rice left for the missionaries to eat. Don't even worry though, it's one
of those memories I will have to cherish forever. Like the hunger
banquet at Skyline in real life. There was an adorable little boy named
Junior that is the 6 year old cousin of our investigator who came too
and he was seriously a little angel that I think Heavenly Father sent to
help me be happy yesterday.
He was glued to my hip, giving me hugs randomly throughout the day and
has the cutest little smile. Seriously kids are so innocent and
Christlike. I want to take him home with me. My favorite part about
Pombal is definitely the little kids here. They are super loving. At
times they are the only people who show love to the missionaries.
Transfers aren't until next week. I am torn between
wanting to stay because I love my district here and we have some really
great investigators or wanting to leave because working in Pombal gets
more difficult for me every week. We have one man we are teaching, his
name is João Mariano, that is super smart, but also really strange. You
know how some people are book smart and others are street smart, he is
an odd combination of the two. He has a lot of knowledge of religion,
but super abstract ideas and he uses really big words and his ideas are
pieced together from all sorts of different religions to form what he
thinks. He loves to talk too. When we teach him we have to remind him
like every 5 minutes to let us have a turn to say something too. Also,
when he prays he likes us to all put our hands together in the middle. A
few times we told him we would rather not, but other times we just do
it and it is super hard for me to concentrate and not laugh during the
prayer. And now the elders in our district always tease us and try to
hold hands during prayers.
That's all for this week. Next week I will e-mail Wed. or Thurs. depending on the changes of the transfer.
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