Language students

I asked Elder Lundy about the Language students he got to listen to last week.

Yeah they got to choose their own topics. One was about his vacation to Italy, another's was about the movie industry, and the third was about Selena Gomez ha ha.

The baptisms went well! V..... was baptized on Saturday. He had most of his family there and his girlfriend too. And most of the people he's interacted with during church meetings were there as well. The only little hiccup so to speak is that the font was filled to overflowing so when he went down in the water people had to evacuate the splash zone haha. H..... was baptized on Sunday by the Bishop. Bishop had a little trouble getting him out of the water because H's a considerably hefty fellow. When H's youngest son understood the difficulty he broke out laughing. His mom and older brother told him to stop laughing and his response was, "Why? He's my dad! I can laugh if I want!" Oh that boy... haha. And ward 2 had a baptism as well... but it was me who baptized her! F, M's younger sister, asked if I would baptize her when M. Pereira asked her after her baptismal interview. I was surprised but honored, and the baptism happened without any mistakes! Yay! 

Oh and Sunday, after all the baptisms, a big group of us rushed to the house of the Bishop's in-laws and we had a big barbeque party.

I heard from our Bishop of a custom in Brazil so I asked Elder Lundy if they do that custom where he is too...

Bishop's right. We wait outside the gate and clap. If they don't hear the clapping we knock on something or ring something or call their phones. Pretty much every household here has a locked gate so we couldn't get close enough to knock on their doors anyway.

1. Have you heard from President Silcox? Do you know if you are staying or being transferred?

I've actually talked with the president a lot this week (I'll explain at the end) and all four of us in this area are staying here until at least February when the next transfers happen.

2 . Will you still be able to email us next Monday even though we are getting to talk to you on Christmas?   I'm pretty sure I'll still be emailing you on Monday.

3. I wish we could send you a box of things for Christmas. If one of the USA elders gets a box please ask him how his parents did it. Then maybe we can send one for your birthday. And Yes we've been buying the DVDs for your Christmas present. ;) Pretend that you don't know you are getting them when you return from your mission. lol 

haha alrighty

So I've probably lost a little more weight but I haven't had the chance to weigh myself yet.

So I've more or less gotten over my cold, but I'd rather deal with that than with what I delt with this past week and am still dealing with. I woke up Wednesday morning feeling dizzy. The world was spinning while I sat still, I almost fell if I tried to walk anywhere, etc... Later that night we went to the church for a welcome home party for a returning Elder from the ward. Once the eating part of the party began, I rushed to the bathroom and threw up rather extremely. I got a blessing from my companion and the ward mission leader Yuri. Then Yuri took us back to the casa. Thursday I woke up dizzy, tried drinking some water (taking little sips) and threw that up. Then the comp gave me a glass of water with some powder in it that was supposed to help with intestinal regulation. I threw that up. Then he gave me a glass of water with sugar and salt (I think) and surprise surprise, I threw that up too. (this is where all the talking with the president started) A little while later, I got ready to go to the hospital. I showered... then threw up in the middle of getting dressed. Then I sat in a chair in a room in the hospital for about 4 hours hooked up to an IV and was prescribed some intestinal regulating medicine because I had gotten an intestinal virus. I haven't thrown up since but I'm still working with the dizziness a little. On Friday, the other 3 Elders went to the Capitol for the mission Christmas party and I stayed in the Miranda family household. They Miranda family is wonderful. The parents are the only ones who live there now, their oldest lives in Campinas, their 2nd lives close and is married to our ward mission leader, and their youngest will be returning from his mission in February. They took really good care of me. I got to sleep, then Sister Miranda made a chicken and rice soup for me for lunch and dinner, and Brother Miranda and I watched Meet the Mormons and a bunch of church related music videos and such.

I think that's all...

I love you a lot and I'm really grateful for everything you've done for me. I'm really excited to talk with you one Christmas.

Oh, and incoming pictures!

Pictures from the Baptisms!

 

Campos do Jordoa

Campos do Jordoa

Elder Lundy had a visit to the Hospital

What's left of his shoes

Elder Lundy's Christmas tree

It got good around Friday

And thanks mom ha-ha :3 And I'm healthy enough... My body still thinks I should be dealing with winter weather so I've had a cold for a little while.

I'm happy to hear that you're getting better! Transfers are on the 15th, so a week from tomorrow. There's the chance that I'll be transferred, but if anyone from my area gets transferred it'll most likely be Elder D. Silva or my companion. D. Silva cause he's been here the longest, or my companion because of his knees. We'll be spending Christmas at members homes. I believe we'll be going to one of two different member houses to Skype call you, then to another for a meal and such.

Okay here's the week: It got good around Friday. I went on a split with Martinez to language school because a member from the ward 2 teaches English there and he asked if I would sit in on his students final presentations. It was a really cool and weird experience. First off, when the member was talking with me in English I was replying in Portuguese and he had to ask me to only talk in English and I had trouble staying with just English! Then It was weird for me being on the reviewing side of a foreign language course where the students I reviewed were learning my first language. But it went really well. During this time M. Pereira and D. Silva were meeting with P.... to see if he was really going to get baptized this Sunday and not only was the answer finally yes, but his mom (the reason his baptism was delayed for so long) told the Elders (through tears) that she wants to be baptized too! So now we just have to work with P...'s parents a little to get them to finally get married and I'm pretty sure that they'll both get baptized once they can and then it's just a year after that that they can go to the temple to get sealed! 

Then there's Saturday: We went to Campos Dos Jordão again to teach V.... We showed up earlier and taught him the four remaining lessons, so now all that's needed is his baptismal interview and he'll be set to be baptized on the 12th! Usually while teaching, I sit there and wait for M. Pereira to say, "And Elder Lundy will talk a little about such and such." But when it came around to the word of wisdom, I practically snatched the pamphlet out of my comp.'s hands and said with much enthusiasm that I was going to explain the word of wisdom. I started by showing the picture of me on my first day in the MTC. Then proceeded to ask him what he already knew about the word of wisdom (and he knew pretty much everything already) then I went on to explain that it also talks about things we SHOULD partake of, not just things we shouldn't. And I used my recent experience of healthful blessings as my message about the word of wisdom.

Then comes Sunday! We had P...'s baptism after church. It was a really good experience! His uncle baptized him, and both of his parents cried (his dad cried more than his mom :3 ) and I almost cried when I saw them.

So hopefully this week we'll have at least 2 baptisms! V... and H..... (he was due to be baptized yesterday, but he was out of town due to the fact that he's a truck driver)

My town is nice, it's a city but it's pretty calm and safe.

Interesting food? I like paçoca! It's basically a compressed peanut powder candy that tastes like the filling of the Ritz peanut butter sandwich crackers! 

Holiday preparation: The stores have Christmas stuff all over the place, but other than that and a few houses with some lights up, there's not much. I'm going to draw a little Christmas tree to display on my desk when we get back to the casa. Today is the 7th after all :3 {Our Family tradition is to decorate on this day}

OH!! and remember how I said that I screwed my legs up in the MTC during the first physical activity time? Well we had to do 5 laps around a little track before we could do sports or anything and it took me forever and I was always in too much pain to participate in the rest of physical activities after that, but this week we returned to the casa at 8 pm one night and I started working out a 8:20 and stopped at 9:25 and I didn't really hurt at all! My typical workout routine: stretch for a while, the jump rope until I'm winded, then pace and stretch some more until I can jump again, then jog and pace and stretch until I can jump again. I do this for about 30 to 40 minutes usually. Oh and I throw in some push-ups too, I usually try to get 10 more than the last time. I'm up to 60 today!

Okays... I gtg now I love you!!!