December 7, 2009 Week 15

olá todas!
soo this week just went amazingly better, and it might of had something to do with my last pday, where we went to the stake center and had a bbq and got authorization to play some soccer in an enclosed concrete court. SOCCER! during soccer i really got to release alot of built up frustration and stuff in the game. we played to games and i was against my comp both times, i was the only american that played, probably the only one that knew how to play, so we played 3v3. i tried my best to show my love for my companion by playing very aggressive and physical against him. scored lots of goals and it all felt soo good. there was one brazilian that was a bit better than me. haha, oh, and during that bbq i tried chicken hearts for my first time, they´re actually quite good, i´m sure thier wicked good when cooked by someone more experienced and with some seasonings. so that pday kinda set the tone for the rest of my week.
lots happended this week and i dont have time to write about it all, but we had this cool lil thing one day in another area with the 6 elders in my district where we set up a presentation of the 1st lesson in the park and got peoples info for references, pretty neat. we were gonna do like a chalk art thing, but i guess it takes like a month to get authorization to do that. so i didnt get to bust out my mad art skillz. oh well.
my comp and i had a few discussions this week and i was finally able to give him my opinion about some things in portuguese so i think he respects me a bit more and stuff. things went alot better this week. we have a couple amazing fams that we´re teaching right now. one guy named benajito we taught his family last sat, good lesson, invited them to church and they came. benajito is way excited about the gospel and our lessons and stuff, just awesome, on our 3rd lesson with him this week, while i was bearing my testimony, i invited him to be baptized! and he said yes! haha, crazy! wasn´t really planned or anything, and that was the first person i´ve ever asked to be baptized. so we´re hoping to get him and his wife married soon so he can be baptized the 26th of this month.
the other awesome fam that we have is a mom and her 2 sons. the mom used to be a member, served a mish in brasilia, got ex-communicated somehow, is now less active, but she has a strong testimony for the church and she wants her sons to be baptized in it. so we´ve been giving lessons to thier fam and her 11 yr old son Guilerme who is just super super cool, love the kid, and he really like me too, they came to church this sunday, which was bomb. during our first lesson with them, the mom asked us afterwards to offer a blessing for her 5yr old sone davi who has stomach problems and stuff. so we did, and i did gave my first blessing of the sick, dont really remember what i said, but it was way cool and i felt super good afterward!
bore my testimony in church yesterday, got lots of compliments.
oh, we had a service project this last friday! it was awesome! never in my life have i wanted to do physical labor soo bad! we moved a huge pile of clay roofing into a large dumpster with like 100 wheelbarrow trips. i worked like crazy and my comp probably thought i was insane cuz i was sweating profusely, had several large blisters on my hands, and was doing most the work, yet had a smile on my face the whole time and a happy spirit. it was awesome, probably worked for like 3 and a half hours or so. then they made us like the best lunch i´ve had so far, some italian like dish, reminded me of mom´s cookin. soo good, like these cheese, meat wraps in a red sauce, then some awesome potatoes, salad, other random good things and icecream for dessert.
great week and i´m starting to be able to handle my comp better. hopefully things will continue getting better if transfers keep us together.
well some more good news, we´re in the city today for pday, and i went to the bulk store and got 1200 grams of various cereals for 9 reais! way better deal and it is cereal that is like fruit loops and chocolate and strawberry kix balls type stuff. hope its good!
well, christmas is deff gonna be different this year, hope all ya guys are feeling the christmas spirit and cheer, i´d say enjoy the cold weather cuz i miss it! even tho it has been pretty tolerable lately. i love all ya guys soo much and think about ya all often. peace, love, and merry christmas!
-elder yuma