Just as Jack
White sings about experiencing his first day of school and saying, 'We
don't notice any time pass', when we have fun in the work, it works
exactly the same! It is way more enjoyable to always make friends while
we work, because if we do, then the work doesn't seem to be
work!
With
that, we have two real options in our missionary work: we can either
work to get numbers, or we can go out to work with the love of our
Savior. In going on a mission, they always tell you that you need to
love the people, and before this week, I might not have really
understood what that meant, but I think I'm starting to get it.
More
than anything, this week we did a lot of just talking to people on the
street, getting to know them, and just helping people understand that,
while we're still missionaries, we too are just regular people,
underneath our sometimes stiff white shirts and rather out-of-place
dress. Something Elder Martinez has been helping me understand is that
we don't need to just go up to them and abruptly tell them about
religion, but how to get on a similar level to the people here, so that
we can just better relate to them. One lesson this week, I just talked
with one of our investigators, who happens to be 18 as well, about math
and physics and just whatever, which was just kinda fun, and different
than how I've been approaching the work prior to this, really.
The sign on the door reads "Strange People Prohibited from Entering...."
Let's try that again.... Guess they are just too strange!!!!
In
getting to be friends with people, there's a LOT of room to have more
fun with the people here. We've had a couple days where we spent time at
Louisa's house, because we've been re-teaching her the 5 lessons that
we go over with people, and Elder Martinez has gained a the nickname of
'Chinese' from her, since the people here aren't all that used to seeing
Hispanic people, and even though he tried to deny it, she continues to
call us 'Massey and Chinese'.
(likely the explanation as to why they weren't permitted entry in the photo above!! haha)
In our continuing work with our
Branch Mission Leader, Joao, we always seem to get classic moments with
him. In walking around with him, we asked him about his plans to get
married and such, as he is 33 and single, and he informed us that he
wants us to help him in his search, and told us that there is an
abundance of single LDS girls 'back in America' that are just waiting to
find someone to marry, but they can't because there aren't enough LDS
guys (not true), and so he wants us to tell girls back home about him,
in hopes that he can find a wife of his own. We tried to explain to him
that there aren't exactly girls back home just waiting around to marry a
random Cape Verdean who doesn't speak all that much English, and who
doesn't have a real career, but he told us that we're wrong and that
there are many waiting. So, in a plea of help, if there are ANY within
the sound of my voice (*cough* internet blog) that want to marry a 33
year old guy from Maio, let me know! Hahaha
Also, in our work
with Chano and Milcialita, we've continued to make friends beyond the
bounds of the human race, as we've come to make quite good friends with
their pet goat, Steve, who, in his growth, produces a large amount of
bodily fluids, and so, we've broadened our work with these two from
gospel perspectives to helping them clean up from that which Steve
leaves behind! I'm also starting to pick up a third language here, other
than Portuguese and Creole, with that being goat-bleating. I hope to
come home fluent!
Looking tough with the baby bottle! Goat feeding brings out that tough side in everyone!
So, that more or less describes our week; it's been a week of working hard and having a lot of fun along the way!
I
love all y'all, and even though my Canadian accent may be diminishing
(as according to my beloved family), I hope all is going well in your
various parts of the world!
Elder Massey
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