"So this week was a hard one. We managed to get in more lessons than normal, but many of them were with less-active members (we have a lot of them here) and many of them don´t have the drive to return. Also, our investigators kind of all fell. We´ve had some regulars that have difficulty with baptism because they can´t be legally married yet or they are trying to stop an addiction, but none of our regulars were at church yesterday. So that was sad. But we just have a lot of work to do this week. Also, the lady we had set for baptism this Sunday turned out to leave the city for a week and a half to go travelling with her family. Sad day. But it´s kind of the story of this place. Everyone goes travelling during these weeks. Travelling and partying. The bishop wanted to start something with the ward, but will wait until the second week of January for everything to be at least somewhat normal. And then is carnival in February. That will be interesting."
"So despite the disappointments, my language is still coming. Slowly, but surely. I can understand more and more each week. And my companion helps me. Her name is Sister de Oliveira. This is her last transfer, so she´s pretty trunky. We just finished one transfer together and started our next. She´s already got her date in February to fly home. She was with another sister before me who finished her mission and my companion kind of finished it with her. But with me she´s more excited and willing to work again, so we´re doing our best."
"...hopefully next week I´ll have a baptism to talk about. I hope. But even without baptisms, I know that the Lord is helping me grow in ways that only He knows I need."
"With the new year it´s kind of weird to think that this whole year will be spent here in Brazil.
I´m still getting used to the idea."
"So this week was up and down. A lot of up and down. We tracked down a lot of less-actives, but didn´t contact a single one as they had moved years ago or weren´t there, or were just acting like they weren´t there. And then we had a lot of investigators not home. But, through our walking (a lot) we got some new people to teach. And our one reference for the week I think has great potential to be baptized."..."she has great faith as well as her four children we´re teaching who can also all be baptized. And she was at church yesterday with her two youngest children and we all had a great time and really felt the spirit. So, I´ll keep my fingers crossed (as well as keep praying, lol)."
"as I said before the food here is different. So, here is the Brazilian idea of a HotPocket. A hamburger. And they also have pizza slices, lol. Just a little different. Then, there´s the sunsets here that are always really cool. Oh, and the birds are really cool too. I have no idea what kind of bird this is.... Sometimes I feel like Kronk from The Emperor´s New Groove when he was playing what was the name? Exotic bird bingo? lol. Oh, and the place with all the lights was A Cidade do Natal! This is where all the missionaries in my area went Christmas night. It was really cool. Didn´t want to wait in a huge line to pay to see Santa, but it was still really cool to see some Christmas lights again."
"But things are going along here. Still trying to get people to go to church (which is our hardest task here when no one has a car). But they need to show that they´ll commit to go to church and not just be baptized and added to the list of inactives that is already very much too long. The work is moving along though. And hopefully I´ll be able to start sending pictures of baptisms soon!"
"With all my love,
Sister Grimes"
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