Friends and
Family,
I am making an effort to be more descriptive in my
updates. I hope that all who read see an improvement and
enjoy.
Last P-day was fun we didn’t do anything out of the
normal. We emailed then ate at our usual eating place. After eating we went
shopping and then home sweet home. It was really nice, the entire day was cloudy
and overcast, it even sprinkled a little. Unfortunately, for a thirty minute time
period during email, my computer cut out. During that time I had the only
computer without internet. I called over a worker, she looked at it and went
back to sit down. Ten minutes later I bugged her again. Then a big a man came
over and fixed it back to its cold molasses speed (which is actually lightening
fast to us here). I guess the “squeaky wheel gets the grease”. We also played
some UNO and Monopoly. That was probably the worst game I have ever played, I
was bankrupt so fast. I have never done that bad. It was still
fun. I made some awesome granola and a Reeses Peanut Butter
Plate! We finally got some shelves and some awesome swivel chairs! Our room,
though very small, is now complete.
Tuesday, during one of our lessons (in a home that
we normally get smothered by the kids) I had a good experience. We still got
swarmed but something special happened for me. I do not know why he was
different, but this one kids just touched my heart. He played with my red/white
color changing arms and he pressed the buttons on my watch. Nothing out of the
usual but he was different. All I could think of is “this is how it is going to
be with my own son”. Anyway just a little miracle for
me.
We had a surprise lesson on Wednesday. We went to visit
G------ and S---’s house. We quickly found out from their neighbors that they
had moved. We left to walk back down the main road. There, we ran into G------.
He took us to his new house and we sat down for a lesson. He told us he wanted
to be baptized here in November. That was a nice surprise. We taught and talked
to them about marriage. They are going to start on documents right away. WHOOP!
We got turned down in a very American way. We saw a nice
looking couple and decided to contact and talk to them. Very quickly the husband
said “I am a pastor of such and such church”. Then with a huff he raised his
chin and walked away. It is funny when people do that here. Back home it is
totally normal.
We had an early lesson on Thursday. The children were
going crazy crawling all over me and then crawling all over on a bike that
looked like it was going to fall over so I was having a bit of a hard time
following the lesson. Elder Galland turned to me because it was my turn to talk.
I thought we were at the prophets part of the first lesson, however we weren’t.
We were at the life of Jesus Christ. So this is how that bit of lesson sounded
to this lady.
“What are some of the things Christ did…”
(answer)
(Me) “Yeah, prophets are called of God and given his
Authority. They receive and reveal inspiration to guide the
world.”
Whoops, that was really embarrassing.
Later in the day we were at T--- house waiting for L----
so we could teach them. We were talking with T--- and A---. Elder Galland was
talking about how he hopes his brother walks again, but no one knows. T---
grabbed his Book of Mormon. He said “Here I will see”. He slaps both sides and
opens to a random page. Surprisingly, it happens to be where Alma
It was pretty crazy. Then later on we were talking that
one of us is probably going to get transferred. T---- did it again. He opened to
a verse that said not to worry about it – Alma
T---- also shared a story of how he was guided by the
spirit. He was going to get A--- a new ID because she changed her name when they
got married. The worker got mad at him and told him that he was going to have to
go get photocopies and she wasn’t going to start the paperwork until his wife
came. Earlier, T---- had been prompted to buy some bananas. He didn’t know why,
but now he realized. He pulled them out and gave them to the worker. She was so
thankful and helpful. She made the copies and had everything done in 30 minutes.
I love the way the spirit works.
Almost all of our lessons fell through on Friday. We did
have a very good lesson with V------. The only problem with his lesson is that
his banco (bank) is at his house so the lessons are interrupted every 10
minutes. It was still very good. His wife is far away working in a machamba in
Chimoio. We are going to give her number to the elders there so they can be
taught at the same time. Machamba’s are huge fields where women go to work this
time of year. They are gone for months at a time and it makes it very hard to
teach complete families and to get couples married.
While on our way to another lesson, a boy we talk to a lot said he needed our help. He was carrying cinder blocks. We went with him and helped him carry. They were heavy but it made me feel right at home (that’s a shout out to you Mom and Dad).
I would say one of the more interesting stories happened
on our way to T---- and A---’s house. A pickup truck was driving toward us. It
stopped abruptly. Kids here like to jump onto the back of moving trucks. Most
drivers really don’t like it. This driver, who had already talked to the kids,
decided to do something about it. So he slammed on the brakes, put the car in
park, and got out to run after the kids. They all scattered. One was unlucky
enough to fall. They guy stood over him and was saying, “What did I say!” He
told the kid he was going to take him away. He picked him up and carried him
back to his truck. The whole time the kid was screaming at the top of his lungs
saying “Mommy! Mommy!” The guy started to put the kicking kid into his truck.
After he thought he had learned his lesson. He set him down and talked to him
some more. Then he got in his truck and sped off. I think that kid will never
forget that night and the lesson he
learned.
Saturday was good and it killed me. It started of with a good lesson with S---- and L----. I didn’t do any talking during any of it but I felt impressed to share my testimony. When the lesson ended, Elder Galland said he was going to pray. Right before he started he said, “Actually Elder Kanaga will pray”. Before I did, I said, “I would like to leave my testimony with you.” In very simple Portuguese (because that is still all that I have). I bore testimony. Then I prayed. I know I felt the spirit and I hope it could use my words to touch their hearts. We will see. I hope they make it to baptism.
I started re-reading the Book of Mormon last transfer
and finished it on October 19th. It felt really good. Now I am going
to read D&C, the Pearl of Great Price, Our Heritage, and Jesus the Christ. I
am so excited to read them.
We were able to watch General Conference on Saturday. It
killed me, I couldn’t understand anything but from what I did catch it was good.
We watched again on Sunday and it killed me all over again. The spirit was there
but I couldn’t understand because the translators spoke very fast Portuguese in
a Brazilian accent, using words I haven’t ever heard. The killer is that the
songs were in English and there was a time lapse before the translator started
on talks so I got just a teaser of the speaker’s real voices before it voiced
over. It made me forget it was in a different language every
time.
We stopped by S---- and talked to L----. She brought up her prayer, she said she felt a really good feeling in her heart and knew it was God talking with her. She says she knows our church is true! Hearing that is one of the best feelings ever.
I love you guys,
Elder Kanaga
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| Sintia |
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