A Solid Week

So thank you :D i love getting packages and letters.

I´m excited for Halloween or *day of the witches* as it´s called down here... even though nobody celebrates it. que bummer.

The baptism here didn´t go according to plan, apparently the kid went to the farmland for the weekend without letting us know... thanks dude. So now we´ll just have 2 baptisms for this weekend. I was getting pretty frustrated during this last week, because everything was falling through, nothing was going according to plan, the members do absolutely nothing to help with the work, and the enemy is working overtime here in this area. It seems like every step we take forward, the enemy whips something up and we end up taking 2 steps back. I related my frustrations to the zone leaders, and they agreed that because of the long history of iniquity in the missionaries in this area, the devil has a lot more power here than he should. And it´s easy to see. The members aren´t too excited to get involved in the work, and it´s difficult to find people who will progress. We´re gonna baptize no matter what, but I was not a happy camper during most of last week.

So now we´re entering the last week of the transfer, and we have 2 people to baptize, and I´m gonna hold onto them with an iron fist, there´s no way I´m letting this transfer, or month, pass by without baptizing. Wow, I´m nervous.

President also paid our zone a surprise visit during this last week. Because the zone took so few people to church last week, he came by to animate us to work harder, and to see what we can do better, or what we can fix, it was pretty short, but I still liked it. Elder Dantas had a little time to speak, and he told President that my lesson during district meeting about *teaching people, not lessons* really helped him to see how he can improve and work more effectively, so it´s good to see that somebody is liking what I´m teaching, haha. Then after, President got a phone call and left for a bit.... when he came back, the dude was ticked. Apparently somebody told him something and what he said to us was something like this:

*Enough, I want you all to know that I sent another missionary home last week, Elder Dos Anjos. This mission is being held back because of the iniquity of a few missionaries. And I tell you now, if you´re breaking mission rules by playing videogames, going to parties, using MSN, flirting with girls, or anything, YOU WILL GO HOME. I don´t want you here because you´re ruining my mission. If you receive a phone-call saying *come to the mission office with your bags* you can be sure that your plane ticket has already been bought. Like it says in D&C 1 *Wickedness will be revealed* I will find out, one way or another, what you are doing wrong. There are some missionaries here in this zone who are still here just because of mercy, but from now on, if I find out that anybody is messing with these kinds of thing, you´re going straight home, you wont even have time to explain your actions*

wow.
so that was fun.

Anyways, I went to Industrial on Friday to interview a lady who was supposed to be baptized... it´s a one hour bus-ride away. I sent Elder Dantas and Elder Margalho to my area to work while I was there. But the lady wasn´t home... all day long. She disappeared. But they have a boy named Linkier who they´ve been teaching for the last 3 months or so, the kid wants to be baptized, it´s just that his dad is a raging alcoholic and would never give his authorization for the baptism... after hundreds of lessons, and pleading and so on.... the missionaries have already given up on persuading him. So when the lady wasn´t home to be interviewed, I asked to pass by this kid´s house and talk to his dad. So I met him, made friends, talked a bit. Got to know him, then left a little message, and after a little bit of technique I managed to get his signature. Needless to say, I was pretty happy, and Elder Dantas was blown away that I managed to do in 20 minutes what he couldn´t do in 2 transfers. So we planned the baptism for the following week, and I went back to my area planning to interview the other lady the next day.
So I went back the next day, after lunch, and the lady still was not home. So instead, we passed by Liniker´s house, and asked if he wanted to be baptized that day, cuz the font was already full. He said yes, and he got baptized, yay! That´s the first baptism that area has had since February. wooo!

The other day it started raining as we were walking about, and it was angry rain. We found shelter under a little awning-thing and waited for it to pass so we could go home. Except the rain kept coming, and the river in the street kept growing, and we didn´t have much room to negotiate with. so we had to keep shuffling to the side under the little roof to keep from getting our feet drenched in the slowly growing lake. fun stuff. We finally decided to make a break for it, and ran home. Once home, we got a phonecall from president (I was more nervous than usual to answer, especially after the last conference, haha) But he just asked how the district was, if my companion was alive, how wet we got, and then he told me that he needs me to be a leader in the mission, that I need to help my district with whatever problems they may have, that I need to be the solution for him. Cool.

The other day we were walking home again, at night, just us two. And we walked by a house, and the sound of drums and soft mumbling/singing kept growing louder as we approached, when we finally passed in front, we stole a peek through the open window.. and what did we see? A bunch of people in white standing in a circle around a table with a bunch of statues of Macumba (voodoo) spirits. Beating drums, singing, and doing chants of some sort. They had a bunch of candles, and it was pretty darn creepy, Elder Margalho got spooked and ran off and I followed after. These people are weird. But I´ve heard quite a bit of stories about Macumba, spiritualism, and voodoo down here, and what some people have done, and its some pretty freaky stuff. Like now I know that if I see a pile of severed chicken heads in front of somebody´s door...Ii don´t want to enter that house in the near future. But we´re not out late enough to see most of the other freaky stuff they do, so that´s good. I really don´t know if any of it´s true, or actually works, but I´m not stupid enough to go and find out.

Do not worry, I am a benevolent leader, I try to lead by example and be loving when I can. I don´t get angry, I just let them know I´m disappointed when I have to. I really only have to talk forcefully with Elder Cruz, cuz he´s just full of problems, but even then, I need to be friends *lest he should take me to be his enemy*

But yeah, that´s a bout it I think, some good things, some bad things, some weird things. We finally had a ward council last Sunday, with the new bishop, nothing got resolved (as usual) but I did let everybody know that we´re here to work and we expect to help and be helped in the the ward´s mission *plan*. Because this ward is slowly dwindling away to nothing. Sad story batman.

Anyways,

*Sister Webber, are there cookies in this cookie jar?*
*Yes Austin, there are Oreos*
*Well.......can I have one?*

I love you, Miss you.
Elder Webber