Day 322 - Christmas Week Miracles, Pink Eye ("Conjuntivite")

Everything seemed to have gone wrong this week but the desired result came out against all odds.

We in general have a tough time getting time to teach this family because they live so far away. We always need a ride with a member or we pay a taxi. And there aren't many taxi drivers willing to go that far. The mission office even tried Uber but nobody accepted the job.

Anyway, we managed to teach all of the basics in 2 weeks. And then we had to remark the baptismal interviews. Paula's oldest daughter (not pictured here, is about 25 years old) delivered a baby boy so she went to the hospital to help out. We got special permission to have the interview done Saturday evening (2PM) and the baptismal meeting took place at 7PM.

Also, the sister from the ward who had planned to give Paula and her family a ride to the chapel got sick the day of. We ended up picking them up with President and Sister Louza. Keeping with missionary tradition, the meeting we planned only started an hour later than expected! Also on the same day I got pink eye, and now I have to use antibiotic eye drops for a week.

But Paula, Camila, and Samara were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ this weekend, and we're here downtown to deliver the forms to the mission office.

The problem now is that the local tribal leader ("cacique") has complained about the foreign missionaries entering the village borders, according to what Paula said. Happily, he said that of course they can continue with the church (being baptized, participating in meetings and activities, etc.) but he doesn't like the idea of regular visitors. But we'll try to get a meeting between him and President Louza (our cacique) to present our work. It seems that this cacique is also one of the teachers at the village school sponsored by the Brasilian government, but we haven't ever met him yet.

We have a baptismal date with another one of Paula's daughters, and we'll be teaching the rest of the lessons right here in T. Neves at some family home evenings in members' houses.

Next week is fast Sunday. Special scripture mention: Isaiah 58. It's a quick read, talks about the fast, the Sabbath, and the promise made to the family of Jacob (Israel), which we're all adopted into as Christ's disciples.

I'm interested to see the new 2-hour church model in action. And sadly, the missionaries don't get the new manuals for whatever reason, so it'll be cool to check that out a year (and a bit more) from now.

Early happy birthday to Isaac, be sure to send photos!

I'll check the PO Box this afternoon to pick up the boxes.

Until next week,

Spencer