Join the Club (10/15/08)

Well...it appears this week wasn't quite as interesting as the last, but I'll have you know I have a little fan club down here. I say little because they are all less than four feet tall and this club's membership is less than a baker's dozen. We started teaching a woman by the name of Daniella this week along with several others, but she is different from all the rest. She is grasping everything we present to her and is progressing very quickly. As we were teaching her, sitting on the tiny brick wall in her front yard, a small gathering of children began to appear. We soon had eight people listening to our lesson who all appeared very interested. Then they asked where we were from. I jokingly told them I was from Mexico and my companion was from Spain. The rest of the day they followed us around until Family Home Evening like a little entourage. They continually asked us how to say things in Spanish or English and I in return asked how to say things in Portuguese. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention...guess who is in charge of FHE here? You guessed it...the missionaries. It appears my calling last year at school was good preparation. Unfortunately, though, it's a little hard for me to work the humor into my lessons like I'm used to doing.

I have been writing so many letters lately that I think I may have neglected to tell you about one of our conferences we had the first week I was in Manaus. We had a member of the Area Presidency, Elder Ellis, come speak to us and yours truly was asked to be on the program. I had the privilege of speaking right before him. So...next time you worry about having to give a talk in Sacrament - try that on. It was my first week in a new area, I only had two months of language training, and I was asked to speak in front of a General Authority, the Mission President, and all the missionaries. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. Once you get behind the microphone, all your fears go away because you realize that after two years you'll likely never see any of these people again.

We have two baptisms this week, Roselane and James, which will be a great experience. As a missionary, you realize even when you set dates for baptism things happen to people that make them doubt their decision. Often times, it is due to others who lack understanding of our message. They refer to us as "Church of the Devil" and stuff like that when in fact that's about as far from the truth as it gets. We aren't the ones with a massive rock band center stage holding preaching concerts every night. Anyway, it's been a good week. We have 7 or 8 baptism commitments set up for this transfer, which is pretty good since the transfer has only just begun. The best part is the recent converts are staying active. Each Sunday, to help out investigators, we walk several miles to round them up and get them to church.

The weather has been weird lately. It has been raining a lot but still very hot. I hate the heat during the day, but it's appreciated when it comes time to shower because our water is naturally heated. Today we're going to the center, which is where everything happens. It is where all the fishing boats and whatnot are. I should have some good pictures next week! Take care.

Tchau para todos,
Elder Taylor Mackay