Jungle Book

Hello Everyone,

We just got back from the center after having looked for lembranças (souvenirs) for Elder Hodges since he will be leaving to go home shortly. I thought I would share with all of you several highlights that made this week quite unique. To begin with, we had divisions, so essentially I was senior companion for the day. As fate would have it, a ton of our appointments fell through, so in order to keep the day rolling, we walked all over the place to remain busy.

Of late, we have been getting a hold of some old references that hadn't been contacted by the previous elders. As of two days ago, we just had one remaining that we needed to contact. It was on a street called São Salvador, and as we went down the road, it turned into dirt, which isn't unusual for our area. As we approached the end of the street, it opened up into a little village of Indians. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by three kids pointing arrows at us who warned that they would shoot if we moved. Of course, we moved and the arrows went whizzing past us. Once they depleted their arrows, they resorted to stabbing us with little reeds. The only casualty was a hole they poked in my mission bag. Besides the excitement of dodging arrows, it was pretty cool to see all the natives down there living together in their tribe. Unfortunately, the reference we went to see had recently run away from home, so we made the journey for nothing.

Another cool thing that happened this week took place at the house of an investigator. When we went to buscar (look for) him on Sunday, we found him at the back of his house where we talked with him. Low and behold, they had a toucan. I actually got to hold it for a while, which was awesome! Hopefully, I will have a picture of that by next week.

We also had interviews with the President this week, which went well. He always has good stories to share from his mission that remind you of what works best when you are trying to find people to teach. It's clear to me that the best way to find new people is through Family Home Evenings.

We are currently working with a family (Edimar and Maria) and also a 15 year old boy named Alexandro. They are all making good progress. As for the ward here, it continues to grow even though it recently lost its status as a ward for some reason due to a lack of priesthood holders and such.

One thing we started doing this week was living off the land. There are jamba trees and green coconuts all over the place, so when we're hungry, we just knock down some fruit, clean it, and enjoy a free snack. Well, I've got to go get stuff in order in the house. I'll be sending a little package home soon with some pictures and a cool, little thing I picked up today.

Tchau,
Elder Taylor Mackay