O Email Mesmo

What a wonderful day!

Miguel and his son.

Elder Lobo and Miguel -- his first baptism!

Hey everybody!

What an awesome week. I can't remember who said this, but we missionaries tend to have really high highs and really low lows – sometimes in the same day.

Sounds like the trip to Victoria was pretty sweet. What did you guys have to do to LEAVE THE COUNTRY? It's a pretty cool feeling isn't?

It was really fun talking to you guys on Sunday. It's pretty crazy to think that the next time will be Christmas! And then it will be 2009! Maluco!

Anyway, I'll summarize really quickly:

Thursday: I had that wonderful fever with no other symptoms. Therefore, I slept. All day. I slept through exercises, took a shower etc. got all dressed, then when I was about to study I just sat there completely braindead and decided I needed to lay down or I would not really be very happy with much of anything. So I changed out of my clothes and proceeded to sleep for the rest of the day, with the exception of 30 minutes or so for lunch and about an hour for dinner. Elder Hobbs was on a wonderful divison with me, mesmo.

Friday:
I woke up without a fever and felt a lot better. We went around getting everything ready for the baptism – having interviews done, doing the programs, etc. I started getting an ear infection and couldn't hear well at all, so I called Irmã Terry and she recommended Augmentin Duo, an antibiotic. I found a pharmacy that sold it without a prescription, and within 6 hours I was feeling a lot better. It really reminds me of the time in the book of Moses where he casts out Satan and then Satan proceeds to have a hissy fit – my sickness is having a giant hissy fit that I am casting it out. All the sickness in my sinuses, ears, throat, chest, etc is just weeping and wailing and gnashing.

Satuday:
So we got to the chapel at 10:00 to start filling the font, and there happened to be a couple setting up for the birthday party of their son – at 12h30! How great. So while we waited, we helped blow up balloons – definitely something I never thought I would do in preparation for a baptism. Néfi (a 2 or 3 year old kid) helped us out (and by “helped” I mean ran around kicking all the balloons and beating me with them – he is SO MUCH FUN). 12h30 arrived and there were about 6 people there. We started taking pictures, and by 13h00, most of the ward was there. It was really cool. We sang Vinde a Mim (Come Unto Me) and Lucélia talked about baptism. We then went to do the baptisms and Cleriston and Gilberto (an awesome awesome member) went first. He went on and baptized him with his left hand to the square (NONO) and nobody noticed except for me, but I was back behind and couldn't get around fast enough. So I went down with Miguel after they had gotten out and went to do it with my right hand. Then BISPO comes over and tells me to switch because there would be more room, apparently, doing it with your left hand (doesn't make sense). Anyway, I asked three times, “Tem que ser feito com a mão direito, né??? TEM QUE SER!” But I ended up doing it left-handed so Cleriston wouldn't feel left out when his had to be redone. A couple minutes after, they came in and said we had to do them again – we did them again and it felt complete. It was a very specific feeling. It felt right - it felt like the envelope had just been licked and stamped. It was cool. So afterwards, Elder Baldwin spoke (the person who was going to give the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost didn't show up) and then Bispo did some great boas-vindas. Afterwards, we had a combined birthday/baptism party with tons of food and tons of people that stayed for it. Hahaha It was really nice.

Domingo:

Another crazy church, but Miguel and Cleriston were confirmed. It was really cool. The Gift of the Holy Ghost really is real. I can really feel a difference being around them. You get that same feeling as when you go do your home teaching or whatever. The phone call home was really nice.

Monday:

Rough day – we went to Alfragide and nobody would talk to us! I even found an error in my dictionary. Anyway, I realized that day and after all the crazy churches we've had that nothing at all in this world is perfect. We have prophets and apostles and missionaries and bishops and ward and dictionaries and bus schedules and everything, but none of them are perfect. They are very close approximations of perfect things – Christ, the Gospel, infinite things like that. We have to be very careful where we place our trust. And Trust is how we compensate for all that imperfection.

Tuesday: ZONE CONFERENCE. AWESOME. I wish I could summarize, but let me do so quickly: Members have to work with the missionaries for them to be successful, we always have to remember the atonement, and ELDER BALDWIN IS STAYING WOO. They can't figure out what the deal is with his shoulder and back, but he's getting physical therapy.

I love you all!

Tchau! Abraços!

Elder Lobo