PA RUM PUM PUM PUM

Elder Hobbs likes to fold things.

Caroling

Caroling

Caroling

The Bishop and Elders Lobo and Wardenburg.

Hey Everybody!
Thanks for all the emails and pictures this week!! SO MUCH COOL STUFF! Preston’s new house looks so cool!
It’s so cool that you have the lessons with Darrell at our house!!! That is perfect Preach My Gospel. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to go. It blows my mind.
I’m still waiting for the package to come, but it should be here any day now.
Christmas is eight days away! That means you get to call me! I think I’ll have you call the cell phone again, except this time it’ll be a different number.
Anyway, novidades:
We were at the Chimarrão restaurant in Colombo last week and found that Carla works there. She’s the investigator that was marked for baptism when I got into the office but ended up giving up because her work and her situation at home were keeping her from progressing much farther. But after we ran into her at Colombo, she told us that her namorado went back to Brazil and that she wanted to start taking the lessons again so she could be baptized. So she’s one commandment closer to qualifying for baptism. We met with her and had Irmão Rau last week and reviewed the baptismal interview questions with her to understand better her desire to get baptized. She says she knows it’s all true, especially the Book of Mormon and that we have a living prophet. She just has to get her work schedule changed slightly so she can come to sacrament meeting on Sundays. Basically, her work schedule is 12PM to 12 AM six days a week, and sacrament meeting on Sundays starts at 12 PM. She’s really excited to have everything in order so she can finally get baptized.
On Sunday, Irisvaldo made it to church. He’s a Brazilian less-active member who had gone through a lot of hard times with work. We had been visiting him to keep him going, and it was incredible to see him at church again. We visited him that night, and we had intended to talk about the thirteenth article of faith with him because Bispo asked him to give a talk next week. So we went over, expecting to talk about the thirteenth article of faith. I took a copy of the Joy to the World DVD (Mundo Feliz) to give to him afterwards. We got there, and his nephew Edson was there in their T0 house (T0 = one room, T1 = two rooms, etc.). Irisvaldo saw the video and suggested that we watch it, and so Edson got the DVD player and everything going (they have this bunkbed setup from IKEA that has a TV and everything attached to one of the bedposts – we were all sitting on little fold-out stools so we could all see). Anyway, we watched it, and the whole time Edson had a look of peace and amazement on his face. The DVD ended after 25 minutes, and then he asked, “so is it alright if we watch the special features?” We were all kinda shocked, and said, “Força!” So we watched all the special features. Edson had usually been a little indifferent with the lessons we had with Irisvaldo, but it’s been cool to watch him slowly be much more attentive to everything. At this visit, Irisvaldo talked a lot about how he had come to the decision to join the church, and he made it sound like church had been something on Edson’s mind. So we invited him to the ward Christmas party this Saturday and to church on Sunday to hear Irisvaldo give his talk. Perfect opportunity! It was really cool. Paciencia.
We went caroling with some ward members to a bunch of members in our area, and it was a really cool experience. I’ve been singing quarta voz (bass) and it’s hilarious. I remember in young men’s when I thought I was a tenor (because I wanted to sing the cooler parts). Not true. The other members that were singing bass ended up not coming, and I ended up being the only one. It’s funny how we set limits for ourselves. I didn’t think I could sing bass, so I never did. After having to sing a bunch of times for things on the mission, I should definitely sing bass. We sang under the huge arch in Baixa a couple weeks ago and I had to sing the melody and I lost my voice for the whole day!!! It was hilarious. We’re singing in Zone Conference this Friday, then at the ward Christmas party, then in church, then caroling again, then at a Stake thing. We’re basically on tour. It’s insane. Lá Na Judéia Onde Cristo Nasceu (#123 in the Portuguese hymnbook) is so fun to sing.
Elder Wardenburg is off crutches and is going to get an MRI here pretty soon. Elder Barrett is having a fun time learning all the jobs and stuff, and it’s been like a firehose for him. He is still not driving quite yet, but he did drive back from the parking lot in Pontinha the last time we practiced. Elder Croshaw’s ankle is doing a little better.
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST.
AMO-VOS.

ELDER LOBO