I know I know it's Thursday, not my normal P-day. And yes I also know you probably had a terrible night's sleep last night mom because you didn't hear from me all day yesterday, but don't worry I am fine. The internet went down in pretty much all of Casa Verde yesterday so we didn't have the chance to use it so we are taking some time today to do so.
I will be perfectly honest...I forgot it was Thanksgiving today. The only reason I remembered is because I read a letter from Grandpa and Grandma (thank you for the game recap by the way...that subject deserves its own paragraph though) and they mentioned that Thanksgiving would be today. So it finally dawned on me and I looked up to talk to someone about it but then realized that I was sitting around 7 or 8 Brazilians...who literally have never heard of Thanksgiving before in their lives. So I said a silent "hooray." to myself and continued on reading.
So the BYU-Utah game. Unbelievable. Games in which your team has tons of turnovers are the worst to watch. One moment you think to yourself that you actually might get back in the game, but then another pass gets tipped and picked off for another 6 points. Terrible. Oh well...what bowl will BYU play in? Will Utah get a BSC game? They should.
Sounds like Twilight was a pick hit? I don't care. I get slightly angry even thinking about it.
To be honest this wasn't a way exciting week to talk about. I mean it wasn't bad for me but it was pretty much just normal stuff for me. Just a bunch of teaching and the ever-ending quest to find the ultimate easy-to-make food product at night (I have settled on penne pasta with butter, salt, an italian...rub (don't know what to call it), oregeno, and 2 fried eggs on top). Can I put a parenthetical phrase inside of a parenthetical phrase??
I did learn this week that Brazilians don't have much of a sense of personal belongings. Especially the Brazilians I live with (well mostly Elders Chaves and Martinatto, Sousa is fine). It's like they think that if something is in the house they live in then it must obviously belong to them. So annoying. Food is probably the worst. I buy some food for myself and when I return that night, extremely famished and ready to feast, all the food is gone with only satisfied Brazilian stomachs as an evidence of the food's existence. Sometimes I get really mad and talk in a louder voice than my 6-inch whisper to them. It's funny because they don't see anything wrong with it and get mad right back at me and say that I am "tight-fisted" which is an expression meaning I am cheap. Sometimes they ask me if they can use my food, sometimes I say no and that I need it and they get really mad and tell me I am cheap and then storm off. I just sit there extremely confused because we receive the SAME amount of money each week. It's not like I am some rich kid on my throne tossing pennies among the starving orphans below! They get the same amount of money as I do so why should I have to give them food? Rather annoying sometimes. I think they think because I am American it obviously means I am rich which entitles me to give them stuff.
Oh so a rather funny experience. We have been working with this lady Nilzete for about 3 weeks now and we finally got her to come to church on Sunday with us. Before we went we let her know that our church was probably going to be a little different than any church she had ever visited before...but I don't think any investigator can ever be prepared for the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting. Yep, the Primary Program happened to be this last Sunday...and I am not sure why but it was even more out of control then the ones I have seen before. I turned to L. Sousa in the middle of it and said "you know what, if this is my first time visiting this church I would think 'what kind of sick people are these?! What are they making these children do and why?!' I would almost definitely not want to come back." But to our surprise she actually really enjoyed it (probably because our bishop didn't stand up and "bless" his tie then start cutting it up into pieces and selling each piece for 10$ like the bishop does at her church...ridiculous). I think she will be coming back this week again. We taught her the Word of Wisdom 2 days ago and it was a missionaries dream when she said "no I don't drink coffee! I hate the taste." No other problems either.
So yesterday marked the end of my first transfer. I wasn't actually transferred from my area and for that I am actually gratefull. Mostly because I don't want to pack my suitcase, I am dreading that day. It will be horrible to do it again. But also because I want to do more work in this area and I am used to having L. Sousa as a companion...don't want to leave the kid from Rio and his laid back attitude that comes along with that. Actually no one from our district got transferred (8 Elders), pretty crazy. The only bad thing about not being transferred is that I didn't have the chance to see any of my friends from my district in the CTM. I really do miss all those guys. They were literally some of the funniest people I have ever met and after spending two months in that hell-hole with them...creates a bond only to be out-done by that of a mother and a child. Oh and it also sucks because we couldn't get any of our letters or packages but we have our 6-week interviews tomorrow so I am sure I will be able to pick it up then (I have not got that package yet mom but I am sure it is there now and I will grab it tomorrow). "Stop with the parenthesis!" Sorry Karrissa. Glad you could correct me, heaven knows that's the only way that you'll ever get to use your major. WOOOAAHHH! He went there.
So we taught that family that I talked about in my last letter 2 more times this week (Paulo and Priscilla). The lesson following the really good experience I told about last week was actually pretty dull unfortunately. I don't know why but I guess he just chose to ignore and forget everything he felt. So annoying. Anyway we taught him again last Tuesday and it was a good lesson except Paulo is still refusing to get married. Priscilla is all for it but Paulo keeps saying he is not ready. You have 2 kids and have been with the same woman for 7 years, I think you are ready! It was funny though because we asked if he would be baptized and he said "you guys are going to need a pretty strong bath in order to baptize me" I laughed for a while after he said that.
Oh yeah! I am not sure what to do about this situation. So I was on a division a couple weeks ago with our DL Elder Rariclay. We found and taught this guy named Moisés. He was really knowledgeable about the scriptures and was interested in our message so that was cool. But there was something just a little bit strange about him. So set another appointment and left. Later Rariclay was on another division with my comp L. Sousa and they went and taught him again. Apparently during the lesson he asked "So what does your church believe about Homosexuality?" There it was! The thing that was "off" about him! And that's not the worst part. He also asked them during the lesson "Where is Elder Parsons? Why didn't he come to teach me today? Does he have a cell phone number that I could call and talk to him?" They said he had an unhealthy interest in me. So I dont know. We have an appointment with him this coming Monday and I don't know what to do! He needs the gospel but I also need to keep my gay-virgin lips! Just kidding...kind of. We will go teach him and I am sure it will be fine but I am not kidding about the attraction...I thought he was just staring intently at me the first time I met him because he was interested in my strange accent...we wrote "Has homosexual tendencies!" on his paper in the area book haha.
Well I am sad that I am missing Thanksgiving today (now that I know it is Thanksgiving). It was always way fun to have the whole family over, eat, then try to sneak away to another room so I could watch football without being disrupted. Oh those were the days. This Thanksgiving I get to spend checking out references from the internet and delivering DVDs to people that will most likely regret their decision to call the number and receive the DVD when they find out that we want to give them a message along with the DVD! Hooray! Hooray for bribery! "If you want this DVD you're going to have to listen to a message...ha!" I will get the Thanksgiving package you sent me tomorrow mom, so it will all be good. It really is fine though, the very thought of stuffing makes me want to throw up something...hey, that looks like stuffing!
Better end it there. I was really anxious and slightly angry yesterday because I wasn't able to use the internet all day because I love to hear from you all and I actually enjoy writing these emails too. Again, please tell me if there are things that I am not writing about that you would like me to...and if you think I should be writing more spiritual experiences then...$%^&* you! Those are my experiences! Just kidding. But really, it's sometimes kind of awkward writing those experiences through email, not that I wont but I might not write tons because of that...and they are personal. Anyway, love you all, hope you all have a fat-filled Thanksgiving. I'll lose a belt loop out here while you guys gain one there. Have fun! Love you!
-Elder Brent Parsons
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