So this week was pretty crazy. On Christmas Eve L. Sousa and I received a call saying we were going to be emergency transferred over to the area next to us: Chora Menino (haha, it means "Cry Boy". The names of the areas here are ridiculous). Elder Bigelow and Elder Rariclay were in that area but E. Rariclay was going to end his mission January 7th but left 2 weeks early because he wanted to spend Christmas with his family, thus Elder Bigelow, who was in my district in the CTM so he has the same amount of time as me, didn't have a companion. So as of now Elders L. Sousa and Bigelow are my companions. We are rockin' a trio, woot! In some ways it is cool to be in a trio. I have the chance to talk some English with Elder Bigelow when we are in the house so I can actually tell stories from back home and listen to his in English...so much easier. It is more fun out on the street with three of us too, just cause we have more people and Sousa and I have someone different to talk to now.
Some things are really weird though, like teaching. Those of you who have served missions will probably understand. On your mission you will give each lesson hundreds of times and almost every time you give a lesson you are with just one person. But now that I am with two everything is messed up. It's hard to know when to switch from person to person, how much each person should say, who makes each of the commitments, etc.
The transfer has also been bad because our new house sucks. It doesn't have a normal washing machine like our other house had (you have to just put water in it, dump some soap in, then it turns the clothes. But that is it. Afterwards you have to rinse the clothes again in the sink and get all the soap out then hang them up to dry. Unfortunately it is really hard to get ALL of the soap out so you end up having really stiff clothes after they dry). The house really stinks too...not sure of what yet but all I know is that it smells bad. Probably mildew or a dead person or something like that. Oh and it also has an infestation problem. Whenever we come home we find atleast 2 more alive, but sometimes dead, cockroaches on our floor with hundreds more (I am sure) within the walls. Their stronghold is under the wall next to the shower so it is normal to find them in the shower before you take a shower. Them buggers are fast too and rarely can you step on them before they run under the wall too. Oh, and there is either a cat or a HUGE rat that lives in the ceiling of our bedroom. Unfortunately I think it is a huge rat. This morning we watched it run across the ceiling because the ceiling was bending wherever it was. I was definitely lucky to have the other house. It's funny because when I arrived here I thought the house was terrible! But now I see it is one of the nicest houses in our area. Oh well, only 1 more week in this house.
Teaching has been really difficult this week. Like REALLY difficult. It was reported on the news that 1 million inhabitants of São Paulo traveled for Christmas this year, and I swear everyone reference and investigator we have our part of that number. Nobody is ever home. We walk all day in the sun and never do anything because nobody is home. Yesterday we didn't teach a single lesson! The first day that has ever happened. It doesn't help that Chora Menino is not a very strong area at all. I don't know why they shut our area and sent us here. They should have shut Chora Menino and sent Bigelow to our area because our area was 5 times as strong as theirs. Sousa calls their investigators with baptism dates "fantasy dates" because that's all they are, fantasies.
I did have 1 really funny lesson this week. We were teaching these 2 girls that just love to talk to us but don't really like to hear about the gospel, but we try our best. Anyway, their friend came over and she took a liking to me...and began talking to me while my comps were talking to the other two. She began asking me a bunch of questions about things that are allowed in the church and things that aren't and throughout the whole conversation she kept leaning in more and more towards me...while I began pressing my back more and more into the back of my chair. She looked at me and said "Can you Mormons...Can you Mormons kiss on the mouth?" At this point Sousa said he began listening and he said she almost fell off her chair towards me because she was leaning in so far. Right when she asked that Sousa slammed his hands on the table and stood up and said "It's time to go!" I jumped at of my chair and said "Yes it is!" and whispered thank you to L. Sousa. Then we left haha.
Well that's about it. This week was really fun out on the street and in our house because there are three of us and it's just fun to tell stories and hang out and order pizza and stuff, but teaching-wise the week was pretty much a disaster. It should get better next Monday when everyone returns home from the holidays but in the meantime...just a lot of walking.
Love you all and I hope you all had a good Christmas and have a happy new year too. We aren't allowed out of our houses past 7:00pm unless we have a ride from a member (which we do. we are going over to a member's house tonight with Martinatto and Chaves to have a bbq. We can stay out till midnight too, sweet!). Tomorrow we won't work too much either due to all the drunks that I am sure will be passed out/trying to hurt us on the street. Oh well, that's how it is during this time of the season. See ya!
-Elder Brent Parsons
And a couple of pictures of the 'Big Dog' in our old area...
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