Sup ma' nerds!

So I didn't have much to say this week but then my father made a slight complaint that I don't talk about my day to day stuff anymore...so I will write a little bit about that.

We study from 8 - 11 am everyday.

Then we have lunch at 12 noon at a members house. They actually have a lady from the Relief Society whose calling in the ward is to take care of the missionary's lunches. So she gives us a calender every month and we just show up at the houses and there is food there waiting for us.

We eat with the family, sit and talk for a while, then we leave a message. The lunch message switches between my companion and I every other day. The days where you don't have to give the message are the best because we are always freaking full after lunch and it's good to just sit on the couch and just listen without having to think at all. Then we ask for references (sometimes the message is directed to the family in order to show them they need to give a reference) then we pray and leave and start to work.

Those of you who have served in a country where lunch is the primary meal of the day knows that the hour after lunch is pretty much the worse time of the day because it feels like you weigh 20 lbs heavier, the sun is blazingly hot during this hour, and tons of people are still having lunch so it's hard to check out any addresses or anything that we got from our contacts.

Food = Rice and beans everyday with some sort of "mixture" as they call it which is just some sort of meat or something. I really like the food. It's funny because it can be the best meal ever but if it doesn't have rice and beans you will see fully grown men complaining at the table. I am starting to become like that. The meal can suck but as long as there is rice and beans you know you are going to get full.

Contacts are a huge part of the mission. We have to either contact someone on the street (talk with some on the street) or somebody at home 12 times as day. A contact can be really fast (30 seconds sometimes) but you have to say something about the restored gospel and ask for their address.

I am entering into the stage of my mission where I have pretty much heard every sort of excuse there is. Which pretty much means I get rather angry sometimes when I hear the same lie over and over when the people think they are being all original. I love Brazil but there are a few things that I will never accept or understand and one of the things is that they are taught from a young age that if you don't want to do something you can just lie about it and nothing will happen.

Dishonesty is a genetic trait I am beginning to believe. A crappy contact, which I am all too accustomed to having, usually goes something like this.

Me: "Hi, I know that you are in a hurry" (I always start like that because they love to blow me off with the whole 'I am in a hurry thing') "But we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ and ANOTHER DAY we would like to pass by your house and leave a message with you and your family" (you have to emphasize the whole ANOTHER DAY part or they will think that you want to share the message with them at that moment and they will just blow you off by saying they don't have time at the moment and will speed away) "that talks about how God called a prophet along with 12 apostles in our days, just like Jesus Christ's church was organized in His time. Would there be a time this week that we could come by and leave this message with you and your family really fast?"

Person I am contacting: "Oh, sorry young man, "Eu nunca paro em casa" which means "I am never at home" or literaly "I never stop in house." This is the phrase that I am sure I have heard over 3000 times on my mission.

So then I say "Our message will actually be really fast, only 5 minutes."

They say "No but I don't have 5 minutes, I work all day and only get home at night around 7 o'clock."

Then I say "Well that's perfect! We work until 9 o'clock at night. So can we pass by around 7:30 sometime this week?"

Seeing as they are caught, they move onto their second tactic. They say "Oh well I actually already go to another church so I am already following Jesus."

I say "You don't have to worry about that because our message doesn't argue about religion and the faith that you already have in Christ will only be increased by our message."

Then they understand that they can't wiggle out of it and move on to the third tactic.

They say (if it is a woman) "Sorry, but my husband doesn't accept other religions, he's kind of annoying" or if it is a man he mysteriously always lives with his mom still who is EXTREMELY Catholic or from the Congregaçao. Always. And she "doesn't accept other religions" either.

Then I start to get a little angry but still keep my calm "Well we could pass by there and see if they will accept us and if they yell and curse at us we won't mind because we are used to it don't worry about it. So can I grab your address and pass by there another day to talk to them and leave a message?"

Then they say "No I actually don't want the message, bye."

WHAT THE FREAK? I don't understand why they just don't say that in the beginning! They prefer to stay there lying to us over and over and over wasting both of our time instead of politely saying that they don't want to hear our message.

Every once in a while they add in a few creative excuses like "I live in a really far neighborhood" then I say "Well, seeing as we are the only missionaries in this ENTIRE CITY we for sure work over in your area as well!"

Haha, the other day this lady said "Oh no, thank you, I live really far away." I asked her where she lived and she obviously wasn't thinking to clearly while stuttering "Uh...umm...I live in...Salto de Pirapora." HMMM...interesting. That happens to be the name of the city THAT WE ARE IN RIGHT NOW! Haha. She couldn't even make up another name of a city other than the one we are in right now. I said "Well what an awesome coincidence...I live there too!"

Anyway, that was a long description for something so little. But it is actually a HUGE part of my life here considering I have to do 12 a day for 2 full years of my life...it just becomes part of me.

So this week we continued working with our 3 baptismal dates for next Saturday. Viviane and Larissa and another girl named Viviane as well. Viviane is that lady that stopped us on the street and we asked to pass by. We have been trying to help her stop smoking and she is doing well but has to stop really soon...like within 2 days...to get baptized next week. She was smoking 20 a day but now is at 2-3 a day but it is proving a little difficult to kick the habit. She can do it though.

We met her on the street the other day and stole her cigarettes from her haha. I filmed it and will send the video. I am really hoping that her and her daughter get baptized.

The other Viviane is 19 years old and is way cool. Everything was going fine until she went to church on Sunday then got back and her parents got really mad at her for going and stuff. We went there on Tuesday and she told us everything and was nearly crying because she thought she would have to give it up with us because she lives with her parents but we had an idea to teach her at a member's house that lives really close to her and she got all happy and said that's what she wanted.

She is 19 too so can sign her own baptismal form and everything...the parents just are really faithful to another church and it will just take a little time for them to adjust. I thought we were going to lose her but she still has the desire to keep going so we's good.

Welp, that's about it from these parts. We went to the Temple in São Paulo today which was way cool but we lose pretty much our whole p-day due to the 4 hour round trip bus ride plus the session and lunch. Not to mention the whole waking up at 3:30 to catch a bus from my area to Sorocaba in order to catch the other bus with all the missionaries from here in the interior to São Paulo.

It's all good though. Farewell to everyone!

-Elder Brent Parsons