These past few days have
been so cold here in Sete Lagoas!! I think we hit 60 degrees the other
night and i kid you not, I was totally dressed in my parka, ready to hit
the slopes. People, i tell you. Minas is so cold in August.
In other, warmer news, we did splits this week in an area that is very, very, very
warm. Curvelo is about 4 hours, maybe 5 away from Belo Horizonte. It is
the furthest area that sisters go here in BH. (President likes us all
close to home). Anyways, you can imagine how tired i was as we arrived
in the desert. Its a quiet little dusty town, with not a whole lot going
on. Think a lot of dust, a lot of heat, and more horses and cows then
people. And when you see someone, they are missing their two front teeth
and pointing at the sweating, white american.
It has been a long time since i
have been in a humble area. Training the sisters, we get the privilige
to meet many people in many different situations and the areas are quite
different, one from the other. But I think its been almost a year since
I have been in such humble homes. To the point that after the first day
of splits, when we got out our little tapered mattress and sheet, i
felt like royalty thinking i would sleep on something i knew was clean.
I was with sister ribeiro (shes
from Fortaleza, the best are), when we found the family of gold. We were
tracting, looking for a less active when we found a little beco that
fanned out to three different doors. After no one responded at the
first, we knocked the second. A woman answered and said in an excited,
anticipating voice ``are you two sisteres? I have been waiting for
you!!``
She opens the gate and we walk
through a little garden of trash and little kid toys and dust until her
home. Her name is Grazielle, and she lives in a tin can. Really. The
roof is made of tin, and I felt my hair sizzling as we entered. If it
was hot outside, under a tin roof it is hell. She quickly introduces us
to her 4 young children. All four are wearing just underwear, and the
baby is naked. Grazielle is wearing an oversized t-shirt and dirty
shorts. There are two rooms in the house, the first has two old sofas, a
picture of Christ nailed to the wall, and a gas-stove. The second room
is full of beds. (When I say full, i mean the room is small and there
are three beds squished in there). The house smells like urine. Baking
urine.
But the children are smiling, and
poor sister ribeiro is new to the whole mission buisness and totally
doesnt know what to do with herself as i sit down on the couch. We talk
with Grazielle. She knows all the lessons, and she wants to be baptized.
After about 20 minutes of talking under the tin roof, Sister Mad is the
color of a firetruck and sweat is dripping from her eyeballs and ears.
That is when someone else comes
through the gate and is running to the house. Grazielle gets up to
answer the door, and in come another 4 children, and Grazielle´s
husband. All eight children, mother and father hug one another and the
tin can fills until the dripping sweat is replaced with welling up
tears. The husband looks to us, and then the tin can, as if to be
embarassed of the home. He then picks up the naked baby and says-
We dont have a whole lot, but we have each other. And I love what i have got. So its enough. And I am thankful.
There
is something so powerful in the words ``I am thankful``. It was
Thursday when we met the family, and they have yet to leave my mind. 8
children, ages 12, 9, 8, 7, 5, 3, 2, and 5 months. The family is elect.
The husband is excited to have the power to bless his children.
And I am thankful. Not just for
the opertunity to teach them, or for the privilige it is to serve a
mission, but for the love I feel for the people of Brasil.
...I am considering serving 2 years. Hopefully President accepts.
love, sister mad
Pictures
MONEYYY
eating oranges, waiting for the bus. we are so cool.
that one time we won a lot of makeup from a recent convert (this is a story that needs to be told when i get home because you will DIE when you hear the rest)
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