 |
| Elder Perry with friends on their way to church |
Baratas anyone…? Yes, our apartment was sprayed this week for cockroaches. No, I am not claiming any responsibility for it. The exterminators came in quickly, did their job, left, and the roaches came out to play. The super big ones all crawled out onto the floor and died, but the smaller ones continued running around the sink area. After some serious work we took care of them. Mostly. But things are a lot cleaner now. A bit of a scarring experience I would say.
The work here has been great this week. We did some more work out in Caca e Pesca, where things are much more humble. It is a little surreal at times, walking around the favelas. It all looks like it’s straight out of a movie. Houses with red adobe shingles on top, sidewalks and roads of sand, chickens and roosters walking around, the occasional donkey or band of goats, and of course, the beach 5 minutes walking. It is really quite incredible.
We marked some baptismal dates and had some fall this week. But that’s the way things go around here. We found 2 sisters, one of which was looking for a church to join. We went and taught them the first lesson, and they seemed to really enjoy it and said that they would attend church with us. The next day, when we arrived at their house, they said that they had no interest in learning more.
We also found a really great family. One day when Makino and I were walking down the street, we ran into this woman named Patricia. She was super nice and happy and we marked a date to return. After looking for several days (because her part of Caca e Pesca has no street signs, or even really house numbers) we found it. She was very excited to see us again and invited us inside to meet her 5 children. They were all super nice and happy as well. It was very humbling to walk into their house. Only one queen sized mattress for 6 people and very, very tight quarters. I can’t describe fully the spirit I felt being in that house with them. We taught them the first lesson as well and they accepted everything very well. They were not able to attend church with us this week, but they said they would certainly attend with us next week. Yessssss.
The food this week was superb as always. There wasn’t anything too crazy. We had some goat meat a couple more times. The taste is amazing but it is super hard to chew. Sunday we went to lunch at a member’s house who is a professional chef. He prepared rice, beans, spaghetti, french fries, potato casserole, salad, and a whole tray full of meat. For 4 of us. I won’t lie, I ate 4 whole plates. So good. The food coma after, also very nice. I have come to enjoy rice and beans quite a bit after eating them every single day. I feel incomplete during the days when we don’t eat them now.
I have been officially called to be the ward organist! It is brutal. Yesterday, I had to play a hymn that I had never heard before in my life. I think the title translates literally to “Don’t Leave Harsh Words.” It’s Hymn 138 in the Portuguese hymnal if you want to look it up. So as you can imagine, a little stressful. Not only that, but I have been practicing playing the piano with the stake choir and we have stake conference coming up. I think they have an official pianist, but I need to be prepared. I have also been asked to play the piano for our zone conference this week and possibly for our mission Christmas meeting. I’m so glad I said that I play the piano.
The work here is going well and I am loving Brazil and loving this service!
Elder Perry
 |
| Elder Perry with uplifting wall art |
 |
| Elder Perry with his companion and other area Elders |
