Yes, every one of the fish heads were consumed.
We had the great opportunity to baptized Carliane! She is the mother of the young man that we baptized last week. She has a similar growth disorder but she has an amazing heart. We have been helping her prepare for baptism for a couple of weeks, so we were happy to finally see her take this important step in her life. She and her son live basically across the street from the chapel and are very happy to be the newest members of the branch.
As far as our other work has been going, we have been progressing towards several more baptisms that should be happening these next couple of weeks. We have some great families that we are teaching, and we look forward to seeing their progress in the coming weeks.
And yes, we did eat fried fish heads this week. I was not really expecting it when we showed up to the house for lunch. We sat down and started filling our plates with beans, rice, and spaghetti. The woman who had made our lunch brought out this tub that was filled with fish. It seemed rather simple to prepare them. Just get a raw fish straight from the lake, cut it in half, and fry it. Then you eat it, but you need to be careful to not swallow the small bones. It actually tasted really great.
Things have been pretty strange lately with the new changes the church has been announcing. Here in the interior, we don't hear much about what's going on in the world, and we don't have much contact with the other missionaries. But, we finally got all the news by way of a long phone call with the mission president's wife. We were shortly thereafter assigned some families to visit on Sunday to give the sacrament. That was a very unique experience. Elder Damo and I visited five families in our town and blessed and passed to sacrament to all of them. I was grateful for all of the branch members' willingness to adapt to the changes that are happening right now.
We have been instructed to have a 2 week non-perishable food storage, to not shake hands with anyone in the street, to keep hand sanitizer with us at all times, and to avoid large crowds of people. I'm not even sure yet if the virus has made its way into this part of Brazil, but from what I hear, we all need to be careful no matter what.
Spiritual thought: When Jesus Christ first called his apostles, he said, "Come, and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus never said to them, "Come, and I will give you fish." In our lives, we need to learn to be self-sufficient in our service of the Lord. We can not be lazy and wait for someone to instruct us on how we should serve. We are more productive, and generally happier, when we are fishing because we want to, rather than being forced to do so. We must be fishers, not just receivers of fish.
I love you all so much and I love this missionary work. Let's get more fish!
Love, Elder Perry
