Welcome back to the craziest email I’ve sent yet (potentially) As always buckle up and enjoy the ride.
I Got Electrocuted
First of all I’m perfectly fine. Now that all the moms on here are calmed (my mom already heard this story (shout out mom#1)), here’s what happened. As you can see as pictured the shower has an outlet that it’s plugged in to that is situated right above the flow of water. How the shower works is it heats up the water in the shower head and out comes warm water (99% sure). I’m not sure who thought of this design but they probably had a good laugh. For a long time I had been saved from the grasps of the electric shock because I only took cold showers and the shower head remained off. Unfortunately my days of salvation were numbered and as I entered the shower the head was already turned on hot. As I turned the metal nob and the water came pouring out my hand received a big fat electric shock, and my hand got a little burnt. Fortunately this only happened like twice.
Kicked By A Horse
As usually we were walking through the tight favela “streets” more like little passageways that motorcycles can squeeze through. As we are walking In front of me blocking the way leaving only a little gap behind him is a horse and a guy brushing it. I stop obviously I’m not about to walk behind a favela horse (basically a wild horse), but the guy seeing my hesitation proceeds to tell me the horse doesn’t kick… so I start walking as fast as a can to pass the horse and all the sudden time slowed down, I knew I was screwed, as I saw the guy (definitely a drug dealer) with a devilish grin spread across his face grab his shoe and rear back and smack the horse as hard as he could right as I passed behind it, my life flashed before my eyes and I braced for the impact. But for some reason the horse didn’t kick back he just kinda stomped on the ground a little bit. Out of all the experiences I’ve had here I’ve never felt so protected by the hand of God in my life.
The Bathroom At The Assembly Of God
Unfortunately in the area im in we only have two public bathrooms that are worth using, and in this moment unfortunately we were very far from both, as my stomach started to rumble and my bowels began to scream. Trying to think of what I could do, I looked around frantically and the only thing I saw that looked promising was an Assembly Of God church but there was no one to let us in. Right as we started back to walk the long way to our chapel we saw a woman enter the AOG (to give a little background the AOG either really likes the missionaries or hates them) as we saw the woman we ran back to her and asked if we could use the bathroom. She said yes, hesitantly.
As I stood up after taking care of business and went to flush, of course the weak little toilet was not having it and didn’t drain anything. My companions and I all crowded around the toilet in horror as it refused to flush. We looked around in panic no plunger, no bucket, no nothing. We new if we left the bathroom in the state it was in we definitely would be hated in the neighborhood. We started hearing people singing right outside the door as the choir had arrived to practice and we began scrambling for anything inside the bathroom we could use to get rid of the waste in the toilet. Settling on the only thing there we grabbed a trash can ripped the bag out and started filling it handfuls by handfull from the sink. Finally and thankfully the trash can didn’t have holes and we were able to get the toilet to flush.
Don’t Shoot!
I’m not sure what I was expecting but, here in recife I’ve yet to see a person with a gun, other than the police… Here guns are illegal and they don’t come out unless some work needs to be done, if you get what im saying. Luckily I’ve never been anywhere where thats happened… While teaching a lesson outside with our new friend Juliana I saw a motorcycle start to pass and stop behind a car in front of us, (normal). As my brief loss of attention was almost pulled back to the lesson, I saw barely through the the tint of the car, his hands shoot up in the classical dont shoot pose. My attention immediately left the lesson as I starting looking around for the guys with the guns. It didn’t take more than 2 seconds until 5 motorcycle 2 cops on each with Uzis pulled up guns draw ready to shoot bro.
As me and my comps and the member we were with look at each other frantically in the classic what do we do look, I braced for the shoot out as I heard more motorcycles approaching from the opposite direction as the cops. Somehow my Brazilian comp, is still talking to the lady and finalizing her baptism date but his eyes are glued to the scene I can see hes thinking the same thing as me. (One shot and we are hitting the deck behing this car). As one guy pulls up on his motorcycle he gives up Immediately and throws his hands up, as the cops surrounded him. We said our quick goodbyes and ran out of there. I never did hear any shots so I think they made it out alive.✌️
Art Of The Month
Transfered
From the start of this transfer 7 weeks ago it knew it would be interesting. I got put in a trio with a group of LZs (Zone Leaders) Elder Escossio and Elder Kiefer as their junior comp with the instructions to learn as much as possible. Unfortunately soon after I spent the next 3 weeks in and out of the mission office recovering from my teeth infection and its unforseen complications. By the time I was able to see the area I was faced with the realization that it wasn’t very good even with the best missionarys, the LZs and LDs in the area, hadn’t baptized anyone in half a year or more. The area was mainly favela and had a lot of hills, and in general was just a hard place to be. As I struggled through the challenges I faced I can’t help but be thankful for the experiences I’ve had here, so many new people I’ve met, experiences I’ve had that I shouldn’t have been able to and just the opportunity to serve the lord and his people wherever they are. Through this experience here in Ouro Preto I’ve seen the lord’s protection guidance and influence more than I ever thought possible and here I refound my purpose. I found that joy isn’t dependant on the circumstances or the people around you its dependant on the state of mind your in. I feel like the scripture found in Ether 12:27 states it best. “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
I know that Jesus Christ is the rock and redeemer on which I have built my foundation and I testify of his constant hand in our lives, I know that all of the trials we face are for our growth and our benefit. I’ll always remember this area and I hope one day I can come back.
Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cnvNHFLuWEPTfcKj7
Notable Events
-I’m opening a new area and training a new missionary this transfer
-An old man took us on a side quest and the reward was a large roll of trace paper for free (arch fam knows the worth)
-The more I study the language the more I realize how subpar my skills are
-I tried on the Carnival costumes (photos in the google photos)