Story of finding Jonas..."If we keep the commandments God will guide us..."

Hello Family! I am sitting in some sort of store where people buy lottery tickets. Brother, every week is a different location. I just want to have my own computer, and not have to get used to a different keyboard every week. Actually this one is one of the best. Really bouncy, light… what other ways can I describe a keyboard? Anyway it is a good one.

The weeks are starting to run by faster and faster, initially, before I came on my mission I thought I would be doing the same thing every day, but it's turned out to be exactly the opposite. Just when it seems like I am starting to catch on, get the hang of something (mainly the language) something else comes up, some thing I have been doing wrong, and then I have to fix that, so far I haven't had a dull, boring moment, There's always something else to learn.


It's been about a normal week, hotter and hotter each day; I am starting to get one heck of a sun tan. Unfortunately you guys will never get to witness it in person because I'll probably loose it the winter before I come home. It's also a bummer that we can't use sun glasses. The sun is way bright, it's defiantly not good for my eyes, but it's against the rules to wear sunglasses.

This week has been a week of service. Wednesday we visited Neuza and her son Roger. They were the very first people I visited when I arrived here, so needless to say we have been teaching them along time. They are pretty cool, but not progressing. We are considering cutting them. Anyway we went to their house to teach them. They basically have two houses, one in the front, that they live in, and another, older one that has been vacant. Probably 50% of the people here have this set up. They live in the front houses in the winter, and then in the summer when all the tourists come they rent them out and live in the old crappy houses in the back. So, this is what Neuza and Roger decided to do. When we arrived Wednesday it was a mad house, people running every which way, preparing the back house to move in. It was obvious we weren't going to get a lesson in, so we asked if we could help. They said yes, we rolled up our sleeves and helped them hang some cupboards, and install some lights, but it was the sloppiest work I have every done. The light installation was stealing one ceiling light from one room and installing it in the other J and, when Roger found that the cupboards didn't fit where he wanted to put them he took a hammer to it and commenced making it fit! When hanging them we didn't even use a level… Oh well, different cultures, it was still fun to help them.

The other service we did this week was much more rewarding. There is one brother in our ward, Irmão Marcíono, who is 70 something; I think I have already mentioned that he reminds me of the Anatomy teacher Kelly Thompson at the High School. Anyway, he has one gigantic garden full of sweet potatoes corn and was full of WEEDS tom bem. So Friday, The senior missionary, Elder Baird, my Comp and I went and for 5 hours hoed and pulled weeds. However fun it was, I couldn't help but think it should be winter right now; this is the 7th month in a row of summer for me… Anyway, he lives 4 miles out of town, so he was nice enough to drive us home, we took the scenic route, along the beach, I've never seen a prettier beach then the one here… and so far not many tourists have come.

So Idaho/ Wyoming finally got some snow huh? The hunting and the skiing is finally picking up. I couldn't be happier for all of you. Just as long as you always keep me in mind while your doing them.

No, I haven't received any packages yet. This Thursday we have our zone conference in Porto Alegre, there, I will pick them up!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: Yesterday was Monday, Every Monday at 6:30 we have family home evening at the Elder and Sister Baird's house. Usually it is tuff to get people to go, the Bairds likes to have it early, and people work late here, so this week was no exception. Karen (who is getting baptized on the 27th…hopefully) backed out at the last minute. So, we started to work the list, calling and visiting people inviting them to come to FHE. Each person had a different "Decuple," but we asked everyone, right down to the dog (literally) nobody could go. The day as a whole followed this pattern, everyone was busy, everyone had some excuse and didn't have time to listen to us. So, we started to do something I hate to do. Battar Portas. It is awkward, the dogs are barking in your face, and people don't like to quit what there doing to attend to the door. But we commenced batando portas, one at a time.

Side Note: As I have mentioned before, the streets are a mess, no order whatsoever, so many addresses that we get we cannot find, or they are non-existent. When I first arrived I made a contact with a way cool guy, who speaks a little English and was really interested in the gospel. He gave us his contact info, but when we went to follow up this was the case we could not find his house, so, we chalked it up as a false address, but it was hard for me to believe. This guy was legitimate!

So to continue the story yesterday, we slowly worked out way down the street, one in which I had never been on before (neither my companion) we made some good contacts, but still nobody had time to listen to us. Suddenly I realized something. This was the same street that the guy (Jonas) had said he lived on! But it was on the opposite end of town as we thought! I had scribbled out his address, but we managed to distinguish the house number. Come to find out it existed! Nos batamos a porta, and there he was! We gave the first lesson, and will go back, but it made my day. After that, the day was a synch, we found another new family, the husband is obsessed with lifting weights, and has a fetish for American weight lifting magazines J. He excitedly showed us them, they were tattered and the pictures were faded, he even popped in a DVD, about this Ronnie Coleman weight lifter and made us watch it, but, eventually we shared with him the first lesson, he liked it, we will return also. Our last lesson of the day was with a guy named Raphael, who just moved here from Sao Paulo, it was a follow-up lesson and went very, very well.

So, here is the lesson, which I had already learned before but had partially forgotten. The lord is the one in command. His thoughts are not ours (Isaiah 55???) And if we are doing the things that he asks us, he will guide us were we must go. We weren't supposed to have FHE last night; we were supposed to find these people. So, when it seems like all hell has broken loose ask yourself two questions. 1) Have I kept the commandments? If so, you have no need to worry, God will guide you were you need to be. The second question would probably be, am I letting him guide me? Or am I fighting against it?

I once heard a story about an old Chinese man that lived in a small village. He had one horse, his most prized possession. One day, this horse ran away, chasing after another horse. The villagers said, poor you. The old man said Talvez sim, Talvez não. Time passed, and one day the horse reappeared! With him was the other horse that originally caused the problem. The villagers said, wow! You are so lucky, you know have two horses! The old, wise Chinese man said, Talvez sim, Talvez não. One day, the Chinese mans son was riding the newly acquired horse. He fell off and broke his leg. The villagers replied, poor you, your son is now crippled. The old man said, talvez sim, talvez não. 1 year later, China went to war with the neighboring country... every young man went to war, to fight in a fight not worth fighting, but, because of the sons broken leg, he was not required to go.

We have a very limited perception of what is really happening around us, but, if we keep the commandments God will guide us, some times it may seem like not the right thing, having to cancel FHE sucked… but if we will trust and have faith in God, then he will prepare a way.

Love you all, and until next week, Jacob

PS These are pictures of the ward christmas party we had this saturday. It was really fun, we had a churrasco, and had a short program. The two other missionaries are Elder and Sister Baird.