Serving in Little Ways!

October 30

I am finding places where I can serve in little ways!

This week, I met with some software developers on Monday to see if an app could be developed that would enable missionaries in my Adjusting to Missionary Life groups to be able to send me a status report daily on their level of stress with just one click. They assure me it can be done, but I would also have to get permission to use it. Then I could be translated into Portuguese for use with groups of new Brazilian missionaries. That could be such a help for new missionaries in adjusting to the field.

I am still helping a missionary couple who are auditors with their Power Point that will be used for training. They know so much about auditing, but not so much about Power Point. I am happy to help them. 

On Wednesday, I taught my English Conversation Class! It is a small class- only four of us - but we were joined by another group learning English who had been bumped from their room. So, we had nearly 20 people there.  It was fun having a big group talking together. We discussed an Easy English news article on how the electronics company Fujitsu in Japan was enticing workers back to the office by creating a dog office where workers could have their dogs. They could bring their dogs to work! Everyone in the group agreed that THAT would not happen at this office!  :)

Last week, I was able to meet Elder Koch (a member of the area presidency). who is technically my boss here in Brazil. I told him about several things, including the fact that we had no headphones at church. I had been asking for two months for headphones - some of the senior missionaries have been coming to church for a year and never understood a word. I had seen headphones used in other places (like the Rome Second Ward, where the senior missionaries had headphones), so I knew it could be done. He called in his administrative assistant, told her about the problem, and told me it would be taken care of.

On Thursday, I wasn't feeling well at all. I had one session and moved all the rest to Friday. I slept the rest of the day.

Friday, I didn't know how I would get through the day with so many sessions. For some reason, they have been a lot harder here than years ago when I did psychotherapy. But I had  been having the feeling that we needed to open each session with prayer and I did that with each missionary. It made things so much better! I felt like I knew just what to say with each missionary and I felt carried through the day. (I know - you are thinking "A missionary just discovered that things go better when they pray - Duh!" Well, some of us are slower learners than others!)

Friday night, some senior missionary friends took me to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant and it was so good to get out! The meal was fine.

Saturday morning, I had breakfast with other missionary friends (hash browns, bacon, eggs, fruit, juice and pao de queijo).

Then we went to the Museum of the Portuguese language. It was a really interesting museum, on the top floors of the Luz Train Station, which was built in 1903. It had caught fire in 2015 and was completely rebuilt in the same style, but with modern amenities.

It has fascinating exhibits, with life-size displays of people from around Brazil speaking about their culture.

There were also displays on the history of Brazil and how other languages and dialects (from immigrants and the Portuguese royal family coming to Brazil) changed the language. Because it was all in Portuguese, it was a little hard for me to follow, but I discovered that my Reverso app will translate portugues if I take a photo of it- that was great, but I didn't discover it until the end of the visit! (But I have that knowledge for the future!)

Today, we went to church and THERE WERE HEADPHONES FOR US TO USE!!! It was so wonderful to be able to understand the talks. I had only one headphone over half of my ear. I would listen to the Portuguese and if I didn't understand something, I would put the earphone to my ear and hear the translation of the part that I missed. There were two lovely talks about consecration and stewardship. I felt for the first time like I was part of the ward and for the first time, I could understand the personalities of the speakers. I loved it.

Sunday night, I was sitting in the living room, watching Encanto (again - I really like that movie and it is a great one to watch on a Sunday night. Thanks, Joseph, for making it possible for me to watch it!)

Then I hear lots of noise - people shouting at the top of their voices, whistling, cars honking, the sound of fireworks, dogs barking. The presidential race is decided. Lula won. The noise goes on for about 30 minutes. I go downstairs to see what I can see - but by the time I get down there, things are quieted down. I don't know much about politics in Brazil, and we, as missionaries, are cautioned to stay far away from politics, but it is hard not to be caught up in all the excitement.  

Sometimes, it happens accidentally! A few weeks ago, a group of us were in the park in the center of the city and we saw a man with a large bubble-head in an area with lots of benches. There were only a few people with him - no signs or banners, so we didn't know what was going on. Everything seemed quiet. I thought he must be selling something. Just for the fun of it, we got our picture taken with him.  And some of the people took pictures of us. They said "God bless the United States of America. And we responded, "God bless Brazil." And we left.

Then, one of our group, who didn't get his picture taken (and who was a lawyer for the church here as a senior missionary) said, "I wonder what the area presidency will say when photos of missionaries taken with Bolsonaro hit public media?" WHAT??? THAT BUBBLE-HEADED MAN WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BOLSONARO?

Needless to say, we kept a low profile after that. And nothing came of it. I am so glad that I am not in any high-profile position in the church - I am so unaware of things that I could constantly be embarrassing the church!

Yesterday, we had a Halloween Party with a member of our ward singing karaoke (in English). At the apartments, I saw families with little children going to apartments with Halloween-decorated doors, Trick-or-Treating. It was so cute! The rule was that if you wanted Trick-or-Treaters, you decorate your door for Halloween! 

I hope you had a good Halloween! Please comment - I love hearing from you!