When I was ten we lived in Germany. Our mode of listening to General Conference was this: In place of Sacrament Meeting the week or two after Conference, we would listen to the talks that had been given in Conference while a projector showed a photo of the man speaking. And we were thrilled to get that. Yesterday and this afternoon Craig and I were able to watch Conference live, in English, in our living room on our little mini I-Pad. We have been looking so forward to Conference, and were both hit with such feelings of longing and nostalgia. One of us contained those feelings a little more graciously than the other! :) Because our new member, Luciene agreed to go to the Sunday Afternoon Session (started at 5:00 here) at the Stake Center with us, we watched the last session in Portuguese. My sadness at not being able understand about 80% of what was being said was overshadowed by the joy of taking a new member for her first Conference experience, and being surrounded by Brazilian Saints when the first Conference Address in Portuguese was delivered!!! Such a historic moment - such a blessing to be there. What an amazing day we live in. While I would love to discuss in length all the talks (that I understood), I will just say that the main thing we took away was the need to solidify our testimonies and those of our families in the Savior, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Gospel. I am anxious to read and reread those wonderful messages.
TRANSFERS
So I don't know how missionaries can stand transfers - unless they have a companion they don't necessarily like. We have been in the office for nearly four months now working closely with the same two Elders. (There were two more there when we arrived, but they left two weeks later.) One of them is being transferred out tomorrow and I just can't stand it. I have been tearful all week when I think about it. I love these boys so much, and I know the likelihood of me ever seeing the Brazilians for more than a quick handshake at Zone Meetings in this life is very small. I will always have great memories of Elder Peresutte. I hope his replacement will believe me when I tell him certain American sayings are cool - like "Peace out, boy scout!" Poor guy brought a lot of happiness to the American Elders with that. His English, learned only on his mission, is phenomenal, but I will miss his few mess-ups, like saying, "I need to do the bed gut." After having him describe what that was I realized it was BUDGET. We also are having some dear missionaries go home tomorrow.... I'm thinking every six weeks is going to be traumatic.
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| Last day with our original Office Team. Elder Zwick usually has his eyes open... Craig's comment - "I'm kind of tall, aren't I?" :) Lest you think I'm disobedient: We're allowed to wear sandals in this mission - I never wear them on these streets (more on that later) but I do in the office. |
Our love to all!
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