Sunday, November 23, 2014

Why People Laugh at Me. And Craig's Talk

Definitely not related - in fact, it seems sacrilegious to put the two together.  But I am going to anyway.

It is a good thing that I have a relatively good self image, because I get laughed at a fair amount!  Here are a few of the reasons (and my defenses!)

1.  My Portuguese.  Or my inability with it.  This little boy at church laughs at me every week.  I mean, a full-belly laugh.  He'll come up and say, "Ola, Como vai?" and just wait for me to answer in Portuguese, then laughs and laughs and gets his friends and parents to come enjoy the show.  Very humbling!  :)

Out of the mouth of babes, huh?

2.  My Raincoat.  Because of my very generous sisters, I bought no clothes for my mission except for a raincoat and shoes.  I heard it rained a lot, so I got a very nice London Fog raincoat, and was so proud to wear it the first time it rained.  I got so many stares and pointed fingers and giggles as I walked down the street.  A few people looked horrified - like I was CIA or something.  It is so hot when it rains, and the people don't wear very much clothing anyway, so they just get wet and drip dry.  Frankly, the coat was so hot that by the time I got to the office I was much wetter inside than I would have been without it.
Maybe next mission?

3.  My Shoes.  So these are awesome mission shoes, but nobody younger than 85 wears shoes like this here (or maybe in the US too???)  I change when I get to the office into sandals (which are allowed in our mission), but I will put some pictures of what we walk on!!!  Most of the women here wear scary stilettos or flip flops.  I could NEVER walk on these sidewalks with either of those.  And frankly, neither could they - very few people walk in this city.  Most people drive cars or motorcycles (more on them another time) or ride the bus. 
They're very sensible - what can I say?

See - I need sensible shoes for these sidewalks!

One of our US Sisters has broken two pairs of Chacos -
yeah, the shoes with the life-time warranty because they can
handle any kind of terrain.  Except sidewalks in Fortaleza!

This picture does not show depth perception - there is a
huge variation in height here!

4.  My exercise clothes.  Yeah, WAY more layers and fabric than anyone else wears here!

Not pictured - what everyone
else wears!  :)
Craig was asked to give a talk in church today.  It was awesome.  Our ward here really struggles with cliques and not welcoming new members, so he talked about the responsibility of parents to teach their children and help them get back to Heavenly Father.  Then he had people raise their hands if they were in the church more than 20 years, then less than 15, then 10, then 5, and then 1.  And he talked about how the ward is also a family; those who had been in the church over 20 years were the equivalent of the "parents," and they had responsibility to help the "younger family members;" the "teenagers" needed to help the "young children" and "children" needed to help the "newborns."  He then talked about the main way to do this was Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching.  He hadn't planned on spending the bulk of the time on the last part, but that was where he was led.  Anyway, I loved that comparison.  

While I was looking some stuff up for his talk, I found a story that I have looked and looked for:  When then-Elder Howard W. Hunter was setting apart Elder Pinegar for a new calling (presumably a Seventy) he said, "We don't need anyone to serve in that calling.  Do you know what we need?"  He said if they were to stop the next 100 LDS men who walked by the Church Office Building and asked them to fill Elder Pinegar's new calling, almost all would be willing and able to serve.  Then he said, "But what we need is home teachers.  That is the greatest need in the Church today."  I would assume the same would be true for Visiting Teachers.  I have thought of that so many times through the years, and was glad to finally find the Conference Talk it was in!  Now go do your best as a Home or Visiting Teacher!  :) 

Our Love to All!

1 comment:

  1. I would totally wear those same shoes-- and I don't know what everyone else is wearing to work out in, but I think you're looking great!!
    I will be missing you and Craig a whole lot this coming Thursday!! So grateful your kids will still come play with us:)

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