The Place of Becoming: Miriam's 7th week in Leme

So this week was an experience, and let's just say that I've determined that Sister Brum attracts weird people and situations.

Here's a few of the things that happened:

Our new district leader spent the majority of district counsel explaining his math for having the spirit, then had everyone do a 3-legged race to represent the need for unity in our companionships.

On a different day, we planned to visit one Renatta in a far way neighborhood. However, 30 minutes before the visit, one of our investigators - Tiago - called us urgently and said that he needed us to be witnesses so he could get married (his sister-in-law's identification was too old to be valid). He has a baptismal date, so we decided to reschedule with Renatta for another day and help Tiago. And like that we ended up on completely the other end of city, the opposite of where we had planned to work. It must have been the hand of God because we ended up meeting Ana Paula at the other end of the city, and she had been needing a visit.

But don't worry. We visited Renatta again. And we discovered in this visit her conspiracy theories and solid belief in zodiac signs. That was an experience.

Sister Brum stumbled across her favorite neighborhood this week. She deemed it her favorite neighborhood after we met Mateus. What happened with Mateus? Well, let me tell you:

Mateus was a system referral that Sister Lima and I had visited once. Sister Brum and I decided to visit him again to see if he really had interest. On the way, I told Sister Brum that he had said in the last visit that he deals drugs, but she said it was worth a shot. So we went. When we got there, Mateus came out and it was already obvious that our conversation with him would be going nowhere, for he was already drunk. Well, he greeted us, and we started talking to him. About 30 seconds into the conversation, he handed me his phone and a wad of cash and said, "Excuse me for a second while I take care of my client." He then, right in front of us, proceeded to sell drugs to some dude.

He returned his attention to us, retrieved his phone and money, and we started talking to him again. All of the sudden, he pointed to something on the other side of the street and informed us that his father was there.

"I want to you guys to meet my dad," he said.

Sister Brum reponded, "Alright, let's go. Where is he?"

Mateus pointed more fervently at the sun and, after a moment, said, "Paradise."

So we dropped that subject and invited him to church. He said he wouldn't be able to go because he thought it would be weird for the lead drug dealer to be at church.

"And who would stay to take care of my business while I'm at church?" He asked.

I, misunderstanding the question, responded with, "The missionaries."

I realized I'd messed up somewhere when both Mateus AND Sister Brum quickly said, "No."

Well, that sums up the conversation with Mateus. After that, a few other janky things happened, but it was in that interaction with Mateus that Sister Brum decided that that neighborhood was her favorite.

On a different note (excuse the whiplash) we had a baptism this week! Her name is Ivanete and she had been taught by Sister Lima and Sister Stott before I arrived in Leme. She had lots of questions and a few doubts about the Restoration, but she couldn't deny what she felt when the missionaries were in her home. She still wasn't sure about baptism when I arrived in the area. But during an exchange, Sister Lima and Sister Lunt showed her a video about the Book of Mormon, and the spirit testified the truth of it to her, and yesterday she finally entered the waters of baptism!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

I was listening to this talk by Elder Bednar, and it was a moment of reflection for me. He asks if we only know about the Savior or if we truly KNOW Him as a person, as a personal Savior. He then offers a few suggestions on how we can come to better know the Savior, and that, as we come to know the Savior, we will experience a greater happiness and richness in living the gospel because we know and love Jesus Christ.

“If Ye Had Known Me”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2016/10/if-ye-had-known-me?lang=eng