Miriam's 2nd Week in Piracicaba -Sister Rojas

 

Well, I spent the first part of this week still sick. We went to the hospital on Tuesday (I'm never doing that again. AVE MARIA. Never again) and after nearly 5 hours of waiting it was discovered that I did in fact have dengue.

But I survived! My fever eventually went down, I almost blacked out on Thursday for no real reason, but everything worked out fine, and Friday I managed to squeeze in a whole work day with no problems.

But what else happened this week?

We met a family that had contact with former missionaries back near the beginning of the whole Covid fiasco, and they still had the Come, Follow Me from 2019. We're going to try and visit them again tonight. They're a pretty busy family, so I hope that we'll be able to visit them and bring them to church one day. They seem cool enough.

We also met with Guilherme on Wednesday. I don't remember if I mentioned him in my last email, but he's a less active member who wants to come back. Also, because he's a returned missionary, he's also searching for referrals within his co-workers to help us find someone to teach. Olha, que legal. As of yet he hasn't found anyone, but we're praying for his finding efforts to be blessed.

We already had interviews this week again because this transfer has a lot of stuff happening that I wasn't aware of. We've got something called the Man Class this week, but I have no idea what that is, so don't even ask. And we'll be going to the temple here in a few weeks. I'm not sure exactly when, but we're going.

That's what I've got for this week.

But this week I've been thinking a lot about faith and what we can accomplish with greater faith. What's come to my mind as I've thought about it is that faith should generate a more positive attitude and gratitude. When we have faith, we believe can hope for a better world (Ether 12:4) and we can mold seeming frustrating circumstances into something better.

Those are my thoughts.

Here's a conference talk for everyone to listen to.

After the Fourth Day

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/04/55bassett?lang=eng

Micah's 1st week in Coatzacoalcos w/ New Comp. Elder McAllister

People build right up next to the railroad tracks because they don't have to pay taxes there.

What the dog doin'?

A guy in the tree trying to get coconuts. 

So I did get a new comp, and I did get a new area. I'm now in Coatzacoalcos, a little under 4 hours west of Frontera, right by the beach (kind of), with Élder McAllister, and I've really enjoyed working with him the past few days.

We've got 2 baptisms planned for this Saturday! A girl named Luna and her brother Isaac, so I'm really hoping that works out. These will make my first baptisms of the mission!

I don't have too much to tell other than Coatzacoalcos is way cooler than Frontera, there's a lot more to do here, and McAllister is an awesome missionary to work with. He's really good about working with the members of our ward, and just good with people in general. I'm excited to learn from him.

Oh, but there is a Viking guy that lives around the corner from us. He's from Scandinavia I believe, believes in the Norse pagan gods, owns a little restaurant of traditional Viking food or something, and I think that's pretty interesting. I can officially say I met a Viking in México.

Today, I ate at Little Caesar's, got locked out of my house with my companion, accidentally broke part of our window trying to get back in, ended up having to call a lock pick guy, and we played 5 rounds of 8-Ball. I won 3 - 2. Pretty rad Pday I must say.

I'll just share a quick testimony about the power of the Priesthood. So as I kind of mentioned in my last email, I got pretty sick last Wednesday. My body had no strength, everything hurt, including my skin and fingernails. I was sweating like crazy, and just felt terrible. This disease is called Dengue Fever, and it's carried by the mosquitos here in México. This illness typically lasts 7-10 days, sometimes up to 2+ weeks, and can result in hospitalization.

Wednesday night, I asked my companion, then Élder Avila, for a Priesthood blessing of health. He gave me the blessing, and I went to bed. That morning, I felt almost completely better, though I still showed a few symptoms, and, just to be safe, rested one more day. Day 3, I had a weird feeling in my stomach, and that was it. I traveled to Coatzacoalcos, and felt completely recovered my first day there. I know that this speedy, though not instant recovery, was thanks to the Priesthood blessing that I received. The Priesthood is the power of God, and powerful it is. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amén.

Alright here's photos. McAllister and I playing pool, a lil worm that I caught that I later learned is a venomous Coral Snake but it's fine cause I'm smart, a view of the Gulf of Mexico from atop a building in the corner of our area, and a cat I named Jeff, because the owners never named him. They seemed to like Jeff though.

Miriam's 1st Week in Piracicaba -Sister Rojas

Well, I'll be completely honest, not a whole bunch happened this week. 

We haven't found anyone new to teach yet that's really showing any progress, so I don't have anything to report there. Though we did participate in our ward's English class. It was actually really fun to help out! But I quickly discovered why Brazilians always say that no matter how much they study English, they never understand the native speakers. I was talking with one girl and she asked me, "What does heejee mean?" I was like, "Come again? What word?" "Heejee." I asked her where she was reading, and she pointed. As it turns out, she was trying to pronounce the word "read". I actually think it's really cute helping them learn English because they pronounce every English word as if it were still Portuguese. Bless their souls😊 

We also found a part member family this last week and they asked us to come back next week Wednesday to teach the members of the family that aren't members. We're hoping that it all goes well. 

The biggest thing that happened this week was that I got hit pretty hard Friday night with a fever that kind of stuck around for a day or two. It's funny because literally everyone except President Card is convinced that it's Dengue. The members were all freaking out, and that was making Sister Rojas nervous... But it's fine! I've survived thus far. But for this reason, I'm keeping my email a little short. 

Here's my spiritual thought for the week. I read this talk about the Restoration, and I really liked his comments on what exactly makes our church so different from other Christian churches. There's divine direction in the way the church is run and handled, and I'm so grateful to be apart of it. 

Apostasy and Restoration 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1995/04/apostasy-and-restoration?lang=eng

Mission offices. 

A very popular beer named after Pirassununga.

Micah's 12th Week in Ciudad Frontera - w/ Elder Avila

 

I can't really remember what happened this week. 

Élder Avila and I went to Villahermosa for a day because we had divisions with the assistants. He went with Élder Paz and Élder Shorts, I went with Élder Hidalgo. That was pretty cool. 

We met a guy that runs a taco shop with his family and they gave us free tacos and expressed interest in attending our church, but we haven't heard from them since so we'll probably stop by at some point to see how things are going. 

I woke up feeling sick, and it's just gotten worse through the day. I think it's dengue, but for real this time. Tonight is transfer announcements, so I'll be figuring out if I'm staying in Frontera, or moving somewhere else. 

I would like to share a brief testimony. I know this Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is The Church of Jesus Christ, and there is no other. I know Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and that Prophets still speak today. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7) The heavens are open, and His Church is restored. Not remade, or remodeled, but restored. The same Church Christ established during His earthly ministry. I know these things are true, en el nombre de Jesucristo, amén. 

Here's some pictures. A large pig, a pathetic dog, a banana tree, a water bottle, and the tuba that I could've been cleaning. Until next week.

Email message from from a coworker at Summerhays Music

Miriam's Transfer to Piracicaba -Sister Rojas

Pictures from Pirassununga

Transfer to Piracicaba

 Got a little whiplash this week with transfers. So, Wednesday night, Sister Cruz and Wilcox were told to pack up all their stuff and head to the neighboring city of Leme because they "may or may not have been transferred", to quote the Secretary. Well, they were transferred, and so were Sister Rojas and I. President Card completely cleaned out Pirassununga, removing all four sisters. What did he replace us with? Two Elders. I wish them the best of luck.

Sister Rojas and I stuck together, but now we're in Piracicaba 6 which is a stark difference from Pirassununga. The ward is strong, the members are super ready to help, they have meetings with the missionaries to discuss how to help the work...

It's a 180 degree difference.

That's really the biggest thing that happened this week. We met a few cool people in Pirassununga, but now I don't know what's going on there, so I don't have anything to report.

But we did have a little miracle on Friday when we got here.

When we started, we didn't have anyone's phone numbers nor did we have access to area book, and when we switched the WhatsApp numbers, we lost all of the notes the previous sisters had been sending us. And because neither Sister Rojas or I are familiar with this area, we were completely lost.

So we tried to get ourselves settled into the house, then we went and picked up a little food to last us until Monday.

Then with no direction or knowledge of the area and a prayer, we headed out. 

We decided to visit the one address we still had, but I didn't remember who lived their or what the Sisters had said about the situation. We decided to give it a whirl anyways.

Well, as it turns out, they were members, and the husband was a recent convert of 5 whole days. They were really cool.

They then directed us to a Colombian woman who owns an Ice cream shop. Her name is Patrícia. She's a member, but she doesn't speak much Portuguese, so she gets kind of lonely.

We showed up, and she was hiding a little behind her mask until Sister Rojas started speaking Spanish with her. Patrícia relaxed completely and her mask came off, and she started to converse with Sister Rojas.

Fortunately this conversation gave the other Sisters enough time to send us a few more names and address, and when we're able to meet the bishop and a few other members.

It was an answer to prayers because the day started off super rocky, but then, step by step, it shaped up and worked out. We just has to take the first step of faith and visit that obscure address.

That's my email for the week.

Here's a treat:

Piracicaba Bus Station crammed with missionaries every 6 weeks.

Our new apartment view.

The kitchen at a house where we had lunch.

Yellow Okra Flowers