Week 20 Another great week!

We had two baptisms this week, Cristiano and Davi. Cristiano is the brother of Domingos, who we baptized a few weeks ago. He is so awesome. We really didn't even have to teach him, we just gave him the pamphlets, he would read one before our next visit, and then he would tell us everything that was in the pamphlet the next visit.  It was so awesome! He's one of those people that just gets it, and its been awesome to see him embrace the gospel whole-heartedly. 
Our other baptism was Davi. He is ten years old, and he's been going to church for about 4 months.  He was ready for baptism this week. He's a really funny kid. He had to stop drinking coffee to get baptized. We went for a visit a few days after he knew he had to quit, and asked him how he was doing. He said he drank coffee twice, and elder Etchichury said, "Davi, you have to stop drinking coffee if you want to be baptized!" to which Davi replied, "Etchichury, its ok, I drank it with milk!!!" We thought that was pretty funny. He did quit, so it's all good!  We asked him who he wanted to baptize him, and he said Elder Etchichury, but a little while later he said "hey elders, you both can baptize me! Etchichury can hold my arm, and Poulson can plug my nose, and you can both baptize me!" I love that kid! (for the record, we didn't do that, Elder Etchichury baptized him alone haha)

 

So everyone knows about Brazilian Carnival, right? Well its supposed to start next week, but apparently, they have something called pre-Carnival, which is basically a party in preparation for a party. Welcome to Brazil, Elder Poulson!  Anyway, there's this big field near our apartment, and for the past two nights, there have been huge parties going on and its really hard to sleep so I've felt like a zombie. Its so ridiculous, they have these giant stereo systems they haul in on trailers and set up and just blare all night. At this particular party there were like 2 or 3 monster size stereos blaring at the same time. The real party starts sometime next week haha wish me luck!

Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Poulson

We were able to visit the stadium Castelão, because one of the church leaders has some connections!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 19...some good laughs!

Pretty good week this week! We set baptismal date with Jonas, who is 19 years old. His older brother Reginaldo was taught by some other missionaries but didn't want to get baptized.  We started teaching Jonas this last week. It was pretty awesome because at our second visit, he told us that he believes the church is true and came to church with us this week. He is getting baptized on March 1st! Something kind of funny that happened with Reginaldo and Jonas. One day when we were in the house teaching Jonas, Reginaldo came in and started talking too. He told Jonas that the church is true - but remember how I said he doesn't want to get baptized? That happens sometimes....

 

So there were a few interesting things that happened in the area this week. I think it was last Tuesday, we were talking to someone outside their house, and a little girl that was about 9 or 10, was holding a 2 year old. She came up to me and asked if I was the 2 year olds dad. I told her I wasn't. She asked me again. I said nope, not mine. Then she told me I was the dad and kept trying to give the baby to me until we left - haha. 

 

Remember Darliane that got baptized last week?  Well we´re teaching her mom, Clea. Clea is 31 and has a 17 year old boyfriend. So yeah. We were going to her house to teach a lesson, and we turn the corner to the house, and Clea and her boy are making out in the doorway. We kind of froze for a minute, looked at each other, and backed away slowly. Then we went back later (2 hours, just to be safe) and had an awesome lesson! 

 

That's about all I got for this week. We're teaching a lot, walking a lot, sweating a lot. I've lost 25 pounds since I've been in Brazil!!!!  Just about 8 weeks now. Things are going great! 

Love you all, have a great week!  Proverbs 3:5-6

love,

Elder Poulson

a spider that was WAY bigger in real life!

tiny banana!

more bananas!

There's a family whose house we stop by a lot, and the four year old likes to comb hair - the last couple visits, she's given me a little touch up before we head back out to work! haha

 

Week 18

Dear Family & Friends,

Okay, so I'm just gonna come out and say it, this week was awesome!!!! We had THREE baptisms! Domingos, who we have been teaching for about the entire time I've been here, and Gabriel and Darliane, two youth that are basically active members already and wanted to be baptized. It was pretty great to be able to see that! Sometimes I feel like we are blessed way more than we deserve.
 As far as the language goes, I am at the point where I can understand a good bit of what is said in any given conversation, but a lot of times, I will not know one or two words in the sentence, so I don't understand the whole thing. Sometimes, I'll understand all the words, but still not what they mean. So definitely not fluent yet, but I can see more progress! My first few weeks, I barely understood anything at all. It's really a miracle with how far I have come. 

 

P-day was pretty fun today. We went to the church and played volleyball with some other elders and some members. They have like an arena in the church parking lot with basketball hoops, soccer goals, and places for a volleyball net. 

 

This next week, we have another baptism coming up on Saturday, and two more on the 22nd, one of which is the brother of Domingos, Christiano. One day this week while we were at their house, the two of them started fighting over whose pamphlets were whose! Missionaries have like 5 or 6 pamphlets with our lesson material that we give out. We told them not to worry, we have plenty of pamphlets to go around! 

 

To answer a few of your questions mom...no packages have arrived yet.  They say it takes 6-8 weeks.  All the bracelets everyone made for me are gone. The people here love bracelets. A lot of them were a little too small, so next time, it might be better to just make them all on the bigger side.  I've never taught a lesson on Sunday at church....its hard to describe what the members are like because it's hard to talk to them haha. We wake up at 6:30 am and go to bed around 10:30 pm. It's not enough. Oh, this week, a sister in the ward asked me to translate the song "I will survive" into Portuguese for her, so I'm working on that - haha. 

 

Well, that's about all I got this week, as always thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

love,

Elder Poulson 

 Baptism of Domingos!

We forgot a knife for the cake, so I put a napkin around my name tag and cut it with that.

 

baptisms of Gabriel and Darliane

 

café da manha (breakfast) that Domingos made for us!

Week 17

Dear Family & Friends,
 Well, this week marks the end of my first transfer! I'm staying in the same area with the same companion, so that makes things a little easier. This week was pretty good overall! I did get sick on Saturday and a little bit of Sunday, but I'm back to normal now. Something else that was exciting is that I got another chance to weigh myself and I'm down sixteen pounds! 
 The highlight of this week as far as the missionary work goes is that we set our next baptism date! It's scheduled for this Saturday. The person getting baptized is Domingos, I'm not sure if I've talked about him before, but we've been working with him since I've been in Brazil, and he's ready to receive the blessings of baptism in his life. He's made a lot of changes in his life, and it's been great to see him progress the last five weeks. He has such strong faith! oh and also, yesterday in church was fast and testimony meeting, and shared the testimony he has of the gospel - That totally made my week. He is so excited be a member of the church - he will be a blessing to the people here! 
 Thanks for the emails!
 I hope you all have a great week! 

1 Samuel 16:7
I read this scripture in my studies this week, and it's just good. 

Love, 
Elder Poulson 

 

 

 

 

Some pictures of our apartment.