Give me your eyes, I need sunshine - 3/8/10

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeff's dad apologizes for not posting Jeff's emails for many weeks. (How did that happen??) Enjoy reading, and Jeff would love to hear from you!
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I have very little to say about this week. We're at a point now where we're just trying to find good new people to teach. Almost all of the investigators we have had here have stopped progressing at some point.

Good news, though: that old lady (how do you say "senhora" in English and make it still sound respectful?) I talked about last week went to church again yesterday. Her daughter-in-law, Cristiane, brought her two kids and all of them went together without any pushing or prodding from us. It's a really good sign when investigators go to church out of their own free will, so things are definitely looking up. We have spent so much time with that family that it would be heartbreaking to see them give up. They live really close to the church and the senhora is already friends with some of the women in the church, so she would probably stay firm if she were baptized. We're hoping to baptize her this week so that her grandson could follow her example and join the Church a little later. I hope and pray that it all works out because if anyone needs the gospel in their lives, it's that family. They're good people who kind of have a broken family life; Cristiane's "husband" leaves sometimes without telling her where he's going, leaving her to care for their six-year-old autistic son and four-year-old daughter. Oh, and he doesn't want to marry her. No idea why not. Anyway, they could benefit so much from applying the teachings of the gospel in their lives.

I had my first Bible bash this week. I guess I shouldn't call it "my" Bible bash because I kept my mouth shut the whole time. We made a contact with a Jehovah's Witness woman at her house, and the conversation led to the question of who Jehovah is. Then it led to prophets. And why JW's don't believe in tithing or fasting. And why there are so many verses taken out of their Bible (although I found out that they legally can't call it the Bible because of how many verses were changed or removed entirely). My companion was very respectful to her in expressing our beliefs, but it was rough. She didn't answer a single question that he presented to her. Although the conversation never turned into an argument, we both felt incredibly frustrated after we left. Who knows how that lady felt.

The point is, Bible bashes don't accomplish anything. And most Jehovah's Witnesses are probably good people, but they're really annoying when you're a full-time missionary.

I love the members here, but it's so frustrating when they don't fulfill their basic responsibilities as members of the Church. For example, an irmão planned an activity on Friday. He set everything up beforehand and had everything planned out, which never happens. It's just too bad that no one showed up. Oh, and the branch president hasn't been to Church for a month. Ahem.

This is the fifth week of the transfer, so I'm hoping we will start to see the fruits of our labors soon. I'm fairly certain I'll stay here for another transfer, so hopefully we'll be able to find some good new investigators, too.

So, yeah. Not a very eventful week. I'm doing just fine and learning a ton every day. The Church is true! I love all of you!

Tchau,

booger