Today is my last P-day in the CTM and it is totally INSANE!! I can’t wait to finally be out in the field! We got to go proselyting yesterday and it was absolutely amazing :) If your average day in the field is anything like that then oh I am definitely in for a treat. The people of Brazil are unbelievably kind and loving! We had 3 hours and 4 Books of Mormon or Livro De Mórmons to do our thing in São Paulo and it was something I will never forget! We only got to talk to 7 or so people just because people are so friendly and apparently chatty. Don’t get me wrong we did get turned down a couple times but even then they let us do our opening speal and then would just say "my husband is a priest" (yes that happened) and whether it’s true or not they are so kind about it. Another reason it was so interesting was that everyone around the CTM has a Book of Mormon so they know exactly what to do to get us out of their hair. The first guy we talked to took the Book of Mormon from my hands, answered everything how we wanted him to and sent us on our way. The likelihood of his reading that probably his 3rd Book of Mormon was slim to none but hey I was having the time of my life!
The second lady, Maria we talked to was amazing! She was absolutely hilarious and even if we didn’t understand all of what she was saying we could still laugh and shockingly feel the spirit. She lived right on the corner of our boundaries so maybe that why she hadn’t talked to the missionaries before but she was catholic and was extremely interested! We talked for probably 40 minutes or so and she was asking questions and asked us to come back tomorrow! It was great I tell you :) Sadly we can’t go back but we gave her the BoM and the address to the church and she was very satisfied along with us. The last guy we talked to is also worth mentioning... I don’t remember his name but he was all over the place. Along with how to tract I also learned that CTM Portuguese and "real" Portuguese are completely different things. He was slurring his works and cramming 3 words in one syllable so needless to say there was definitely a huge struggle understanding him. It’s to the point that I can talk about any gospel related thing I want so luckily I just ramble on about the 5 words or so that I understood out of his speal but it was interesting. Elder Bodily is struggling with understand even in the CTM so I’m sure it was quite stressful for him but I would always try to explain what I understood to him to keep him on the same page and he is one of the most optimistic people! He always manages to stay happy and positive which is such a great quality to have especially when we are tracting!
Another thing is even if we did struggle to understand everything, when anyone found out that we have only been learning Portuguese for 8 weeks they are amazed! It really is amazing how fast that we have picked things up. I can testify first hand that the Gift of Tongues is real and that I wouldn’t be even half this far if I didn’t have it. If I were taking Portuguese in college we would still be learning colors and numbers so we are so blessed to be learning with the spirit.
I’m running out of time a lot faster that i thought so on to the next story! We got to hear two apostles from the 12 this week, Elder Neil A Anderson and Elder Ballard. I have met, heard, and shaken apostles hands before but when you are on a mission doing the Lords work it is a completely different experience! I didn’t wash my hand for like half the day and the spirit that was in that meeting was amazing! They could have just sat in the room for an hour and a half and the spirit would have testified that they are men of God. The gospel is just amazing and I’m so lucky that i can be a part of it!
Elder Gubler
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