Anyways, what an awesome week! We were able to bring two of our less active members to an official Resgate (which means they got to church 3 times consecutively), which we were so excited about! We'd been working really hard with Cristina and Gracinda for a while. Cristina was really strong in the church, and was one of the most active Ward Missionaries, but she had some problems with some sins and slowly fell away. When we talked to her, she said she was having trouble forgiving herself and getting over her fear of showing her face in church again. We encouraged her to talk to the bishop, and she did! And with Gracinda, she wanted to come back to church since we had gotten there, but just couldn't make it happen consecutively. We talked with her about planning her week so that Sunday can be free, and she's been able to make it happen! It was so awesome to help bring these two sheep back into the fold.
As with investigators, we kinda hit a point where there are a whole lot of investigators ready to be baptized in one or two weeks, with just one or two problems in the way. There's Doris and Airton, who we just talked about how they need to be married and they said they would start as soon as money would allow. Also good old Tutone and Maria, who seem set on being married in August :(... A man named Toy, who wants to be baptized and gets to church, but during the week he's always in another area hanging out with Sister Judith. Melissa, daughter of Cidario, a strong member in the church, she just has fear of not enduring to the end after baptism. Antonio Evora, who just found out about the church a couple of weeks ago, is now past 4th Nephi and has about half of the church library in his house, but he and his wife Maria Alice are still a little hesitant to go all in for some reason. And these are just a few examples of the many various trials that us missionaries have to work with investigators. I swear we're on the verge of a breakthrough though, I never lose hope. Stay tuned for some awesome follow-up stories.
And last but most certainly not least, today was transfer day! I have finally emerged from my status as a greenie missionary. The sad thing is, I had the unhappy experience of matando meu pai (killing my dad), seeing Elder Figueiredo go home. He was such an awesome missionary, and if I'm not mistaken probably the most well-known Elders in the entire mission. He served as a District Leader, Zone Leader, Assistant to two Mission Presidents, and trained 3 Elders in the field, including me. He truly was a consecrated missionary. His best quality was that he never gave up, in my opinion. But now it's time for him to move to another phase of his life. I just wanted to tell you all that I stand as a witness that Elder Figueiredo served the Lord with all his heart, might, mind, and strength, and I know that to be half as good a missionary as him is to be an awesome missionary. But now I get to show the awesomeness of this area to Elder Gilbert, an Elder who's been in Fogo for his full mission up until now. The Elders here say he's an awesome Elder too. Nice. It's gonna be fun to be able to make American references again.
Well, that's pretty much all I have to say about this week. Today's been a weird day, the first time since I got here that I've been somewhere else than in my ward boundaries or downtown. I'm hanging out with Elder Ralph until my new companheiro arrives. I'll probably have quite a bit to say next week, so be prepared!
Abraços por todos,
Elder Penner
He really needed that shoe polish I sent him! These are the shoes he walks in every day. He keeps the nicer looking pair clean for church.
"I felt the love so strong when I opened it, I almost was in tears." ~ Elder Penner
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