Lucky week 13 — Called to Serve in Cuiaba

Hello. If you are reading this that means you are special to me, and I love you.

Hot dog do we have a lot to talk about this week. yeew

On Tuesday, oh boy was it a Tuesday. Take that however you want. One of our lady investigators, Vania, was super duper sick and so Kevin (Elder Castro) told her we would love to come over and say hi and give her a blessing. We showed up there, talked to her for a sec, and then got ready to give her a blessing. Literally 30 seconds before we gave her the blessing Kevin looked me directly in the eye balls and goes "its your turn” hahahah dude like are we for real. I have like barely a month and a half in the field actually speaking Portuguese. I literally didn’t have time to make an excuse, I only had time to toss up a quick prayer begging God to help my sorry buns. I was absolutely mortified to give this blessing. I put my hands on her head after Kevin annointed the oil, and then literally the Spirit just spoke through me. The only analogy I can think of to relate this incredibly radical experience to is this... I was like a nice garden hose, and our homie Vania was like a lovely flower. The Spirit was, and will always be the water that each of us need in our lives every day if we want to grow. The thing that I really realized that’s extra super cool is that the whole time I was giving the blessing, I was the spiritual tool the Spirit was flowing through. I myself, felt the power of the Spirit incredibly strong, and I left that experience with an increased faith in prayer, and in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is so special to always remember that, through helping others feel the Spirit by being good hoses, we also feel the Spirit and grow from the experiences we have helping others. It’s literally way too perfect. If you want to grow your love for the Lord in any way, shape, or form, and feel the cozy warmth of the Spirit, go be a hose(:

This week, yet again, it rained a TON. Kevin is literally scared by everything hahahaha. Literally every time there is thunder or a dog barks when were walking by a house or a person yells literally anything scares the dude hahah. Every time he gets scared he literally jumps on me and grabs my arm and every time I am just like I promise everything is okay little buddy haha. By far his biggest fear tho is chickens HAHAHA. One day we were walking down the street and I saw these chickens like 30 feet away but Kevin was walking with his head down and didn’t see them til we were like 4 feet away and he screamed SO freaking loud and it had me dying haha. The ground was wet so when he tried to run away his shoes just slid and he was running in place like when a cartoon character gets scared haha. I ran around the back side of the chickens and got them to fly towards Kevin and I kid you not he was mad about it for like 3 hours after that hahaha. I freaking love joshin with Kevin.

Goodness... We have a real actually seriously serious baptism marked with Branco and Vania. I literally am so stoked, let me tell you the story. We visited just Vania alone on Tuesday when we gave her the blessing and asked her to pray about getting baptized, and when we showed up on Thursday she told us that she had prayed, and that she talked to Branco and told him that she wanted to be baptized. He was still super duper skeptical about all of it. This whole entire week Kevin and I were just begging God to help us know what we need to say during our lesson with them. We sat down and started talking to them and literally I’ve never felt so nervous but had the Spirit so strong at the same time haha. I started talking to them, and shared with them the conversion story of my Gramma Mary. Love you Grams! I told them that they don’t need to have the complete knowledge of everything right now, all they needed was the desire. We kept talking to them and Branco just kept denying. It got to the point where I was ready to debate with this dude all freaking night until he said yes haha I was not leaving without a yes haha. I prayed right there in the lesson to know exactly what to say, and the answer I got really actually shook me. After I prayed and knew what I needed to say I looked Branco straight in the face and said "Branco, I can promise you, literally in the name of Jesus Christ himself, that if you accept our help right this very moment to be baptized with the love of your life, you will feel prepared, and have the desire to be baptized on the 24th of November.” And after that everything literally just went quiet for a little bit, and then he just goes "vamos....(we will)” AND DUDE I LITERALLY HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE STOKED IN MY LIFE hahaha I am not kidding hahahah. Kevin was trying to keep it calm but I literally was going crazy hahah I grabbed the Book of Mormon that was in my lap and held it in the air and shouted “YEEEEES” hahah it was way too G it was like a freakin movie hahaha I was so dang stoked hahahah. I literally have had very few times in my life where I felt the Spirit stronger than in a tiny little house in Brazil in Primavera do Leste. YOOOOOOOO I’M ACTUALLY DOING IT DUDES hahahahahhaha. All it took was 3 months of roudhouses to the face, and some faith hahahaha.

On Friday night we were having a cute family night with Edson and Dianna about eternal families and we had two member families there and it was dope, but we were watching a video about temples and the Mt. Timpanogas temple popped up and it absolutely falcon punched my feelings right in the face hahah I freaking miss the mountains and the temple and y’all folks back at home gee wizz hahah. We live in the most beautiful place on this whole earth.

Branco and Vania were the happiest people I’ve ever seen in my life in church on Sunday. They were just beaming. They were inviting everyone to their baptism and laughing and smiling and just being amazing people. It was so rad. I literally am so stoked that Branco is already seeing the blessings of acting and following the Savior. I love these people. They are really proving to me that when we do those things we know are right, even when its so freaking hard, we will be so insanely blessed with happiness and joy and laughter for as long as we stay on the path.

Last thing. On Saturday night we showed up at one of our people’s houses and there was the kid there that had been studying English for 4 years and he was dying to speak English with me hahah so I started talking to him but literally couldn’t find the freaking words in English it took me like 5 minutes to switch my brain haha I felt like such a goon. This kid was so amped to speak English with me and for the first like 5 minutes I could barely even speak haha. But I think it’s like super really cool I have 3 months in the mission and am already forgetting English. When I get home again my face and arms are gonna be black as midnight and I’m gonna speak a different language. Just what I want (: Hope your ready for that mom. I already have a tan line on my neck from the collared white shirts haha.
Welp thats about it.
Amo voces! Façam esta semana algo especial...
Love you guys! Make this week something special(:

Elder Roskelley

proskelley@myldsmail.net