Talk about this weather!

         First off - the hail storm. Holy moly that was one heck of a storm! It was actually a miracle (yes, another miracle!) that we weren't caught out in it. So this week both Sister O'Reilly and Sister Malta came down with Dengue. So Sister Bicaleti and I did a lot of work together while our sick companions were at home. On Sunday, we finished up a lesson and were heading to the town square to do some contacting and it started to rain a bit. I realized I had forgotten my umbrella (that never happens). It wasn't raining to hard though, so we were just going to keep going. But then we felt like we should head back to the house to check on our companions. Minutes after we reached our house the storm hit full force. Hail, super strong wind, lightning... the whole shibang. The house was shaking and we ran around to close up all the metal shutters on the windows to keep them from breaking. Our doors don't really seal though so we had hail and rain flying in the house through the space under the doors. It was crazy! We lost power for a bit and then our laundry room area started to flood (yes, the two pictures are of our laundry area. The one with the clothes lines is open to the sky and the other has a bit of an over hang roof but is basically outside too). Thankfully it is slightly lower than the level of our kitchen. It was within centimeters of flooding our house though! Post storm, trees were down everywhere, power was out almost everywhere and there was a pretty good amount of damage. We were so blessed to make it home in time! Between our house and center there are mainly just shops which are all closed on Sunday, so we would have been caught outside in the full force of the storm. Heavenly Father definitely protects his missionaries!

           Like I mentioned earlier, Sister Malta and Sister O'Reilly caught Dengue this week. Both have it a bit worse than I did. And Sister Malt has it really bad. I don't know if I just have a higher pain tolerance or better immune system, but she is way out of it. We spent a whole lot of time in the hospital and at home this week. Last night I had the joy of sleeping (sort of...) in a hospital chair. And not the reclining kind. Just a  normal chair. That was pretty great. I am still feeling better than her though, so no complaints. She is on the path to getting better now though. I think she is still going to be pretty out of it though. It is killing me to not be able to work though. Even when I am on splits with Sister Bicaleti half of our time is spent in her area, so my area is suffering a bit. I couldn't do much teaching this week. So hardly any of my pesquisadores showed up for church on Sunday and all of my baptismal dates for this upcoming week fell through. I am not too happy about that. But we did have a baptism this week! Laudo was baptized Sunday morning before church. He is absolutely amazing! He is already such a strong member. I have no doubt that he will stay active and contribute to the ward. He is really one of the Lord's elect. Now I just need to get to work on his family! As for Diego, the friend of Tales who was baptized last week, I wasn't able to visit him at all this week and he wouldn't answer my phone calls. Tales really needs a friend in the church though. he is kind of alone right now. He knows it is true, but I worry that alone he won't have the courage or motivation to stay strong. So Diego and Laudo's Family are my challenge and goal for this transfer. Oh, I will be staying here in Alfenas for another six weeks with Sister Malta :) I would love to have your prayers in his behalf! Every little bit helps. And Mom, your comment about tearing up reading about the miracle for Tales' baptism is kind of funny. I told Sister Malta that if they couldn't figure out the water problem we would just cry... And fill up the font with our tears! Thankfully, the Lord came in and didn't let us cry that much.

 

          The "Sisters de Alfenas" sign was the result of me being stuck in the house with a sick companion. I laid into our Liahonas and started to decorate the house! So no, the pictures aren't of us... just pictures from he Liahona. We are going to make it into a commemorative wall that all the sisters who live in that house will add to though. Years from now it is going to be even cooler. Oh, and the picture from last week wasn't a baptismal program, it was a little booklet I made with testimonies from everyone at the baptism to give to Tales. We don't have programs for sacrament meeting here, let alone baptisms... haha. For the minha família(My family) booklet I just want the individuals like you said. And maybe a couple of our whole family that I can paste on the cover. Thanks!

I love you all!

Sister Emma Maxwell

 

(Pictures of the Hail Storm will be in next weeks letter)

Pictures from last weeks baptism