I have just been dying to write you this week! So much to say and (as always) so little time to write! I will start off with some info about the pictures. All of the cooking and baking with corn was last p-day during carnival. It was just a couple ladies in the ward getting together, not an official activity or anything. It was really fun though! We made Cural (the corn pudding stuff) e Pamonha (tamales). Both are super duper delicious. Holy moly, I could eat that stuff all day! It was super fun to go through the whole process with them- starting from scratch. And yes- that was an actually fire there in the kitchen- pretty awesome, right? Haha, I don-t think I have ever shucked that much corn in my life though. It was awesome. (PICTURES ARE IN LAST WEEKS LETTER!) The cookies were the next p-day (one week ago). We held a family night with a member, a recent convert and a pesquisador- all older single ladies. So I taught them how to make cookies with an analogy about o evangelho de Jesus Cristo (the gospel of Jesus Christ). I think it was a pretty good lesson and a super fun evening. The cookies turned out pretty good too. I thought they were a bit off, but no one else knew the difference and loved them. I found something pretty similar to brown sugar- it wasn't quite the same but worked alright. And yes- I splurged and bought chocolate chips!
So this week was absolutely amazing! First off, as this is week 11 here in the field, I am now Senior companion to finish up training. It is going pretty well. I like having a bit more control over and a say in things :) We ran out of cellphone credit last week though and don't get more until tomorrow so that added a bit of a challenge to the week. Haha, first week as Senior and I can't call anyone! But everything worked out just fine- phew! Transfers are next week. Yes, we have transfers every six weeks here. But one transfer every year is only 5 weeks long. I don't remember exactly when that is though... so sorry Mom, but you can't quite plan out the next 15 months yet!
Apparently I started talking in my sleep a couple nights this week too. At least so Sister Malta tells me. She was even able to have a bit of a conversation with me. You know what that means?? I was talking in Português! So it is now official- I am dreaming in português! I am pretty sure I have been for awhile now, but now it is official.
And the highlight of the week- Tales was baptized!!! Holy Moly, what an amazing experience! So the night before the baptism, we were at the church to set things up (the baptism was at 10 am because of his work schedule) only to find that the chapel didn't have any water. Turns out a couple pipes spontaneously broke and so all of the water storage was gone. You kind of need water for a baptism... So we started looking into other options. We were going to have to have water shipped in or find someone with a pool willing to let us use it. By 10 am the next morning. Haha, great. It was nearly 9 at this point and so Sister Malta and I had to head home. One of the members there with us said he would figure it out and sent us home and told us not to worry. Right... not worry. Haha, I don't think I got any sleep that night. After everything we went through to get to the point of baptism, it now wasn't going to happen because we didn't have any water! So rather than peacefully dream of bright white jumpsuits and saving ordinances, I tossed and turned and prayed like crazy. The next morning we rushed over to the chapel (remember that we don't have any phone credit here to make things even more exciting). We ran into the primary room and opened up the baptismal doors- to find a font filled with water. How?! We found the brother who was there the night before and asked him what happened. Who paid to have water shipped in? He simply replied that he turned on the faucet in the font and said a prayer. And the water flowed and the font filled with exactly enough water. Exactly enough. A miracle. The chapel did not have any water- none of the faucets ran, none of the toilets worked, yet the font filled with water. I am still in awe just thinking about it. Goodness, everything about this baptism was miraculous. I know that there was nothing I did or could have done to prepare Tales to be baptized or fill that font with water. Yes, I taught Tales and I prayed, but it was really the Lord who made everything possible. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a tool in the Lord's hands to bring about the Salvation of His children here in Alfenas! I am going to keep working hard, praying and hopefully you should be getting some more pictures this week :)
I love you all so much! Have a wonderful, wonderful week my dear family! I will be sending lots of warm thought your way!
Love,
Sister Emma Maxwell
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