Sunday
Today, we attended the meeting and listened to an exhilarating
talk given by our one and only Francesco.
It was great! After, we enjoyed a
Watchtower study consideration from our newly returned elder, Mauricio. He and his wife just got back from a tour of Italy
and France that lasted 3 weeks. They were
celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary- how sweet. J
After I skipped out on telephone witnessing (sorry folks)
and went to a 1 hr away beach with the sisters from the Spanish
congregation. We enjoyed fried fish and
huge waves!
After I returned home and rested up a bit and rejoined the
girls at a local beach and we played Mafia.
Guess who was the narrator? Me! I
barely speak either Portuguese or Spanish- but somehow everyone enjoyed the
game and they successfully beat the Mafia.
Later I went to work online and ended at 10:30am Monday
morning.
Monday
Obviously I slept for a bunch of the day. I managed to make it to the beach for Public
Witnessing with Marcia at 4:00pm. Later
Marcia got traded for 1 sister from the English and another from the Italian
group. During all this switching around-
I met Benedetto. He is here on vacation
from Italy and I simply said Bouna Sera.
Since I was with the trolley which is stuffed with our publications- he
knew why I was greeting him. What I come
to find out is that he prayed to Jehovah that morning for help… Long story
short, he used to study and wanted to attend meetings here and had no idea
there was an Italian group here in Fortaleza.
I invited him to the meeting and offered to pick him up. Hope he shows up! We ended up staying at the beach until 9pm!
Tuesday
This morning we did Italian territory and found an Italian
man who’s lived here for 70 year. Dare I
say he’s more Brazilian than Italian?
Turns out that is the case- after a misdirected conversation with
Francesco, we leave him with the magazine in Portuguese. However, the man was very kind and invited us
in and attempted to consider chapter 2 of the Bible Teach Book. (Side note: Don’t ask me why home boy has the
Proclaimers Book, Insight Book and loads of our publications in Portuguese,
Spanish and Italian, lol) After service,
since we were exhausted from the heat and no-one wanted to cook- we ate at a
delicious Sushi Buffet near our home that cost $2.29 or roughly $1USD per 100
grams. I ate abundantly for about
$6USD! After I went home and napped and
was back up by 2:30pm to join a pioneer sister on her studies.
While waiting for her study who works in a dress-shop the
nearby shop-owner from Spain invited us in.
We sat down and chatted about the bible and listened to his reasoning
about the human spirit and reincarnation.
He said he would welcome another visit- so we’ll definitely direct the
Spanish brothers to him. After we went
to conduct Marcia’s study. The trouble
is- I almost blacked out from I guess heat exhaustion so I ended home by 3:30pm
L I don’t know what happened! But I felt
extremely weak, hot, I had a head-ache and my vision went dark. Obviously I drank water and slept for the
next 3 hours straight. I woke up just in
time to do a little Italian homework and head off to the Italian class at
7:30pm. It was a fun class since we were
back up in numbers, last week was 6, today was 10.
After class we enjoyed pizza with the returned coupled from
Italy and listened to perfectly timed and much-needed encouragement. The wife simply asked: “How are you girls
doing? Are you happy here? Is everything OK? I know its hard being in a space that’s not
your own, do you need anything?” That’s
all I needed to express myself, because while the ministry, landscape and local
friends are amazing, I was feeling neither physically well- obviously- nor
emotionally well. *Note* Think carefully
before planning an EXTENDED stay in a small space…I know this is all we can
afford- but I might work the extra day if I need to – in order to have a just a
tad bit more space….if you know what I mean…
Wednesday
Today I had the privilege of working at the couple’s
school! I had the same responsibilities as
last time except I knew everyone already so I enjoyed a relaxed and fun work atmosphere
with great sisters! Lunch was stupendous! Thanks to my little episode yesterday I was told
to rest. So I went outside to sit in a
rocking chair to do some Bible reading.
As a result I ended up meeting a special pioneer couple that was
visiting the Assembly Hall. They were so
sweet. They were in their 5th assignment and had only been married 8
years. The sister explained that they
both were single-appointed special pioneers from different areas and someone suggested
that they meet. So they wrote letters to
each other and ended up getting married and continuing to serve together. That’s about the most romantic thing I’ve
ever heard.
At lunch though, I heard something even better. A couple who spoke English explained that the
brother had made a list and served as a single person up until age 28 in a
foreign language field. When he met his
wife who was 10 years older than him, he knew she was the one because she was the
list and they dated, got engaged and married within 6 months after having known
each other for over 1 year and 1/2. Now
they are together at the Couple’s school awaiting their assignment. So cute!
Then my friend, who brought me to the School, tells me her
marriage story. She got married at 16-
but had already been attending meetings and had gotten baptized while her
parents went inactive. She was basically
alone in the truth and was already working to support herself. Therefore she wasn’t a naive 16 year old but
a rather mature one. She and her husband
have 2 daughters serving Jehovah and they now serve in the Italian field, him
as an elder and her as a pioneer. 3 very
different ways or finding mates and 3 great outcomes. Interesting…
After the school I washed clothes, painted my nails and made
a delicious salad with my veggies from last week. I combined beets, carrots, onions, an apple,
honey, vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil and lime juice and zest for a tasty yet
healthy treat.
Thursday
Thiane joins us this morning and we do territory and return
visits. Honestly something awesome
probably happened by I really CANNOT remember!
I only remember leaving magazines at hotels in various languages such as
German and English.
Later I met English at 3:15pm. There were only 2 sisters and they were going
to walk to do territory. Good thing I
showed up with the car. Everyone was not
at home or away in their home country today.. WHY??? Between a few addresses we
looked at a few apartments- prices ranged from $600RL/month with no furniture
to $1200RL with everything (flat screen TV, Panini grill- you name it)… Finally we reach our last address since it
was getting dark. The address was 1 such
and such street with an apartment number.
There was no #1, the lowest number was 31. After asking at 3 buildings we were thinking
to give up…finally at a 4th- a passerby overheard us say the name of
the person. She knew him and pointed out
the building across the street- it was number 263…so odd! Any who, we go and ring the bell- at least
the apartment # is the same as what we have written. A man answers- I take the door because he’s
from the UK, a missionary and supposedly nice.
The last time he was contacted was in March by Special Pioneers who no
longer serve in Fortaleza. For whatever
reason- I switch up my presentation. Beeepppp.. “Hello. Do you speak English? My name is Alana and I am working with a
local group that reaches out to foreigners in the area, Do you think you will
ever see your dead loved ones again?”
Hey – it just happens to the topic on the back of the Oct. WT. He says, “1 minute..” Seconds later he
appears at the gate. We consider the 1st
paragraph and read all the scriptures.
He asks but where will we be resurrected to? As his wife and 3 kids pull up- I point out
the next sub heading- What will the resurrection be like… He agrees to another visit
to answer his question. Just like that I
got my first English speaking visit! How awesome was that!?
After the girls from English head to the beach for night
witnessing and I head home. I have a
talk tonight and guess who’s coming to the meeting and needs a ride?
Benedetto! Francesco, Naomi and
Priscilla join me to pick him up. He’s
ready with white shirt and tie, clean-shaven and tennis shoes. But he made
it! I give the Number 2 talk and guess
what my setting is? Beach witnessing.
Pretty realistic- I think.. Thiane was an awesome house-holder and when
I didn’t stick to the script- she kept it going!
During the meeting we have an announcement that Paira
Central, our congregation, has received a new special pioneer couple that will
be handling the Chinese field. They are
a bright-eyed young couple from Brasilia.
After the meeting they join us for gelato with Benedetto. Of course we choose an Italian place to
satisfy our sweet tooth. At 11pm or so
the couple bids us goodnight as the owner of the place pulls up a chair. For over an hour we have a bible based
discussion all in Italian about the current state of affairs- increase in violence,
the economy and overall shift for the worst on a global scale. At midnight we wave good night and the owner leaves
with the brochure A Book for All People.
What an amazingly LONG DAY!
Friday
Somehow I actually wake up in time to do service at 8:45. This morning we hit a gold mine of Italians
at an Italian café. We encountered 4
upon arrival. 1 was depressed due to the
death of a sibling and was near tears and listened intently to Francesco. He agreed to attend a meeting and said he
would like to receive a visit to speak further.
We noted his residence info and promised to stop by before Sunday. After we realized that we needed 15 more
minutes to make 3 hours. So what do we
do? We head to the beach. Literally as we step foot on the beach 2
young Italians walk by… After a pleasant interchange and leaving a tract and a
magazine, guess what time it was? 12! Lol
The English group was at 3:30pm and we went on the hunt to
find hidden or badly- recorded addresses.
I abruptly had to stop when I received a call from the insurance company
for the car that I am borrowing. They
needed to take pictures of the car- so I stopped before 5pm. After that got sorted out I accompanied
Francesco and Alex on a bible study of the owner of the best Italian restaurant
in Fortaleza! Tonight was the 3rd
time- you go head Francesco! After we
met the friends at the beach and divided into pairs. I was with Alex and I
bought my first Fortaleza keepsake- a huge hammock for only $35RL. In the meantime we found a few Italians and
bunch of misses- sometimes my hunches can be SO OFF. Lol
After service we ate at Habib’s. A fast-food like restaurant that serves
middle-eastern style food and
burgers- weird combination if you ask me. I don’t have to do back…L
Saturday
Today, we had enough people to have 2 car groups! We do far away territory and don’t find
anyone L After lunch at the Japanese Market, a new
photo for my CAN you NAME the FRUIT collection, and a rest we regroup at
3:45pm. This time we have 10 people wow! We find an Italian man who owns a restaurant
that combines Brazilian and Italian food- definitely made a note to go back-
not to preach but to eat. He was working
that churassco like a native and he’s only been living here for 1 and ½ years! We try to visit the depressed man to confirm
for tomorrow’s meeting- but he wasn’t in L At 7pm we regroup for beach witnessing and we
end up eating Subway(not met for crying out loud) and shrimp!! I totally
suggested the shrimp! $12RL for 500
grams of garlic soaked shrimp!! YUMMY! A funny incident was Clea-one of the
sister was convinced not 3 but 4x that certain people were Italian- but instead
we met people from Sao Paolo, Portugal and Fortaleza! Yikes! Lol
Tonight I will sleep well!
It has been a full week! Only 30 something more days to go!
(Sad note- today I went to wash the car and dropped my
Samsung Galaxy in the bucket of water- WHY??) It is resting in a container of
rice. If I can revive it, I can post the
pictures from this week!
sisters working at couples school
me and special pioneer I met on my break
food at couples school
lunch at couples school. we get to sit with the couples! and listen to morning worship!
young brother who took the lead in the absence of the couple who usually does
beach day on Sunday
Meeting Thursday night, guess which is my beach buddy...
