Physical therapy; International Women's Day; Lucas' Baptism!!

Hello family!  I'm here in Londrina with Sister Passos, anxiously awaiting the news of the transfers....we're here early today, so the emails haven't arrived yet.  As you know, I've been in Ibiporã for 3 transfers now, so there's a pretty good chance that I'll be leaving.  But then again, Ibiporã is one of those places where you get to stay for a loooong time... so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.  :)

It's been a crazy week.  A crazy, crazy week.  Physical therapy 3-4 times a week, and besides all that, we got to help the Relief Society plan and prepare an activity for International Woman's Day on March 8th.  That was something that I don't think anybody really celebrates in the US, but it was fun to have a special day just to celebrate how great women are.  :)  The activity was AWESOME.  Lots of chocolate and decorations, and the men of the branch put together a little tribute to the women.  They sang songs, gave little speeches, and afterwards served us all refreshments.  Our contribution was a poster board with a picture of every sister in the branch - we spent the whole week hunting down the photos to put it together, and it turned out really well.  :)  (see picture attached!!)

Adventure of the Week - One day, Sister Passos and I were in a neighborhood cleeeeear on one end of the city, and realized that we had to get back to the OTHER end of the city to teach a lesson for Lucas.   We caught a bus (which we usually avoid doing since the bus fare adds up fast) and headed back to the city center.  I'm pretty sure the bus driver was in a hurry too - he drove SUPER fast over the bumps and turns, and I nearly flew out of my seat several times.  We finally arrived in the bus station, got off, and started to walk towards Lucas' house - when Sister Passos realized that our cell phone was missing.  Yep, it had flown out of her backpack going over one of those crazy bumps...and by that point our bus had already pulled out again.  We asked all of the bus drivers in the station what we could do, but nobody really knew.  They all kind of just laughed and wished us luck....eventually we ended up IN THE BUS GARAGE searching empty buses in the hope that we would be able to find our phone.  haha... And miracle - we found it.  :)  So while we lost an hour or so of time searching for our phone, we saved ourselves the R$200 that it costs to replace a cell phone.  Phew*.

We stopped by the chapel Saturday night for Lucas' baptismal interview and to fill up the font (don't worry, we didn't flood it this time), and Natalino was there with Lucas and 3 or 4 other young men, cleaning the chapel.  The funny thing is that all the young men who were there cleaning aren't even members, but they stayed after the weekly soccer game to help clean anyways.  :)  They all helped Sister Passos and I clean and fill the font, and get everything ready for the baptism.  And two of them, Iago and José Henrique came to church yesterday and stayed to watch Lucas' baptism afterwards!  They both expressed interest in being baptized as well, so Sister Passos and I have two more young men to teach this week.  :)  Irmão Natalino is really becoming an awesome member missionary.  

Sunday was Lucas' baptism.  It was such a special day!  He is an amazing kid, and understands SO quickly everything we teach him.  He wanted to be baptized ever since he came to Jean's baptism two weeks ago.  He has been coming to church and spends a lot of time with Natalino, the Young Men's president.  He has been through some rough stuff already in his life, but he doesn't want to follow the same path as his parents and other family members who he's seen make some pretty serious mistakes - he wants to be different, and he's already becoming such a great young man.  We were really nervous that his grandma wouldn't let him be baptized - she's a stern, kind of intimidating lady, and thinks that 2 weeks is WAY too fast to baptize someone.  We talked with her and explained that baptism ISN'T an end point - it's the beginning of a life of learning and growing as a member of the church.  Finally she softened up, and eventually even started to talk about going to church with him as soon as she can get a job with a better work schedule.   

Anyways, I've got to run.  Still no email about transfers, so it looks like I'll be staying in Ibiporã a bit longer!  Woohoo!

Love you all so much

Sister Gee

"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving:  To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, --but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.