Going Up to Christ

Last pday we were invited to a birthday party. We went up to the Christ statue on the mountain overlooking Poços de Caldas. It was a lot of fun. We met the birthday party on the start of the trail, but we got there before them, so we had some time to waste. We were hanging out in a gift shop when the herd of monkeys showed up. So, of course we bought some bananas to feed to the monkeys. I was taking pictures for Elder Davis and Elder Anderson while they fed the monkeys. Elder Anderson was with us for the day while he waited for his new companion. The man at the gift shop had trained one of the monkeys to sit on your shoulder and eat. All the other monkeys wont touch you unless they are snatching something out of your hand. Before the other Elders were done, all of a sudden a monkey jumped onto my leg. He then started crawling all over me trying to get to the banana in my hand. I quickly handed over my camera to Elder Anderson, but he couldnt switch it to video fast enough. Anyway, this monkey finally got to my hand and latched onto the banana. No matter what I did I could not get this monkey to let go. I eventually started swinging it around through the air and trying to pry it off with my other hand. He eventually grabbed the banana on each end and bit into it right in the middle, through the peel. It was hilarious. After a long struggle and losing half of the banana, I finally got him off. The man who works there said he has never seen that happen. He has worked there for 35 years. We then proceeded to head up the hill. After a quick stop at a shady statue we moved on and up the hill. The statue is really big and really cool. We had the birthday party on the back side of the hill with an awesome view of the country. The cake was super good.

We confirmed our two baptisms yesterday in church. Maria de Lourges and Antonio. We also went to another barbeque after church. We have been teaching an inactive man, who wants to come back to church. He also wants us to meet and start teaching his girlfriend, so he came up with the idea to have FHE tonight. Oh, and it's also going to be a barbeque. Life is really tough here in Brazil. =)

We have a lot of really cool investigators right now. It's crazy how some people are just ready to hear the gospel. We had a lady come up to us on the street and ask us if we could start teaching her. She is already ready for baptism, but we had to ask for special permission for her to be baptised. We havent seen her since we found out but she is going to be really excited when we tell her the good news.

We have not had a relaxing pday since ive been in the field, so today we just took it easy. I did some laundry, wrote some letters, and that was pretty much it. The only problem is that Antonio, wants us to come over today, so we will head out of the house early. Oh well. Anything for a new member.

Life is good, and the food is even better. I will talk to you all later. Tchau!

Elder Siemers