Finally!!!

I finally upload all the photos from Emilee and Cody's wedding and reception onto my Picasa online photo album. My public galleries are here. Sorry for the extreme delay (but I think that most of you have probably already seen these photos).

First time shooting

When Patricia found out that I own guns, she started begging me to take her shooting. Finally we went shooting on Saturday. She loved shooting my Ruger 10-.22 because it had a scope. I suspected that we would be at the shooting range for few hours, but it turns out that we were there from 11:30am to 5:30pm! She did not want to stop shooting. I would shoot one 10-round clip, and she would shoot 3. By the end of the day she could shoot 10-round groups the size of a silver dollar at 25 yds. I did not think that that was too bad considering she just learned how to shoot. Also she wants to buy her own gun because she is tired of having to share my gun. By the end of the day Patricia was bouncing off the walls because she was so excited from shooting guns all day.

Now she wants to go hunting, especially for birds. She hates anything with feathers. Now that she is learning how to shoot, she says that she loves birds... loves to kill and eat them. When we go hiking, she takes my binoculars to look at birds. The first time she was looking at birds I thought that this was rather strange, considering her dislike of birds. Then I heard her softly making the sound "bang, bang, bang". She then asked me if she could put crosshairs on the binoculars, so she can act like she is shooting all the birds. I guess whatever it takes to get her to go birding.

Ted said that he would take her duck hunting. If she wants to go, she has to learn how to shoot a shotgun well if she wants to go. She was so disappointed when I told that she would have to use a shotgun (and not my .22) to hunt birds. She would like to use a rifle with a scope instead of the heavier shotgun. She asked me why she could not just shoot the ducks sitting on the lake. I told her that it was illegal and unsportsman-like. She didn't like these reasons. I guess that she likes the idea of shooting little ducks as they swim peacefully on the lake. She'll just come with my .22 and blast them all. Thank goodness that there are laws on which birds and how many you can kill because she would depopulate all of south Florida if she had the chance.

Her friends and family freaked out when they heard that she shot a real gun. In Brazil guns are only allowed with a license that is difficult to obtain, so seldom does anyone ever shoot a gun, let alone own one. Her mother was exasperated when she heard that Patricia actually shot a gun and now she wants to hunt and kill something. When she told everyone that she went shooting, they all asked the same thing, "You shot a real gun that shoots real bullets?" It seemed so normal for me to go shooting, but for them it was so strange.

The place in central Florida where I will conduct my research has wild pigs, and they are a nuisance. I have permission to hunt them with a bow. I can't wait till she shows to her family and friends in Brazil pictures of her with her first pig that she killed with a bow. They will go nuts. Her parents will really wonder what is happening to their little daughter here in the US.

Patricia's baptism

Last Sunday (9 December 2007) Patricia was baptized!!! We decided to have the baptismal service before church at noon, so that she could be confirmed on the same day. She leaves for Brazil on Saturday, so she wanted be baptized and confirmed before she left for the holidays. She was so excited to be baptized last week. I skipped my morning meetings, so that Patricia and I could go to church together. It turns out that I needed every bit of the morning to get ready. On my mission I was always nervous before baptisms but not like I was for this baptism. I wanted make sure that everything was ready. I called the missionaries several times to make sure that the font was filling properly. Meanwhile I was trying to finish everything including my talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I had already looked up some scriptures on the talk, but I had not yet prepared what I was going to say. The fact that it was Sunday morning and I had not finished my talk disturbed me along with the fact that I was bumbling everything else. I spilled something on my white shirt, which required washing. I did not have time to dry it, so I used the iron to dry it more quickly. Then I got my pants dirty. Then I made a mess of an ironing job that Patricia fixed. The entire time Patricia was calm and laughing at me for being so anxious. Finally we showed up at the church 15 minutes before the service started, which was just enough time to dress in our whites and start the meeting.

The missionaries and members had prepared everything. About 30-35 people were there, which is very good considering that it was an hour before church. The 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency conducted. He was only a member for 5 months before he was called be part of the EQP 7 months ago. He was so excited to conduct. The talk on baptism was given by Jorge Oliveira, a fellow Brazilian and new member. He was quite emotional when talking about his baptism and the importance of the ordinance. I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I told them some experiences that Patricia had. For example, when she told me that she wanted to be baptized, I asked her why. She said that she had felt the Spirit of God too many times during this year to deny that God has actively guided her to the church. She then said that Spirit that she has felt at times, she wants to have with her always. I just thought that you could not get a better answer than that for why you should be baptized. Of course, I got emotional during my talk. After the baptism the Relief Society welcomed Patricia to the Relief Society and told her to get ready because she would receive a calling as soon as she returns from Brazil.

My branch president (President Beck) welcomed her to the branch. He, too, was rather emotional, which was unexpected because he is not a real emotional person. He gave a really special message. He first had her stand next to him and asked all the members who were converts to raise their hand. About 50% of the audience raised their hands. He then told her that she was not alone and 50% of the church entered the church like she did. He told that in the church we take little children and teach them how to feel and recognize the Spirit. We take youth and help them recognize and obey the promptings of the Spirit. We help those who felt the Spirit once but due to sin and neglect do not feel it anymore and help them feel it again. We take those that have never felt the Spirit, help them feel it in their lives. He said that that was the purpose of the church. I thought that was a succinct example of what we do in the church. Without the Spirit everything we work for in the church is in vain. He then said that he was so happy at this baptism because she was dating me. The branch president and I have worked closely together because I am the clerk for the past 2 years. He told Patricia that I was very special to him and had a great help to him as branch president. He said that he was so happy that she was in my life. I was quite touched.

Instead of a closing hymn, we had a special number. I was not aware that the program had changed to add a special musical number. Several branch members and 2 nonmember brothers of a member sang a hymn in Portuguese. They did an excellent job, especially the two nonmembers. I later found out that the two nonmembers were Brazilian musicians. They saw the music for the first time a few minutes before singing it. It was a very special baptism.

Immediately afterwards in sacrament meeting I confirmed her. Then President Beck asked her to bear her testimony. She did an excellent job, and afterward she told that she felt so much peace that she was not even nervous. I was shocked that she accepted. She had asked me several times during the week if she was going to have to speak. She was scared to death that she would have to speak during the service. I told her that it was not necessary, but she could if she wanted to. She also asked me if she would have to pray in church, and I said that most definitely she would be asked to pray at some point. In Relief Society they asked her to pray. After church she remarked that she did not expect that she would be asked to speak and pray so quickly. Well welcome to the church.

In the end every man that had a part in the program was emotional, and none of the women were. That was rather strange.

After church we had a Christmas dinner and then a musical presentation of the Living Christ document. The branch did a really good job. They were not the best singers in the world, but you could feel their testimony in what they sang. People sang in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Korean. Then the two nonmember Brazilian brothers got up and one sang while the other played the piano. They preformed "I heard him come" by Afterglow. They practiced it for the first time 1 hour before. The brother who sang knows some English, but the other brother does not. They had never heard how the song was usually sung, so they performed it like they wanted to. I turned out really nice. I do not understand how they could practice a brand new song in a foreign language for little over an hour and perform so well. Also they arrived from Brazil Saturday night at 11pm and stay up talking to their sister all night. I guess that is the definition of talent. It was such a good day that they are now very interested in the church.

Everyone is so friendly to Patricia, and she already has several friends including a good friend name Patricia!

Life just gets better and better

Well I must say that life has been good to me these last few months.

I have some extremely good news to share. Patricia is getting baptized!! She decided to get baptized during Thanksgiving, and she is receiving the last discussion today. She is so solid. It has been so exciting to see her grow in the gospel and see the experiences that she is having. She understands the whole plan of salvation. For example, she is already so excited about the temple from work for the dead and temple marriage to having a place to worship away from the world.

The branch loves her. That is one thing that my branch is good at is making people feel welcome.
She decided to take the discussions with the missionaries alone. She wants to have no other influences because the decision to get baptized is her own and of no one else. I have to wait outside the door, while they teach her. She does not let them get a way with any vague explanations that are not scripturally backed. Last night they had the 3rd discussion on the plan of salvation. She asked a several questions that they did not know how to answer. Then after explaining many different things to her, they decided not to read a bunch of scriptures on the subject because of the time. She told them that she was not interested in their explanations unless they are accompanied by scriptures. After a question and answer period that was supposed to be a discussion, she gave them a lesson on how to teach more effectively. She told them to give a short overview/objectives of the discussion, so that the investigators would know where the discussion was headed and understand why they were talking about certain principles. Also she told them to ask open-ended questions to the investigators to find out what they know and understand. Then she told them that their principal purpose in teaching investigators was to teach true principles from the scriptures then their resolve concerns. Later after the discussion she asked me why they did not teach missionaries how to teach. Well, I thought that they did. However, she really likes her missionaries, and they provide a comfortable/spiritual atmosphere in the discussions.

Now she is a little missionary. She has already spoke to several people here, and is preparing a little crusade in Brazil with her friends and family over the holidays. She now feels the pull to help her family learn about the church. They are supportive of her decision, but she wants them to know what she now knows.

Next time I write, she'll be a member!! It is so exciting!!