Meeting of the Waters!

Boat ride to the "Meeting of the Waters". The
Meeting of the Waters" on the Amazon River occurs about 8 miles from Manaus, Brazil, when the "white" Solimoes River meets the "black" Rio Negro.!
The tributaries and the Amazon River are two different colors -- the "white" water rivers, which are really muddy and look much like cocoa, the "black" water rivers, which are filled with tannin and are clear like coffee. At any point where two of these rivers join, their density is so different that they will not mix for several miles. No where is this natural event more dramatic than near Manaus, where the Solimoes and the Rio Negro merge. The Amazon River is formed at the point these two rivers join together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River



Crystal on the Boat!


Sister Reis and Sister Boyack. In the background where the waters meet!


More of the sisters!






Having dinner at our Christmas conference in Manaus.

First pic is of Izeria and the second is of Leideani!




Is Crystal looking a little "pink" or is it just her mother imagining things?

Weekly Update:

This week was interesting. News Year was a little crazy here. We ended up going home early that night because people were already starting to party and drink. They set off fireworks here at midnight so we didn’t go to bed until after. We decided to make pizza (we bought one from the store, it was gross) and eat cake. Then we climbed onto our roof (don’t worry mom it was only a few chairs up) to watch fireworks! It was weird to watch fireworks for the New Year because we don’t do fireworks in Utah. I can’t believe it is 2010 already!! It seems like just yesterday I was getting ready to start a new semester at Utah State! Man I really miss going to school and seeing all my friends. I really feel like those were the best four years of my life…so far.

Two new American Elders arrived here on Friday. They were in Provo for nine weeks and they finally got their visas. I haven’t met them yet, but from what I hear they are pretty cool. Sadly they didn’t bring any cards or packages. But our zone leaders are in Manaus right now, so hopefully they will bring us back stuff!

Right now things with our investigators are not going very well. Neto and Roseane have disappeared. Neto was supposed to be baptized last week. The last time we saw him I gave him a little hino (thanks for sending those mom our investigators loved them) and he started tearing up. I have never seen anyone cry over a hymn book before and it touched my heart. But now looking back on that, maybe he was tearing up because he knew he wasn’t going to see us again. We have tried calling him dozens of times but he never answers. It has been a little heart breaking. He seemed so excited to get baptized and he would also joke that he would be skinner afterwards! Haha. But now we don’t know where he is. I hope Neto and Roseane can find happiness in this life and I hope other missionaries will find them.

We have two baptism planned for next Saturday. It is two little kids Janderson e Adria. They come from a part member family and we are hoping to baptize their mom in a few weeks too. We have a few new investigators so hopefully we can get them to progress and set baptism dates. We have a date set for Marcos, but he didn’t go to church on Sunday so we need to help him overcome the doubts he is having. We had to cut Claudia because she isn’t progressing, but part of me still has hope for her. Maybe in a few years she will accept this wonderful gospel.

We have started switching parts on the lessons. It has been a little difficult but a nice change. I have had to memorize a lot of phrases and things this week which I don’t like. I want to be able to speak from the heart and say the things I want to say. I want to be a good teacher like Sister Boyack, and tell stories to get our investigators thinking about the things they need to change in their lives. But I know that will come with time.

Sister Boyack has started having me give the lessons with our recent converts. The bad part is she doesn’t telling me I am going to give the lessons until after the prayer with the member and then she will just stare at me. I have learned that means “ok your turn to give the lesson even though you haven’t prepared one”. So that has been an adventure but it seems to be going ok.

Patience is one thing I know I will be better at when my mission is over. I really like this scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:6-7. verse 7 says, “Andar Pela Fé, Não pela Visão.” Sometimes we don’t understand why certain things happen in life or why we are doing small and simple things. But in the big scheme of things, the little things in life are what make the difference. We can’t always see the end result of our work, but with faith and persistence we can do anything difficult or challenging in this life. The little things help us accomplish big things in this life. We need to have faith and never give up!

Have a fabulous week! I love the pictures you sent! I love the pillow Patrice made! That was so thoughtful of her! I love that you guys can give me hugs every night! I love you and the Lord loves you both so much!

Talk to you next week!

Sister Red