House Search

Dear Family and Friends,
I hardly had the time to tell yall all the stories, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
I'm going to have to write yall quite the letter this afternoon, because I’m not gonna fit it all in this email. I saw your list, mom, I’ll have to respond next week I think.
First off, before I forget. I have to tell you what we are doing right now. I’m writing yall at the Cyber Café. Alright, being serious now... We are in the middle of a mad dash to find a new house for the sisters. A madman tried to break in last night, and that was the last nail in the coffin for that apartment. It has been causing a bunch of problems, and to add low security to that list... RIP crummy sister's apartment. We've got two good leads...
We found a so-so apartment in the towne center, which would be awesome - close to everything, and in the middle of the two companionships' areas...
...and a super awesome apartment that would be a little out of the way for the Bom Fim Sisters.
Both apartments are affordable, and both would be better than the one that they currently have, but we're still looking.
SO the story behind the break-in attempt. The sisters' house is poorly designed - the electricity main switch is located outside their apartment, so many attempts have been made to turn off the electricity, wait for the owner to turn on the switch again, and enter in through the back.
Well, this attempt was made. at 12:30 AM, my comp and I were woken up to a phone call from some panicked sisters. They explained the situation to us, and my comp said "Alright. Let’s go." I just looked at him with a look that said: "Its past midnight, and we're going to go out in the dark to go after a madman UNARMED?!" My comp had a little time to reponder the brilliant idea, and we opted to call the police.
We explained the situation to the police, who then told us "Tell the sisters to call us." That response made us pretty mad. Government workers here in São Gabriel... We've already gotten mad with policemen, post office workers, registry workers, and healthcare officials.
But anyways, we called Presidente Lousa, and he cured everything. :)

Some things on my list: I won’t have time at all.
We helped put in a front door on Irmã Hilda's house with Irmão Noé. Irmão Noé (recent convert of Sister Condeña and Lipps) is just awesome. He goes to church every Sunday, and makes everyone smile.
I wanted to ask Blake - do you know what my companion Elder Silva would have to do to be a BYU soccer player?
THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT! For my card, for the letters, emails, packages, etc.
I remember yall that next week there probably will not be a letter from me. I'll be in Santa Maria.
My companion and I have been getting a little tired of singing hymns every morning in our companion study, so we have been singing hymns from the children’s songbook.
The rest I'll put in a letter. Ta bom?
Os Amo.
Com Amor,
Elder Wassom

Some pictures:
Baptism Interview of Andrea, investigator of Elder Felipe (she's awesome), Homemade tortillas, and the house search.

Olé

Written on August 8th:

Dear Family and friends,
This week was a good one. At the top of the list of why I’m so happy is because I discovered the recipe of how to make delicious homemade tortillas! (I’m sure Francesca is laughing right now, as I’m sure she knows it’s not an overly complicated ordeal). I made tacos from scratch for the district today with homemade guacamole. Que coisa bem boa! (What awesomeness!) Everyone loved them! All the Brazilians marveled at how avocado can be used in salty and savory dishes, as here avocado is just used as a dessert.
Yesterday, Presidente and Sister Lousa paid ANOTHER visit to São Gabriel, but this time, it was to do a "House tour." We passed, haha. It’s always very nice to have the President and Sister in town.
They even went with us to another family home evening! We brought along with us a family we had found on the street that day! Turns out, that family consists of a recent convert's dad, stepmom, and halfsiblings. It was a great experience.
This week, we had an unfortunate call from Silvana. She said that she knew that the church was true, and that the Book of Mormon is true, but that her husband has been going nuts on her, not letting her even hear from us anymore. I'm saddened when stuff like this happens, but there’s always hope for the future.
Hey I’ll tell you guys more details on Sunday! Love you all! Be prepping your lists of stuff to ask me!
Com Amor,
Elder Wassom

Catch 22

Emailed on Monday, 8/1/16

Dear Family and Friends,
Today I have been in the mission field for 22 months. Catch 22 was the cleverest e-mail title I could think of.
So I, once again, do not have much time to talk to you guys. I know you’re getting sick of that, but I’ve got a lot of stuff to take care of.
This Monday, we met Diego. It was a miracle. We had our evening all planned out perfectly, but all of our plans fell through. So my comp had the idea to visit a contact way on the other side of our area. I'm not a fan of walking large distances from one commitment to the other, as this wastes a lot of time, but on this particular day, we had nothing better to do. After all, we could be making contacts in the street on the way over there. Anyways, we were headed over to the contact, and we saw a man who was just standing outside the door of his house. It looked like he was waiting for someone. We introduced ourselves, and he also introduced himself. We felt prompted to teach him then and there. So we asked if we could share a message with him and he agreed. Turns out, he wasn't waiting on anyone in particular. He was waiting on "someone God could send [him] to cheer him up." He had separated with his wife four days earlier, and lost his job on the same day. He was kicked out of his house, and was living in an abandoned barbershop that his friend was temporarily renting him. We taught him about the meaning of life, and why we go through trials. The room was filled with the spirit, and we challenged him to be baptized on the 20th then and there. He accepted without thinking twice.
We returned there on Friday, and taught him some more. He is still solid for the 20th.
Everything was perfect and ready on Saturday to take him to church on Sunday, but he sort of disappeared on Sunday morning. :/ Happens.
We have another really cool couple named Fabricio and Rutiele - we are working on their marriage. They, too, disappeared on Sunday morning. :/
That’s all I’ve got time for. GTG
Os amo!
Com Amor,
Elder Wassom

Some pictures of our awesome 20-real beater that already burned out, a volleyball district party!