Familiar Letter, Monkeys, Goals and Souls

"Não abra até dia 22 de julho, 2012." (Do not open until July 22, 2012)

On Sunday I dug in my things and pulled out a pink envelope with these
words written on the front in familiar handwriting. I broke the "seal"
(a sticker from Aunt Sherri), and read a simple but powerful letter
from a newer missionary, written on December 4th, 2011.

The author was a slightly younger and much more "novinha" Sister
Petty, written to herself to open on her half birthday. The letter,
written in a funny mix of English and Portuguese, was full of the
energy of the first part of my mission, advice I was needing to hear
at this moment, and a couple of warnings. "Work hard, work with the
Spirit, and work for the Savior," I had written. "And don't freak out.
There's still plenty of time left."

The very last line made me laugh: "If you hadn't learned how to cook
beans yet, please learn SOON!" Okay okay, I'll get on that.

My family and friends know I'm a little distractable. And also that
I've loved animals practically since I was born. Now imagine me in a
little Bahian living room / kitchen, trying to teach a lesson, with a
tiny MONKEY running through the house as if it it owns the place. As
we taught, it jumped from the couch to the kitchen counter to the head
of the 11-year-old girl who was trying to cook. She impatiently
stalked to the other room, practically flung the little creature to
the bed, and ran back to the stove. In less than 10 seconds, the
persistent monkey was on her head again.

Good thing the lesson was short. When the mom of the house scolded the
monkey as if it was one of her children, even giving it a spank for
bad behavior, I almost laughed out loud.

I had a neat experience with contacts on Sunday night. We had hit the
mission goal of 100 contacts (we had 101), and it was about 8:50pm. We
are turning the corner to our "home" street when I said to my
companion, "Sister, já pensou que numero 102 seja nosso eleito?" She
agreed. About 10 steps later we passed a little house with a man
standing in front, leaning on his fence. We stopped and talked with
him, and when we asked if we could come back and leave a message
another day, he answered with conviction, "Com certeza -- eu aceito
vocês e sua mensagem, de coração!" And as we left -- "Apareçam!" We
will, com certeza.

100 is the mission mininum. But who knows what God will bless us with
when we look past goals and see souls?

Over and out.
Sister Petty