The Refiner's Fire

I am so excited to meet/see my new primo. That is a hard thing about being so far away but there is nothing greater than helping others have an eternal family, and enjoy the blessing we have already. ;) I love hearing all the things that are going on in your lives. Thank you so much for always emailing me. I am not super great at replying all the time but I just want you to know that I truly appreciate all that you do.

As for updates:  I have passed through a refiner's fire of sorts. A little miracle happened. I was talking with the president and he asked me what I wanted to do. He asked if I wanted to leave, I said no. I want to stay. The next day we got a call for changes. I was told I was staying here in Tranqueras, and that I would be the new Elders Quorum president. Had I left I would have missed out on this great blessing in my life. No I am still not perfect. There are certain things that I can't look at without getting a splitting migraine: tvs, headlights, computer screens for an extended period of time. I am on some medication now to try and calm it all down. I am waiting to know the dates for these tests. Two in Rivera, and one big one in Deo (Montevideo).  I am getting a new comp. I can't spell his name yet, so that will be in next weeks email but he is a Brazilian, which I am totally happy for. He will help me with my Spanish and Portuguese. I want to learn as much Portuguese as I can before I leave Rivera. I have come along way in my studying. I can read it almost perfectly but speaking and listening, and writing ain't happening. So we will see what more I can learn. My Spanish is coming along great. I know I speak better than I let myself believe. I am writing better in Spanish and my pronouncing of the words when I read out loud is getting better. It was hard. Very, very hard. I thought that it would be easy to learn the language when you are forced to. But it does not make it easier. It's so very hard but it is faster and for that I can endure a few months of hardship for the awesome end result of being fluent. ;) And for that I am happy. ;) We are still going to Masoller the town on the border of Brazil. We are teaching some people who live on the other side of the line so that is just totally awesome!;) The baptism was a miracle and was the greatest weekend on my mission thus far. I will send the picture. You have to see it to believe it but our church is really no more than a house. The font is ......indescribable. .....the whole thing is, it's a lot like home. Very ghetto. Very half put together, but if it works, that's all that matters . So for that I don't complain. ;)

I love you all so very much. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers in my behalf. I will try to get better so that I am not a bother. ;)

Vaya Con Dios.

Elder Brewer

Eye Trouble

Here is just a little update on a little adventure I had this past week. First, just know that I am ok, and all is well. Ok,so on Wednesday we were preaching the góspel the same as any other day. We got to the house of a menos active, we call him tio Billy. Anyways, we pass through the gate when a pain so so bad hits my eyes. It's like a burning pain that just kills. I sit down in his house as they try to get wáter in my eyes but it's not working. Then the pain begains to spread from my left to my right eye. It becomes unbearable. We call our misión dr. and she said that I need to get to the hospital right away. We are on the other side of town, it's 7:30 and I am blind. So we call a taxi. About 20 mins later he shows up and takes me to the hospital in Tranqueras. They try to calm me down but it is just not happening. They use some numbing thing. Elder lamb says I passed out at this point. I believe him. The dr. at the hospital says that I need to go to Rivera to see the dr. there. The last bus leaves from Tranquerase to Rivera at 8:00 and we were not going to make it. The dr. said if the pain comes back I can't get the medicine again, that it's better if I go to Rivera to see the dr. that night., but there is no way to get there. So we have no choice but to stay the night. I recieve about 50% of my vision again when we walked home. The medicine they gave me made me tired and so I just went straight to bed. We woke up at 5.30 to catch the first bus to Rivera. We had the Hermanas who had the hospital in their área meet us at the bus terminal. We walked to the hospital, waited for about an hour to be seen and we were seen by a Dr. assistant. He looked at me, gave me Tylenol and sent me away. The hermanas that were with us got mad at this and demanded that I see a real dr. He said he could not allow it for whatever reason which I was somewhat ok with. Not to say I don't distrust the hospitals down here, I just don't trust them. ;) Picture a WWII  MASH unit., that's about what it was. ;) He said I either had an alergic reaction to something, or a virus called quadras- I dont know. At night I still can't see through shadows and I have a headache that won't leave- We called the dr. for the misión again, and she said that I need to go back and see him in Rivera this Tuesday. So we will see how this goes.

I am fine, remember that, it's just an interesting time right now. ;)

Love you all,

Elder Brewer

Proselyting in Brazil

I am in Brazil again! We were given permission to go to different cities to preach. Because our area is the biggest in Rivera and because it's just me and my comp we get to spend time going to different cities that have not had missionaries before. One city that we came to was called Masoller. It has a border with Brazil so we contacted a house that was on the other side of the border line so now it's official: I have preached to 3 nations now! ;) 

My spansih is coming really well. There are times that I just cry it's so hard but I stay with it. I have come farther then I can see. My portugese is coming along well as well. I can read almost perfectly but I can't speak or hear it. But I can read it- so I am content with that. 

The people that live here are very very uneducated. No one goes to school. The high school that they have here is a joke. So it's hard to get people to read the scriptures. No one has teeth, so its super hard to understand them but I can understand people with no teeth better than I can understand people with only one tooth. So sometimes I think, "dude, just get rid of your one tooth, you are not useing it anyways."

I have my first real baptism for the 17th. His name is Filipe. He is 16 and I am so so excited. He has a friend named Diego that is taking the lessons. He really wants to go to the temple, but does not want to be baptized so we are working with him. Now that Filipe is getting baptized we will see if he will get baptized with him. We also have a 80 year-old (really she is 45 but people look so so old here ) that is for the same day if she will just go to church. The 17th is a stake baptism day so if we get them to be for sure to be baptized we will go to the stake center in Rivera to do the baptisms with about 20 other people who are getting baptized in the stake. I am so very excited. It's the first baptism that Tranqueras has had in about 6 months so I am glad things are starting to change. ;)