A Different Idea of an Appropriate Use of Public Funds

         

My District with Votuporanga in the Background

        So since the Votuporanga Branch is basically the last stop of the church in this neck of the woods, all the members that live in cities beyond it are also in the branch. One of these members lives in a small town called Turmalina. When I say small I really mean small. The city is roughly a catholic church (because regardless of size, every city has a catholic church here) and about a four by four grid of streets surrounding it.  This member is an elected official in this town so obviously he knows everybody who lives there. So he distributed 100 copies of the Book of Mormon to the people he knew. Then this Saturday we went and visited a bunch of these people and also invited them to come to church the next day because it was branch conference. This invite was a lot easier because this member was able to convince the mayor to allow them to use a city mini-bus free of charge to transport anyone who wanted to go to church.  We obviously had to go meet the mayor to thank her for the support.  I'm not really sure if this is corruption or just a Brazilian idea of an appropriate use of public funds.

The World cup has arrived. And Brazil went a little crazy for the first game since Brazil played.  It was a national holiday and everything was closed. When Brazil scored a goal you could hear the city cheer.  It was kind of crazy. During the game only one car passed in front of our house. Everyone was at home watching. I am sure it will only get more crazy as the Cup goes on and the games get more important. That was the thing that was interesting to me.  Everyone was partying after the game when it was against Croatia and everybody knew that Brazil would win. But a party is a party after all so why not?

I hope you all have a good week. I love you all!

Elder Russell