Monday, February 20, 2006

THE GAME OF LIFE – tonight Dave made a pretty sweet homemade version of a ‘Game of Life.’ It was a game that he and a companion on his mission created, and today he spent most of the day drawing and coloring to make the same game for tonight’s family home evening. The family of Rubens and Valdmiria invited us over again to have FHE with them, this time we were only in charge of the message – but Dave went above and beyond and made quite the game/message. They really enjoyed it.

It was fun getting to know their kids on a more personal basis, too. I mostly hung out w/ Thiago, a 16 year old, but also got to know the others (Rubens the younger, and Rodrigo – who just got home from his mission a few weeks ago). I also helped out quite a bit w/ Valdmiria cleaning the dishes and making pastels.

She told me how her family was pretty instrumental in establishing the church in some of the more rural cities of Santa Catarina. For many years, her and her husband were the district leaders and told me about all their sacrifices with their 4 children. What I found interesting is that she clearly missed those days, even though they were more challenging. She said the lessons they learned as a family and the way they grew together and in the gospel made all their sacrifices worth it.

The rest of the day was spent studying or walking around town in and out of the shops while it was raining.

U2 is performing in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro tonight! (for those who care)