Man Eating Turtles and Umbrellas

Usually, the animals of concern here in Brazil are the million dogs in the street, your occassional vicious cat, or perhaps a stray cow or goat.  Never on my mission (or my life for that matter), have I been literally scared about what a turtle could do to me!  My companion and I had returned to teach an investigator.  While we were standing in front of his house, a large tortuse came out from the shaded corner, and approached us cautiously.  All of a sudden, he picked up the speed, and charged for my companion's foot!  I know that 'speed' is not a common word to use when talking about a tortuse, but this tortuse could scurry!  If we took our eyes off of him for 30 seconds, he would go in for the kill, and next thing you know he's at our feet with his mouth open ready to chomp!  Well, we entered the house and began to teach our lesson.  The mother of our investigator arrived a little bit after, and stopped outside the door to listen.  Out of no where, she let out this deafening scream.  We all jumped and looked at her.  The tortuse had come up behind her and bitten her foot!  What the crazy tortuse!! 

Just about everyday this week, we have had torrential, downpouring rain.  When we showed up at another investigator's house, his mother took one look at my umbrella and said, "This is an umbrella for a baby!  No wonder why you are completely soaked!"  Saturday night, after all of our appointments fell through, Sister De Paula and I were soaked, cold, and hungry.  We did some quick thinking and came up with a member that we could visit that we had heard always gives the missionaries food.  As we were walking to her home, we passed by the home of a less active that we had always heard about, but had never visited.  As we walked by her street, I had the thought that we should visit her instead of going to the member's home.  Visiting this less active, we ran the risk of not getting any food, but I figured it was better to follow the prompting and worry about the food later.  So, my companion and I headed down the street.  As we began to talk to this dear sister, she shared with us some of the difficulties she was going through and how much she needed someone to talk to that night.  After we conversered, she looked at us and said, "I made some soup and was hoping that someone would stop by to try it.  Are you guys hungry?!"  Wow!!!  Heavenly truly knows each of His children and their needs.  Because we listened to the prompting, we were able to answer the prayer of this sister who was needing someone to listen to her and strengthen her, and coincidently, she was able to answer our prayer and satisfy our hunger!  I couldn't believe how perfectly the Lord had answered our prayers!  It was incredible to see how He is aware of the tiniest aspects of our lives.  I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.  We just need to be willing to act on the answer that He gives us, even if it isn't the answer we were expecting.