This place is too crowded

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa Tarde!

Today, my pday is Monday, and from what I hear, that is what it's gonna be from this point on, with perhaps a few exceptions.

The CTM is getting really full. When we have exercise time, there are like a hundred people on two basketball courts and two volleyball courts. It's barely fun, to be honest. It's good to know I'm out of here on Friday morning.

One thing that was super fun was making a giant slingshot. My companion brought resistance bands for working out, and we used those and a cut-up sock to make a slingshot with impressive power. We shot a bunch of hacky sacks along the hall. Super fun stuff.

Prior to coming here, I had heard about a Brazilian dessert that is basically chocolate pizza. This sounded amazing, and I couldn't wait to try it. Well, they had it at the CTM! Every Thursday is pizza night, and they have a different dessert pizza every week. This week was chocolate pizza. From what I've heard, food outside the CTM is much better, and if so, that chocolate pizza is gonna be so good. It was already really good in the CTM.

As you know, rice and beans here are the staple. We had a devotional from Elder Stevenson that was recorded a few days prior in the Provo MTC. He talked about the cohesion of the Preach My Gospel book and the scriptures. To aid his speech, he made several analogies about other things that go together. Peanut Butter and Jelly, socks and shoes, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and a whole lot of other ones. We were a little saddened that he didn't mention rice and beans. But then, just when we all thought he had finished the analogy, he says, "So just like peanut butter and jelly,... or rice and beans..." I don’t remember the rest of what he said because we all went nuts. It was probably a little irrelevant, but it was fun to (sort of) get a shoutout.

Memorable quotes this week:

"They respect the dibs in heaven"

"If she dear johned me, id be like 'we were never dear'"

"Ya know, some Star Wars fans don't like the sequels. And this is understandable because they are very bad."

"I can't be like Jesus right now, so I’m going to be like Peter" *clenches fists*

Spiritual Thought: perfected sight

Theres a quote I remember from a poster on the wall of one of my high school teachers' classrooms. I don’t remember who said it, but it says that "we don't see things how they are, we seem as we are." To me, this means that our outlook and experiences warp everything we see. The same event can be witnessed by two people and their recounts can be very different. It even works the other way. Good storytellers will emphasize different aspects of a story to better fit the audience. This does not mean that the event was fictitious or unreal. Kinda cool to think about. Another quote I know is from Moroni 7:48, which says, "when He [meaning Jesus Christ] shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is". When Christ comes again in his Glory, we will be perfected in him, and the things we see imperfectly will be fixed, and we will comprehend all that we need to comprehend. Know that questions will arise, and answers may be left unknown, but Jesus Christ knows all and sees all. He will make all things right if we put our faith in Him. I testify that he loves each of you perfectly and wholly. He suffered, died, and rose again so that each one of you can be like our Heavenly Father, being perfected in Christ, and receiving a fullness of Joy. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Tender Mercy: Every week on Sunday, four missionaries are randomly assigned to give a 5-7 minute sermon/talk/discourse in Português, with no warning. I hadn’t been assigned yet these last weeks, so I assumed that this week I'd for sure be chosen. So I began preparing my talk. Since I am only 35% fluent (we took a test), I can really only testify of the simple things. I was not chosen, but having the opportunity to write of such simple things brought me so much joy and comfort.

Português word of the week: cara

This word literally means "face"

But it can be so many different words. One of my favorite translations is "dude". Along with its five or so uses as a standalone word, it has like five other meanings when out in a sentence. For example, it can mean expensive (makes no sense).

Photos:

1. I love that there are trees everywhere, even in the city

2. Temple

3. MTC Courtyard Garden

4. Chocolate pizza

5. Triple banana

6. Triple Banana (exclusive angle)

7. Church meme