(Elder Mackrory)
Fala pessoal!
Well, I do like the awkward "well it’s been a good
week!" Intro, so we'll start with that.
Well, it's been a good week. The work has been slow for a
few reasons. I'll explain further down, but I've had lots of time to study and
reflect. This email will be long, so buckle up.
One reason is that my companion came down with some sort of
cold on Tuesday, so he has had body aches. We weren't able to work Tuesday or Wednesday
other than cell phone contacting. It might have been related to his migraine
last week. But both days allowed me to have many hours essentially to myself to
study.
During high school, I seldom studied. I hated going over the
same material that we covered the same day. It seemed pointless. Especially English.
Why was I required to take 12 years of it when I'm already fluent? If anything,
I should study another language. Learning Portuguese has taught me more about English
than I've been taught in any recent English class. Anyway, I seldom studied
because I wasn't learning anything new. I would prefer to self-teach myself and
then go to school to receive help and be assessed. Now, everything is
different. I love to study. When I reread scriptures, I'm not reading them to
reinforce stories or memorize references. I'm reading to apply that story to my
life right now and to the lives of those I teach. Those things are always
changing, and so the same passage of scripture means something completely
different when read a second, third, or another time. That is why the story of
Adam and Eve that occurred thousands of years ago still applies in our day.
Those days at home, I also got some very good workouts in.
Since coming to the field, I've pretty much worked out every day. I've seen
tons of strength increase, and recently, it has been visible. Apart from daily
exercise, I also do pushups from my reading goal. I've finished the 1325
make-up ones, and so the 5 pushups a page is very easy, so I've started mixing
in more difficult variations: one-arm, diamond, archer, and pike Each of them
focuses on a slightly different muscle group. With all of them, I will be able
to have balanced growth.
On Wednesday night (Elder Avelino was feeling better), we
helped the Elders of Macaé move some stuff to their next house (it happened).
This is fine except for one thing. Their next house is ours. I and Elder
Avelino aren't being transferred, but there will now be 6 Elders in an
apartment that would be crowded with 4. That afternoon, we found out, and I
moved my desk into my room and consolidated a lot of my stuff. I like the setup
better since I'm able to have my desk adjacent to my bed instead of in another
room. We carried fans and mattresses and suitcases my foot the mile to our
house. It took many trips to complete, and we grabbed the bare minimum. Then,
once we were settled, I found out that the AP's would be staying at our place
for the night, making the total 8. It was insane.
On Thursday, we had Zone Council. The Assistants to the
president were in town for splits and so it was pretty cool to have them here.
One of them was recently called from our district last transfer, so it was fun
to catch up. The other AP is from Portugal and has an interesting accent. He
used words that are equivalent to "thee," thou", and
"thy" that are a little strange in Brazil, but very common in Portugal.
His English is very good, but it caught me off guard because the first time I
heard him speak it, he said (in a perfect American accent) "we gotta
bounce." It was kinda weird not gonna lie.
Friday, we had a Zone conference. Zone conferences consist
of two zones as opposed to zone council, which is just one. I caught up with
Elders Smith, Robison, Owen, and Roberts. It was also super fun to talk to
people who arrived in the field two weeks ago. We had a churrasco and açaí. It
was pretty freaking awesome. We also got a bunch of people to ironically wear
the fattest tie they had. It was gloriously tacky. We might have even convinced
president to get on board with it next time. To the Elders in my mission
reading this, I'll need your help to secure this tradition we want to start.
Zone conference was two hours away, and so we had about 4
hours on the bus. I counted a total of 12 beetles in one day, making a new
daily record, and bringing the total to 200 exactly.
After zone conference, our district hit up speedburger.
Taylor swift recently had her Eras Tour here in Rio and so they put that on the
news. It was pretty cool. It makes sense that it was on the news, as it’s the
most important thing to happen here since the dedication of the temple. But I
think it made the news because of record heat. According to one member, there
were some places that got up to 59⁰C.
About the housing situation: We don't know for sure. The
mission hasn't secured a new apartment yet, and it could be the rest of the
transfer. Although that is pretty dreary, I hope I stay another transfer. The
members here are pretty rich and so Christmas is probably gonna go hard.
I moved rooms to be in the same room as my clothes. We're
three to a room right now, so that is important. Incidentally, it made me
closer to the fan, so I haven’t been sleeping hot since then.
On Saturday, I had a split with Elder Rojas. He is from
Mexico, but he lived in the US for a few years so he's pretty much fluent in English.
What I learned is that Spanish is remarkably similar to Portuguese. He taught
me some rules for converting Portuguese words into Spanish, so now I know a ton
of Spanish words.
SummaRio:
1. My comp started the week out sick, so I got lots of study
and workout time.
2. Speaking of study, I actually enjoy studying now. In
school, studying was boring because I wasn't learning anything. Now, that is
really the whole purpose.
3. I'm introducing a lot of new variations of pushups to
continue to push myself on a goal that has become easy.
4. We helped the Elders of Macaé move. Into our house. We
are trying to make 6 people fit in our tiny apartment. And on top of that the
AP's slept over. 8 people in a two person apartment.
5. One of the AP's is from Portugal and has an interesting
accent.
6. Zone conference was super fun. I got to catch up with CTM
friends and make new friends.
7. The Fusca count is at 200.
8. It's really hot in Rio. The Eras Tour made the news as it
should, but I think it was on because of the extreme heat.
9. The Elders of Macaé will likely stay with us the rest of
the transfer.
10. I went on a split with Elder Rojas who is from Mexico. I
learned a lot of Spanish.
Tender Mercy:
When Elder Avelino was sick, the sisters brought us açaí! It
was a nice and simple pick-me-up. That's all.
Spiritual Thought:
2 Corinthians 4:17
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
If you find yourself in a tight spot, in the depths of the
darkest trial, or just a stinky day, know that that thing will pass, and when
you emerge, you will have a greater understanding and experience. Jesus Christ
has descended below all things. There is nothing the has happened, is
happening, or will happen that he has not experienced the feelings for. Look to
him and be comforted. Pray to Heavenly Father and act in faith to get through
the tough times. In the words of a dear friend, "tough times never last.
Only tough people last. "
Photos:
-super sick truck (possibly in a previous email, I've seen
it around before)
-the entire music industry in one photo
-flower
-bus selfish with Elder Rojas
-A Cidade Macaé
-random street that I thought was nice looking
-out of focus fighter jet on the bus ride to zone conference
-zone conf (feat. President)
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