(Elder Mackrory)
Opa minha família e meus amigos! Tudo tranquilo?
This week has been awesome, with lots of miracles and things
I learned. But of course, we must begin with the thing everyone wants to know:
The fusca count. It is up to 275. Something I've wondered is if I should start
counting classic VW vans. They are also very common. But I think it's too late
to do that.
Another thing I figured out: I likely have not seen that
many beetles. There are definitely some repeats since I am living in the same
town. But unless a car is in the same place as the last time, there is no way
to verify unless I record the VIN numbers on each of them, which is impossible.
This got me thinking about the Ship of Theseus. And I solved the problem. For
those who don't know, there is this thought problem known as the ship of Theseus.
The story goes that anciently, there was a dude named Theseus, and he had a
ship. As his ship bore the elements, he slowly replaced boards and sails until
every part of his ship had been replaced from the original. Was this ship still
the ship of Theseus? And if you were to gather all the old parts and rebuild
the ship, which of the two ships would be the real ship of Theseus? The answer
to the first one is yes. As he replaced parts, Theseus was redefining what “The
Ship of Theseus” meant. If the ship of Theseus once had red sails but now has
white sails, you could not truly say the ship of Theseus has red sails when the
sails are clearly white. The same is true of every board, rope, window, and
anchor. And while you could rebuild with all the old parts, you could only
build what once was the ship of Theseus. Just a thought.
It's steadily getting hotter here; we had lunch in a
restaurant where it was literally 90⁰ inside. I feel like I lost more weight
sweating than I gained from eating. It doesn't feel right that Christmas is
less than two weeks away, and I haven't had a whit of snow or the slightest
hint of winter. I'm starting to think it might be summer.
On Monday we had Zone Pday again. It was pretty fun, though
honestly my pdays lately have been full of answering emails. I will try to get
to everyone this week!
Tuesday and Wednesday, I had a split with Elder Schmuhl. His
area is super close, so it was nice not to have to take a bus anywhere. We set
a goal to give out 6 Book of Mormons (Books of Mormon?). I've done street
contacting before, but this goal made it almost an urgency to make contacts. It
gave all of our conversations a direction. Rather than just talking with them
about whatever principle and then giving them whatever pamphlet, the goals of
the contact were to (1) give them a Book of Mormon, and (2) get their phone
number. The conversations seemed more less forced or improvised since we knew
where we were going. We met some nice ladies just having a chat on the
sidewalk, and we started talking to me. One of them already had a Book of
Mormon, and so she said she would dust it off and read a little. The other two
we gave books. When taking their contact information, they told us that we
could stop by anytime because they are always out there chatting. So we gave
them the idea to read the Book of Mormon together. It was a pretty cool
experience.
On Thursday, I had a split with Elder Humerez. He is either
from Argentina or Bolivia. I don't know. When people ask where he's from, the
answer changes every time. He does have an Argentina jersey that he wears
sometimes, so perhaps there's a hint. It was a really hot day, and so it was a
tender mercy to have a lesson inside an air-conditioned clothes store. We made
some street contacts and all the typical things. One experience stands out when
we went to visit an inactive member family. When we visited her, she was very
open to receiving us, and we just chatted about things for about 20 minutes.
She had a 3 year old kid who was super cute and kept climbing to the fence to
get a better look at me. I probably shook his hand 40 times because he thought
it was hilarious. I think I have a new best friend. The sister talked about how
she needed to come back to church for her family's sake. It was a really cool
experience.
Something else kinda crazy happened on Thursday. Elder
Avelino got his visa. I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but Rio de Janeiro
North was not Elder Avelino's original call. He was called to Mozambique. He
was reassigned here due to his visa taking forever. Well, it finally came in.
His travel plans came as well, and he's leaving the day of transfers, so that's
really convenient. There's just one downside to this. Unfortunately, it makes
Elder Avelino very nervous. So much so that he's had a perpetual stomachache
and headache due to the anxiety. It's bad enough that we can't go out to do
work, and I am split between doing phone contacts and making sure Avelino is
drinking enough water and using the right medicine and cooking and cleaning and
studying and this and that and this and that. It's actually a busy schedule.
The last time we went out was Friday night to a Christmas
water show put on by the city. They set out buoys on the lagoon, some with
water jets, some with flame throwers, some with mortars, and one with a giant
metal light up Christmas tree. It was lit. One water jet sprayed out in a wall
of water that they used to project a sideshow on. Since basically everyone
would be there, we brought lots of pamphlets to give to people and talk a
little bit about the true meaning of Christmas. It was a lot of fun.
Cool thing about Portuguese: when someone says something
like “have a good day” or “pleased to meet you”, you can reply by saying the
same thing back, or by saying “you too”. But I thought it was interesting that
you can also say “Equally”, which I guess is like saying “likewise”. I just
find it interesting that almost every phrase has an equivalent, but it almost
never has a direct translation.
Less cool thing about Portuguese: one of the sisters, to get
the attention of my comp, called out the n-word. Elder Schmuhl and I were
completely taken aback and immediately started objecting. Everyone, including
the sister, was confused about why. Apparently, it's a normal thing here.
Apparently, it's not extremely offensive. So that's definitely not a trend I'm
going to hop on.
Big thing happening next week: TRANSFERS! Due to the housing
situation, there are likely going to be tons of changes that will happen this
week. I have literally no idea what will happen. One day I’m almost certain
that I'm staying here, and the next day, the Zone Leaders will be saying things
that make me sure I'm leaving. Then, the next day, a bit of rumors float my way
that make me sure I’m staying again. I don't know what to believe anymore. I do
know, however, that I will have a new companion. And that if I stay, there will
only be 4 Elders in the apartment. There's even possibilities of me being a
trainer, District Leader or even Zone Leader. The possibility is quite remote,
but not out of the picture. As of now, the current likelihood is that I will be
transferred to another area. We will see.
On Saturday was the ward Christmas party. In the freaking
jungle. It was amazing. We played Jenga and futevolei, which is volleyball
played with soccer rules (no hands!!). It’s pretty intense and I did better
than I thought. We had churrasco and açaí. Literally so good. Who knew
strawberry flavored açaí was so good?
Other than that, my workouts have been going well, I'm
seeing visible changes as well as significant strength increases. My studies
are going really well, I'm on track to finish the Book of Mormon and Jesus the
Christ by the end of the year.
SummaRio:
Counting vw beetles helped me solve the problem of Theseus's
ship
It’s weird having Christmas season in the hot summer
Tuesday and Wednesday I had a split with Elder Schmuhl. With
him, we gave out 6 Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons?) In about 2 hours. It was
lit.
Thursday I had a split with one of our ZL's, Elder Humerez.
We helped reactivate a member who hadn't been to church in a while. For me
that's as good as a baptism.
Elder Avelino got his Visa this week, so he'll be leaving
for his original mission call in Mozambique at the end of the transfer, which
is on Friday.
This wonderful news about Elder Avelino's visa has gotten
him feeling anxious to the point of a physical affect. We haven't been able to
work since then due to his awful stomachaches.
The ward Christmas party was freaking amazing. We had
Churrasco in the Jungle, futevolei, Açaí, and Jenga with a member who performed
surprisingly bad for a structural engineer.
Tender Mercy:
One of the nights Avelino was feeling under the weather, a
member calls us up and says “we're at your door with food”. And it was freaking
amazing food. Rice and beans like in every meal, but also this amazing beef
stew that tasted American. So freaking good. I don't know if you've noticed,
but most of my tender mercies have been food related. It's pretty cool how
Heavenly Father knows me like that.
Spiritual Thought:
The first thing Alma the younger says to his all his sons is
about keeping the commandments.
He said to Helaman:
“My son, give ear to my words; for I swear unto you, that
inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the
land.” Alma 36:1
He said to Shiblon:
“My son, give ear to my words, for I say unto you, even as I
said unto Helaman, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye
shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of
God ye shall be cut off from his presence” Alma 38:1
He said to Corianton:
“And now, my son, I have somewhat more to say unto thee than
what I said unto thy brother; for behold, have ye not observed the steadiness
of thy brother, his faithfulness, and his diligence in keeping the commandments
of God? Behold, has he not set a good example for thee?” Alma 39:1
The first law of Heaven is obedience. Likewise, it was the
first and most important thing Alma had to say to his sons. I invite all of you
to consider how Obedience is rooted in you. Is it only important when it's
convenient? Or is it important even when the immediate gratification of being
disobedient seems to be better than the last gratification of doing what is
right?
Deus vive! Jesus Cristo é o Salvador do mundo!
Elder Mackrory
Photos:
- Jungle Churrasco
- Unlimited Sausage
- converting Santa?
- our best investigator and the structural engineer at our
table
-water show
- amazing food
-view from the top floor
- flamethrowers and giant tree
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