(Elder Mackrory)
Boa tarde pessoal! Tudo bem?
This week gets a high five. Really great week. Let's get
going. I saw 10 fuscas this week for a total of 526. This week was transfers,
I'll let you know what happened. But we gotta start from the beginning.
On pday we went to the Cachoeiras, or as I like to call them
“água quedas”. We went with the Elders from Piabetá because the waterfalls are
in their area. It was nice to see Élder Owen before he got transferred. It was
a lot of fun. It started out with a hike, so I decided to go full Brazilian and
wear flip-flops. Worked out great actually. No problems. I did however burn the
tops of my feet. Then we went to a really cheap açaí place where 1 litre is
R$15. So naturally everyone got a litre. I didn't finish it and took it home
instead and ate it throughout the week. When we got home I made my favorite
South African desert, Milk Tart. It's really easy so I'll be making it a lot
more. When I finished making it, Élder Sousa Silva said that it's a Brazilian
desert. So that's nice.
On Tuesday I had a division with Élder Rojas, who was transferred
here when I got here. After a good day of work, we hit the supermarket for a
drink. Holy moly I'd never been in a supermarket this big. Last week I said the
same thing but this was on a different level. Normally the supermarkets are
about the size of your average Albertson’s or Aldi’s. This was a full on
Costco. When I got back with Élder Kjar, we went to the Birthday party of
Juarez, one of our investigators. He's awesome. The only one that shows up to
English class and actually studies. He loves to learn, especially about the
Gospel. I smell a baptism.
On Wednesday we got transfer news, aaaaaand: I'm staying!
And so is Élder Kjar! He's the first companion with whom I've spent more than 6
weeks. It's gonna be great. But transfer news was insane. Of the 80 or so
companionships in the mission, only 6 stayed together. The entire mission just
got turned upside down. Actually, Élder Patterson and Élder Sousa Silva stayed
together too! Our house feels like we're halfway through a 13 week transfer.
Usually during transfer week, numbers (lessons, new people, lessons with
members etc.) are really low because 3 days are spent either packing bags,
traveling, or saying goodbye to members. Elder Kjar and I don't have to worry
about that, so we decided right then and there to win district council. Not
that that is our motivation, but our numbers are gonna be insane.
Thursday we had Sandra with us and we went around contacting
people that we visited on that one fateful Thursday and it was great. João, who
went to church and then had tons of doubts, received us well and he considered
coming to church again and accepting the lessons. Later that night we did not
have our English class because no one came (Juarez had a genuine excuse). We
just did our weekly planning instead.
Friday was pretty unremarkable, just lessons walking.
Saturday we visited Iraci who has a baptismal date. We talked about the
covenant she's planning to make and she actually was really excited. She also
remembered her baptismal date which is rare. Really excited for her. We also
visited Maria and she had questions about the plan of salvation. We haven't
taught her about the plan of salvation. She just has good questions and is
reading and retaining the Book of Mormon.
On Sunday, we had lunch with a member of the Bishopric and
his family. Last time we were there they asked about American lunches. I told
them that sandwiches were pretty standard and that bread in general was bigger.
So they took that to mean that bread is one of the main courses. It's not
exactly true, but I won't complain about bread. It's was really good and the
Brother made lots of dad jokes that don't translate well into English, so I'll
just let you guys imagine how funny they were. We then went out to a section of
our area (safe area) where there weren't a lot of people on our records. We did
some street contacting that was really successful. We even met an inactive
member who does not have a Bible, so we are coming back sometime this week to
give her one that we have in the house. We sent her a picture of the Bible and
she CHANGED IT TO BE HER PROFILE PIC. So somebody is excited about the Bible.
She also speaks really formally and with correct grammar which is refreshing
and rare.
That's it everyone, hope y’all are recovering well from
daylight savings. Tough life.
SummaRio:
10 fuscas, 526 total
We went to the waterfalls for pday and I did the hike in
flip flops
On Tuesday I went on a division with Élder Rojas and went to
a humongous supermarket. Absolutely huge.
Élder Kjar and I are both staying in this area for another 6
weeks! More than 90% of the mission changed, and we stayed. Pretty wild.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were filled with lessons and
good progress.
On Sunday we had bread for lunch and found someone who does
not have a Bible (I didn't know that was allowed in Brasil).
Tender mercy: on Sunday it was really hot. No wind, high
humidity, and sun. Awful. I did not want to work. But I put my head down and
got to work and then after that I didn't notice the heat, and we had cloud
cover for most of the time. It was also a tender mercy that almost every house
we visited offered us water. This actually happens quite often. I'm not very
good at wording things like this to sound powerful, but when it is 100° and
100% humidity and you don't think it's a problem, the Lord is with you.
Spiritual thought: A brother in our ward talked about Faith
in Sacrament meeting. He likened faith to a canoe in a lake. Having hope for
better times and knowing that Christ is our savior is one oar. But with just
this, what is rowing going to do? You will just go in circles. As soon as you
act on that faith, as soon as you do something to demonstrate that faith, you
add a second oar. Now you're getting somewhere. Now that you know this analogy,
you have one oar, but what are you going to do about getting that second oar?
How do you use works to make your faith real?
Tchau Tchau valeu!
Elder Mackrory
Fotos:
1. Super crazy sick bike we found
2. TAKIS CAME TO BRASIL
3. Flowers
4. Super crazy sick spider I found
5. Street pigs
6. Tub of açaí
7. Look at my calf- I mean the waterfall
8. Waterfall with the boys
9. Waterfall
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