(Elder Mackrory)
Boa tarde a todos!
Happy segunda-feira! I hope everyone is doing well. This
week was quite eventful, so I'll get right into it.
On pday we went to central Rio. It was pretty awesome. We
went to the old Brazilian bank museum and they had all sorts of money on
display. I took so many photos. They had an exhibit that was a glass of water.
That's it. It wasn't even water. It was acrylic in an acrylic cup. I found it
funny. We also invited Elders Patterson and Lulich to be with us since we were
in their area and because it was Elder Sousa Silvas last pday in Rio. We went
and saw some arches and some super cool stairs. The stairs have all sorts of
mosaic tiling and lots of little pieces of art. We even found a tile with the
salt lake temple on it. We asked a dude to take our photo and he was really
nice to us. So nice to the point where I thought he was a member of the church.
Nope. Turns out he's just Canadian. Good pday.
On Wednesday we found out about transfers. Turns out I'm
going back out far from the city! Not quite as far as Macaé, but I’m in a
little City called Búzios, near Cabo Frio. We spent the entire day packing
because Thursday was already completely booked. That night Elder Sousa Silva
and Elder de Oliveira left for the mission office because Elder Sousa Silva had
a flight early morning Thursday to Mozambique. Sad parting with both of them,
but I’m glad they have completed their service in Rio. Elder de Oliveira is
finishing his mission and Elder Sousa Silva's visa finally arrived to go to his
original mission call in Mozambique.
On Thursday I had the greatest day of my mission. Maybe of
my life. With Sheila, Camila, and Sheila's daughter (who will be baptized here
pretty soon) we went to the temple!!! Since it was their first time in the
temple, my mission president allowed us to go without switching our pday. The
Bishops wife also came to support them and it was awesome. I can't express it.
We ended up leaving later than we planned, because both Camila and Sheila said
"This place makes me want to stay forever". Now they're hyped to
return to the temple after doing a bit of their own family history work. Also,
as a surprise for them both, I invited Elder Kjar to be with us too! It was an
awesome experience all around.
On Friday, transfers happened and I left. We got to the
mission office way early instead of just checking uber prices, we accidently
called one. Luckily I had my stuff all ready already, but I did forget my
pillow in the rush. After a long uber drive, I got to meet my new companion!
He's fresh out of the CTM and I’m excited to be his first companion in the
field. This means I’m training him. His name is Elder Reis and he's from São
Paulo. After a long bus ride we arrived in our new house! It sits like a five
minute walk from the beach. The previous Elders said they left the place very
clean, so I was excited to not have to clean up. Nope. I'm so very scared for
the condition the house was in if what I found was "clean". So that's
fun.
On Saturday we activated Elder Reis mission credit card and
got our food. With some other delays, we weren't able to make our lunch until
4:30pm. But we made pretty good stroganoff. The supermarket has so many
varieties of everything. I bet if I went to the meat counter I could ask for
swordfish and they'd say "how much do you want". I got a pillow next
to the chip aisle.
On Sunday we went to sacrament meeting and I played the
piano. When people started bearing testimonies, I was very surprised. The
previous Elders told me that there are tons of Hispanics in this area and I
just brushed it off thinking it was an exaggeration. Nope. 50% of the
testimonies were in Spanish. So what I learned is that I understand Spanish
about 80%. But it was really cool.
It was a really unique week, and I’m excited for the next 6
here in Búzios! See yell next week!
SummaRio:
1. We spent pday in Central Rio visiting all sorts of cool
locations and accidently entered into a restricted military area.
2. Said goodbye to Elder Sousa Silva and found out I'm being
transferred!
3. Went to the temple with Sheila, her daughter, Camila, and
Elder Kjar! It was awesome.
4. Friday was transfers! I'm going to Cabo Frio and training
a Greenie! Fresh out of São Paulo.
5. Cool supermarket in my area
6. Our branch is half Hispanic. Pretty cool. Time to learn
Spanish.
Tender Mercy: Since neither me nor my companion know the
area, it's really difficult to continue. Thankfully, our zone leader just came
from this area so he's here to help us at any time. From what I know that's not
very common to happen.
Spiritual Thought:
Wisdom and Understanding is the only thing we will take with
us to the next life. No money, precious teddy bear, or favorite t-shirt will
make it. This makes Wisdom and understanding of unequal value. But what is
wisdom? What is understanding? Job asserts: "And unto man he said, Behold,
the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is
understanding". I invite you all to read all of Job chapter 28. It's one
of my new favorites.
Fotos:
1. Temple with Everyone
2. Fire CS Lewis quote
3. Elder Reis and me
4. Senna mural
5. Staircase
6. Arches
7. Ancient library
8. 20 thousand Brazilian reals
9. Cup of water (ooooh fascinating)
10. Temple mosaic
11. Everyone with the arches
12: me at the top of the stairs
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