A Foot or Two: Vintage tee, brand new phone

(Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde pessoal! Tudo joia?

Gostei desta semana, conseguimos muito. Inclusive, vi 23 fuscas! Só faltam 3 até 900!

Hey y’all, Elder Mackrory here. It's been a good week! Let's get into it. Last pday we just stayed at home and chilled. Honestly my favorite kind of pday. We had a meeting with the mission to discuss some changes being made to how we have lunch. The purpose of lunch with members was to help the missionaries save money and get to know the members. the focus is being changed. Now it is no longer to economize, but to strengthen the members and help them focus on the missionary work. As such, we will no longer be able to receive pix (Brazilian venmo) when members cannot offer lunch at home. In these circumstances, we just have to use our own missionary support funds to make lunch. This will be a big change from the norm. We don’t have all the details, but this change will take effect starting in October. After the meeting, we had our usual lesson with the part member family from Argentina (different family). Pretty average pday.

On Tuesday we had district council, and this change is making missionários bonkers. I'm totally OK with it, but apparently outside of our house, it's a big big deal. People are worried about going hungry on the mission and totally overreacting. It'll be fine. Promise. Just learn how to cook.

On Wednesday we had a super cool lesson with Jamile who is the neighbor of my favorite sassy Venezuelan grandma, with whom we had lunch on Saturday past. She was excited to hear our message.

On Thursday, we got unexpected news. First, I got a message from the ZL's asking if I could lead the music at zone conference the next day. So I said sure, no biggie. Then they said, “actually, do you wanna do a solo?” So I said “maybe, what's the song?” “I dunno, you choose”. So yeah. So I quickly give it a look on the gospel music app and find the only song that has sheet music and a recording of the accompaniment. Thank goodness it was I Am a Child of God. Quickly memorized the lyrics in Portuguese, and started practicing. We didn't have any confirmed appointments in the evening, so I was able to get the music down. Great to be able to get lots of notice for things.

Friday morning we left the house early and headed to Cabo Frio. Got to see my good friends Elder Patterson and Elder Roberts. Got news from the missionaries in my first area that Kamila and Douglas are being sealed next month and that Kaique is still being taught! Just good news from that area. The solo went very well, although it had been more than a year since my last solo, and so for some reason I was really shaky. The assistant to the president behind me was ready to catch me because he thought I would fall. But on the other side of the pulpit it looked alright I hear.

I also got to switch my phone out! By luck, the mission office had a newer phone available. It's a A23. Same year and line as the other one, but not the base model. Camera is nice, slow-motion capabilities, faster processor, and for some reason the font size can be smaller, which I really like. A friend of mine, Elder Hayes, who was actually Elder Kjar’s comp in the MTC, traded cases with me. Def won that trade. I basically ended up with an otterbox and he got some yellowing silicone case. He proposed the trade, his loss. The only thing I didn't like about the case is it made it hard to access the fingerprint sensor. A knife and red hot spoon made short work of that problem.

On Saturday we had English class. I figured out that Brazilians have a hard time hearing the difference between “thirty” and “forty”. They all think the TH sound is impossible. That and making the “L” sound at the end of a word. “I will learn to say thank you” becomes “I wiu lawn choo say fanku/tanku”.

Sunday we had lots of changes! We had a special meeting in Cabo Frio with our two branches. Our branch was discontinued and absorbed into the other branch. And apparently it will turn into a ward next week. Why they didn't make all the changes next week beats me, but for this week and this week alone, I'm serving the Cabo Frio branch. We had two lessons yesterday in the farthest neighborhood in our area. Because money is always tight, we decided to take the bus direct to there. But that meant we did about an hour of study in Cabo Frio before the time came for us to catch the bus. We had amazing lessons and met Jamile’s daughter Yasmin.

That's It for this week. Super good.

Tender mercy: We had something come up at the last minute before catching the bus on Sunday, and we almost missed the bus. By some miracle, we were able to make 19 minutes of travel in 11 minutes. Barely made the bus.

Spiritual Thought:

In Portuguese, the lyrics to hymns often change drastically to make the words fit with the music. In I am a Child of God, they do not. Each line corresponds to their English counterpart. The wording changes, but the same truths are taught. Why are these Truths so important? Why does knowing about our divine origin and potential have so much import?

1. I am a child of God,

I am here because of him.

He sent me to earth, gave me a home,

And such good parents for me.

Teach me, help me to keep God's laws

So that one day I may go and live with him.

2. I am a child of God,

Do not forsake me

And today begin

To teach me the laws.

Teach me, help me to keep God's laws

So that one day I may go and live with him.