A Foot or Two: And I go back to December all the time

(Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus queridos irmãos, irmãs, familiares, e amigos. Tá show aí?

Essa semana também vi 21 fuscas, totalizando 1065.

How y'all doing? This week was fun. Last pday we were gonna hike up a big hill. But then it rained really hard Sunday night and the trail was super muddy. So we canceled pday and stayed home.

With exception to the weekend, all the days this week blurred together. Every day we had rehearsal for stake conference. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the stake presidency asked every ward and branch to prepare a musical presentation of one of the hymns from the updated hymnbook. Our branch got hymn number 1004, “Quero Andar Com Cristo”. Since I'm unofficially officially the branch pianist, my companion and I had to be there. When you do the same thing every morning and night, and the afternoon is the only thing that varies, it's difficult to tell days apart. But here are some things that happened:

Our baptism date Luiz ghosted us for like 3 days

He responded

We marked a time to speak to his dad (we need him to sign the baptism form)

His dad is willing to sign, but he didn't want to right then. We told him we'd talk to him the next day, but then he canceled, so unfortunately the baptism couldn't take place this Sunday.

We remarked his baptism for next Sunday. We will see if his dad will sign.

We met this guy José who has a motorbike from the 80's that looks and functions like new. His 2003 vw golf Is in a similar condition and looks as good as it gets given its inherent ugliness.

It's mango season

Saturday: wake up and study, pack a bag, eat lunch, dress in a suit and take a bus for an hour and a half down to the stake center. Upon arrival, rehearse the song and help set up chairs. The recital went really well except for that the piano in the primary room is better than the one in the sacrament hall. Some keys were heavy and others had no weight at all. But it went well. Since the adult session was next, no ward had thought to include kids in the presentation. So we stole the show with a 7-year-old soloist. So cute. During the adult session, the Macabu branch had to leave because of the bus schedule, leaving Elder Mena and I the only people in the front two pews. So you better believe the general authority seventy was staring us down during his hour long talk. I've never done so much smiling and nodding in my life. But it was good. He answered and tackled some tough questions and topics that most tend to avoid. Afterwards, I got to see Kaique from my first area, Cavaleiros! Super good to see him, so good in fact that we forgot to take a photo. After the meeting, we left with the dope ward mission leader from the Macaé ward (Alessandro and Gabriela) for… pause for effect… SPEED BURGER!! It's been like 10 months since I've ordered stuff from my favorite burger place in Rio. Would you believe that the burgers got better? So good. The Açaí: the same. Perfect. Seriously made me so happy. As we left, I started leading the way back to the house out of old habit. The house I lived in has since closed due to some “arguments” between the police and the local gang. There's much much more to that story, but not on a missionary email. But anyway I started off to the house and Elder Patterson asked where I was going. Now the elders live in the opposite direction. That was weird.

Sunday: Someone turned off my alarm before I woke up. So I didn't wake up until 6:35. Took a cold shower because, while they told me the shower head has a tendency to break, they did not tell me it was currently broken. We walked to church, and it's packed. This conference also included the Cabo Frio ward (buzios), and the São Pedro da Aldeia Branch. So everyone from 3 of my 4 areas was there. Lots of “what are you doing here??” “Wow, how long has it been?” “where are you serving?” “Macabu!? That's really far”. I took a picture with Douglas and Kamila, but Kaique wasn't there unfortunately. I got to take a selfie on an iPhone 15. Super nice. I don't know if I mentioned it a while back, but at zone conference I confirmed lunch yesterday with a sister with whom we had lunch so many times in Cavaleiros. As we talked with her about what time we should get there, she said that lunch would be at her sister's house who lives near the chapel. Awesome. No travel. She then informed us that it would be a churrasco. We thanked her and I went chin held high to the other Elders to brag about our churrasco. Turns out they had churrasco lunch too. Learned a lesson about humility. But then they told us it was the same churrasco and they were invited. Epic. The sisters left early to help prepare the food and we stayed back helping with chairs and chatting. We left together with the Elders and soon arrived at the churrasco. But the sisters weren't there. Minutes later, we got a message from them. “Where are you?” we responded, “at the churrasco. Where are you?”. “At the churrasco”. They sent their location and it turns out we went to the wrong missionary churrasco. Macaé life is pretty good, huh? We show up at the right churrasco and now things make sense. I helped cut the meat into bite sizes as it came off the grill. This is my favorite position because it includes the “responsibility” of taste testing the steaks as they come off. Every steak was good. After lunch, I gave the most fire lunch message I've ever given. It had everything. Opening hymn, interactive activity, Jewish history, personal anecdote, Book of Mormon, and best of all, repentance. Again, we forgot to take photos and left for Macabu.

Tender Mercy: I had the opportunity to give a blessing to a member who was feeling really stressed out. During and after the blessing I was feeling really down and feeling like I didn't do as good as I could have done. I could have made less grammatical errors and used a more formal tone. I could have used a different word here or there. As I mulled over these thoughts, the sister expressed that I had used phrasing, promised blessings, and gave counsel in a way that showed her the divinity of the words I spoke. My unsure and doubtful thoughts went away at that moment and learned and realized that when Satan realizes that you are speaking by the Holy Ghost, he will try everything to make you feel inadequate, trust in yourself, or give up. As you heed to none of these thoughts, the Spirit flows more clearly in your mind even if these thoughts do not go away.

Spiritual Thought: Consecration

Lately, I've been studying a lot in the “Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young”. In the coming weeks, you may notice that my spiritual thoughts follow what I am currently reading. This thought comes from a study two weeks ago that has not left my mind.

“How long have we got to live before we find out that we have nothing to consecrate to the Lord—that all belongs to the Father in heaven; that these mountains are His; the valleys, the timber, the water, the soil; in fine, the earth and its fulness? Where then is the sacrifice this people have ever made? There is no such thing. They have only exchanged a worse condition for a better one, every time they have been moved; they have exchanged ignorance for knowledge, and inexperience for its opposite.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-brigham-young/chapter-22?id=p29-p30&lang=eng#p29

Nothing that we have is ours. Everything is a gift from the Lord. Even our own free will, which can never be taken from us, is a trait that the Lord helped us develop in the premortal realm. Do we see that we must be willing to give up everything to receive everything? Seeking for true liberty from worldly desires? Give of your substance to those in need. Fulfill the purpose for which God gives you such substance. In having charity, we have everything, for truly without it we are nothing.

1. Douglas, Kamila and I

2. Us at the wrong churrasco

3. Us after the right churrasco

4. Pior que é verdade

5. Speedburger

6. This bug is a wanna-BEE. Get it? (I'm laughing so hard at my own joke)

7. Irmã Eliane makes the Best lunch in Macabu