(Elder Mackrory)
Boa noite meus amigos e familiares! Tudo certinho aì?
Essa semana vimos bastante fusca. 29. Acho que o total agora
é 1111. Sem chance. Pois é.
Hello everyone. This week was super crazy full of things.
On pday last, we spent time at the Macaé chapel and played
some soccer. We also were able to finally buy some much needed Tupperware for
the house. We ended up sleeping over at the aeroporto house that night so that
we could save some money on travel.
In the morning we had district council and headed back to Macabu.
We had an awesome lesson with José, a nice old man who cares very well for his
little 2003 VW Gol (not to be confused with Golf). Unfortunately he's almost
blind so we will be making many visits to do some reading with him.
On Wednesday we went to the same neighborhood as José to be
able to read with him, but he wasn't home so we went finding. We found an sweet
old illiterate couple who were so intrigued by the little intro of the Plan of
Salvation we gave them. that night we had English class, but no one came, so I
decided to clean our area book. I was able to organize our dots so that they
were confined to Brasil, but it's gonna be a job and a half to consolidate all
of it. Real satisfying work.
On Thursday we traveled to the farthest feasible
neighborhood only to have our lesson fall. Oh well we took some good fotos and
I spoke some cow. I had a panic session because the “Books and Lessons” section
in gospel library was gone. That's where all the teachings of the Presidents
are and I love those books.
On Friday we had zone conference. In Cabo Frio. Like 4 hours
away. So we got up at 5 am to catch our 5:50 bus. We got on and arrived at the
bus station in Macaé about 7:20. We get on another bus and it takes us to Cabo
Frio. Books and lessons came back. On the way I finished reading the teachings
of John Taylor. Super sick guy. We arrived promptly for zone conference and
started. Awesome talks and trainings and food. I meant to geek out with the
mission president about my spreadsheet but another suck-up besides me took the
seat next to him. Oh well there's always interviews. After zone conference, we
left for the bus. We walked 40 minutes to the bus Station, took a bus to Macaé,
and then took our bus to Macabu. We arrived in our area at 8:48pm. So I managed
to organize a few more dots in our area book. 9 total hours of travel.
On Saturday we walked a whole ton. We again walked to the
farthest neighborhood for an appointment we marked with a man we found when our
last appointment fell. Too bad this appointment fell too. Oh well then we
walked all the way back to the other extremity of our area and on the way
talked to Selma, an inactive member. She gave us some bomb mango juice. Then we
went and taught the illiterate couple from a few days ago. They ate up the
first half of the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon.
On Sunday we went to church, and Selma came! She hasn't been
to church in 12 years and I'm so surprised the members recognized her and made
her feel at home. That was a win. We then left to teach the couple from
Saturday, this time with an RM. The lesson was fire, they totally loved 3 Nephi
11.
So needless to say, we're exhausted today, which is why the
email is coming in a bit late. But it was such a bomb week. We were so busy
that not much happened other than work. I guess that's a good thing.
Tender Mercy: for whatever reason, our morning bus was a but
late on the day of zone conference. This was extremely worrying for me because
we could not arrive late at the bus station. Our next bus was not a public
transport, but a ticket system, so we can't miss it. We were arriving close to
the city at about the time the other bus should be pulling out. It should have
been all over. In this thought, I look out the back of the bus, and there is
our next bus, waiting in traffic. For whatever reason (likely divine) the next
bus was late as well. Had we missed the second bus, we simply wouldn't have
gone to zone conference.
Spiritual Thought:
3 Nephi 11:14:
Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands
into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and
in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the
whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.
My initial thought upon reading this is that Christ wanted
to prove Himself to the people. But upon reading this next verse, I realized
that that couldn't have been it:
3 Nephi 19:35
And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of
praying he came again to the disciples, and said unto them: So great faith have
I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great
miracles, because of their unbelief.
So. The people of Nefi were among the most faithful, so why
was it that Jesus proved Himself to them? Well, actually, the point of feeling
His scars was not only that they would have a perfect knowledge of His
divinity, but to have a personal and one on one connection with Him. They all
fell to the earth as He announced Himself. There's the faith. Then he said that
they all went, one by one, to have a personal experience and connection with
the Savior. This taught me a great truth, that the love that God has for us is
not only real, but is as much individual as it is collective. He announced
Himself to the group, but ministered to the one.
Fotos:
1. French fries are better here
2. Zone conference lunch
3. Scenic route
4. I told them to look at the camera
5. How many shades of green?
6. Sorcetinho nunca machucou ninguém
7. Central terminal in macae
8. I think a mooshroom left that there
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