It was one drink after another

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus fechamentos. Como vai?

Essa semana vi 8 fuscas, mas tudo bem porque nem faz uma semana.

Last pday we did some cool things. As I woke up, I drank like a liter of water. About half an hour later I did the same. And so on it went until like 9h30. So I’m going to the bathroom all the time now, but it's worth it. You’ll see. First we went to get haircuts, and the guy did an ok job, but he did it super fast. It took like 10 minutes. Then we went to a store to grab our things and I got some R$5,00 juice that I like to freeze and then l make it into a slushy. After that we had to book it to the other side of the pond from president’s house to meet him, his wife, the senior couple Butters, and the rest of our district at Rio Brasa. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it's the kind of restaurant that is all you can eat, and they bring around all sorts of the best meats. That’s why all the water. I needed my stomach stretched out without filling it. So after about 8 times in the bathroom, I’m ready to eat. I don’t have meat vocabulary so they just said gibberish as I nodded yes with a full mouth. Good times. I tried caviar, its pretty bad. I would much rather let the fish grow up and then fry it. We were nearing the end of the course, so Brother Butters was a goat and asked to bring around grilled pineapple. And they did. But not just any grilled pineapple, this one was glazed with cinnamon sugar. Easily the best pineapple I’ve ever tasted. The caramel sugar with soft and sweet pineapple. And its finished off by a slight cinnamon taste. So freaking good. Then we went to the office and I finished up my email and sent it out. Good pday. But still second to the temple pday this transfer. I also factory reset my phone because it was glitching so much.

On Tuesday, we had district council, and I did training on testimony bearing. Super good. Learned a lot from my companion. Afterwards we had our round table meeting with President and Sister Dutson, the Butters, and the other secretaries. They really liked my updated white board that I drew last week. After that we had interviews and President and I talked about sanctification and his PHD dissertation. Really fun conversation. I did some references and unfortunately there were tons that arrived this weekend and the number got to 106, but I managed to get it back down to a reasonable number. I don’t remember what it was. But then we went to dinner and had Cuzcuz, goated.

On Wednesday, we went to buy blank SIM cards. In my manual it says we have to go to the Rio Sul Mall, like 20 minutes away, but we asked around and it turns out the same phone store exists in the mall like two minutes away. After lunch, Elder Ribeiro’s mouse simply stopped working. So we went to like 4 different stores to find a new one. Barely made it back to the office for the weekly Social Media meeting. That night we taught Marcel who came to church last Sunday. He’s progressing nicely.

On Thursday, we made tacos for lunch, they turned out really good. Then, out of nowhere, President Dutson’s first counselor showed up with a car full of old material from the church. As he was delivering air conditioning to the houses, he also was cleaning them out, taking old, torn up books that no-one will ever use, and lots of other things. If there was any need for these things in another place, he would save it. So all we got was the leftovers. Really trashed material.

Friday was a stellar day. The day was pretty normal during the office hours, but when 18h rolled around, we left for the temple. We didn’t need to switch our pday since it was Vinicius’ first time. He got a ride with the Elders quorum president, and we went in an uber with a member of the bishopric. During the uber ride, we got talking with the driver because he was curious about the missionaries. But then the conversation switched around and we basically taught the entire restoration and invited him to take a tour of the outside of the temple with us. It was a long shot, but he accepted. We showed him around the next door church building and then we brought him into the waiting room. He was absolutely amazed by all of it, and we then gave him a Book of Mormon and he was just overcome with excitement. Then he left and we were able to go in and do some baptisms for some of Vinicus’ grandparents. Super cool experience all around. We called another uber home, this time with Vinicius. Since we were coming home at night, we got to see the super cool lights of Rocinha (the biggest slum in all of Brasil). It looked like the fullest night sky. Super pretty from outside. Not so pretty inside.

Well, this was short, so I think I’ll refrain from writing a SummaRio.

Terna Misericórdia:

This week, the number of media referrals that we are receiving went up a lot. So I asked in the mission group if there was anyone who was not receiving many referrals that would be willing to help carry some of the load. Guys, so many people sent me messages. We were able to handle the new referrals to the point that there weren't enough referrals to go around.

Pensamento Espiritual:

Obadiah 1:21 “And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”. At first glance, we might think “saviourS? isn’t there only one Savior?” And yes, you’re right to a certain degree. The Lord has permitted us to perform a work that others cannot do for themselves, but that is necessary for their salvation. Is that not what the Savior did for us? In the temple we have the opportunity to perform ordinances for those who cannot do them for themselves. In the temple (mount Zion), we can be saviors for our ancestors and others who are needing their work done. Go to the temple and serve those who can’t serve themselves.