On the boats in the water

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus conservos!

Vamoix la. Vi 4 fuscas, trazendo o total aos 1266.

Last pday we went to the Museum of Tomorrow. I thought it was kinda mid. It’s got some cool architecture, but it was just kinda either too abstract to understand or disheartening. there was a giant sphere that had things projected on it and we were inside. It was like a 360 movie theater. And I thought it would be a super cool presentation of whatever, but it ended up being a well edited montage of nature and urban scenes and some really majestic sounding voice saying garbage one-liners about humanity. The rest was a bunch of exhibits with cool factoids about culture and nature, ending with an exhibit on how climate change will end everything that we just saw. But instead of showing how we can help with all that like a cool museum would do, it just ended with a question “What are you gonna do about it, tomorrow?”. I thought the whole thing was kinda dumb. Then we went to eat lunch at the mall and went home to clean the house and relax. At night, however, we had one of the most productive nights. We probably sent like 80 messages to people and managed to control all of the people in our system, most of whom do not have interest. It was super satisfying to “clean out” our system so we can focus on what’s most important.

On Sunday we again had a great time. Sundays are kinda like my favorite days. We left home for church after calling a bunch of people. When we got there I helped set up the sacrament and got on reception. We had our usual Marcel and Rafael at church, and we also had our newer friends Geise and Lucia (not to be confused with Vera Lúcia, the recent convert from last week). They were both really nice and well accepted by everyone. We marked another lesson with both of them, and as we were leaving Geise says “in that call can we talk about when I can be baptized?” So life’s going well. We had an amazing lunch and I got the recipe. Then we had an amazing desert and I got the recipe. After church we went up to a very far part of my area to teach Colmar who went to stake conference. It was a really cool lesson, and he understood it well.

On Monday morning we had transfer news. And… even though I wasn’t expecting it, I was indeed transferred. Actually I and Elder Coutinho (another secretary) were transferred. My new area is still within the zone, and I’m glad about that. My comp is super cool, and I’ve lived with him already. But I didn’t have time to think about bags or my new area or anything, because now we need to arrange everybody’s travel. We did that, had our weekly meeting with president and went back to working on transfer stuff. I organized a lot so that on Wednesday when the guy who is taking my place in the area can easily see what’s going on. It was a lot of tying up loose ends. Afterwards I did my personal study and it was super cool. I read the chapter about kindness in the teachings of George Albert Smith. That night we went to teach a few people. During those lessons, I really felt that the Spirit was speaking through me. Instead of planning what I will say and kinda half-listening, I felt that I needed to just listen to the person and then speak. I found that the best words I could have said were put into my mouth and I felt a deeper love for the people. It’s annoying that I haven’t been fully applying this earlier. That night we called an uber with two elders who would sleep over that night due to fact that one of them was returning home on Tuesday and there weren't flight options on Wednesday. We arrived home a little late and I didn’t even have time to pack my bags. See a pattern?

On Tuesday we went straight to the office to finish up some logistics for the transfer and then we had district council, and the zone leaders showed up to give us ice cream because our district won a competition. We had a wonderful time and sang Love One Another for the opening and closing hymns. We had lunch with the assistants and went back to work. After working time we had dinner at the elders quorum president's house and had some of the best fried chicken of all time, followed by strawberry Açaí, my favorite. At night I was really tired and so I didn't have time to pack my bags.

On Wednesday morning I was woken up at 5am by some Elders who missed their bus, so we had to quickly get the computer out to switch their tickets. Then we went back to bed. At about 8am I met up with my new companion and we went to the office. There, I had a big list of things to take back or hand out. By some miracle, by lunch I managed to get all of it done. After lunch however, it wasn't any less busy because we had to get everyone kicked out of the chapel. By another miracle, everyone was gone by 14h45, which is a new record, especially given the fact that we started the meeting about 20 minutes late. Afterwards I did some normal office work for a bit so that I wouldn't get behind. Then we cleaned the chapel. A lot of pizza left over, we will not have to pay for lunch for the next 5 days. But wait, why am I still doing office work if I was transferred? Well, so I was transferred, but only to the next door area that was the area of the other two secretaries. We just switched up the companionships so that Elder Ribeiro could train Elder Coutinho how to be the executive secretary next transfer. So my new comp is Elder Vieira, from São Paulo. He's super fun, and speaks the best English I've heard from a Brazilian. Perhaps it helps that he lived in Utah for a year or two. So the fact that I didn't pack isn't a problem because I'm just switching bedrooms. Our house has four bathrooms so not even that changed. We might switch refrigerators since we have two. But now I have my own room just for my own wardrobe with a balcony. And did I mention that my area has Sugarloaf mountain and a part of Copacabana? Life’s good in the office.

On Thursday we had leadership council, and it was super good. We learned a lot about Christlike leadership, and how councils should be revelatory experiences. I felt the Spirit a lot, and ate well. Then someone asked for a copy of my spreadsheet. I wasn't even talking about it. So now I've got to translate it all into Portuguese, which you'd think would be easy, but a lot of the programs depend on English date input, and so that's a problem.

On Friday I went on a boat. On the other side of the Guanabara Bay is a city called Niterói. The fastest way to get there is by boat. There in Niterói we had to resolve some problems with gas and electric bills, but we didn't get it resolved because some other mission in Brazil (cough cough Vitoria) is giving the Church bad credit by not paying bills on time. That night we had a YSA dinner and had a super dope member lesson about the Plan of Salvation that I thought benefitted me more than it benefitted those we taught.

Tender Mercy: Really that lesson about the Plan of Salvation takes the cake this week. We focused a lot on the atonement and what it means for us. As my companion explained things, I felt a blessed assurance that my efforts were enough. Not that I should stop, but that I didn't need to worry so much about what I worry about. I felt that the Lord was with me in that moment and I felt that He had been with me before then as well.

Spiritual thought: This week I finished the teachings of George Albert Smith, and one of the things that marked me was this:

“We need have no fear if we do what the Lord has asked us to do. This is His world. All men and women are subject to Him. All the powers of evil will be controlled for the sake of His people, if they will honor Him and keep His commandments”

Sometimes we forget Who created this world. Sometimes we feel that we are far from Him. But He has set forth His commandments for those who live in the world. If we but follow these commandments, we have no reason to fear anything that may come.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-george-albert-smith/chapter-24?id=title6&lang=eng#title6

Fotos:

1. Elder Kjar's Rizz

2. Museum of Tomorrow

3. Presidents house (yes all 8 couches are necessary)

4. Lunch at presidents house

5. Me on the water

6. Good açaí makes your tongue black

And the story's got dust on every page

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus amigos e familiares! Essa semana foi muito boa, igual falo toda semana kkkk. Eu vi 4 fusacs, trazendo o total aos 1262.

Last pday was really cool, though I did get sunburnt a little bit. Anyway we went to a really famous favela, Vidigal. Vidigal sits right next to Rocinha, one of the most famous favelas in the world. At the top of this favela sits a really cool couple of mountains called Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers). We got in a van to get all the way up there, and then hiked the rest of the way. It was super dusty, and since I decided to do the hike in flip flops, my feet got super dirty. At the top was one of the coolest views of my life. It’s a rather pointy peak, and so there’s a 360 view that can see just the very tip of Barra da Tijuca all the way to my area in Flamengo. I could see Sugarloaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer, President Dutson’s house, Copacabana, Ipanema, and lots more. After some sick photos, we went down the hill again, which was now even dustier. We then sat at the beach and everyone but my companion and I bought super overpriced underportioned churrasco. Even at the beach it’s impossible to escape ads, because there were planes constantly flying by with big ad banners behind them. Afterwards we got some Coconut water, super cold. This was the first time in my life that I liked coco water. At night we filled the baptismal font and had the baptismal interview, and both worked out great. After nine, Elder Vieira cut my hair, I wanted a zero fade, but he wasn’t feeling confident enough to do it, so I grabbed the machine and took off all of my sideburns so that he had to give me a zero fade. Turned out really well, but since I was sunburnt from the hike, it made for some stark contrast.

On Sunday we had a good time. We had to get things ready for the baptism still, so it was a little hectic, especially since ward council went slightly overtime. There was an American couple there for which I translated the sacrament meeting. I really like translating. At the baptism, everything went well, and Vera was baptized. When I held out my hand to help her up the stairs, she fell backwards, scaring the crap out of me. Turns out she wanted to be dunked again, and fell on purpose. Not sure if it was the heat or her joy that made her do it, but my heart skipped a beat. Afterwards, she bore powerful testimony of how Christ had helped her get to where she was. It was super cool and inspiring. At lunch I made a tiny clay brahma ox that everyone thought was super cool. We had some visits planned, but they all fell through.

On Monday we had a cool lesson with Vinicius about My Covenant Path, and he was super excited. At the office, it was all normal until president called me in with Elder Coutinho to talk about the missions referrals. As we discussed things, we reached a conclusion that makes it a lot easier for missionaries to contact and maintain referrals. That night we visited Tia Vera and then had a few online lessons at home.

On Tuesday we didn’t have district council because the other missionaries were doing a service project. But we got tons done and our couch finally arrived from maintenance. We went home for lunch and I cooked everyone some cuzcuz with tomato, bell peppers, onion, corn, and calabresa. It was super bomb. We went to the office supplies store to pick up some supplies for the office. We went to visit Vera Lucia to finalize her baptism form, and the way she talks and expresses herself is completely different. She is so happy and the stories she shares are all uplifting, whereas before they could be slightly gossipy (you know how old ladies are). We finished out the day doing our personal studies during which it rained for the first time in about a month.

On Wednesday we had district council in the morning. That’s a problem actually, since I didn’t know we were gonna do that until Wednesday morning, so it was too late to cancel English class. So after I gave my training, I quickly jumped over to teaching English. Afterwards, we had a super rushed media specialist meeting, but actually it turned out to be one of the most productive ones. We had to rush the meeting to be able to go to lunch. Afterwards, we got tons done at the office, someone asked me for an upgrade without needing one, and we had an online lesson with Marcel. During the lesson there was some crazy thunder and a 20 minute downpour to cool everything off.

On Thursday we had a kinda wack day. We started out normal with personal study, but then we went to president's house for lunch. It was also the exit event with all the missionaries who are leaving this transfer. I'm not going home any time soon 👀, but president is the goat and invited the rest of the district to lunch. After lunch we went home real quick to switch out the suit and we then had a lesson fall through, but we were able to contact all our referrals. We then left home and met Lúcia (not to be confused with Vera Lúcia who was baptized this Sunday). She's super cool and wants to read the Book of Mormon and invited herself to church. She also lived in Illinois for two years. Then we finished the day doing our office work.

To top up the week we went early to the airport to help some missionaries with visas. We then went to the office and I did my work there, the guy who had been leaving me on read for the last 3 months (the guy who’s not supposed to do that) finally responded and we got some good information about phones. we ended the day with our studies and a lesson with a goat named Paulo, and he’s super interested.

Tender Mercy: This week I have noticed a constant flow of revelation. I feel like the Lord’s hand was in all of what happened. This happened because I had an increased focus on gratitude. I saw more of what the Lord had done for me as I thanked Him for what I did see. Why would the Lord grant something to you if He knows you won’t be thankful for it? Gratitude is the key to revelation.

Spiritual thought: When Nephi went to go get the brass plates from Laban’s house, the Spirit of the Lord taught him many things about how the Lord brings to pass His righteous purposes. On of such revelations reads the following: “Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law.” Of course, in today’s world, the law of Moses has been fulfilled and we keep the higher law now, but the same thing applies. Without constant scripture study, it is impossible to keep the commandments. We must be always reading and studying the word of the Lord in order to keep it.

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey Howdy y'all!!

Sooo, it's definitely been a very long time since I last sent an email so that's completely my bad. But, I have a lot to share with y'all!

These past weeks have been amazing and so much has happened!

- Sister Bastedo and I found 10 friends in one week!

- Got bashed for an hour about Joseph Smith from a weirdly nice, but also not nice, ex-member

- Performed in another music devotional!

- Saw my first Huntsman spider that was as big as my hand!

- Saw at least 10 MASSIVE red-back spiders in the time-span of about 30 minutes

- Have started getting slightly good at volleyball (mega emphasis on slightly)

- Started a 90 day Book of Mormon challenge with the whole mission!

- I've done about 5 service projects every week! My tan lines are POPPIN!

- Learned that Australians think you're rude if you knock on their door in 100+ weather

- I'm still definitely lactose-intolerant (if you were wondering)

- Hit halfway on the mish!!

- Our friend Dylan got BAPTISED YAYYY COVENANTS

- Started my peanut butter addiction pt2

- My bestfriend finally asked out the dude she's been crushing on for FOREVER. Everyone pray that things go well 🙏

- We put our friend Forest on date for baptism for this month! This one is going to be miraculous so please please pray for her!!

- I've gotten to drive so much and I love it heaps!

- I got transferred to Noarlunga after only one transfer in Modbury! It was crazy but I love it!

- my new companion, Sister Randall, and I are literally best friend's and absolute goons together!

- We go on daily morning walks on the beach and it's beautiful!

- I've met some pretty sketch people here but it's been so fun!

- someone hit our car and didn't leave a note or anything! #satan

- I went on an exchange with Sister Woodbury (my trainer) and we had HEAPS of fun. It's so cool to see how much we've both changed in only like 6 months! I love her!!!

- we have a new member here named Jill and she is the SWEETEST person I've ever met and she's going to the temple for the first time this week. So be excited for her!!!

- We had yet ANOTHER music devotional and this one was based on the Restoration and SO MANY people came! I had a solo on my violin and that was scary but whatevs. I didn't faint or pee my pants (or skirt) or anything so we're good!

- We went to the temple last week and it was majestical of course!

- I LOVE MY MISSION

- Sister Randall and I are trying to do no sugar this week so pray for us!

Anyways, a lot has happened and I'll try to keep writing y'all more consistently but to bring y'all a bit of Jesus, I just thought I'd share this poem that I came across the other day by the poet C. C. Ummings. I don't know if I got that name right.

The reflection of the moon on the sea,

reveals a path bringing thee to Me.

A trail sought only by clasped hand and bent knee,

Bowed down in complete solemnity.

Look up and behold My beloved Son.

He is the Light, the Way, the One.

Amid the path doth He belong,

atop the sea He beckons thee on.

Follow the steps He makes on each wave,

with swirls and folds are His tracks repaved.

So, come earnest, with faith, the sea doth behave.

As distance is covered, the soul is saved.

So yeah, I thought that poem was cool. Tell me what you think.

I just can ABSOLUTELY testify that Jesus Christ is real and he heals and he provide relief ALWAYS. I can also testify that God loves you endlessly and that sharing the gospel brings joy so please reach out to your nearby missionaries and ask how you can help them share the gospel this week!

I love y'all!! I miss y'all. Please respond to this email with a bit of a life update! I want to know what's going on with you!

Have a good one!!

- Sister Cummings

If you want to see some pics and vids!

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia a todos! Espero que estejam bem! Essa semana vi 3 fuscas, trazendo o total aos 1258.

This week was hectic, but really good. It started out pretty lousily though. Vamoix lá. On pday we planned to stay inside the whole day except for going to the supermarket, due to Carnaval. We thought that going early would spare us from the insanity that usually ensues. We thought. The ground and I developed quite the friendship. So, amidst drinkers in the store, I bought tons of fruits to make fruit smoothies. Cosechas em casa, alguém? Anyway, then we went home. I learned the words “naked” and “vile temptress”. On the other side of things, my mom is the goat, and secured an apartment with a childhood friend from when I lived in Ohio. The apartment is about a two minute walk from the Creamery, so that’s a big plus. That night we had our mission zoom meeting, and watched some fun videos that missionaries made while staying inside.

On Sunday we went to church, and we had ALL of our recent converts there! I arranged a song for you guys, but the syllables are all wrong, so don’t hold me to that. On the 2 day of march, the Lord gave to me, 12 minutes of uber to arrive at bishops house, 11 minutes of uber to go home, 10 referrals contacted, 9 hours of bus riding for two investigators who, wanting to escape carnaval, went to church in São Paulo, 8 hours at home, 7 off-topic comments in Sunday school, 6 recent converts in church, 5 boxes shipped to desperate missionaries, 4 investigators at church, 3 temple recommends for recent converts, 2 testimonies given by recent converts, and 1 calling for a recent convert. Good day.

On Monday it was pretty chill. Carnaval wasn’t so bad because people who partied too hard on Sunday were sleeping our hungover or both. We had pretty normal things happen at the office, nothing out of the ordinary. Same thing with Tuesday, except carnaval hit its peak. I didn’t know this, but apparently 4 strips of duct tape can be used instead of a bra and shirt. On Tuesday night however, I made doughnuts for my roommates to eat while we watched everyone’s videos.

Wednesday was the last day of carnaval (it lasts until noon), at which time lent starts. We had an awesome lunch with Elder and Sister Butters. I had some feijoada with a huge chunk of meat that didn’t have a smoke line because it was all that delicious smoky pink. He then got us ice cream cones and we went back to work. Salt Lake informed us that the area of Brasil was authorized to allow missionaries to take their phone home at the end of their missions, which means everyone. Before, it was just the Brazilian, but I think that they worked out some things and now it's open to everyone. We had a sick lesson with Marcel and Rafael with Breno (ward secretary) helping us out. Later that night we gave a training on the Book of Mormon for the mission meeting. We had our recent convert bear his testimony of the Book of Mormon and how the missionaries helped him to get to know the truth.

On Thursday we headed out with a member for a lesson, but the lesson fell through, so we visited interested people nearby, and none of them were available, but we made friends with this member so that's good. I also watched a really good talk called “Finishers Wanted” for anyone (else) who's a little trunky (I'm not trunky guys it's just that when you know who your college roommates are gonna be and you have less days left than sections in the Doctrine and Covenants, things get real).

On Friday we had a super day. In the morning I was crazy productive and got two media posts sorted out, and a while bunch of registry stuff. In the afternoon we met Geise in person for the first time. She's super nice and super dedicated to learning more. Hope she comes to church, or we will have to remark her baptism date. Then we went out to teach the person who canceled on us Thursday. We brought a different member this time, our recent convert Vinicius. He gave a powerful testimony and in the end we remarked Vera's baptism for this Sunday (tomorrow) So I'm writing this as we full up the font. That night we had a family night with a family who has American connections. They were hosting a family who made real pancakes and had American syrup. It was so good. Probably ate like 10 of them.

Welp, that's it. Hope you liked it.

Tender Mercy: During lunch on Friday I watched some renovation videos on church news. I felt a renewing dedication to the temple and a gratitude for the sacrifices that the early saints had made to be able to have a temple. And now there are more than 200 functioning temples in the world, with almost that many more on the way. The work of the Lord is being hastened, and I feel so excited to be able to keep up.

Spiritual thought: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” Doctrine & Covenants 88:119

I really like the phrase “organize yourselves” because it makes me think of goals. This week marked the start of march, which means my numbers and goal results for February came out. Turns out I did better on all my goals except one! This made me very happy and super excited for march. There's been a high bar set by February, but I know with the Lord's help that I can do it. Making and striving towards goals is a way to show God that you care about the gifts that He has given you. I feel blessed as I fill out a spreadsheet, because it helps me to apply the Savior’s atonement.

Now I seem to be scared to go outside

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde meus amigos e familiares! como vão?

Esta semana vi 4 fuscas, trazendo o total aos 1255.

Last pday was super fun, the zone leaders nailed it, and everyone pitched in, Elder Vieira more than most. we decided to do a churrasco and play some random sports. It was super fun and super chill. Elder Vieira knows how to cook meat. I helped out cutting the garlic, preparing the salsa and tasting the meat. Since we switched our pday for Monday, and president was busy with interviews on the other days, we had to do our meeting on that day. So Elder Ribeiro and I took advantage of the situation and did our proselyting time in the morning and left the night for talking with family or responding to emails, of which I was able to respond to all, finally. At night we went to the store, which had like no fruit, so I wasn’t able to buy much and we will be forced to go back during the week. We didn’t spend much time in the store as a result, but the checkout lines were insane. We spent more than half of the time in the line.

On Tuesday we had district council and I tried Pão de Mel (honey bread) for the first time and I can say that I am in love. It was also super cheap, so my wallet might also be a fan of it. We then had interviews with president, which was super good and I got to bear my testimony with him and we talked some more and I got some really good guidance. I started editing a video about President Nelson, but didn’t finish it. It’s one of the most complicated videos to edit that I have made. A few weeks ago we gave Sister Lopes a SIM card to contact some referrals for us, but for some reason she hasn’t been able to get into the WhatsApp, rendering the SIM card basically useless in Brasil. But she sent a message that by some miracle she was able to get in, and so she will be helping us out a ton with the 1500 media referrals we get a week.

On Wednesday we went earlier than normal to the office and we taught English to the missionaries. I think that this one went better than last week. We then got lunch real quick and headed to the airport to legalize a missionary. I brought my big ol’ grammar book and had a wonderful study of the gerund and reduced phrases. Afterwards we went back to the office and I finished up editing a video for the mission Facebook page. It turned out really good and pretty much all the missionaries posted it. We had a lesson with Marcel and a lesson with Geise. With Geise we marked a baptism date for later next month. Prayers that it works out. We then went really quick to visit Tia Vera and give her her own copy of my plan of salvation drawing, since she asked for one.

On Thursday we got ready for Carnaval. We looked up the itineraries for all the cities of all the places and times that Carnaval will be the most dangerous. All of the cities I looked up were all advocating for a Carnaval without sexual harassment. I laughed because everybody knows you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Anyway, there was actually one city that did not advocate for this. They thought a higher priority for them was a Carnaval without dengue. That made me laugh even harder because at least they accept the terrible nature of Carnaval. We had both of our lessons fall through, but marked about 6 more, so it wasn’t a completely unproductive day.

On Friday Carnaval officially started, and so our day went quite differently, in order to prepare. Usually, we do personal study from 9-10 and then head to the office, where we do office work until 6pm with a two hour interval for lunch and two half hour intervals for comp study and language study. then at night we leave the office and do “real missionary work” until 10. For Carnaval, however, our local church leaders advised us not even to leave the house. However, since that is not an option, we left for the office at 9am, lunch at 12h30, and home at 4. Afterwards we did our studies and online work until 8pm, at which time we had our mission-wide zoom Carnaval devotional. We had a great training given by Elders Owen and Hayes, a spiritual thought about the two great commandments, although the audio didn’t really work very well. Then a few dope video presentations. It was pretty cool, and I started writing a song for me to perform. it’ll be pretty cool.

Tender Mercy: I don’t know why, but for whatever reason on Friday, we didn’t see any Carnaval. I don’t know if its because our neighborhood doesn’t have any events, or because Carnaval starts in the night, or whatever, but the Lord really protected us as we walked to and from the office.

Spiritual thought:

During my interview I shared with president something that I have been and am still learning. In various stages of my life, I have sought to know more about the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is the single most important event in the history of humankind, after all. In such stages, I studied and asked questions and sought to put in order the events of, the background to, the preparation for, and the effects of His atonement. In doing such, studying with faith and seeking spiritual knowledge, I always felt a strong peace and happiness as I discovered more about the atonement. But I always felt something was lacking. I always started these studies with faith that the Lord would show me what I had missed the last time and that everything would click this time. Well, although I always learned more and came to understand more, I felt like there was still an essential part to the puzzle missing. This essential part was something that I have found with more clarity on the mission. The atonement was not done so that we could study it alone. It was not done solely as a show of love or submission. It was done to have effect in our lives. It was done so that we could become better. As I have created goals, strive to achieve them, and reflect on my progress, I have looked back to see how far I have come. In doing this, I showed the Lord that I was ready to receive more understanding. I felt that the Spirit of the Lord was with me at more times than ever before, guiding my every move. I have felt that the doctrine has never been clearer. As I apply the atonement, I understand the events of, the background to, the preparation for, and the effects of the atonement. Knowledge does nothing unless placed into practice.

Would you believe I didn't take any pictures?