(Elder Mackrory)
Bom dia amigos e família!
Estou animado para contar pra vocês minha semana. Foi um
pouco louca. Mas tudo bem. Vi 8 fuscas, para um total 1374,5. Ainda sigo sem
ver um meio fusca.
What’s up guys! Last pday was really cool. Our recent
convert Jorge invited us to have some pizza at the restaurant he manages. Uau.
What a pizza. Authentic wood oven, and an Italian menu. The only thing that
wasn’t so authentic was the dessert pizza, but I’m not mad about that. We then
went home, got groceries and did online work.
On Tuesday we had district council for the first time this
transfer. Last first district council. Our lunch was super good. It was crepes
with ground beef, tomato sauce, and mozzarella. During lunch, the members were
watching the FIFA world cup, and we watched the first half of Fluminense (team
from Rio) and Borussia Dortmund (super bad team from Germany). Nothing happened
in the first half, and when we left to go do visits i realized nobody was home
(yeah right). Apparently nothing happened in the second half either, but the
victory was given to Fluminense because of a previous game or something. After
a pretty empty day of visits, we went home to study and do some online work.
On Wednesday we had my last zone conference, and to ensure
we arrived on time, we left way earlier than we needed to and took an uber
instead of the bus. Unfortunately Rio’s traffic had other ideas and I
stressfully watched our ETA slowly change from 9:15 to 10:15. Luckily the route
had us do some weird loop at the end, and so I just told the driver to leave us
a bit before the end of the ride, and so we saved 10 minutes there. Conference
was super cool and well oriented to help us be successful. At lunch I sat with
President and Sister Dutson and Elder and Sister Butters. I was the first
missionary to sit at their table, and also the last because nobody else wanted
to. It definitely made me look like I was trying to suck up to president, but
that doesn't make much sense since I'm on my last stint. Oh well. Good
conversation. On the way home my comp came down with a headache and some
nausea, and so for the baptismal interview that night we did a division. During
the interview, which our district leader did in a part, I messed around on the
old people workout equipment. The interview resulted in our needing president's
further approval, which Carol understood.
On Thursday we had really good stroganoff and watched
another first half of a soccer game, this time Palmeiras (a good team from São
Paulo but not well liked) and some middle eastern team with a weird name. I’m
pretty sure Palmeiras won. Then we went to the chapel where we met up with the
formerly known Elder Levie, now just Paul. He and I go way back to my first new
years eve in Brazil when the rest of the district decided rules are lame and
went to the beach at midnight. Anyway, at the chapel we played ping pong and
chatted. Basically the entire ward showed up to see him again. That night we
did online work.
On Friday I got to do a division with my brozão Elder
Patterson. We got caught up on an hour long bus ride and went to lunch. The
ward in which he serves only has two missionaries, which made lunch very
different from what I'm used to. When we got to lunch, there was a big black
stain on the roof, and the Sister who gave us lunch explained that her pressure
pot exploded and half of our beans were on the roof. We ate crepes with tomato
sauce and ground beef and mozzarella again (better than the other time), and
then gave the message. After a little insisting, we cleaned the roof. Super
fun. We made sure before leaving to pray that no more beans hit the roof. We
started doing some visits in the area, but shortly realized that no one wanted
to talk, since the Flamengo X Chelsea game was going on. Flamengo is the most
rooted for team in Brasil (possibly in South America as well) and Chelsea is a
big name European team. When I say everyone is watching it, I mean everyone was
watching it. The streets seemed quieter than Provo during general conference.
The few people on the road were also watching the game. We got some ice cream
and started for home. It was at that point 1-0 Chelsea. Then, shouts and
screams and honks and engine redlining split the air for a good 2 minutes. It
was abundantly clear that Flamengo scored. Then, shouts and screams and honks
and engine redlining split the air for a good 5 minutes. At first, we thought
the celebration was for the first goal still, but as we passed a pharmacy (yes,
the pharmacy had a TV out to watch the game), we realized that it had been two
back to back goals. I've never seen the Carioca people so happy. About 15
minutes later, shouts and screams and honks and engine redlining split the air
for a good 5 minutes. 3-1 Flamengo. A man shouted words I don't know from a
window, to whom we smiled, gave thumbs up and said “é noix”. At home we did
online work and chatted about spiritual gifts until it was time to order pizza.
They gave us a reasonably ETA and just like at zone conference, the ETA got
worse and worse until we were eating pizza at like 11 pm. Oh well.
On Saturday Elder Vogt died. Not really, but he woke up with
a pretty bad fever and more sickness. We arrived home to end the division and
Elder Roca, who was also feeling a little sick went to the hospital with him.
While they were at the hospital Elder Cunha and I did online work, kinda independently.
That night we went to soccer and then back home.
For Stake conference Sunday, our ward (which is super far
from the stake center) was allowed to have a transmission in our chapel, so
nothing changed as far as the where goes. However, Elder Vogt was still dying
and So Elder Cunha and I went to church to represent both companionships. We
had three of our friends come, and it was super cool. That evening we did more
online work. What do you do when your comp can barely get off the bed?
Tender mercy: This week the Lord saw fit for me to be shown
some of my spiritual gifts. In many instances in the week I saw how the Lord
showed me that I had been placed here in Iraja at the right time to meet the
right people. I was aware of how I could help them using my talents and the abilities
the Lord has given me.
Spiritual thought: Flamengo, After securing the lead, still
made one more goal before the end of the game. Ammon, in the Book of Mormon,
was diligent in keeping all the commands of the King, even after what he did to
save the flocks would have been enough to gain the faith of the King. This is
what proved his greatness. It reminds me of the scripture “Therefore, dearly
beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and
then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of
God, and for his arm to be revealed.” When we do all that we can, not just the
bare minimum, that is when the Lord magnifies us and our efforts.
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