This place is too crowded

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa Tarde!

Today, my pday is Monday, and from what I hear, that is what it's gonna be from this point on, with perhaps a few exceptions.

The CTM is getting really full. When we have exercise time, there are like a hundred people on two basketball courts and two volleyball courts. It's barely fun, to be honest. It's good to know I'm out of here on Friday morning.

One thing that was super fun was making a giant slingshot. My companion brought resistance bands for working out, and we used those and a cut-up sock to make a slingshot with impressive power. We shot a bunch of hacky sacks along the hall. Super fun stuff.

Prior to coming here, I had heard about a Brazilian dessert that is basically chocolate pizza. This sounded amazing, and I couldn't wait to try it. Well, they had it at the CTM! Every Thursday is pizza night, and they have a different dessert pizza every week. This week was chocolate pizza. From what I've heard, food outside the CTM is much better, and if so, that chocolate pizza is gonna be so good. It was already really good in the CTM.

As you know, rice and beans here are the staple. We had a devotional from Elder Stevenson that was recorded a few days prior in the Provo MTC. He talked about the cohesion of the Preach My Gospel book and the scriptures. To aid his speech, he made several analogies about other things that go together. Peanut Butter and Jelly, socks and shoes, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and a whole lot of other ones. We were a little saddened that he didn't mention rice and beans. But then, just when we all thought he had finished the analogy, he says, "So just like peanut butter and jelly,... or rice and beans..." I don’t remember the rest of what he said because we all went nuts. It was probably a little irrelevant, but it was fun to (sort of) get a shoutout.

Memorable quotes this week:

"They respect the dibs in heaven"

"If she dear johned me, id be like 'we were never dear'"

"Ya know, some Star Wars fans don't like the sequels. And this is understandable because they are very bad."

"I can't be like Jesus right now, so I’m going to be like Peter" *clenches fists*

Spiritual Thought: perfected sight

Theres a quote I remember from a poster on the wall of one of my high school teachers' classrooms. I don’t remember who said it, but it says that "we don't see things how they are, we seem as we are." To me, this means that our outlook and experiences warp everything we see. The same event can be witnessed by two people and their recounts can be very different. It even works the other way. Good storytellers will emphasize different aspects of a story to better fit the audience. This does not mean that the event was fictitious or unreal. Kinda cool to think about. Another quote I know is from Moroni 7:48, which says, "when He [meaning Jesus Christ] shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is". When Christ comes again in his Glory, we will be perfected in him, and the things we see imperfectly will be fixed, and we will comprehend all that we need to comprehend. Know that questions will arise, and answers may be left unknown, but Jesus Christ knows all and sees all. He will make all things right if we put our faith in Him. I testify that he loves each of you perfectly and wholly. He suffered, died, and rose again so that each one of you can be like our Heavenly Father, being perfected in Christ, and receiving a fullness of Joy. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Tender Mercy: Every week on Sunday, four missionaries are randomly assigned to give a 5-7 minute sermon/talk/discourse in Português, with no warning. I hadn’t been assigned yet these last weeks, so I assumed that this week I'd for sure be chosen. So I began preparing my talk. Since I am only 35% fluent (we took a test), I can really only testify of the simple things. I was not chosen, but having the opportunity to write of such simple things brought me so much joy and comfort.

Português word of the week: cara

This word literally means "face"

But it can be so many different words. One of my favorite translations is "dude". Along with its five or so uses as a standalone word, it has like five other meanings when out in a sentence. For example, it can mean expensive (makes no sense).

Photos:

1. I love that there are trees everywhere, even in the city

2. Temple

3. MTC Courtyard Garden

4. Chocolate pizza

5. Triple banana

6. Triple Banana (exclusive angle)

7. Church meme

Talking over a football game

 (Elder Mackrory)

Olá amigos e família!

There honestly hasn't been much as far as events go. A lot of the same. But my roommates are big college football fans so since the season started, they’ve been discussing that a bit. It’s good to hear BYU is 2-0. That sentence, historically speaking, is most likely going to age like milk.

The food in the CTM is becoming little bleak, but it’s good to always have rice and beans to fall back on. However, on pdays, were able to go out to a market that has all sorts of fresh fruits. Last week I got a mango, kind of unsure about it. I don’t really like mangos. But this mango was the best fruit I have ever had period. I also tried a kiwi, expecting the same increase in quality, but was disappointed. It may be a hit or miss. But I’ve heard the fruit in Rio is unmatched.

I’m writing this email early, and we have yet to go to the market today. I can’t wait to get more mangos and milkshakes. Perhaps I’ll try a pineapple.

Our district has already eaten all of those looks that we gathered. All 10 of us each averaged about 3 a day. Needless to say it’s been a good week. I found a photo about this that was not attached last week. I will attach it here.

I made the best dad joke I’ve ever made! I was sitting at the lunch table fiddling with my plastic cup and I started to tear it up (as you do) and I tore off a perfect quarter. Then it hit me. I took the section of cup and filled it as much juice as I could. It wasn’t much, but it held something. When I sat back down, my district was puzzled and asked what I was doing. I told them, "oh I’m not that thirsty, so I just got a quarter cup of juice." Had me dying for the next 15 minutes. They all stared back, no reaction. It was amazing. You really had to be there.

Spiritual Thought: (this is a two parter). First, the gift of tongues is real! And it doesn’t just apply to learning another language. If you are testifying of Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel, you mind will be filled with things to say. I had been thinking about the law of Moses and how it applies today, given that Christ fulfilled it, and "it hath an end". I read 3rd Nephi 15 for some insight. I also read Matthew 5 and Mosiah 13. All three teach about how the law of Moses relates to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I felt like I understood the meaning of these chapters, but when I opened my journal to record the insights, nothing came to mind. I had the thought to just start writing. Before I knew it, I had thoughts of what I learned. But the understanding that I thought I had was not what I ended up writing. I actually ended up writing a parable of sorts. It’s kinda long so I won’t attach it here, but if you’re interested let me know, I'd be happy to send it to you. Clearly what I wrote was not what I thought I was going to write. For a moment, I thought I had nothing to write. But the Spirit filled my head with what I needed to write. This is what the gift of tongues does. With this gift, I will be able to testify and teach in Portuguese and English.

Tender mercy: the sunsets here are absolutely gorgeous! I thought I would miss the beautiful new Mexico sunsets, but every day I see a different range of colors splattered across the sky with or without clouds. There was one night it was particularly beautiful. It reminded me of when the Son left his disciples, he promised that he would return. In the same beautiful way, the Sun promises to return the next day in brightness and Glory.

Tchau!

Elder Mackrory

1. Cool tree that grows at the ctm, not sure what i

t's called, but the fruit grows on the bark. The fruit is pretty good.

2. New profile pic?

3. Dry erase drawing of The Savior by yours truly

4. The most beautiful sunset I've ever seen

5. A quarter cup of juice

6. West view of CTM.

7. 7 speed manual bus (Brasileiros are built different) (it bothers me that first gear is left and back when it should be left and front)

8. Campinas Temple

9. Happy Independente Day!

10. Nova Gravata (new tie)

11. My friend's collection (I’m on the left sitting like my dad)

Zone Conference in Liepāja

 (Elder Putnam)

Čauviņi!

This week was full of ups and downs. Pday we played pickleball at the church which was such a vibe. Sister Johnson and I clowned Elder Judd and Elder Davis. But then on Tuesday we found out that Elder Davis would be emergency transferred out to Narva. Thats a fat rip. I'll miss him.

On Wednesday we drove down to Liepāja and the full 3 hour drive I talked with this one youth about all kinds of things. It was legendary. All in Latvian too. I read him a few verses from Alma 32 and he kinda really liked it. He then asked if he could "palasīt" the Book of Mormon while I took a nap. I recommended that he read 2 Nephi 2. and he did. And 2 Nephi 3, and part of 4. He downloaded the Book of Mormon app and said he'd be down to talk more about it. Thats a win in the books. He's seventeen which is kinda exactly what our branch needs.

Zone Conference itself was mid, except for the finding activities and stuff around it.  We had a degree of success in each contacting opportunity. Placed a Book of Mormon with Elder Brady, we got Brother Blūms to go with me and Elder Eastland, and we gave a Book of Mormon to a member's daughter. Overall it was a great experience.

But the crowning moment was going to House of Food. It’s a highkey boujie restaurant. Elder Davis and I shared the meat selection. Its grandeur was beyond description. We started with the lamb. It was good, but I later learned that if I added the oil/herb sauce it was 3x better. Then we moved onto the pork chops. Elder Davis was raving about the bbq sauce, which to be fair was exquisite (skaudra). Next we ate the steak. that was the softest most tender steak I have ever eaten, no disrespect dad, you still have the Best Spice and Sauce Combo title on locks. it was again enhanced by the oil and herb sauce. There was still another meat on the platter but all I know about it was that it made me want to shout Hosannahs right there in the aesthetically pleasing basement-restaurant.

On the last day I got pastries with Elder Khilibok then we hopped on the bus back to Rīga. Had a long insightful talk with Sister Barker about missions and stuff (she’s going home soon). When we got back we had a very good lesson with Rovens. We taught the basics: God is our loving Heavenly Father and it seemed to hit for him. It felt like a very focused lesson. Like we were asking good questions and He was thinking about it well. We pretty much just read the scriptures and talked about what they meant. Such a good outline for a lesson. Who woulda thought.

Anyways, thanks for the prayers. Elder Argyle and I appreciate them.

Pictures:

1. my grocery grab: 23. bucks (divided by protein count)

2. we visited a castle today.

3. split pastries with Elder Judd

4. the trip back from Liepāja

5. graffiti and very blue sky in Liepāja

August slipped away into a moment of time

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom Dia!

Again it feels like it’s been 3 days since the last email. This amazing CTM experience is flying by. Last week, I promised to include the updates from that week as well, so we'll start there.

We've been getting better at volleyball. Every day we get exercise time and our district usually plays volleyball. We face off against other districts and it’s so much fun. As a district, we weren't very good. But we learned techniques and strategies from other districts and now we are a lot more consistently competitive. There is one district that has a 6 foot 6 player who played volleyball in high school that they pass to at every opportunity and so at the moment they are the best, but it’s like when the Cavs had LeBron. The really only won because of him.

One of the Elders in my district had a birthday a few days ago. For the past 3 weeks, we've been spending our vending machine allowance (each day we get 16 reais to buy snacks from vending machines across the CTM) on these chocolates called Looks. He really likes them and so we were able to gather about 156 of them for his birthday. We filled a whole suitcase of then and now we have no idea where we're going to put these. I guess we'll gain weight. Thats ok though, in the field I’ll be walking 6-8 miles a day so any weight I gain in the next month will be lost again in another month.

We went to a cookie shop last week on Tuesday and we got milkshakes. It was the best milkshake I have ever had. It was a cookies and creme shake, but the cookie they used was a sugar cookie instead of oreo. They also broke up a big chocolate chip cookie and put the chunks in the shake. Amazingly, the cookie chunks were not soggy, but they were perfectly preserved when you got the surprise spoonful of milkshake with a cookie bite in it. There was also a layer of caramel coating the inside of the cup.

I have been dreading the hot weather in Rio this whole time, but recently I've felt the need for a jacket when the room is 73⁰ F. Maybe I’m adjusting to Brasil weather, maybe I'm turning into my dad. I don't yet know which it is, but both options seem pretty optimal to me.

This last week has been really eventful, but when I write in my journal at night, I really only write the things that I've learned spiritually. The reason being that future me won't really care about the day-to-day things. The reason I will look back is to review the insights and personal revelation I received. Perhaps I'll start a list of the Day-to-day activities that might perhaps be email worthy and then look at that when writing.

I took down my fort because I got cold again under three blankets and I needed blankets 4 and 5. Perhaps I am turning into my dad.

This Sunday I accompanied an Elder on piano as he sang "A Great Work" by Nik Day. It was super easy to play, but the words in the song teach truth. It's also just a good song in general. I encourage each of you to listen to it.

I've officially started a series on my Facebook where I play a song from the Children's songbook on my Melodica (I have given a name to my instrument, His name is Mel). In these videos, I play the melody, put the lyrics and a spiritual though into the caption, and put a Baby Yoda figurine in the background. Not sure which song to do next; I'll take suggestions.

I also brough some grip strengtheners and they are WORKING. I was on the phone with my dad last week and noticed in the camera. The photo may be aided by angle and lighting but I def feel like my forearms are growing in size and strength.

It rained one night and it was so cool. It was about 6 pm which is about when the sun gets really low and the clouds and sky hang in majestic gradients of orange, pink, and mango. This night, however, there was no such poetic beauty. Blackness dominated the once prismatic flow of the sun's final exertion. At first the lack of vibrance was confusing and saddening. But as I came to understand the offlandish tendencies here in Brasil, the blackness grew in my mind from gloomy and disheartening to mystical and of surpassing majesty. It shares the wonder of obsidian's deep monochromaticity and a black horse's inspiring stoicism.

Spiritual Thought: I have been thinking a lot about prayer recently. Prayer connects us with our Divine Creator and Father. He loves us and wants to bless us with all righteous things. James 1:5-6 says:

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

As an extension to this scripture, I would say that prayer does not only help when you lack wisdom. If you lack any Christlike quality: faith hope, charity, love, virtue, integrity, patience, humility diligence, obedience, strength (may it be physical, mental, social, or social), motivation, kindness, confidence, etc., if you ask God with all the faith you have to develop any of these attributes, I promise He will aid you as you work towards them yourself. I have found that developing Godly attributes is very difficult if God is not part of the process.

Tender mercy: for the first few weeks of CTM, I was really struggling with getting enough sleep, and therefore being tired during the day. This annoyed me. I started a habit of sincerely asking for more efficient rest and for the ability to fall asleep faster. The night I started praying for this, I found myself sleeping much better, and since then I have not had a day where I’ve struggled to stay awake. Prayer works!

Tchau!

Elder Mackrory

1. Meo antebraços

2. Typical day

3. Study setup

4. Beautiful CTM

5. Huge matches

6. Dulche de Leche ice cream (if only I had a freezer)

7. Beautiful yellow tree.

8. Blurry picture of a classic mini

And we rule the kingdom inside my room

 (Elder Mackrory)

E ai, caras!

I almost forgot today was Pday, it feels like 3 days ago I wrote an email. Here at the CTM, days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. I feel like I’ve learned so much and so little at the same time. Although I have learned more words, my knowledge of what I still have to learn has increased more.

My district and I signed a contract that we're not allowed to speak any English unless we're in our doctrine class. So far its been awesome and its sucked. In the 24 hours that this contract has been in place, i feel like my ability to express what i want to say has increased tremendously.

I also built a fort with one of my extra blankets that is own little kingdom. It is where my companion and I study.

Today was a very short Pday, there wasn’t much time to write emails, so next week I promise ill write more things about this week and the things of next week, but for now I’ll leave you with a spiritual thought and a tender mercy.

Spiritual thought: the word for "hope" in português is esperança. The verb "to wait" is esperar. I feel like the word hope has never really meant much to me other than saying "I hope I get to do ___ when I’m older" or other things, but I never understood the meaning, only the connotation and usage. Now, I understand that a meaning for hope could be "wait in faith". A lot of good things are out of our control. We hope these things will come to pass. We wait in faith for these things to pass. The Lord will provide for His children. Sometimes all we can do is ask in faith. After that, it is in the Lord's hands.

Tender Mercy: today we went to the temple. The temple is the House of God. We go to the temple to worship him and learn of his Gospel. We make covenants, or sacred promises, with him to live as His son, Jesus Christ would. Since God is our Heavenly Father, his temple is the house of our father (in heaven). I always feel at home when I am there. Although I have not yet experienced homesickness, the feeling of being at home that is common in all the temples in the world brings peace and joy. It was incredible to experience the peace that comes in and through Jesus Christ. I invite each of you to search the scriptures for the prophesies about and teachings of Jesus Christ. They will bring you comfort as we move forward in this difficult mortal experience.

Until next week,

Elder Mackrory (the fifth)

Last week, I realized the pictures might have gone out of order from the list. This caption includes all of them, not in order.

There are two pictures of the Canpinas Temple. There is one of a lawnmower roomba (I invented this in my head like years ago they stole my idea). There is a blurry picture of a favela in the mountains. There is Guava juice (suco de Goiaba) whenever I want. My kingdom in my room.

The Elder Argyle Era: Round 2

 (Elder Putnam)

Labrīt Ģimene un Draugi,

about 8 weeks ago, Elder Argyle got transferred into my area. So we’ve been companions for the past bit and will be until the new Latvian missionaries come in after a month. We have been finding a ton and teaching a lot of new member lessons.

Won't lie, member-missionary relations have not been better as far as I understand. Absolutely vibing. There are a few reasons for that that I can think of:

1. We are visiting families.

We have visited the Bites twice now (those kids are the absolute cutest. I get high 5's from them whenever I see them). This most recent time I beat Brother Bite in a pull competition. 💪💪. Those weights and pull up bar are coming in real handy in that sense. We also visited Gvido Senkāns this past week. They fed us Latvian watermelon, curry with potatoes, and a chocolate ice cream bar. The Senkāni are just so cool.

2. We are chatting a ton with members after Second Hour and just overall spending time with them. I had a Star Wars lightsaber fight with Harolds cause he helped us clean up the stage. Love that kid. We even vibe with the Russian branch. Like we got invited to Sister Samigullina's birthday. Good times.

3. Sacrament Meeting. We play many different hymns in Sacrament meeting. I even learned some Fast Sunday Hymns.

We also have been asked to speak a few times which is good to know that they trust us in that sense as well. Rīga is rolling.

As for Language, I'm doing good. I finished the Book of Mormon like 2 months ago and the doctrine and Covenants 2 days ago. I'm planning on getting the Pearl of Great Price finished before the new missionaries come. I still can't translate in sacrament meeting which is žēl, but in all other areas Im kinda vibing. I got a Latvian Bible to go with my triple combination.

Personal Studies: I picked up Jesus the Christ by James e. Talmage. My dear brothers and sisters, every single paragraph is a Spiritual Thought that can be shared at district counsel. So good. I'm reading about miracles at the moment. Heck ya.

this past week we went to help out at a Spikeball tournament in Marupe. It was a great time. We helped set up and then they gave us snacks and we got to play around on a different net when there wasn't other stuff to do. The music could have been less heathen, and there could have been less vaping, but outside of that it was a great service opportunity.

But Marupe, being 40 minutes from Rīga is the ideal situation for new area. Cause we would still be supporting the Rīga branch, but we would be finding in a completely new area. Its mostly houses which means more families... and we already have a member there who can go finding with us. It would be ideal to get his family dipped first, but when can at least help him show up to Church on time. I wanna serve in Marupe so baddddd. Pray that this happens. Please In reality though, its all what God wants.

I do have one request for anyone who has made it this far. I was recently inspired by a testimony that was shared by a missionary. He said that his mother recently again started praying that he would have people to teach the gospel. And immediately they found a friend on the street. I ask that if you can mention it in your prayers, that you do pray that Elder Argyle and I will have people to teach. Because our area book is so dry. We have 5 new members, but also have no friends at all. So, I fervently ask, that you would include this minor detail in your prayers.

There is no greater work than the Work of Salvation going on today. I hope you have a wonderful week. I'll try to write a short email next week.

Pictures:

1. On our way to service in the beauty of Marupe's nature

2. Idk it was outside the Nation Library of Latvia

3. Spiritually and physically preparing for Bible study.

4. Hiding in the Bites Apartment building cause there was a ton of Rain.

5. Ernests came and visited then promptly stole my tie.

6. Some food for like really cheap.

7. Remember that Jesus loves you

Nice to meet you, where you been?

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde todos!

                This week has been amazing, and although I met my district last week, there wasn't much to talk about because we had known each other for only a day. I feel already that I know these people so well. Every one of them adds something truly unique to the group. I wish I had met these guys way earlier, we would have been tight.

                My teachers are super cool. One of them is a complete enigma; we learn more about him every day and its almost unbelievable. He was a semi-Olympic swimmer, sergeant in the army, knife collector, martial artist, he's getting married, and he's very fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. But you wouldn't every guess that all all from looking at him. And he's done all of this by age 23. My other teacher is super fun to be taught by, she hooks us up with all the slang. Her classes are always a blast.

                The food here is eh. A lot of people say it's bleak or gross, but I'm content with the constant of rice and beans. the Juice is really good though. my favorite is from a berry called "Acerola".

                It feels like I’ve been here for at least a month or only 3 days. It is flying by but so slow at the same time.

                The showers are gross we have to wear shoes and that’s kinda weird. My district likes to sing hymns together there but 3 of them are tone deaf so its not exactly the Tabernacle choir.

                The artwork is super cool here. Some paintings I’ve never seen before and ill include some of my favorites. A friend of mine requested that there be lots of photos so they'll be there.

                I love discussing doctrine with my district, they call me "deep doctrine dave" because I get really into those conversations.

                Those are my updates for this week, now for the scripture thoughts and tender mercies:

                The Holy ghost is the best teacher. When a teacher testifies of the gospel, the spirit echoes their words. If you go into a lesson expecting to be taught by the teacher, you will leave there unsatisfied. If you go into a lesson with ears and heart open to receiving the testifying promptings of the holy ghost, you will leave there spiritually fed and nourished. See John 15:26.

                Spiritual thought 2: while practicing singing in Portuguese, I sang hymn number 136 (Hino N° 70 em português). I didn’t try to figure out what I was singing, but just trying to figure out what syllables go with which note. I sang the sentence "Eu sei que vive meu Senhor". At that moment I was pricked in the heart (Acts 2:37) and started tearing up. I had no idea what I had said but the spirit of the Lord bore testimony of it. It was only later I would realize that it meant "I know that my lord lives". I testify that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of the world. He died for our sins and rose again on the 3rd day. He conquered death. He lives so that we can obtain eternal life. See Job 19:25-26, 1 Corinthians 14:13-15, and Doctrine and Covenents 25:12.

                Terna Misericórdia: I was able to go to the temple here in São Paulo and it was so peaceful and comforting to be in the House of the Lord. Simple story but not in any way insignificant.

Until Next week, tchau!

Elder Mackrory

1. Tiny banana

2. Caramelized French toast featuring that banana

3. Lehi's dream painting

4. Meme

5. Dolce de Leche filled churro balls

6. Cheese filled bread ball (very delicious)

7. Snickers bar that says "confused"

8. Jesus calming the waters

9. CTM entrance

More photos in a part two (there's an attachment limit)