And maybe we got lost in translation

 (Elder Mackrory)

Oi família e amigos! Tudo bem?

There is so much I could write about today, but that would be a novel. I cannot write the hundredth part of the things that happened. SparkNotes at the bottom.

Brazil is so cool! Last week I had only been in the field for 3 days so I still had no idea what was going on. But now that I kinda know the area and the routine, I've started noticing all the cool things around me.

(If you’re not into cars, you may want to skip this paragraph) For one, the cars here are so different! I showed a bit last week with the ancient Fiat badge, but it’s crazy how different it really is. There's no big trucks (two exceptions I’ve seen); the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are the big dawgs. Most trucks are sorta like the old El Camino, except shorter and less boxy. There's no Subaru, Mazda, dodge, Chrysler, Cadillac, Acura, scion, Pontiac, and a whole lot of others. I know there’s lots of other common ones I’ve forgotten. Here we have Chevy, ford, Toyota, fiat, Honda, Citroën, Peugeot, vw, Renault, Hyundai, jeep. Some out of the ordinary cars I’ve seen while here are a RAM 2500, ford f-450 (not really, it was just the front half with a small shipping container (U-Haul type)), and a sick BMW bike that my dad likes but I forgot the name. I thought I was done having to see jeep libertys, but no, they show their ugly faces here all the time. There are more classic vw bugs here than any other car. Seriously. Other than that, cars are pretty old here, lots of boxy shapes. Lots of motorbikes as well. Honda civics and Toyota corollas are considered nice cars. Which they are, but not fancy.

Food here is amazing. I get churrasco (pronounced "shoo-hahs-coh") at least once a week. It’s a full Brazilian BBQ, with pretty much all you can eat steak, sausage, pork, and chicken. Plus rice and beans and lettuce. So that’s freaking amazing. Also Estrogenofe. Thats also a common dish here. It’s similar to tika masala except it has corn and it isn’t at all spicy. It’s usually eaten with rice and these miniature french fry things. Rice and beans of course is also common. I bought cereal and yogurt at the store so that’s what I have for breakfast and then for dinner I’ll have a banana. I was very frugal with my money this time around because I wasn’t sure how far my mesada would go. This ended up being an inspired idea as you read later.

It rained for the first time ere yesterday. The drops were very small and it wasn’t heavy rain at all. It was more of a mist. But it was fun to have an excuse to wear a jacket and not get asked "aren't you hot?".

Instead of knocking on doors, what we do here is clap and yell "o de casa!" Which literally translates to "the of house" but it’s really means "anyone home?". Most people have doorbells with a voicebox so that’s what we usually use.

I still don’t really understand anyone, but I’ve heard that it will be like that for the first 3-4 weeks. I’m able to speak more clearly and express what I want to say better. But it still feels like half of my meaning gets lost in translation. Given that I like to get really into a lesson and talk and talk and talk, it feels weird to explain a whole idea in just a few sentences. But the gospel needs to be simple and clear for new people. I’ll get used to it.

My apartment is pretty nice; I’ve got my own bathroom and wardrobe. I just deep cleaned the kitchen, which was a pigsty. I cleaned dishes that looked like they had been dirty since before I left for the CTM. cleaning the muck and grime off the stovetop was really satisfying. I dusted and cleared trash away. I organized our under-the-sink stuff and sorted trash bags. It was so fun.

We taught some more lessons and talked to more people as usual. One lesson stood out though. We had the address for a less-active member and were going to check up on them. When we got to the house, it was the wrong person, but we ended up chatting about Jesus and all the things and he expressed his confusion about why the people in the Americas didn’t get to hear the message of the gospel until the middle ages (I know, right?). It was so cool to be able to then teach him the message of the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon, the record of God's dealings in the ancient Americas. It was so freaking cool. Definitely not an accident we had the wrong address.

General Conference was so good!! Most of what I watched was in Portuguese, so I didn't get much, but the parts I watched in English were amazing. When Conference is released on Gospel Library, please go back and watch it again. I loved Elder Ballard's simple and yet so powerful testimony. Elder Oaks' and Elder Christofferson's stalwart words on priesthood authority, and the opportunity to be exalted with God were so good. I loved President Nelson's invitation to "Think Celestial" (though grammatically speaking, it should be think celestially). Begin with the end in mind, as they say, and the dots will connect in front of you. And 20 new temples is amazing! I have lots of family in the Colorado springs area so I’m super excited for them! One Elder in our district is from Peru. His exact city is getting a temple. It was so cool to see how happy he is. He kept saying, "Minha cidade! Minha cidade!" He could not hold back a smile from ear to ear.

Quotes of the week:

"It’s refreshing to see someone dressed modestly. Oh wait never mind I can see her ankles"

"Not even condensed milk could save this" (referring to bananas na terra)

"Perhaps the only way to save it is compost" (also referring to bananas na Terra)

About Bananas na terra: I showed them last week, but I hadn’t tried them at that point. For some reason, you're supposed to boil them before you eat it. So I did. They were very bad. And my comp said that I cooked it right. So I tried dipping a slice in condensed milk to make it taste better. But like most things that have banana in them, it’s the dominant flavor. I could barely taste the condensed milk. I do not recommend.

Spiritual Thought: The phrase "Hear Him" appears twice in scripture that I know of. Once on the mount of transfiguration (mark 9; Luke 9) and once in the first vision (JSH 1:17). In Portuguese, this is translated as translated as "Ouve-O". When a pronoun (in this case "O") follows and verb and a hyphen, it implies a more formal tone. There's more to this grammar, but it’s not really relevant. The verb is also conjugated in present tense. Now, when translating this phrase, they could have used "Ouça-O" which is the form used when commandments are given. It would have still meant "Hear him", but it would have lost meaning. When God, the father of our spirits, says "hear him", it is not a mandate, nor a casual suggestion. It is a formal invitation to hear Jesus Christ. Nobody is going to force the gospel on you, it’s up to each individual to choose if he/she will "hear him". What is one way you can "hear him" in your life?

Terna Misericórdia: As I stated above, I was very frugal with my biweekly allotment. In the market, I was looking at all the new things I wanted to try. Different fruits and ice creams, different candies and snacks. But the thought came to mind to not splurge. The next thought told me to splurge; the next allotment was only 6 days away, what's the worst that could happen? I decided to be frugal and only buy what I needed for the week. And the worst did happen. When we went to the atm to withdraw the new mesada (allotment), the atm gave me a receipt that said the money had been withdrawn, but no money came out. We checked the balance and it said that all had been withdrawn. So we contacted the financial secretary about it and he’s going to help us today, but I might have to live without that money for the next few days. Because of the prompting of the holy ghost, when we go to the market, I’ll be able to afford what I need for the week again. It’s a huge tender mercy and a lesson of being frugal not living paycheck to paycheck that I’ll take home with me when that time comes.

Happy (late) birthday Grandma Putnam, Shane, Elder Schmell, and Dad! Parabens pra vocês!

SparkNotes:

1. Cars are very different here. There are brands that we don't have in the US, and there are brands we have in the US that they don't have here.

2. The food is amazing, and we have Brazilian BBQ's all the time. Rice is in pretty much every meal.

3. It rained

4. Instead of knocking, the custom here is to clap

5. I still don’t understand anyone, but I'm getting better at speaking.

6. I deep cleaned the kitchen, it was disgusting.

7. We taught a lesson to a guy who wondered about people in the Americas. He was very excited to hear about the book of Mormon.

8. Go watch General Conference! Think Celestial!

9. Bananas na terra suck

10. Again, read the spiritual thought and tender mercy in full.

Deus abençoe!

Tchau!

Elder Mackrory

1. Genuinely the sickest bike known to man

2. The front

3. We gettin big

4. Food

5. Sunset over the macaé lagoon

6. The biggest civilian vehicle I've seen

7. Bananas na terra (uncooked)

8. Bananas na terra (cooked)

I think it's time to teach some lessons

 (Elder Mackrory)

Oh. My. Goodness. There is so much to say. I’m in the field now and it’s so crazy. Let’s start from the beginning. This will be a long one, but it'll be worth it. Sorta like "All Too Well (10 minute version)". But if you don’t have the patience or time for that, the sparknotes are at the bottom.

In the last week in the CTM, things started to move more slowly. I said that time flies, and it’s true, but the anticipation of being where I am now made it a heck of a lot slower. Packing my suitcases all week didn't help with that haha. Not much actually happened those days except our last night.

Pretty much everyone who was leaving was going around getting pics and signatures. One Elder is from New Zealand. He will go to the field next week, but because of his time zone, he did his "home mtc" here in Brazil, so we all know him really well. He taught five other elders the Haka and they performed it for us. I’ve seen the Haka in person before, but never in such a resonant hallway. It was crazy and I have a tremendous respect for him.

Most people complain about the food in the CTM. I didn't often because I am easily satisfied. But I’m realizing now that I’m in the field how truly bad it is. The food here in real Brasil is so much better. I’ve realized that my brain won’t let me eat more than one serving of something I don’t like. I didn’t know this at the time, but the fact that I couldn’t eat more than one plate during ctm was probably a sign that it wasn’t good. It’s probably how I was able to eat a whole slab of ribs, and a side of applesauce and corn at Texas Roadhouse. Here is the same. I eat like 3-4 plates all the time. I might gain weight for the first time ever.

Now for travel day. We woke up about 4:30 to pack final things and head down to the buses. The flight was good, only about an hour, and the last 20 mins were phenomenal. We saw Christ the Redeemer pretty close up actually, and a lot of very beautiful beaches. The water was a beautiful blue with the perfect amount of green. When we got to the mission home, we had chili and met our comps. Except mine wasn’t there. I was part of a travel group to head to the area where my comp was.

It was a 4 hour bus ride, but we got to the bus station late, and had to get new tickets, which had us waiting another two ish hours at the station. I got some sleep in on the way there. I also watched Love, Kennedy. Don’t ask me how I have it, but don’t worry, its missionary appropriate. It’s a wonderful movie about faith, perseverance, unity, and eternal perspective.

On the bus ride I talked to an elder who has been in the field for about 6 months. He had the same trainer as me so I wondered if he had any insights or things to expect. He then proceeded to give me the best lesson on gratidão I’ve ever had. He said to thank my trainer for everything. Make him feel useful and helpful. Thank him for helping in a lesson, a word, a contact, getting food, etc. Literally everything. Idk how it is for other missions, but here the mission slang for trainer is "dad". So technically that makes me talking to my brother. But it reminded me how we need to be grateful for everything that our Heavenly Father gives us.

We got to our area and I met my comp, Elder Nascimento. He is completely bilingual and is from southern Brasil. He won’t speak any English to me, but I can say "o que significa?" Or "como se diz?" And he knows the translation. He's pretty cool.

 

In the ctm, I ended up normally sleeping with 9 blankets. Here, I’m content with one. But it is 18 degrees Fahrenheit hotter in our room now than in the ctm.

I ended up accidentally stealing another Elder's pillow and blanket that night (heyyy Robison). He put it in my bag because there wasn’t room in his, and I forgot to give it back when the bus ride ended.

NOBODY HERE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE. They all mumble random sounds and seem to have a mind reading ability. Except when I’m talking. They don’t understand the Portuguese language like I do. Yesterday and day before yesterday was filled with my comp teaching lessons while I smile. I occasionally get asked to explain simple things like the book of Mormon or the apostasy. I always get to bear my testimony and say a prayer so that’s nice.

Tender mercy: We talked to one Lucas. His first contact with missionaries was my travel day, and on Saturday we taught him the first lesson. I was asked to explain the book of Mormon. I was really struggling for words. Lucas told me that I could say it in English. And so I started in English, but as quickly as I started, the Portuguese words I needed to say came to me. I said words that I’ve heard maybe once. Words I’ve never studied nor been able to recall before. The spirit in the room seemed to be a physical presence. Like a fog that doesn’t hinder your view, but enlarges it.

Today we went to the market for the first time. I haven’t actually needed food yet other than what has been fed to me. Thats how much food I get with members. I got some bananas and some bigger bananas that you need to boil to make edible. I got Sucrilhos (Portuguese for frosted flakes) and yogurt. I got some rice and some condensed milk (for sipping). Strawberry yogurt is freaking amazing as a milk substitute in cereal.

Speaking of milk, apparently my family has had to adjust to my absence significantly. They don’t know how much milk to buy now that I’m gone. I didn’t think I drank this much, but apparently the first couple of weeks there was 2-3 gallons a week going bad. Maybe that’s why I haven’t ever broken a bone.

Spiritual thought: Since starting to read scriptures in Portuguese, I’ve been thinking a lot about English words that have a Portuguese translation that sounds like another English word. (Por examplo: big enough=grande o suficiente). One example that really stuck with me wasn’t even related to Portuguese. It’s how Disciple looks and sounds like discipline. A disciple is someone who follows someone (ie Jesus Cristo). Discipline has many meanings. I can’t write them all here, but I encourage you all to look for similarities in the two words to help you be a better Disciple of Christ. I know by looking at this and applying it has helped me.

SPARKNOTES*****

1. The last week at the ctm was slow because we were waiting to get out into the field.

2. I got to see the Haka performed by a New Zealand Elder and his district.

3. The food at the ctm is bad, but I only now realized how bad it was because of how good the food is here

4. It was an early morning and late night on travel day. I saw the Christus stature out the window of the airplane. I watched Love Kennedy on the bus ride to Macae. It’s a great movie about faith and having an eternal perspective.

5. An elder on the bus taught me about how important it is to be grateful for everything.

6. My comp is pretty cool, he speaks English and Portuguese, but won’t speak English to me. I can ask him for words and meanings of words.

7. I stole Elder Robison’s Pillow and blanket for two nights. He slept on a pillow made of shirts.

8. I don’t understand a word anybody says. It’s like they are saying random sounds. But when we’re teaching, I’m able to understand a little better and get to teach a bit, and say a lot of prayers

9.i got some cool stuff at the marking including huge bananas. You should try cereal with yogurt instead of milk.

10. I’m not going to summarize the tender mercy and spiritual thought. Please read it in full.

Photos (lots) (there will be another email)

1. Ferrari things

2. Dung beetle things

3. Elder Robison and I (he didn't sleep well haha)

4. Selfie

5. Me and my comp

6. The chapel

7. Giant bananas 10"

8. Old fiat badge

9. Funny bathroom sign

Alright here's more pics

1. O Plano de Salvação puzzle

2. I got to watch the byu game while at dinner with members

3. At this dinner, we had sausage filled crust pizza (to die for)

4. Funny graffiti over a mural

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