Baby let the games begin

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia gente!

Merry Cheifsmas! I'm so happy for Taylor's boyfriend. Anyway, it's been a fast week. But also Tuesday was an eternity ago. Lots of craziness. Unfortunately, we only saw 12 fuscas, bringing the total up to 484.

Other general news: Carnaval has started. It's a festival that starts on the 10th and ends on the 19th. But it's different here in Rio because Rio is the party city. Here, it starts on the 9th and goes until whenever people decide to stop partying. So who knows. Our mission rules have us returning home by 7pm dur8ng Carnaval, but allow us to return home earlier if our areas are crazy. For us, our area is pretty chill, but there are some hints of early festivities that may become crazier as we get deeper into Carnaval.

Anyway, last Pday was pretty chill, we went to the mall and hung out at home. Ideal. Elder Kjar did something super cool and said, “I want points for that” so we made a points system to gratify that. We made a few categories such as “Earth Coolness Points” for doing something cool, “Seinfeld Points” for saying something funny or cool, “Ponto Diário” given to the first person out of bed, “Referências de Taylor Swift” for making a Taylor Swift reference without being caught, and “2” for filling an empty 2 litre bottle with filtered water and putting it in the fridge. Just dumb thing to have fun. Results at the end. Elder Sousa Silva makes Taylor Swift references in Portuguese, so it's difficult to catch when he says "it will make an ugly scar" rather than "it will leave a nasty scar" so that's why he won that category.

Tuesday was zone council, so we took a 45 minute uber to the chapel, made it on time, and nobody was there. So we finally got in 15 minutes later, and it turned out the sisters were inside ignoring us. Makes sense. Sometimes, I would rather not hang out with Elders. But I was in desperate need of air conditioning. When we got back, we had a good lesson with Thiago and Luciene about the Book of Mormon. This time, it did not rain after the lesson, and we went and got açaí.

Wednesday was our interviews with the Mission President. Thankfully, he came to our chapel, so we didn't have to travel far (haha, Elder Owen). There were some delays during the interviews that allowed Elder Kjar and I to go and buy a new fan for our house. I would have mentioned that my fan passed away during the night sometime last week, but there were more important things happening. This new fan is incredible. We went from 4 fans in the room being comfortable to 3 fans in the room being unbearably hot to 2 fans in the room being quite nice. We had a sports night that night and got to throw around a football for a while (senti saudades dessa). Afterwards , we got Açaí to celebrate 6 months on the mission. Crazy

On Thursday, we had a big service project doing yard work. That lasted about 4 hours in the sun. But we got to take home about 15 coconuts in the end so… worth it. Also, because service is really fulfilling. It ended up making about 3 and a half litres of coco water. The work took us out, though, so we weren't able to go out to our area.

On Friday we got out to the working field at about 10:30 to visit some friends. Unfortunately, that's when the sun is at its hottest. So we got sunburned. We ate lunch at the chapel with food that was dropped off there for us. We went to the supermercado to pick up some soda, and I found a kilogram mango and a 2 litre of Guaraná for nearly nothing (3.99). We ate lunch and found that it was the first day of Carnaval and so probably best to head home earlier than mandated. Had some lessons over the phone and got a little bit of what it's like to be a covid missionary.

Saturday was awesome. We started out by teaching Thiago and Luciene again, and Thiago said “I don't know the Book of Mormon. I believe it's true, but I'm going to find out for myself.” Straight outta the answer Book. There's not an answer book, but if there was that, that'd be in it. We then headed over to Maria and expected a short message and said goodbye. Previously, she had been just kinda listening and not really participating. This time, we caught her watering flowers, and she saw us and immediately went to go grab chairs to hear our message. She made good questions and comments. And by that time Carnaval was starting and we had to go home. But it was a good day.

Sunday was not too hot and so I wore my jacket, and it confused everyone. We had one of our friends show up that we definitely did not think was coming. It was awesome, and a brother in the ward immediately took him in and made friends. Love it when members do that (hint hint help the missionaries). Chill afternoon and a really helpful devotional about sharing the restoration story. We have a lot of friends that would really benefit from that.

Super awesome week, I’ll let you know the progress of Caraval next week when I know more (from what I've heard, it's best I stay ignorant)

SummaRio:

Congrats, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend on the Superbowl! 484 fuscas.

Carnaval started! Here in Rio, it starts earlier than the rest of Brasil and goes longer. Should be fun 🙃.

Me made a points system for doing things around the house, winner gets wafer snacks courtesy of the losers.

Tuesday, we had an awesome lesson on the Book of Mormon with Thiago

Wednesday, we bought a new fan that's about as powerful as 3 average fans. Good buy. Also, it was 6 months exactly on the mission.

Did about 4-5 hours of manual labor for 15 coconuts and lunch and blessings. Win.

Friday was the start of Carnaval, and so we decided it was best to just go home instead of waiting for the danger to arrive. Got a sweet deal on soda and mangos.

We had some great progress with a lot of our friends on Saturday, when we definitely had too much to do. Surely the Lord was with us.

I wore a jacket to church because it was only 80°. Everyone was confused. Also, we had a miracle with João (John), who came to church when he did not think he would be able to.

Tender Mercy: There are too many to choose from. But on Thursday, on the way home with my soda and mango, we had several people ask for soda (it was like 100°) and so we happily gave. I really like this brand of soda, and so initially, I was begrudgingly giving my soda away, but as the people kept coming up to us, I was more and more eager to give. The feeling of giving someone what they need and seeing them relieved was greater than any glass of ice cold Guaraná would have given me.

Spiritual Thought: After lunch, we played a game for our message. Our district leader (visiting from another area) challenged us to ask him a question, and he would answer with the Book of Mormon. We asked questions about who would win the upcoming Brazilian soccer games and whatnot. And then he pulled the answer:

1 Nephi 11:17

And I said unto him: I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

Hilarious, right? But the principle is simple. Who needs to worry about the things of the world, the uncertainty or stress of the world, when you know that God loves you and wants the best for you? If you don't know that great truth yet, I testify to you that He does love you, He does want the best for you, and He wants to hear you pray!

Photos:

1. Points (if Elder Sousa Silva would stop referencing Taylor Swift in Portuguese, that'd be nice)

2. The sun

3. Misprint Book of Mormon

4. Também

5. Sick bike

6. Surprise selfie

7. Ayrton Senna Daycare

You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain

(Elder Mackrory)

Boa noite todos!

It's been a weird week of ups and downs, and it actually felt a little long. Perhaps because of the lack of fuscas. I only saw 14 this week, bringing us to 472. 

On Pday last week, we went and played soccer with mini goals and a mini court. It was pretty cool, and I scored one off of my shoulder, flying over two defenders. That one is definitely going on my lifetime highlight reel. Then we went to the shopping mall and got some awesome Rodízio pizza. 

On Tuesday we had a really cool lesson with our buddy Kauan. More on him later. He has been reading the Book of Mormon pretty consistently and loves to meet with us. We had not, as of yet, taught him the Restoration story and how the Book of Mormon came forth. Testifying of Joseph Smith and the first vision and all had me close to tears, and Kauan said he felt the spirit, too. 

On Wednesday, we had a cool experience. It was a hot day walking to our lesson. We taught our other friend about the Book of Mormon and read 3 Nephi 11 with her. This is the friend who we found who had been taught by sisters anciently. Anyway, by the time the lesson ended, it was pouring. It was pouring harder than I have ever seen it pour in my life. The roads were rivers, and waterfalls cascaded off of rooftops. The backside of water truly is beautiful. But it was a little less beautiful when you forgot your umbrella and you're soaking wet. Anyway, we stopped under a patio for some quick shelter. It was the patio of a barbershop, and there were two dudes in there. They invited us in while we waited for the other Elders to call an uber for us (our app wasn't working). We started talking the usual: we're missionaries, we teach people the gospel, yep we're Americans how did you know, no we didn't know Portuguese before the mission, we'll stay here for two years, yes really two years, we're 19 years old, yes that's very young. You know, the usual. The barber also recounted to us that he is also a pastor in his church. He finished the haircut on the other dude and he told us to get a ride with his friend (the guy getting a haircut) to the chapel since that's on the way for him. He assured us that he's a good friend and a fellow brother of the Word. People take religion very seriously here and so at this point he was basically swearing on his life that we could trust his friend. So we got a ride. And it was kinda a miracle that we we're able to get back to where we needed to go without being extremely soaked or delayed. 

Thursday was a little more chill, less planned lessons and more street contacting, which I love. We met with a lady whose house was a jungle of potted plants above my head. She was super nice, and we talked about the importance of caring for God's creations. There were a lot of butterflies.

Friday, we had a lesson with Kauan and made some logistics for his baptism. It was a good lesson, and he showed he is ready to make the baptismal covenants. 

 

On Saturday, we scheduled his baptismal interview. He showed up early and told us he didn't feel ready to be baptized. He wanted to know more of the gospel and really feel ready to be baptized. We told him we'll work with him to grow his knowledge. It's great that he understands the importance of baptism, but he needs help to understand the nature of baptism. He is ready to keep the covenants. He is ready. His learning would grow so much faster with the gift of the Holy Ghost. So this email I'm asking for prayers for Kauan. Prayers for Elder Kjar and I to express to Kauan the nature of baptism. I see in Kauan a devoted member, valiant missionary, loyal husband, and loving father. Your prayers in faith would be much appreciated.

Sunday, while feeling down about the canceled baptism (perhaps a little hangry too if ya know ), I decided to bear my testimony as usual for sacrament meeting. After I sat down, our other friend Juarez got up to bear his testimony. Guys, this is his fourth time in church ever. I almost lost it. Good pickup. We are working with him to move his baptism date up. He's basically already a member. 

That's it this week! Keep Kauan in your prayers! Love y’all!

SummaRio: 

472 fuscas

On Pday, we played football on a mini field with mini goals and I scored a goal that is definitely going on my lifetime highlight reel.

On Tuesday we had a sick lesson with Kauan. Super spiritual. Love that guy.

It was hot on Wednesday, until we finished our lesson. Then it rained like nothing I've ever seen. We sought shelter at a nearby barbershop, where the barber/pastor got us a free ride to the chapel. 

On Thursday we found and taught an older lady who has more potted plants than I have cousins (if ykyk) 

On Friday we taught Kauan again and helped him to come to the conclusion that he was ready and prepared for baptism. 

Saturday he came to us and said he didn't feel ready and would feel better if we remarked it for later. 

Sunday, feeling bummed about Kauan, our other friend got up and bore his testimony and brightened my day. 

Tender mercy: 

We were teaching one of our friends Maria in the street and it was really hot. We finished our little thought and went on our way. She then called us back and gave us each a Guaravita (my favorite Guaraná drink (only in Rio)). It was such a kinda gesture and kinda made my day. 

Spiritual thought: 

The Law of Moses was revealed to the people in its entirety in the Books of Moses. The next book in the Bible is Joshua. Although the law had already been given, the people of the Lord still needed a prophet to guide them through the trials of the day. In the same way, we still needed inspired direction from Prophets and apostles today, even though the fullness of gospel was left by Jesus Christ almost 2000 years ago. I invite you to read this speech by Russell M. Nelson, our living prophet today, and pray about the truthfulness of the message and to receive a witness of President Nelson's divine calling. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/51nelson?lang=eng

Photos: 

1. Elder Kjar feeding a tortoise

2. Butterfly

3. Pancakes (obrigado pela receita, Schmuhl)

4. If Formula 1 teamed with BMW Motorsport

5. Pday gave me distinct sunburn lines from each of my bracelets and my watch

6. Beautiful Saracuruna

7. Family night

8. Me and the boys (missing Elder Patterson) (Kauan in the blue)

9. Brownies and Ice creeeeeam

10. My comp managed to find the photo he took of our gourmet donuts from transfers

 

Meet me in the pouring rain

 (Elder Mackrory)

Opa família e amigos!

This has easily been the fastest week here in Brasil. Also easily the most productive. I'm excited to write about it.

We'll start as we usually do. My new area has fewer fuscas, but it is not a huge deficit. This week, we saw 18, bringing us to 458. We had an unfortunate event where I saw two fuscas at once, meaning we had to go from 443 to 445 and skip 444. That's life.

Pday last week was amazing. I enjoy pdays that are tranquilo. It also allows me to get my email out early. Speaking of which, when Elder Patterson (heyyy) read my email, he let me know that our local supermarket sells donuts on a regular basis. So that's gonna be a frequent purchase for me. I've already gotten them twice this week.

Tuesday was pretty cool. It's definitely different than what I'm used to. We had to stay inside because of heavy rain and street flooding. But we were still able to have many text and phone lessons!

Wednesday was similar weather wise, just lighter on the rain. We were able to leave the house and meet with a bunch of people, one of whom hadn't met with the missionaries since there were Sisters in the area (a very long time ago). It is unfortunate that it rains so much here because it means nobody wants to do anything. We didn't have anybody show up to the chapel to play soccer (I thought Brazilians liked soccer more than they disliked rain??).

Thursday was awesome. It was pouring rain early in the afternoon when we were meeting up with a member, but thankfully, the rain stopped just as we met up with her. We then went around the neighborhood and taught lessons with her. In one day, we met our goal for lessons with a member.

Friday, our lunch appointment fell through. But thankfully, our goated bishop picked it up and hosted us. For those of you who don't know, carnival is right around the corner. We had to fill out a form making a plan for how we are going to handle it. Carnival is almost two weeks long and is crazy. It will certainly be physically and spiritually dangerous to be out in the streets during the busy hours. We made plans with bishop, who's lived here his whole life. We planned plans to return home early and to avoid plazas and other public meeting places. Thankfully, he said our area is pretty chill since everyone prefers to go to central Rio to have a ball.

Saturday was pretty cool. Generally, Saturday is the day we focus on inviting the whole world to church. Elder Kjar and I visited all the people whom we taught on Thursday and shared brief messages, and invited them to church. Usually, we have 5 or so standard messages about simple things like faith, prayer, reading the scriptures, the Life of Christ, service, etc. As we approached one of these contacts, I couldn't decide what to teach. Then the idea came to mind to instead do a game called “Gravata da Oração.” It's a pretty cool game with a fun gospel application at the end. When we got to the contact, Elder Kjar took the lead and started off with the message. And then he said “our message today begins with a game.” Note that I had not shared my thoughts with him about my idea. Then we played Gravata da Oração and taught about prayer. They loved it. It's a cool little bit of inspiration.

Sunday was cool, too. Basically, every day is super cool. I love training. Shout-out to Elder Schmuhl and Kjar for making training easy and fun. Anyway, Sunday was cool. I spoke in church for about 10 minutes. Since nobody knows me, I figured I could skip the “for those of you who don't me” and go straight into introducing myself. By the way, that phrase is common here, too. I told the ward a little about myself like that I sing and play the piano. That I'm from New Mexico and have almost 6 months on the mission. Simple things. And for whatever reason, I ended up saying that I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music. Anyway, I spoke on the importance of the scriptures for guidance and protection. I shared some cool things that I learned from reading the scriptures in a different language. It was pretty cool. Our friend who was there then asked for the scripture references during our phone call lesson that night, so that's a big win. After church, I got fist bumps from the young women who showed me their swiftie bracelets. We went to lunch, had churrasco (no big deal), and prepared an a cappella musical number for next week in church because the member loves barbershop quartets and heard that I like to sing. The member also told us that carnival is crazy here, which completely uprooted our plans for returning early so much that we might just need to not leave the house for two weeks. We will see.

Funny story: Elder Kjar and I were just chatting about the scriptures and he said, “Moses said that it is impossible to write all the ways in which a man can sin, but the old Testament definitely tried.” Having just finished reading Leviticus, that really resonated with me. I'll just say Chapter 18 was not fun to read.

Well, that's all that went down this week. Other than that It rained literally every day. Our road was a chocolate river many times.

SummaRio:

18 fuscas, 458 total

There's a donut place right around the corner from our place.

Rained in on Tuesday

Wednesday we were able to meet with someone who hadn't met with missionaries since 2021

Thursday we had 6 lessons with a member present 😎

Friday we made our carnival plan in order to be safe.

Saturday we played an inspired game with some people on the street and invited the entire world to church.

Sunday I spoke in church and talked about the scriptures and that I'm a swiftie. We had churrasco and sang barbershop quartet hymns.

It rained every sing day.

Tender Mercy: there have been so many it's impossible to count. But on Thursday, our member friend took us to the house of an inactive member family that we don't have records for. If it hadn't been for her, we would not have ever been able to find them, nor the missionaries in the future. We had an awesome message about the Book of Mormon and invited them to church.

Spiritual thought: As I mentioned above, we typically have 5 or so mini-lessons to give to people for first contact or otherwise. My favorite one is prayer. We start and finish every contact with prayer, and so teaching about prayer really resonates with people. It is also something that I do so often. Prayer is literally a direct line to speak to the King of the Universe. But He, benevolent and ever-loving, prefers to be known as our Father. I testify that He loves you, wants to hear from you, and is eager to help you. All you have to do is ask. Prayer will change the night to day, so when life gets dark and dreary (or bright and cheery), don't forget to pray.

As fotos:

1. CHURRASCOOOOO

2. Cool street

3. Cool street pt2

4. Best mango of my life

5. Taking apart our working fan to see what went wrong with our not working fan. The fix will likely require a soldering gun, so we're just gonna buy another one. But it was fun to dismantle things.

6. Donuts!!!!

7. Lesson with goated member

8. Day with Goated member

9. Other lesson with goated member

10. We took apart our filter to figure out with the pressure is near nothing. Turns out the filter is beyond spent. Again it was fun to dismantle things.

11. Family night!!!! We helped with a 1500 piece puzzle. Fun fact: in Portuguese, "puzzle" is "quebra-cabeça" or "Head Breaker".

Me and karma vibe like that

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia pessoal!

Lots of changes this week! So excited to get into it. We'll start as we always do: 440 fuscas.

So! Transfers came in, and I'm out of Cavaleiros! I spent 3 transfers there, and loved every bit of the area. But now I'm in Saracuruna! It's much closer to the center of Rio and quite dangerous. So actually we are advised to be home by sundown. It's gonna be fun. I was talking to a member about fuscas, and he said I won't see many of them here. Which was a bummer, but then I saw 4 that day, so we'll see. And I'm training. My companion's name is Elder Kjar (pronounced “Care” because it's a Danish name). He already has one transfer in the field, so I'm finishing his training. His last companion was actually Elder Schmuhl, who I'm good friends with, so that's cool. Elder Kjar wants to be an engineer and likes Taylor Swift, so you already know we're besties.

Anyway, back in Cavaleiros, we had our zone Pday at the chapel. The usual churrasco and chatting with all the other Elders. One notable experience was reading the email of Elder Patterson. He was saying how he was trapped in his house for a few days due to crazy flooding in the street. He said it's not an uncommon thing to happen. I kinda laughed at him for that. And then karma happened. Do you wanna guess his area? Saracuruna. So God definitely has a sense of humor. Can't wait to be rained in.

We had a family night on Tuesday celebrating the completion of Sister Da Fonseca's mission. Basically, all of our investigators were there, and we had an awesome experience talking about the mission and reflecting on experiences that helped us grow.

Wednesday, we got word of transfers. We went to the bus station to see Sister da Fonseca off, and I got a call from the Assistants to the President. They told me I'd be training. So I asked, “Will I be training here? “Will I be starting or finishing someone's training?” “What's his name? “The answer was not what I was expecting at all. They said, "Thank you for your willingness to serve,” and then hung up. So yeah.

Thursday was packing and working out travel plans with the Zone Leaders. We were at a member family's house, and the wife who is a swiftie gave me a Midnights pulseira. Super cool. Not a whole lot more.

Friday was transfers day! Super exciting. We got on a bus at about 6:30 and I slept almost the entire 4 hours. We I woke up we were crossing a crazy long bridge and I got to see Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer (just the statue, unfortunately). It was a super fun day. Got to see Elders Westover, Smith, Roberts, Schmuhl, Patterson, and Owen who were all part of my MTC group. We ate at a 6 story mall with an incredible view. I ate a donut. I haven't had a donut in 6 months. It was incredible. So incredible that I forgot to take a picture. It was huge, and was drizzled with marbled white and milk chocolate with a Kit Kat on top. So soft and warm. Cannot wait to have another one when I'm in the area again. When we got to the area, we went shopping, and the local supermarket and I saw the sickest knife collection up for sale. They have an 11” Brazil knife that I vowed to buy. Holy moly it was sick. Super shiny, and pretty much exactly the kind of souvenir knife I wanted to buy.

Saturday was the first day in my area. Our apartment has an official gym, which is super helpful because the doorways are weird and I can't set up my pull-up bar. Got an amazing workout in and I can't wait until later today when I go back. We left for lunch with the Bishop and it was amazing. We had homemade ice cream. Then we spent that day visiting members, teaching people, and getting new contacts. It was awesome. Other than that, I saw street goats and street horses. I've seen street dogs and street cows, but these were new. I tried to take a selfie with a street goat, but he dipped as soon as I took the picture. We returned home just before sunset, and began phone work. We had a few call lessons and called it a day at 9. I freaking love this area.

On Sunday we walked to church in the drizzle rain. Not a problem, I love the rain. The chapel is very cool, very different. All the chapels I've known have had very large halls for Sacrament meeting, with all sorts of classrooms in the same building. This chapel was about a third of the size, and most of the classrooms were in an annex building. Very different from what I've known here and in the states.

That's all the notable things that happened this week! Hope everyone is doing well, I have a bit more time this pday, so I think I'll be able to respond to everyone!

SummaRio:

440 fuscas

I was transferred to a new area closer to Central Rio. I'm training an American who is slightly more gringo that Me.

I was having fun teasing Elder Patterson about being rained in, and then I got transferred to His area. So God definitely has a sense of humor.

We had a last family night with all of our investigators that was awesome.

The AP's called to inform me I would be training and hung up on me when I tried to ask for more details.

Lots of packing and planning on Thursday.

Transfer day! I had an amazing donut for the first time in 6 months and got to know Elder Kjar

On Saturday we got to know the area better and saw some street goats

Our chapel has a very different setup than I've ever seen.

Tender Mercy: on transfer day, Elder Kjar and I went to go get a “RioCard” which gives us bus, train, and other public transport discounts. The address was completely wrong, but because of the misdirection, we were able to help some other missionaries with their bags and packing them in an uber. They were having trouble with all of them and so it was cool to be there when we needed to be. We afterwards were able to get our RioCards.

Spiritual Thought: on Sunday, Elder Kjar and I spent some time watching and sending out inspirational videos to our friends that we're teaching. One video I really enjoyed was called “One in Christ”. It talks about two rivers in Brasil that combine to become the Amazon. It uses that example to show that together with Christ we can become more powerful and more unified with others despite differences. I would love for you guys to watch the video and ponder on how we can apply the message.

One in Christ

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2019-08-1000-one-in-christ-1080p?lang=eng

 

Fotos:

1. Trying to take a pic with a street goat

2. Black toilet was interesting and fancy

3. Cool knife collection at the local supermarket (mark my words I’m buying the Brasil one)

4. View from the mall we ate at

5. View from the bridge (the big one has Christ the Redeemer)

6. Last time at my favorite burger place in Macaé

7. Swiftie bracelet

8. No one laughed at my burger king order (doesn’t translate well)

9. Last time getting ice cream in Macaé

10. Watching transfers on the big screen (ft. Elder Robison, Elder Schmuhl, and President Dutson)

11. Elder Kjar and I first day

In the quiet of the night you know that I caught it

 (Elder Mackrory)

Opa Pessoal!

This week has surely been unique, and I wouldn’t call it fast. We had an unfortunate lack of fuscas, only 23 (416), which isn't a huge lack considering the circumstances, so we'll take it.

On pday I spent the day with Elder Levie and the Aeroporto district. We went to the mall, and I got some sick pens and saw the most realistic and coolest power wheels to ever exist. We then went to the beach and hung out on a big rock, away from the water. Or so we thought. Elder DeWitt and I stepped onto a different rock to get some cool pictures, and just then the biggest wave we had seen hit, and Elder DeWitt and I got soaked head to toe, despite only having stood on dry ground. It was fun.

Tuesday we had a fun family night, where we had cake with butterscotch frosting. It was amazing. But how we got there was stuff of legend and miracle. When my comp and I left, we did not have much time before the bus we needed left. We would barely make it as it stood. So then naturally my comp said “if we see a chocolate store, I'm stopping.” I told him we couldn't, because we'd miss the bus, and he'd spoil his dinner. So naturally when we happened to pass a chocolate store, he stopped and we spent 10 FREAKING MINUTES INSIDE THE STORE. I wasn't aware choosing chocolate could take that long. Anyway, as we arrived at the bus station, our bus left. Exactly as I had predicted. So as it stood, the next bus would arrive in an hour, making us an hour late. But just then, an Idea was put into my head that we could catch the same bus when it loops back around and gets stuck in traffic, where we could get on. We got to the place, and the bus arrived shortly and we were able to get on and arrive on time. It's crazy how it all worked out. Don't take it the wrong way, though: I still like my companion, he and I laugh about this now. When were pressed for time we just say "we don’t have time for chocolate".

Wednesday. Oh boy. Here we go. Something happened during the night and I woke up dead. Headache, stomachache, complete physical fatigue, cough. The only thing I don't have is a runny nose, which is a miracle. We quickly changed our lunch to pick up and postponed our later appointments. We still had to leave the house to get the food, which sucked, but we needed food. I just kinda rested all day. It was not fun. My head hurt too much to read, and so I just had to sit there until I went to bed at 7.

Since then it's pretty much been the same. Except for one notable experience walking home from picking up lunch. I passed a garage with a red bull sponsored jet ski parked inside. It was so cool. So I raised my phone to take a photo, and then a voice from behind a tinted window said “who is it?” And I told him I just wanted a photo. Then he bid me enter. He showed me his Porsche 918 and Mercedes AMG CLA 45 S, a yellow and black Camaro, and a Hilux with a custom body kit (completely unrecognizable). All of which were pretty much in showroom condition. It was amazing.

I was feeling better on Sunday, and so I went to church and had lunch. Lunch was very memorable. We arrived on time at 1:30, and started playing monopoly with their kids. Everyone knows how long monopoly takes, so we were thinking we wouldn't get very far along. Nope. We played about 3 and half hours until lunch (dinner) was brought out. It was good food. Worth the wait. We shared the message and expected to then leave, but the parents and the children insisted that we had to finish playing the game. We tried to explain why we had to leave but nothing was a valid answer to them. So we played. And played. And eventually we started making it so we sold our property to one Elder for almost nothing so that he could just start winning. We finally ended the game at 8:30pm. Insane. 7 hours for lunch is a new record.

 

Nothing much else happened this week. I still have a cough, but other than that I'm completely better.

SummaRio:

Got accidentally soaked at the beach on pday (it was actually accidental guys)

My comp got chocolate and made us miss our bus, but we strategically caught up to it by my knowledge of the city.

On Wednesday I died. And have been dead since. It's like a man cold or something.

I saw a crazy garage that had a Porsche, merc amg, Camaro, RB jet ski and a crazy mod job Hilux. Insane.

On Sunday our lunch lasted 7 hours. We played an entire game of monopoly.

Tender mercy: there have been so many to choose from this week from a quick breeze or fragrant flowers, but the one that stands out to me is how my companion has been so inclined to help me this week. He'll just fill my cup of water when it's empty, make sure the house is quiet or dark if I need to nap, and basically anything else I've needed he's been right there for me.

Spiritual thought: In connection with my goal to read the Bible and the rest of the standard works this year, I'm about halfway through Exodus. Up until this spot in the bible, the priesthood authority had been passed through family lines, given from father to son through generations like Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. In most of the stories of when the authority is passed, the man-made custom was to give the birthright blessing to the Eldest son. But this is rarely how it went down. It was always given to whom the Lord chose. The one who was most worthy. Just a cool thing I noticed and showed me how the Lord looks on the Heart, not on appearances.

Photos:

-Cool view

-red bull jet ski

-Bumblebee and Me

-the sickest place to put an amg (under the senna poster)

-interior of the Porsche

-missing my car....

-powerwheeeells

-me and DeWitt soaked

-I’m afraid of the water (DeWitt isn’t)

Christmas, New Years, and Zone Conference

 (Elder Putnam)

So I’m going to attempt to summarize 2 big weeks in one Email in 15 minutes.

Christmas was awesome. Inviting people to church was so fun, but so unfruitful. Despite that, there were still like 50 people who came to church. All time high.

We spent Christmas eve night with the Ščerbeņini family and the Bergesons. It was awesome!

We stayed inside on Christmas which made it go by a little boringly, but still got to talk to family all day. (We were counselled to stay inside by our Mission President).

The following week, people were a lot less open to talking with missionaries. No real surprise. But Markuss was baptized!!! Elder Beebe got to drive down and participate in the ordinance. It was really cool to see. We ended by driving up to Rīga to celebrate the New Year with other missionaries. Then we stayed up there for Zone Conference and visa work. Zone Conference was hype and we were all edified.

The amazing thing was that we came back to Liepāja and still were so effective. We had 3 new friends in 3 days. Doesn't sound like much, but its darn cold out here and that doubled our area book. Looking forward to a lesson every day with a friend next week (mind blown). We are also meeting with a Baptist preacher. The Baptist preacher who's church building is down the street from ours is either gonna bash the crap out of us or is gonna turn into the most amazing strength Liepāja has ever seen. Wow.

Anyways thats a decent summary of what has happened recently. Remember that you are all children of God. He loves you and He's got your back.

It was the night things changed

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia todos!

This week seriously flew by. It took quite a while to remember each of the days. People say that the mission goes the slowest in the first and last 6 months, and if so, I have no idea how I'm going to keep up. It's already flying by. They days are long, but the weeks are about as long as a day. It's wild. Yesterday was Wednesday. I'm pretty sure. And two days ago was the last pday. Time is not real.

Anyway, we'll kick this one off with the fusca count. Good news! It's at 393! This means that last week's slump was likely due to the increased number of people out of town. I bet you some areas who don't get many of them saw a few more. Perhaps I'll be in an area next Christmas that does not have many, and the Christmas week will see more, rather than less.

We started off the week (the year) on an exchange with Elder Humerez. It was a crazy day because we had to postpone our district council meeting 3 times because the sisters were stuck in post-holiday traffic all day, returning from starting their exchanges. We visited a lot of people and did a lot of productive organizing of our area book this way.

On Wednesday, we had lunch at my favorite restaurant. But they upped their prices. From 15 reals to 16 reals. Can you believe it? Outrageous. Anyway, that night, we had a family night with Kamilla and Douglas and Kaique. Os Brabos. They were playing a PS5 Harry Potter game that had the map all wrong. They put the quidditch pitch where the maze goes and Hagrids hut just outside of the botanical gardens. And the worst part was they put the Ravenclaw common room in the grand staircase! Everybody knows it is in the astronomy wing. Anyway, Kaique tried to make his avatar look like me, but it ended up looking like Iceman from top gun. I've forgotten the actors name. The message we shared was about having personal experiences with God. It was awesome, and I could tell most everyone was feeling the spirit. Afterward, we hung out a little bit, and I played a bunch of idle games with Kaique and talked about grammar (Portuguese and English). My main takeaway was that both languages are completely illogical, but English is more so.

On Thursday, we had lunch with a member of the stake presidency, and he helped me read a calculus book in Portuguese. It was pretty cool. Calculus is so cool. While I resent Sir Isaac Newton for inventing gravity, I'm glad he invented calculus. We lad a lesson with someone named Ilcinety, an older lady who liked to talk. It was difficult to get the message across because we also had to listen to her life story. But she agreed to meet with us the next day, so that's a win.

On Friday, we had our lesson with Ilcinety, and this time, she listened intently and made on topic comments. We have some appointments with her next week, and I'm excited to see her progress.

In district council, I suggested we have a “Noite Familiar da Casa” in order to bring the spirit back into our house. Friday night, we did this. We ordered pizza and just kinda hung out for a while, and afterwards, as it goes with a family night, we shared a message. I started out by sharing a scripture from the Book of Mormon. I also shared the experience that I had with the Book of Mormon through that scripture. I expected that I would share my testimony and that would finish the message and we'd all go to bed. But what happened instead was beyond that. All five of the other Elders present had something more to share on the subject. Each testimony was unique and brought the spirit. The presence of the holy ghost was once again in our home. Since then, the house has been quiet in the mornings, not in a noise level way, but in a peaceful way. The ethic to worth has been generally higher and morale (especially on my side) remedied.

Saturday, and up until this point, I have been on a split with Elder Levie again. That night, we played basketball with some of our investigators and the Elders in the adjacent area, Lagomar. I am not good at basketball, so any opportunity to not burden people with my lack of skill by sitting out, I took. Which ended up being really good, because one of our investigators who came was injured and couldn't play anyway, so I hung out with him. He speaks fluent English, but all his teachers were from England, and so he's got a Birmingham accent. It's pretty wack. I was not expecting it at all. It's like if you were to hear a cat bark. It's just not natural. But it was cool to talk to him because he's a mechanical engineer, so we got along naturally. We talked about a lot of things from the language, to working on oil rigs, to the trial of Jesus being completely illegal under Jewish law. It was awesome to talk in English about a subject I had recently studied.

Other weekly highlights:

Had raspberry chocolate ice cream and it was freaking amazing

Ran from a street dog

Ate pretty much all day Sunday

Literally half the ward got up to bear their testimonies on Sunday, I’m glad I got up there first

SummaRio:

Time isn’t even real, this week felt like 3 days

393 fuscas! Turns out last week’s slump was likely due to holiday travel

Tuesday we were very productive organizing our area book

Wednesday we had a super fun family night where I played on the PS5

We taught an old lady who likes to share her life story while the discussion is happening

The next day, we taught her again, and she listened intently and shared relevant comments.

We had a “family night” with just the elders of our district in which I shared a message, brought the spirit, but most importantly, helped those in my house recognize the previous lack of the spirit. Since then, it’s been great.

I had a split with Levie again and we played basketball with investigators and talked with a Brazilian who had an Birmingham accent. He learned from peaky blinders and British teachers.

Tender Mercy: When I went to the bank this week to withdraw my money, the dollar was down, and so I would have lost like R$60, so I decided to wait until it was up, but we haven’t had a chance to go back, so I just use my card. The bus doesn’t accept card, and so I had to use whatever I had left in cash. And I ran out on Wednesday. And yet I didn’t. My budget said I had run out, but each time I needed bus money, I was able to find some cash of mine. It definitely should not have worked out, but there was always money provided in a miraculous way.

Spiritual Thought:

A memorized scripture can be a friend in a time of difficulty, discomfort, or disorientation. One scripture I really like is from the writings of Moses, the words of God, “For behold, this is my work and my glory— to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”. I've had this scripture memorized for literally as long as I can remember. It helps me keep an eternal perspective. What is one sucky day when life is a blink in comparison to Eternal joy with my Heavenly Father and my family? I invite all of you to choose a scripture that brings you comfort or direction, and memorize it. This memorized scripture will pop into your head whenever you need comfort or direction. I promise you it works. Even if it's just a part of a scripture. Do it.

Not too many photos this week, sorry.

1. Cool graffiti. Note: saudades does not have a translation in English. It kinda describes feelings of missing someone or something. But that's not it really.

2. Lunch with Bishop

3. Interesting Christmas photo sent to us by a member

4. Shirtless Santa (what is my comp doingggg)

5. New year’s eve selfie