1st P-day Woot woot

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey y'all!

I don't quite know how I want to do these things so bear with me until I eventually figure it out.

I want to keep these brief so that y'all actually read them. Sorry for callin’ some of y'all out but I'm just being realistic.

Anyways, this week has been AMAZING. Hard but AMAZING. I absolutely love my district and my companion. They feel like family and the Elders definitely act like they're my brothers. Which is nice but like a little annoying sometimes if you know what having brothers is like. BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

I just want to tell y'all every single thing that happened this week but I can’t. However, one thing that I do want to share is something that I learned about Christ's Atonement this week:

So, during personal study on Sunday I was studying in Preach My Gospel (Y'ALL NEED TO READ IT, IT'S SO AMAZING) and I came across this sentence about the Atonement of Christ which says:

"He invites, 'Come unto me,' and as we do, He gives us rest, hope, strength, perspective, and healing"

The portion of this sentence that stuck out to me was the word "perspective". I feel like most of the time you hear phrases like, "the healing power of the Atonement" or the "strengthening power of the Atonement" but not the "perspective changing power of the Atonement". But it's JUST AS TRUE as those other phrases. When we come unto Christ, and utilize His love and Atonement for us,

It allows us to align our minds with the Savior, it helps us to view other's as well as ourselves more similar to the way that the Savior views us. He changes our perspective.

To end, I just want to profess my love for my Savior and His sacrifice that He made for me and for you and for every single person on this Earth. He loves you, He died for you, and He's always there to help you in any way you need it.

I love y'all!

- Sister Cummings

Here's some pics:

I called my mom, she said it was for the best

 (Elder Mackrory)

Fala galera! Feliz Dia das Mães!

Another week in the books. Not a super eventful week, except for the weekend. We saw only 9 vw bugs, to a total of 635.

Some highlights:

-I went on a division with Elder Klein. He's from Rio Grande do Sul. His family is ok; they live on a big hill, but they are still without water and energy. Please pray for the state of Rio Grande do Sul. A vast majority of the population is displaced.

-we got super cheap açaí

-For Sheila's baptism interview, she brought her daughter, and we were able to teach her a few things and mark her baptism date for the 2nd of next month. That is after transfer day, so I likely won't be here for that.

-on Sunday for lunch, we had churrasco and I got to try grilling cheese. It doesn’t melt, just gets this nice crispy crust and it's incredible. It's surprisingly good with molasses.

-this week was the baptisms of Sheila and Miguel! Miguel is the son of Camila, who was baptized last week. He has 8 years, and was unsure of baptism until he came to primary and loved it! He gave his testimony on the pulpit and said he wants to be an “Elder”. Sheila has been taught since I was in the MTC. She is really busy with work, and so it's difficult to mark with her. But when we do teach her, it's incredible. We invited her to be baptized about a month ago, and now it's finally happened! She was crying basically the whole time, but no one could really tell because she had just come out of the water.

Tender mercy: Saturday we marked with our district leader for the interviews of Miguel and Sheila. Although Miguel didn't show up. We tried contacting Camila through any means possible. No responses, nor were the messages sending. We were pretty much worried the entire evening. Especially since it was Saturday and the baptism was Sunday. After prayers and waiting, we wet home, kinda lost hope. Then, halfway home, we get a message from Camila. Her phone died and she had to take her aunt to the hospital (don't worry, when health care is free, you go to the hospital if you sneeze). In the morning, we were able to do the interview and everything worked out just fine.

Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is my own personal development. The mission is incredible for quick personal development. I mentioned this a lot during my first transfer and how I'm growing into being my dad. Mannerisms, appearance, and other things. As a guy, it's quite easy to compare myself to my dad. But recently I've been seeing things differently. I've been seeing how I've grown to be more like my mother. She is a person full of Christlike love and charity. A mother who cares for her children individually and equally. A person who seeks to help all, according to their needs. All these qualities are qualities that a dedicated missionary seeks. Her example brings myself and others to Christ. I am incredibly grateful to be able to talk with her every week. In nine months away from home, I feel like I have grown closer to my mother than ever before. Although I miss her dearly, as I make decisions that make me more like her, I feel myself growing closer to her and to the Savior.

She has taught me how to be. The Book of Mormon contains a story that adequately describes the greatest lesson I learned from my mother. In the Book of Alma, we read an account of 2060 young men fighting for the freedom of their God, religion, freedom, peace, and families. These young men had never fought before, but the teachings of their mothers rang in their ears:

“Now [these young men] never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” It says later in the story, “Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.”

Because of the teachings of my beloved mother, I do not doubt the power of God. I do not doubt that the Lord is with me. Although I am not perfect in observing the commandments with exactness, I try every day. I strive every day to be more like my Savior, following the example of my mother. God lives, he loves us, and he knows us individually and perfectly. As we look to Him in our struggles AND triumphs, we will be lifted up to like Him at the last day. I testify of these things with all my heart, might, mind, and strength in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Fotos:

-Me and Miguel

-Sheila and us

-Miguel and us

-baptismal invites

-me next to a fusca with a cool view behind (the camera didn't get the view)

Clear blue water, high tide came and brought you in

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde gente!

This week was unlike any other. It was feeling so slow, and then I woke up and it was Saturday. Unreal. We saw 11 fuscas, bringing us to 626. A lot of people have asked me, so I'll answer it here: Do I count every time I see a fusca, or just every new one? The answer is something in the middle. I am familiar with a few fuscas in my area that don't move and are just there. There's also some personalized ones that are impossible to mistake for a different fusca. Those ones I do not count more than once. But if a blue fusca passes on the road one day, and I also see a blue fusca the next day, I still count it both times, even with the chance that it's a repeat. Basically, unless I can verify with certainty that I have seen that very fusca, I count it again.

This week was not very full of news until this weekend. Just lessons, lunches, and long walks. We've seen significant progress from Sheila, Camila, and Miguel.

On Saturday we left from lunch (deep in gang territory) and started to walk back to the chapel. About halfway out of gang territory, we get stopped by two gang members on their dirt bikes. For Elders Kjar, Schmuhl, and Patterson who are reading this, it's right by that abandoned soccer field in cangulo. Anyway, one bike stopped on front of us and the other on our side. At this point I'm wondering if Elder Tacuche and I will still be companions when we get to the spirit world here in a bit. They started with the usual “who are you” “what are you doing here” “are you American” “are you Jahovah's Witness” and I answered with the usual “were missionaries” “we preach the gospel” “yes” “no''. They said Oh that's chill I know where your church is do you want a ride? So we respectfully declined and they left.

Later on the walk, as we leave gang territory, we meet these guys again. They're just having some beers and chilling out. They call us over and offer us some water. so we have some water and chat for a minute, when our old investigator walks of his house. I said “Hey Manoel, it's been a while!”. Our motorcycle friends are confused and tell me that his name is not Manoel. I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't that. So in the 3-4 weeks we taught him, he completely lied about his name. That's cool. Anyway, not-Manoel walks up to me and says “hey dear” (very drunk) and gives me a big ol’ kiss on the forehead. Yeah. Not cool. So we left and got to the chapel just fine and I washed my hands and face very thoroughly.

At the chapel, we needed to fill the font (foreshadowing). I turn on the tap and wait an hour. I looked in, and it's barely 4-5 inches deep. So by that timing, we'd be there until 11pm. So I started filling buckets at other taps and dumping them in. Then we found two 5 gallon drinking water containers. So I spent the next 3 hours hauling water around the church. I was very exhausted, but we finally got the font filled by 7pm.

Sunday morning we got to church and it was great and we had 4 of our friends show up! Afterwards we had the baptism of Camila. She's awesome, I talked about her earlier. She's pretty well known in the ward, and so we were planning to have the meeting in the baptism room, but like 80% of the ward stayed to watch, so we did it in the Sacrament Hall. a little bit later, she was baptized (I didn't mess up on the words) and she shared her testimony (holy moly that was great). I gave her a triple combination (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) that was in pretty much new condition, just collecting dust in our house. She was smiling ear to ear.

Now let's talk about Miguel. He's Camila's 8 year old son. He would have been baptized with her, but he was at another family event last week. Following advice from my mission president, we postponed just his baptism to next week. He was unsure this last week anyway, and now he's determined to follow his Mom's example. It's better this way anyway. Anyway, today was his first day in primary with the other kids. After running around with them after the baptism, he stopped for breath next to me. I asked him if he was making friends. He said “yeah, I made three Today!” And showed me three on his fingers (so freaking cute). Then I asked, “So how many do you have now?” And he thought for a moment and said “4!” And showed me again 4 on his hand. So I asked, “who's number 4?” And with a smile and a hop he said “you!” and looked at my tag and said “Elder Macaroni!”. Guys you have no idea how much my heart melted for this kid. I can't stand nicknames or mispronunciations, unless it's little kids. I'm ok with little Liz calling me Elder Moroni. Oh man, it was a good day. Another nice side effect: Sheila is super pumped for her baptism next week too since she watched Camila's. Valeu Elder Kjar

SummaRio:

11 fuscas, 626 total

Not too much happened during the week

On Saturday we spent 5 hours filling the font and hauling buckets of water to do so.

Sunday was the baptism of Camila!

Miguel broke his own cuteness record by calling me his friend.

Tender mercy:

After filling the font, I was super exhausted. Then randomly the maintenance guy shows up with pizza and coke for us. Out of nowhere. It was the best pizza I've had in Brasil. Easily a 6/10. And it was exactly what I needed to release some stress and cool down.

Spiritual thought:

“I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day” - President Russell M. Nelson

The Book of Mormon, when studied with prayer and faith, is the greatest tool to invite the Holy Spirit into your lives, and in inviting him into your life, your questions are answered, your decisions are better, and your doubts become faith. I've found the answer to all of life's Difficulties lies in putting God first through prayerful study of the Book of Mormon.

See yall next week!

Fotos:

1. Tiny Jesus Van

2. Chalkboard (don't worry I redesigned it to be better, just didn't take a picture)

3. Real açaí fruit

4. Churrasco

5. BATISMOOO

6. Meme

Fresh Outta the Asylum & Jelgava is apostate + a transfer to Riga

 (Elder Putnam)

So about a week and a half ago I got transferred to Rīga. I was very disappointed that I was leaving Liepāja especially after everything I had invested there. But I kinda have held to the talk from this past General Conference about trusting in the Lord. I'm in a trio with Elder Woods and Elder Roberts.

Since coming to Rīga our schedule has changed a lot. There is a lot to adjust to, but I think I'm doing well. The meal plan and the bed and study space are different and will require some adaptation, but with change and adversity comes growth. Lets just say I'm versatile.

On Tuesday we had a random friend show up to the church at the same time as a different friend. And since the random friend really only kinda knew me, I grabbed Elder Leonard and we taught the dude about the Plan of Salvation. He's gonna be there next Tuesday too 😎.

On Wednesday we visited an older member, the mother of the patriarch of the Baltics. Velta Senkane. She fed us canned tomatoes, bread, and a banana. It was awesome and then she didn’t let us share a spiritual thought since she was already old and wise and didn’t need it. come on Velta!

We also went on finding splits with some Russian speaking missionaries. On Tuesday we talked to this one dude who looked like he was on the way from the airport. We talked with him about the plan of salvation, realized that’s not what he needed, and then transitioned to something he mentioned about peace. He said he was interested and asked for a card. He explained that he was not in fact coming from the airport, but rather from the mental hospital, where he had been staying for some time. He needed time to get on his feet and promised to call us. I wont lie, we took it pretty well and are still waiting in faith for him to call. Hence "Straight Outta the Asylum in this emails title.

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday we took a train out to Jelgava and did a service project for the Hare Krishna's. We got super dirty, but they fed us super well. After we had washed ourselves off in the sink, we changed into proselyting clothes and went out on the town. We had hardly any good conversations. Everyone seemed to both recognize us, and have a bad attitude towards us. It kinda left a bad taste in my mouth for what is Jelgava.

On Sunday we helped out at the youth event. I taught some kids to pray more fervently. And then we taught the Elders Quorum lesson. It was kinda cool cause while we hadn’t planned the lesson, Elder Woods and I had prepared thoughts and thought-provoking questions. It was cool to see how the Lord guided the lesson to make it clear, powerful, instructive and timely. The grand cap of Sunday was a call that I received from Elder Bastow around 8:30. He informed me that a rule was changed in the Europe North Area of the missionary field. Missionaries who work with members towards baptism are allowed to travel to the temple with that new member, if they are ready and worthy to go through the temple. That would mean that Elder Bastow and I would be able to go with Raitis to the temple in Helsinki if he chooses to go through the temple before Elder Bastow and I go home. Pretty cool opportunity if it realizes.

Anyways that’s the most part of this past week.

Mr "Leaves me all alone"

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde Pessoal!

Thanks for granting me a little space in your inbox. There wasn't a whole lot of new this week, but vamo lá. I did see 15 fuscas though, bringing the grand total 615.

We stayed in the house for pday, just talking with family and such. On Tuesday we had a family night at the bishop's house. A member of the bishopric spoke about the true purpose of the gospel. It really touched me, so I'll put that at the end. On Wednesday we had sports night, and someone brought a volleyball net. We set it up, realized nobody really wanted to play and took it down again. But we got some açaí so that was nice.

Thursday nobody showed up to English class, so we went home early and made calls. I wish people would show up, but it's nice sometimes to be able to go home early.

Friday was cool. I woke up feeling pretty down, physically exhausted and feeling out of tune with the spirit. I continued with my studies, planning, and we left the house on time, but nothing was getting me going. Just going through the motions without any sort of emotion. I was praying that I could be able to see the Lord's hand in my life, because in those moments, something was blocking my spiritual eyes. On the way to the chapel, a white pigeon or dove showed up in front of us. We laughed a bit and started saying “follow the holy ghost” and chasing the bird around. It was fun. Then, in a completely different neighborhood, another dove showed up out of nowhere and we started to do the same thing. This time, the bird flew and landed on top of house and we decided to knock that door and we found a person who's interested! The Lord works in mysterious ways and I'm grateful that I was able to make part of it. There's your tender mercy for the week

on Saturday we marked a baptism date for Araci again. We marked it for after her moving date, though. She said she was gonna move like two months ago but had to delay it like 5 times, so we marked this baptism date For there or here, wherever she is. Regardless she'll be baptized on that day.

Sunday was awesome. We had both Sheila and Camila show up and they were making friends with everyone in the Relief Society. Camila even showed interest in being on our lunch calendar (she cooks for a living 👀). Other than that, a bird flew into our window and sat on a chair to resuscitate. Odd. I assume he's alive still but maybe he flew away to die. A womp into a door at full speed is not ideal.

This week was great, lessons and walking and more lessons and more walking. Nothing terrible special on every day, always spiritual moments. Elder Tacuche is new on the mission and with Portuguese, and so for the first half of the week I was teaching every word of the lessons. It's kinda nice, not gonna lie, but it's better with two people teaching.

SummaRio:

15 fuscas, 615 total

Had a cool family night, açaí and not-volleyball.

No one showed up to English class

I was feeling pretty down on Friday, but a cool and fun experience helped me to see the Lord's hand in my life.

Marked a baptism date that might happen hundreds of miles from here.

Our favorite people showed up to church and made Friends

I'm teaching at least 80% of the lessons since my comp is fresh out of the MTC

Spiritual Thought:

Ponder for a second: what is the purpose of the gospel?

There are many correct answers, but none of them say that we won't have any difficulties. Life is tough, and it needs to be. The gospel gives us the direction and help we need to progress and overcome these difficulties. When the Lamanites put the people of Alma in bondage, how did the Lord answer them? He said “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.” It was not the Lord's will at this time to free the people entirely, but to help them grow in faith in and love for the Lord. The people held their burdens as if it was nothing, with all joy and ease. Surely it was difficult for them still, but they had the Lord working with them. “The gospel is not a way to avoid challenges and problems but a solution to increase our faith and learn how to deal with them”

Tchau gente, até o próximo

1. Sunflower growing in a pile of sand

2. Cactus

3. "Somos missionários de A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias!" "Ah, conheço, a Igreja do Sétimo Dia" "não"

4. A cool view

5. Night time in our area has me worried about selfies

6. Local soccer game

7. 3d printed Rio Temple

8. Almoção

9. Our bird friend

There's only so far new money goes

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus queridos!

Hey y'all, lots of changes this week. Some sad, some good. Let's get into it. We saw 11 fuscas this week, bringing us to a nice clean 600.

On pday we went to the mall and I got a sick Brazil jersey. We also got rodízio. Normally I don't like pizza here in Brazil, but they had a white chocolate and strawberry pizza that was amazing.

On Tuesday we had a family night with our friend Araci. Except up until this point we had been calling her Iraci. She just never told us we had been saying it wrong. Oh well.

On Wednesday transfers were announced, aaaaand… I'm staying! Elder Kjar is leaving and my new companion is a Greenie! From the meeting, I only got to see a blurry picture and half of his name, so I could only tell that he wasn't American.

On Thursday was English class, so we made sure to call up all of Elder Kjar's favorite people and say we're getting burgers after class. So naturally no one showed up until we were leaving to go get burgers. It was fun though.

Friday was transfers. We packed up bags and headed to the office. We called Uber comfort so that we could fit all the bags, and the car that showed up was definitely just a regular uber. Whatever. We hung out at the office, said goodbye to Elders Borges and Nascimento, my trainers, who were going home. Saw a bunch of old friends, and met my companion! His name is Elder Tacuche and he's fresh out of Peru. With him being Hispanic, he does speak a little bit of portuñol, but that's chill because I studied a bit of Spanish and want to learn more. He speaks way better Portuguese than a majority of the Hispanic elders did when they started. We called uber comfort again and this time comfort came. Holy crap I got to ride in a Honda Civic! It was so spacious. It was what we needed to get every bag back to the place, but it was really expensive. That night we went to the supermarket and I accidentally spent the rest of my money. I'll get reimbursed for my travels, so it's just a cash flow problem. Long story short I’m broke. While I don't have money now, I'll have extra next week. I have plenty of food so I'll be fine, but its kinda funny how it worked out.

On Saturday we went to the bank to get Elder Tacuche’s card activated. We then went to the supermarket and got his things. The long travel to the bank didn't leave much time for work, but we did have a great lesson with Camila and I had a cool thought about the Sabbath day.

On Sunday it was fast Sunday since we had stake conference last week. I got to play the piano for the ward and sight-read pretty well! Sometimes it pays off to not practice all week and then have to pretend that you practiced. I should have practiced, but it makes it so I don't have to worry if I know the hymn. Just open the book and play. Camila wasn't able to make it because she was sick, so we offered to give her a priesthood blessing. We explained the blessing and how it works, and you could see in her face afterwards that she didn't have the same dark, congested, groggy look. She came alive sharing her testimony with us saying, “I've found the church I've searched for, and I'm not going back”. We had to re-mark her baptism date for the 5th of next month but she's excited to have one more week to prepare.

That's pretty much it this week. Don't worry, my Sabbath day thought is below. Tenham uma ótima semana!

SummarRio:

11 fuscas, 600 total

Went to the mall on pday and bought a Brazil jersey

Found out we have been calling our friend the wrong name! She didn't even tell us!

Wednesday we figured out Elder Kjar is being transferred out to Niterói

Thursday we got burgers with Juarez and Kauan

Friday I met my new companion Elder Tacuche from Peru. He's fresh out of the MTC

Taught some lessons with Elder Tacuche

Had an awesome experience teaching and giving a blessing to Camila after church.

Tender mercy: Elder Patterson left a jersey that didn't fit him, and I was able to give it to Elder Tacuche when he arrived. He was feeling pretty isolated and getting the shirt just lit him up. Even though it wasn't something that helped me directly, it was cool to see events fall into place where the Lord worked through other people.

Sabbath thought:

 All Jewish ordinances and observances were a way of awaiting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

 It is also interesting to note that their Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week. They had the whole week to await the Sabbath.

 In our day, all our ordinances and observances are a way to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

 It is also interesting to note that our Sabbath day is on the first day of the week. So we have all week to remember the Sabbath.

Everything we do is because of the atonement that Christ made. It should be the focus of every study, prayer, meeting, and thought. I know that the way that Christ prepared is the only way that leads to eternal life.

Fotos:

1. Family night

2. My new ID??

3. When I found out I'm training again

4. Twinszies!!!

5. Wednesday night coke

6. Thursday night burgers

7. Robertha and Ivanete

8. I don't like sin

I've been spending the last eight months

 (Elder Mackrory)

Opa pessoal, como vai?

It's crazy that I've been out here on a mission for 8 months now. That means I'm more than a third of the way done. Just like that. Insane. I probably could have used a better title given the things that happened this week, but there's only one week that I can use this title. Anyway it's been a good week, we saw 15 fuscas, bringing our total to 589.

There have been some crazy things happening this week. We'll start with last pday. We went to the Waterfalls of Piabetá as a zone. It was sick. I brought myself some sandwiches and accidently brought and ate all my deli meat and cheese. That turned out to be a minor inconvenience later in the week but its fine now. We decided to take a hike up the top of the waterfall this time. Looking back, that hike probably succeeded the level of difficulty allowed in the missionary standards. What happens at zone pday stays at zone pday.

On Tuesday I had a division. I was with Elder Sano, who I knew in Macaé. Perhaps you remember when we made Philly cheese steaks with him and Elder Schmuhl. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from the experience. Kudos to my boy Elder DeWitt for training Elder Sano right. We had smoothies for dinner and cake for breakfast. Lots of good times.

On Wednesday morning, when Elder Kjar came to pick me up from the division, we had a phone call lesson with our friend Camila. More on her later. She said she had been watching General Conference and had questions. The first one she asked was “what is a covenant?”. Good question, right? So we explained that it is a sacred two-way promise between you and God, made into effect by a sacred act, such as baptism. We explained how when we promise to follow the commandments with this sacred ordinance of baptism, we allow ourselves to receive more of God's love and His spirit in our lives for guidance, protection, and comfort as part of God's return promise. When baptisms are performed by someone with proper authority, the covenant takes effect. We then invited her to be baptized on the 28th of this month and she said yes! She was so happy to make this commitment and so were we.

On Thursday morning, on our daily phone lessons with Camila (as requested by her), we talked more about covenants and such. Then she asked another very good question. She had been watching more conference, and noticed a lot about temples. She asked “What happens in your guy's temples? How can I go?”. Good question, right? So we gave her the brief rundown that temples are sacred places dedicated as The House of The Lord. Inside, we perform sacred ordinances for us and for our ancestors and those who never had the opportunity to receive such ordinances in mortality. Since we had another appointment soon, we explained that we love to talk more with her about temple ordinances on Friday morning. In the meantime, we sent her the goated YouTube video of Elder Soares and his wife giving a tour and explanation of the Rio de Janeiro temple. She watched it immediately after our lesson and sent this message, “I watched the video, I am very impacted, I want to go to the temple so much to be a part of this family”. So yeah.

Thursday afternoon, (yes this day gets even better), we visited our friend Sheila. She works weird hours and so it is difficult to mark appointments with her. But when we do have appointments, they are incredible. We got to her house and started our usual catch up conversations. This time I asked what she does for work. She works with survivors of domestic and sexual violence, helping them receive comfort, medical, legal, and financial help, and just overall making things right. You guys wanna guess what my own mother does for work? this exact thing. I commended her for her courage and dedication to such a difficult and essential work. Eventually, we got into the message. We taught her about the 5 principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost: and fifth, Enduring to the End. We then invited her to be baptized, emphasizing the blessings of having the Gift of the Holy Ghost. After the lesson, I felt inspired to text my mom (don't tell mission president) and ask her for some thoughts about how The gift of the Holy Ghost is a blessing for her work. Incredible work mom. After shoving her answer in Google translate (because I'm lazy) and fixing all the errors that Google translate makes, I sent it along to Sheila, who is now very excited to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost at her baptism.

On Friday, we had a lesson with Iraci. She's freaking awesome. She had a baptism date but it fell through. She's moving to central Brazil to be closer to her family, especially her mother, who is growing old. She is determined to be baptized, she just wants to do it there so that her family can be there. That's fine. So we made sure she's in contact with the missionaries there. Everything will work out. She is progressing very well and recognizes the presence of the Spirit when we are there. We then rushed over to two more lessons with our friends Ivanete and Maria. Why are 90% of our teaching group women?

Saturday, we had our first in-person lesson with Camila. she always has awesome questions as you know, so we asked. She said “let me go grab my notebook”. Guys she has like 10-15 pages of notes from conference. We answered her questions and got on with our message. We shared the restoration with Joseph Smith, the first vision, and the Book of Mormon. It was great. She mentioned she has a son with 8 years of age (that's foreshadowing). After that, we went into a new neighborhood that we've never visited before for a lesson. It's all gang territory, as expected. Anyway, we ended up spending like 2 hours in that lesson because Marcio and his mom had so many good questions and insights. Missionaries, do not underestimate the importance of the great apostasy. It is your foundation for introducing the Book of Mormon. We had sandwiches and coke and he sang to us with his guitar. Good day.

Yesterday was stake conference. Sheila was working unfortunately, but we had Iraci, Camila, and Miguel (Camila's kid) all there. When we met Miguel, Camila introduced us and we explained about Camila's baptism and how he could get baptized too. He just hugged his moms leg being shy. Oh well. We will get there. Anyway, there was a baptism after church for another set of missionaries. Camila and Miguel stayed to watch. While Elder Kjar and I set up chairs, she was explaining to everyone how she will be baptized. Life's great. Until Miguel expressed some serious fear of baptism waters. As we waited for the service to start, I was coloring with Miguel. So at least he doesn't fear me now. We're boys. When the baptism happened, Miguel sat on the ground right in front to see. After it happened, he ran up to his mom saying Só isso? Eu também quero!” “That's it! I want too!” So we marked his baptism date on the same day as his mom. Good day.

Then at lunch I tried shrimp for the first time. It's ok, not something I would eat unless I forgot what it tasted like. I'd rather the chicken tenders. Then after lunch us four got called over by a guy. This is normal, lots of people are confused why white gringos are walking around in suits. So we go over and his sitting at a table full of literal crack (act natural). We explain our purpose and all, while he sells some guy some crack. All the while going “uh huh” and “yeah" to us. Then we walked away. That's It.

So yeah that's all that happened this week. In conclusion, if there are any missionaries out there wondering if a perfect investigator exists, she does and her name is Camila and she lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SummaRio:

I hit 8 months on the mission, 15 fuscas, 589

Went to a waterfall hike for zone pday

Went on a division with Elder Sano

Marked a baptism date with Camila

On Thursday committed Camila to go to the temple

Also marked a baptism date with Sheila

Why do women make up 90% of our teaching group?

Saturday we had a great lesson with Camila and later with Márcio and Elizabeth

At stake conference we marked a baptism with Camila's dope kid Miguel

Tried shrimp for the first time and talked to a guy as he actively sold crack

Tender mercy: there was a baptism after stake conference! If it wasn't for that, it might have been more difficult to mark Miguel's baptism. Simple, yet powerful.

Little heads up: this week is transfers so we will see how that goes

Spiritual thought: While meeting with Camila she talked about an indescribable joy that she has from studying and living the gospel. Iraci described it as “a victory”. For others, peace, comfort, and tranquility have been used. For everyone, the joy of the gospel comes individually according to our needs and personalities. For me, this joy can be described as “clarity”. How do you feel the joy of the Gospel?

1. Camila, Miguel and the gang

2. Super scary itsy bitsy spider

3. People here think that if you make giant artwork of mosquitoes that dengue goes away

4. Bird

5. Spices galore

6. Márcio and Elizabeth

7. Zone pday

8. Me in the jungle (I def thought my mission was gonna be like that)

9. Waterfall

10. Cute jumping spider (pictured here not jumping)