All I can say is, it was enchanting to meet you

 (Elder Mackrory)

E aí? Belezinha?

How are yall? This week was insane and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to write about it. This week we saw 19 fuscas, for a total of 839.

On pday we chilled at home. Nothing special, but I did find a way to finally motivate myself to respond to the emails I get each week. Hopefully I can get onto a schedule with reasonable response time.

On Tuesday we had a division with the Elders of Cabo Frio. I spent the day with Elder Donato, and Elder Erekson went with Elder Flores. I had a great time in Cabo Frio, teaching and finding people. Cabo Frio has a lot of fuscas. While I was gone, however, Elder Erekson and Flores managed to mark baptism dates with the Argentina family we're teaching. Brabos.

On Wednesday, after we traveled for 3 hours to finished the division, we had English class. This time there were like 10 people there and somehow I was able to get through every practice and help people. It was incredible and I have so much respect for all the teachers. I have adults to teach who are quiet and listen. And there's only ten of them. We have just a few vocab words to go over and like 3 practices. I don't understand how real teachers do it.

On Thursday we had a family night. And willing Investigators. This was complicated. You see, we had to get up at 3am the next morning to make the bus as 4am in Cabo Frio an hour and a half away (by bus). The thing is, the buses don't run in the middle of the night. So we had to plan to show up and sleep in Cabo Frio the night before. Problem with that is we need to be able to be in Cabo Frio before 9:30 in order to not bother the Cabo Frio Elders sleeping. Complicated. But there was a huge tender mercy that happened. Mariano, the goated soon-to-be-greenie from our branch offered to drive us to Cabo Frio, thus cutting more than an hour off of the travel time. We were able to be there and lead the family night, help the Investigators to feel welcome and be in Cabo Frio by 9:30.

On Friday we had the coolest thing ever happen. We got up at 3am, caught the charter bus at 4, tried to sleep some more, got too excited when friends got on the bus too, didn't sleep and chatted instead, showed up at the mission office, practiced the special musical number, met the Rio de Janeiro south mission, and got one of the coolest pictures of my life taken.

Elder Ulisses Soares, apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, came to Rio to give the missionaries a visit with some inspired guidance. He arranged to arrive early and shake everyone's hand. It was such a cool experience to be able to wish Elder Soares good morning face to face and to shake his hand.

 

After everyone was seated again, we had the great opportunity to hear words from another general authority, Elder Eddy. He had visited the CTM when I was there, and it was cool to he able to understand him this time. He spoke of the power the Book of Mormon has in converting souls unto Christ. The Book of Mormon itself has examples of this working. Of the thousands of Lamanites converted to the Lord by His servant Ammon, none of them fell away. In Alma 18:36-40, it says that Ammon used the writings of Lehi and their other ancestors.

It testifies of the same in Alma 23:5-6. I was really impressed that even these prophets who lived in those times and made those stories, also used them and taught from them.

We then had the opportunity to sing a special musical number, hymn 167 “Aonde Mandares Irei”. Síster Manu played the piano wonderfully and Elder Kjar was also there (just kidding Elder Kjar, you did amazingly on the violin, te amo). It was truly a special experience and went really well from a musical standpoint. It felt really good to be part of a choir again.

Spiritual Thought: Elder Soares then got up and testified of the words of Elder Eddy and invited us, whether we had already gained a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon or not, to seek a spiritual confirmation of its veracity. He spoke briefly on the need to sustain our leaders and follow their inspired guidance. The main topic of his discourse was joy. He recounted many stories from his mission (here in Rio!) And how each of them brought joy to and excitement for the work. But not every story was a good story. Sometimes he arrived in an area not even knowing where he was going to live. One time he lost all his teaching materials because they were being chased by an angry dog the size of a small horse. But did he give up? Did he get discouraged? No. Not at all. He felt more joy still. He was yet more excited to work and bring others to Christ. How was he able to center his life on joy, despite such experiences? His answer was simple. Centering your life on joy is centering your life on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Joy. Through always repenting of our sins, trying to be better and asking God for help in doing so, we center our lives on joy. We center our lives on joy when we read the scriptures and pray to know that they are true. We center our lives on joy when we truly understand our purpose as disciples of the Savior. To have heard this prophetic council was music to my ears and I hope I can feel the same joy I felt listening to Elder Soares in all my life. There's a difference between ser happy and estar happy. Through Jesus Christ, we can ser happy even when we estamos happy. English can't express this idea perfectly, but basically we can be happy people even when we aren't happy. And its only possible through the Savior.

Well, that's all folks. See y'all in the next one. Tchau!

Fotos:

1. Sunday lunch is always the best

2. She just learned how to make hand hearts

3. 6 Hispanics, 1 gringo

4. 2 missions, 1 apostle

5. Arrived at the office

6. Driving the bus

7. Yo y mis hijos

8. Oldest fuscas I've seen yet

9. Someone's yard burned to crisp (I called the fire department all by myself)

10. Chocolate orangeeeeee

11. New type of selfie I invented

Sorry this is so short!

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey y'all!

Sorry this isn't going to be much of an email! Thus P-day has been incredible! But busy and I don't have much time!

We got to go to the temple! That's why our P-day was delayed until Thursday since the Adelaide Australia isn't open on Mondays!

But, let me tell ya, the temple was AMAZING!

My spiritual stuff is just an invitation which entails four words: go to the temple.

Okay, love y'all!

Sister Cummings

Edzus is Getting Baptized!

 (Elder Putnam)

Dear friends and family,

This week was crazy busy and it felt like we were always moving. I'll get right into it.

On Monday, we went and visited the Duessalt family in Jurmala. They invited a work associate as well as another member who babysits their kids. We shared a short spiritual message having to do with Simon says and showing a good example.

Tuesday we were able to meet with a lot of our friends. We had the opportunity to invite Gvido Senkāns to one of the lessons. He shared a very powerful testimony with one of our friends about God's love for us. Afterwards our friend started talking very fervently about how he was feeling. We explained that it was the Holy Ghost. It was probably one of the better lessons that we have had.

Wednesday was pretty cool since while we were weekly planning we got news that Edžus is gonna be baptized. Unfortunately when we called him he didn’t have reception so we didn’t end up telling him until Friday but it got us pretty hyped. We were also able to visit a couple. They recently got married. She is a member of the church, but he is still getting used to the church. We expected to be at their house for only one hour, but our discussion lasted a bit longer and we were late for branch missionary correlation 😝. Then we started exchanges.

Exchanges were awesome. Elder Beebe and I reunited with Elder Bastow for one last hoorahh. We set a goal to talk to over a thousand people on the day, and in order to reach that goal we skipped language study and pushed dinner to after nine, but we did end up reaching the goal. Proved the doubters wrong. Outside of that we had some good discussions that reminded me of conversations we had in the MTC and midway through the mission. It seemed to put a nail in the coffin which made the rest of the week a bit tougher.

On Friday we got back together with Elder Woods, had some lessons and that just about sums up that day. (We did end up telling Edžus that he got permission to get baptized. He was also pretty excited.)

Saturday was wild. There was a youth activity that ended and so I got to see some good friends from Liepāja. We also made a broadcast on the Latvian Come Unto Christ page about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really good time. Afterwards was of course basketball. It was Johnson's last time. Unfortunately he is going Canada to start school. But in his honor, we will take care of his brother John. In addition to that we had another lesson with a super elect person. It's been kind of cool to see how our efforts are being blessed in ways that we don't really contribute to. It shows just how involved The Lord is in missionary work. Its not at all anything that we do that brings about conversion or success, its almost like God putting on a little show for us and we just get to have our testimonies strengthened.

Sunday was the culmination of another great week. We saw probably 100 people at church. Given that some 3 families are at the temple right now, that was an incredible miracle. We again met with that same dude Kristiāns from last week. We talked further about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He finds it all very fascinating and he's taking initiative to read the Book of Mormon and seek an answer. Lastly, on Sunday the Kitchen's invited us over for dinner. Its always uplifting to be around them.

Personal studies didn't really hit as hard this week, but I was moved by Leviticus 17:11 which I ran across doing a natural man deep dive. It reminded me that Christ put down His perfect mortality, in order to raise our imperfect mortality to immortality and perfection. Kinda powerful, right?

My favorite talks from this past week were Elder Rasband's The Things of My Soul and Elder Holland's the Greatest Possession

Similarly to what I just mentioned in paragraphs above, this really is God's work and not our own. I've heard other people say it a ton but this week was a little bit of a testament to me personally. We've been blessed to see people find the church completely outside of our own efforts.

This next week will be intense. It will be my final week. I look forward to reporting on it. On Friday Edžus will get baptized and up until then we will essentially live at the church since we will have so many lessons that are planned. In addition to that, I will give my final talk in Latvia as a missionary on Sunday. There's a lot of things going on in my mind right now so I hope to be able to focus up and lift some heavy circles (metaphorically speaking). Have a wonderful week!

Picture:

Johnson's last basketball night

some pictures from Sigulda (look at those traps though lol)

Feeling so gatsby for that whole year

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia galera!

How yall doing? This week was pretty cool. Hope it was for you guys too. 14 fuscas were seen, bring the total to 820. On other news: on Tuesday I hit 365 days as a missionary! Since this year is leap year, the 1 year mark actually happened on Wednesday.

On pday last week we visited my area with the district. The touristy part of my area isn't very good for working, but it makes for some good pdays. We did our usual buggy ride around the city and ate at the restaurant. Got some good pictures and a smoothie. At night we taught the Argentina part member family we always visit. This was the first time I didn't feel nervous speaking Spanish. Everything came out smoothly and (I hope) minimal errors. I'm practicing Spanish every day and it's getting much better. That night when we got home, we ran out of gas for the stove. Gas here isn’t like it is in the states. We have a propane tank attached to the stove and you have to call a guy to replace it.

On Tuesday we were supposed to have a division, but the ZL's canceled again. It's supposed to happen tomorrow, but we'll see what happens. Anyway, after district council we went over to the other Elders house to cook since we hadn't ordered our new gas tank. We made a really delicious Cuscuz with tomato, onion, bell pepper and calabresa. So freaking good. I'm going to make it again today actually.

On Wednesday we had marked a lesson at 3:30 with Mayara and Marcelo. So we showed up on time and they let us in and we're doing small talk and such to get things going. They say that they were busy and it would be better if we came back at like 5:30. Awkward. But then they said that we can just hang around until that time. Ok, fine, we had online work to do anyway. So that's what we did. Then their cook came out and sent us to a bakery nearby to buy ourselves some snacks. Ok, it's only like 500m, well just walk. “Nope, here take these bikes.” Ok, let's go. So we got to ride bikes. Then we got back and taught our lesson. Marcelo was still doing his online work, so unfortunately he couldn't participate. But the lesson was fire. She was asking about the purpose of life and all, and then we were like plan of salvation and all there were tears. Then we literally ran to English class because we were almost late.

On Thursday we had a family night and found out that our branch mission leader is moving to Idaho next month to start BYU. If anyone is there now, look out for my guy André Bastos. He's a stud.

On Friday we did a lot of walking. Like 3-4 hours almost straight. But we had a miracle happen. We were visiting some people on the way to catch public transportation and we visited one we found in his store. But at that moment he was helping a customer. So while we waited for him, we started talking to his colleague. Turns out he's an inactive member for 14 years. He was baptized in 2010 in São Paulo. He is willing to return to the church as soon as he can arrange his working hours. He also said he would help our friend read the Book of Mormon. So that's sick. He's also from Haiti and speaks Haitian creole and French.

On Saturday we tried to visit someone who lived in a gated community. We talked to the gatekeeper and he told us “nobody lives here”. Right then the gate opens and a car rolls out. After the car passes, we return to awkward eye contact with the gatekeeper. “Are you sure that no one lives here?” I asked. “Uhhhhh… yeah” he responded. So we just said ok and left. I thought it was pretty funny.

Yesterday we walked a lot as well. Only about 2 and a half hours this time though. We taught our good friend Alex and later the best Argentinian family of all time. turns out we didn't have the whole story, because the mother, as it turns out, is not a member. But that's no problem, they're coming to church and doing everything right, soon enough they will be.

That's it this week, hope next week is just as good.

SummaRio:

14 this week, 820 total

Hit one year on the mission

Toured my area with the district

Bomb cuscuz (pronounced “cuixcuij” if you're from Rio)

Rode a bike and taught a bomb lesson

Ward mission leader is starting BYUI this semester in Idaho

Walked a lot, found a soon-to-be-active member

Someone tried to gaslight me. It was really funny.

Sunday was awesome as usual

Tender mercy:

Saturday was really rainy and windy. Early in the morning I had the thought to pull my suitcase inside So it wouldn't get wet. At that point it had only been sprayed but when we got home at night the balcony where it was really wet, like after hours of pouring despite the cover. So I would have had some things ruined if I hadn't been prompted to bring it in.

Spiritual thought: yesterday was Brazilian fathers day, so I'll include a quote from a talk I really like about fathers.

“Perhaps the most essential of a father’s work is to turn the hearts of his children to their Heavenly Father. If by his example as well as his words a father can demonstrate what fidelity to God looks like in day-to-day living, that father will have given his children the key to peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. A father who reads scripture to and with his children acquaints them with the voice of the Lord.” Elder D. Todd Christofferson, April 2016 General Conference.

I'm grateful to have a father who has raised me in the truth. I'm grateful for the fathers who raised my parents and to all those who are righteous fathers or father figures. The role of the father is irreplaceable and essential. I do not mean to demean the equally irreplaceable and essential role of the mother, but to emphasize the good the father can do. It is rare that a child raised on the truth will depart from it. (Prov. 22:6). Thanks to all the fathers out there! You guys are incredible!

1. Font selfie on a rainy day

2. Hike

3. Workout space

4. Spiritual workout space

5. Baiques

6. ZL in the water

7. District pday!!

8. My teaching area being so beautiful

Even if it's just in your wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia galera! Tudo certo??

This week was full of lessons, miracles, interesting experiences, and more. It was not full of fuscas. We only saw 10 this week. Total: 806.

On pday we were supposed to go do a hike in Arraial do Cabo, but the Sísters were sick and the Elders were broke. So pday was canceled. Bummer. Guess we'll just stay home. Nope. We get a text out of nowhere that a returned missionary who served in this area. His name was Elder Samson, but we just called him Joseph. He invited us to lunch with him and his mom. We took us to this really fancy beachfront restaurant, and we had rumpsteak. Super good. He ended up giving us a few references and a shortcut through the woods to get to some of our really far lunches that will come in handy later. Something cool about Joseph: He's my mission grandpa, meaning he trained my trainer, Elder Nascimento. Another cool thing about him is that he also served in Cavaleiros. He baptized the family with whom I had Christmas dinner.

On Tuesday, we had district council! Last week, I promised breakfast if we met the goal for lessons with members. Well, we met it, so I made chocolate pancakes for everyone. Took a bit longer than I expected, and so we had a 90-minute breakfast and a 30-minute council. Whoops. It's ok. Everyone loved the breakfast. But anyways after the breakfast club meeting, we started a division with the Elderes of Arraial (pronounced ah-hi-Ow). I went to Arraial, and Elder Albernaz came to Búzios. It was a fun division. We lost power in the neighborhood we were working in, making it pitch black and giving everyone a new excuse to not open the door. It's ok, we still managed to teach and get burgers. It rained too, which may have caused the outage. Then it was really cold (60°), so we slept well.

On Wednesday we had a really good lesson with Mayara and she's says she feels a lot less anxiety and a lot more happiness.

On Thursday, we visited our awesome Argentina Family. They're reading the Book of Mormon now and it turns out that the mother is a less active member, so that's how last week she knew that you need to pray about the Book of Mormon. They gave us some mate cocido straight from Argentina. It's really good. Highly recommend for my friends Elder Beck and (soon-to-be-elder) Jones.

On Friday we spent a good half hour searching for Maria. Turns out streets here are not limited to streets. There's all sorts of streets that aren't on Google maps. Maria lives on one of these streets. It was like discovering a secret passageway.

On Saturday we had a day truly inspired. We had like 6 lessons pretty much back to back, almost never with the people we planned to meet, but always with the people the Lord planned us to meet. We came home exhausted but full of joy.

On Sunday we had great time, full of miracles too. (1) The Father of the Argentina Family came to church even though he said he wouldn't. (2) we skipping the closing hymn because of time (I 100% did not know how to play it). (3) we originally did not have lunch scheduled for lunch, then Irmã Lyra came up to us and said “show up at 1, I'll feed ya”. (4) A sister gave me a really cool ring (don't worry, it's the grandma in the ward who takes it upon herself to be the grandma for everyone. (5) the ring fits so well it doesn't come off now. Oh well. (6) lunch was bomb. (7, the big one) We decided to take the shortcut home. It was our first time taking this route and so we were a little unsure. we had barely started on the trail, and a guy stopped us and said “hey do you remember me?” We did not, but turns out he was taught by missionaries well over a year ago, and his records would be automatically deleted this next month if we hadn't found him. He and his wife are super interested and are now with the goal of baptism.

Other highlight: this week I've started dreaming in 3 languages. Portuguese primarily, second Spanish, and third English. Last night I actually dreamed in Portuguese with an Hispanic accent. Its so wild.

SummaRio:

10 fuscas, 806 total

On pday we kicked it back with Elder Samson at a fancy steakhouse and got lots of tips for this area, in which he served.

Made breakfast and rushed through district council

tearful Lesson with Mayara

Mate cocido With Argentinaians

Google Maps has a good 70% of roads in Brasil mapped. But the problem is that 70% of the population lives in the 30% of roads that are not on Google maps. At least here in Búzios

Exhausting and inspired Day

7 big miracles on Sunday

Tender Mercy: I had skittles for the first time in forever. They're so good. Appreciate what you have in the states, viu?

Spiritual thought: I finished the Book of Mormon this week for the umpteenth time. Every time I read Moroni 10, I am inspired by the exhortation and the invitation to act Moroni makes. But this time, I was wondering about exactly that. Is Moroni 10 one of the few chapters that invites actions? Or is it just famous for it? This time, starting the Book of Mormon, I am going to be looking for the invitation to act that I believe is in EVERY chapter. The word of God has the most powerful influence to do good on the hearts of men than any other thing. But do let it have this influence? Are we seeking this influence?

1. Oh my gosh iPhone resolution is sooo good

2. Lunch with Joey and Elisabeth

3. Me like every day (meme)

4. How to gird up your loins

5. Sweet bike again (I'm addicted to taking photos of her)

6. Mate cocido

7. Beach

8. A spoonful of saffron makes your rice sooo good

9. Another sweet bike (have I already taking one of her?)

10. Hike shortcut

11. Churrasco kabobs

I think I'm getting the hang of thisc

 (Elder Putnam)

Dear Friends and Family,

What an awesome week it has been. This might have been my favorite week of my mission. We just were moving the entire time and it was awesome. I love those fast paced days.

On Monday Rīga flooded during the day and then by the time that work hours started it had all cleared up and so we went street contacting. Nothing crazy there. We barely got in before 9 but that always makes it exciting.

On Tuesday we had 4 lessons as well as district counsel and the mission devotional. Needless to say, we didn’t go finding all that much, but those lessons all went very well. That night though we took in the Liepāja elders for exchanges.

On Wednesday exchanges with Elder Smith started. We woke up with a surprise message from an old street contacted friend that he wanted to meet. I was completely blindsided by this since he hadn’t messaged us since May and hadn’t read my last 2 messages. But we met with him and then again on Sunday. He's low key elect, he just needs to listen a little bit more to the Spirit.

On Thursday we reunited with our companions and planned for next week. at the end of the day I picked up Elder Ornstead and we found on our way home. He's super high energy and spiritual which I found out pretty quick. We had like 3 minutes before 9 when we got home so we went back out finding and talked to like 15 more people. Unfortunately we didn’t find anyone in that time, but it set a good tone for the next day.

Friday was likely the peak of the week for me. We went finding for like 5.5 hours and found like 5 people. Some of them were super quick conversations where we just continued the conversation over text, but others were a lot more drawn out and we talked about meeting again next week. Thats how it was with one person named Aleks. We ran into him when he was on the way to a wedding and was dressed up so the first thought we had was: Oh he's gonna fit in great a church. We talked about families and the restoration and discussed meeting again. Still waiting on a specific day, but he seems super interested. I also figured out how to do Facebook work.

On Saturday we switched back again, taught some lessons, ran basketball club, and prepared for the sacrament on Sunday. I was exhausted that night.

 

On Sunday we had a lot of people visiting the branch, mostly from Liepāja, but the branch building was full and fast and testimony was on fireee. I wish more of our friends had come, but as Alma, "I do sin in my wish for I ought to suffice with that which I have been given" (or something like that). Sunday night we had our regular calls and then I clocked out early. The other thing that was notable from Sunday was that we closed our fast with tacos. Those things slappeddd.

Talk of the week: Imma list a triad. As I listen to them in order and uninterrupted, I gotta put down Elder Holland's Fear Not; Believe Only, Elder Kearon's He is Risen with Healing in His Wings, and Elder Aidukaitis' Lift Up Your Heart and Rejoice which come right after another in the April 2022 General Conference.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what my mission has offered me. One skill and gift I’ve been given has been the ability to bear my testimony. Not only have I gained a testimony of many of the truths of the gospel but I feel comfortable and even confident sharing them. I used to be scared to share my testimony in sacrament meeting, but as a missionary I no-longer have that worry or hesitation. The gospel is true. It is restored. And It blesses everyone on both sides of the veil. I share that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have a good one.

Just a little pic from exchanges this week

"Can y'all be worms for me please?" - Jesus

 (Sister Cummings)

Howdy y'all!

This week was a WEEK! But it was so good!

No. 1 announcement, I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW. YAYYYY

No. 2 announcement, I still haven't seen a kangaroo :/

This week was stock FULL of lessons. Sister Yochim and I were worked hard this week and were able to share so many messages. Even messages we never planned to share! It was amazing! The spirit was strong always and it was so fulfilling!

Thursday, I had exchanges (companion tradeoffs) with the STLs which was crazy because Sister Woodbury (my last companion) is my STL and we just had a grand ol time. It was like nothing changed! I love her so much! It's truly spectacular the relationships you get to make while on the mish!

Yesterday, we got to watch a devotional put on by our Mission President and his wife on zoom with one of my favorite families! They're so amazing!

Okay now moving on to the Jesus jazz,

This week, I came across a scripture that gave me so many giggles and it's found in Isaiah chapter 41 with verse 14 which states:

"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

Y'all, the first message I got from this scripture is that God and Jesus Christ would still love you even if you were a worm. The second message was one that was pointed out to me by a good friend which is that the meaning of the word "worm" that Isaiah was using was "meek and humble." Meaning that when we humble ourselves before the Lord (like it says in Ether 12:27) He WILL help us. It's not that He "might" help us it's that He WILL. Isn't that amazing!!

So, my invitation to y'all is to be worms this week and turn to your Savior for peace, comfort, or whatever you are in need of.

I love y'all! Y'all are my favorite worms EVER!

- Sister Cummings

Question: What's your favorite hymn and why? What parts of the verses stick out to you and touch your heart?