The ties were black, the lies were white

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde meus amigos!

Está semana vimos 22 fuscas, totalizando, 1066. Não tenho muito tempo hoje, então vou escrever rápido.

This week flew by, and there's not too many highlights. First you should know that the young man that showed such interest in being baptized doesn't respond to us anymore. We're not sure what's going on, but we're in contact with the member friends and trying to work with him. Keep Luiz in your prayers. He knows the gospel is true.

On pday last, we didn't do anything. There's not anything to do here in Macabu, so pdays end up being like this. I'm not bothered and neither is my companion because we both like to spend the entire time talking to our families. At night however we had a family night which was fun, and had the most bomb mango juice. Mango season is starting and mangos are like 60 a kilogram. One time a mango fell from a tree and landed like 5 feet from me. I picked it up and ate it. Amazing.

On Tuesday we had our normal district council and started another division. This time I went with Elder De Jesus. He's from São Paulo. Super gente boa. Real good guy. We wandered around his area visiting members investigators and talking to everyone along the way. Managed to convince someone I was Brazilian when I faked a southern Brazil accent. We had another good family night and I got to practice my Spanish again because it the father is from Venezuela. He was lit. They gave me the ugliest black tie as a gift, but you know I had to say it was a beautiful tie. We're not at home as I write this, but I’ll get a foto of the tie and put it in the next email. Seriously its so ugly. But I love it at the same time.

Wednesday we had some confusion with some bus hours and missed the bus to go back to Macabu. Fortunately, we were able to end the division after lunch and I got to have what I've been told is one of the best lunches in Aeroporto. And they were right. Super good, and the cake was even better. But it would have been better if I had known there was cake. I may have overeaten a bit.

Thursday was busy full of walking. Luckily Friday had more walking. We went to a pretty remote part of our area to teach someone who was very receptive. There wasn't a bus back, so we walked an hour on the most scenic road of the area. It was complete with rolling hills, two angry bulls getting ready to brawl and some gorgeous horses.

On Saturday it was super rainy and so everyone canceled their plans. Me: “everyone will be available to talk to us!” How wrong I was. Anyway we ended up visiting members and helped with the chapel cleaning.

Sunday was pretty chill as well. Similar weather and plans. The primary program is coming up and so I will be the pianist. Hope I don't get transferred because that would be awkward. Elder Kjar usually messes with me right before transfers saying that I'll become a secretary. This time he made it extra convincing. Almost made me worried/excited to be a secretary. We'll, we've got transfer news now, and I'll let you guys know next week what happens. Do I stay? Do I go? Who will be my next companion? Tune in next week for the big news.

Tender mercy: In visiting members on Thursday we talked with someone who grew up in the super far area we went to on Friday. She told us about the bus we didn't know about and saved us about an hour of travel.

Spiritual Thought: How do I gain a testimony of something? Hmm. Good question. One might think it depends on the thing. Yeah, pray about it is good, maybe act on something. This conference, Elder Uchtdorf left a step by step program to gain and strengthen a testimony.

Step 1: Focus on how [the thing] testifies of Jesus Christ, how it teaches His doctrine, and how it invites you to come unto Him.

I know it's a really long and complicated process, but it's worth it. Alright, now go and experiment on the word.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/51uchtdorf?lang=eng

Fotos:

1. Divisão!

2. At what age can you get a recommend for this location?

3. Scenic route

4. Rain=online work

5. Valem a pena esses óculos?

6. Something spilled and I thought it looked cool

7. Night with the boys

8. Pablo from Búzios got baptized!

9. Dangerboy wants to get baptized

10. 9-0 babyyyy💙🤍

Its been a while...

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey Howdy Y'all!

Guess what, I'm alive!

Sorry for leaving y'all in the lurch these last two weeks! Sister Nybo and I have been working hard these last few weeks so when pday comes, we're EXHAUSTED. But, I've decided I really need to show y'all some love for real!

These last few weeks have been so great! We had mission conference and received so much guidance and direction from Elder Wakolo. I feel like I'm already becoming a better missionary from it!

Last week we got to go to the temple for p-day which was amazing! It gave us that extra little boost to get through the rest of the week!

A few more updates:

- we put a friend on date for baptism! But then she ghosted us :(

- we drove a lot!

- I love Sister Nybo!

- We're a part of the Mission Music Group and get to rehearse music for 2 hours every week! I love it! It takes me back to orchestra rehearsals in high school!

- I'm definitely lactose intolerant

- I'm obsessed with wearing bandanas

Here's a spiritual thought:

1 Corinthians 12:17

"If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?"

Here's Elder Ginn's interpretation of this verse:

Little babies are whole in Christ. Smelling is a gift of the wise. Each individual piece of the puzzle makes it beautiful. Everyone has a role to fill, a string to pluck, an itch to scratch. Praise God!... amen?

Now here's Sister Templeman's:

First of all the whole body isn’t an eye. Period. Done. End of story. But if it was that would be a big eye. Ps I love sister cummings. She is everything good in this world and she saved my life today:)

Here's gooby goober Elder Arnold:

When we become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we become members of the Body of Christ. We all have different talents and abilities. Keep doing you. God NEEDS YOU! ❤️

P.S. have JOY man. Its so good having joy! Jesus loves you

Lastly, Sister Manuel:

If the whole body was a nose WHERE IS THE SEEING!?

I think that this means that all that was made was made for making, and that making, WAS MADE BY GOD!! And under the direction of the father, Jesus created the earth and all upon it, therefore IT WAS MADE ✨️✨️

What's y'all's interpretation?

I love y'all!

- Sister Cummings

And I go back to December all the time

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus queridos irmãos, irmãs, familiares, e amigos. Tá show aí?

Essa semana também vi 21 fuscas, totalizando 1065.

How y'all doing? This week was fun. Last pday we were gonna hike up a big hill. But then it rained really hard Sunday night and the trail was super muddy. So we canceled pday and stayed home.

With exception to the weekend, all the days this week blurred together. Every day we had rehearsal for stake conference. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the stake presidency asked every ward and branch to prepare a musical presentation of one of the hymns from the updated hymnbook. Our branch got hymn number 1004, “Quero Andar Com Cristo”. Since I'm unofficially officially the branch pianist, my companion and I had to be there. When you do the same thing every morning and night, and the afternoon is the only thing that varies, it's difficult to tell days apart. But here are some things that happened:

Our baptism date Luiz ghosted us for like 3 days

He responded

We marked a time to speak to his dad (we need him to sign the baptism form)

His dad is willing to sign, but he didn't want to right then. We told him we'd talk to him the next day, but then he canceled, so unfortunately the baptism couldn't take place this Sunday.

We remarked his baptism for next Sunday. We will see if his dad will sign.

We met this guy José who has a motorbike from the 80's that looks and functions like new. His 2003 vw golf Is in a similar condition and looks as good as it gets given its inherent ugliness.

It's mango season

Saturday: wake up and study, pack a bag, eat lunch, dress in a suit and take a bus for an hour and a half down to the stake center. Upon arrival, rehearse the song and help set up chairs. The recital went really well except for that the piano in the primary room is better than the one in the sacrament hall. Some keys were heavy and others had no weight at all. But it went well. Since the adult session was next, no ward had thought to include kids in the presentation. So we stole the show with a 7-year-old soloist. So cute. During the adult session, the Macabu branch had to leave because of the bus schedule, leaving Elder Mena and I the only people in the front two pews. So you better believe the general authority seventy was staring us down during his hour long talk. I've never done so much smiling and nodding in my life. But it was good. He answered and tackled some tough questions and topics that most tend to avoid. Afterwards, I got to see Kaique from my first area, Cavaleiros! Super good to see him, so good in fact that we forgot to take a photo. After the meeting, we left with the dope ward mission leader from the Macaé ward (Alessandro and Gabriela) for… pause for effect… SPEED BURGER!! It's been like 10 months since I've ordered stuff from my favorite burger place in Rio. Would you believe that the burgers got better? So good. The Açaí: the same. Perfect. Seriously made me so happy. As we left, I started leading the way back to the house out of old habit. The house I lived in has since closed due to some “arguments” between the police and the local gang. There's much much more to that story, but not on a missionary email. But anyway I started off to the house and Elder Patterson asked where I was going. Now the elders live in the opposite direction. That was weird.

Sunday: Someone turned off my alarm before I woke up. So I didn't wake up until 6:35. Took a cold shower because, while they told me the shower head has a tendency to break, they did not tell me it was currently broken. We walked to church, and it's packed. This conference also included the Cabo Frio ward (buzios), and the São Pedro da Aldeia Branch. So everyone from 3 of my 4 areas was there. Lots of “what are you doing here??” “Wow, how long has it been?” “where are you serving?” “Macabu!? That's really far”. I took a picture with Douglas and Kamila, but Kaique wasn't there unfortunately. I got to take a selfie on an iPhone 15. Super nice. I don't know if I mentioned it a while back, but at zone conference I confirmed lunch yesterday with a sister with whom we had lunch so many times in Cavaleiros. As we talked with her about what time we should get there, she said that lunch would be at her sister's house who lives near the chapel. Awesome. No travel. She then informed us that it would be a churrasco. We thanked her and I went chin held high to the other Elders to brag about our churrasco. Turns out they had churrasco lunch too. Learned a lesson about humility. But then they told us it was the same churrasco and they were invited. Epic. The sisters left early to help prepare the food and we stayed back helping with chairs and chatting. We left together with the Elders and soon arrived at the churrasco. But the sisters weren't there. Minutes later, we got a message from them. “Where are you?” we responded, “at the churrasco. Where are you?”. “At the churrasco”. They sent their location and it turns out we went to the wrong missionary churrasco. Macaé life is pretty good, huh? We show up at the right churrasco and now things make sense. I helped cut the meat into bite sizes as it came off the grill. This is my favorite position because it includes the “responsibility” of taste testing the steaks as they come off. Every steak was good. After lunch, I gave the most fire lunch message I've ever given. It had everything. Opening hymn, interactive activity, Jewish history, personal anecdote, Book of Mormon, and best of all, repentance. Again, we forgot to take photos and left for Macabu.

Tender Mercy: I had the opportunity to give a blessing to a member who was feeling really stressed out. During and after the blessing I was feeling really down and feeling like I didn't do as good as I could have done. I could have made less grammatical errors and used a more formal tone. I could have used a different word here or there. As I mulled over these thoughts, the sister expressed that I had used phrasing, promised blessings, and gave counsel in a way that showed her the divinity of the words I spoke. My unsure and doubtful thoughts went away at that moment and learned and realized that when Satan realizes that you are speaking by the Holy Ghost, he will try everything to make you feel inadequate, trust in yourself, or give up. As you heed to none of these thoughts, the Spirit flows more clearly in your mind even if these thoughts do not go away.

Spiritual Thought: Consecration

Lately, I've been studying a lot in the “Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young”. In the coming weeks, you may notice that my spiritual thoughts follow what I am currently reading. This thought comes from a study two weeks ago that has not left my mind.

“How long have we got to live before we find out that we have nothing to consecrate to the Lord—that all belongs to the Father in heaven; that these mountains are His; the valleys, the timber, the water, the soil; in fine, the earth and its fulness? Where then is the sacrifice this people have ever made? There is no such thing. They have only exchanged a worse condition for a better one, every time they have been moved; they have exchanged ignorance for knowledge, and inexperience for its opposite.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-brigham-young/chapter-22?id=p29-p30&lang=eng#p29

Nothing that we have is ours. Everything is a gift from the Lord. Even our own free will, which can never be taken from us, is a trait that the Lord helped us develop in the premortal realm. Do we see that we must be willing to give up everything to receive everything? Seeking for true liberty from worldly desires? Give of your substance to those in need. Fulfill the purpose for which God gives you such substance. In having charity, we have everything, for truly without it we are nothing.

1. Douglas, Kamila and I

2. Us at the wrong churrasco

3. Us after the right churrasco

4. Pior que é verdade

5. Speedburger

6. This bug is a wanna-BEE. Get it? (I'm laughing so hard at my own joke)

7. Irmã Eliane makes the Best lunch in Macabu

8. Macabeleza

9. Sleeping cat

10. The gang at speedburger

Then why'd you have to go and lock me out

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia galera! Como é que vocês estão?

Vi 21 fuscas esta semana, totalizando 1044. Tô começando a reconhecer os fuscas na minha área, tá sendo difícil não contá-los de novo. Mas vou ser honesto, podem deixar.

Hello friends and family! How yall doing? Last pday we planned to head down to aeroporto to do a district pday, but we backed out in order to teach our person on baptism date. We set his baptism for this week on the 3rd. We're praying that his dad lets him get baptized. Please add him to your prayer list. This kid has a true testimony of the truth, and the only thing in his way is his father's permission.

On Tuesday we had a great district council, and we're truly able to debate ideas and leave feeling edified and motivated to be the best missionaries we can be. I had a division with our district leader, Elder Humerez. He's pretty cool, but he walks really fast. That's not a bad thing, but I'm already a fast walker. So to say he walks fast means he walks fast. Anyways we got a lot done. Before we could get anything done, however, we realized we forgot to get the keys from Elder Mena. Locked out. So my first thought is “Bem, there goes our dia, we're gonna have to viajar 2 horas para ter as chaves back.” Side note: my brain is a disgusting slush of half português half English. I won't be able to communicate when I get back. Anyway, by luck, a member of the bishopric works for the bus system, and we arranged for him to basically call a friend and have the keys sent to us by bus. We got the keys, and got a lot done. At night we had a family night with Cleyton and his family. His wife got baptized a year ago, and he's still unsure when is his moment. But he told us that he's making changes and is getting ready to be baptized soon.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were pretty normal days. Lessons, English class and a family night. On Saturday, however, we decided to walk around the world. Probably About 4 hours of walking. But we were able to have two member lessons, we found like 4 people and visited some less active members. Super productive, but I was exhausted.

On Sunday, we woke up to torrential rain. It got cold during the middle of the night and I turned off the fan. When my alarm went off I was confused because it sounded like the fan was still on, but it was in fact just the flow of traffic (water) on the road (river) below. This was scary for me, not because of the weather in itself, but because this would mean church is canceled. And we would have to remark the baptism date

So I prayed. Then I prayed again, and by the time we had to leave, the rain had stopped and the road was no longer flowing with water. When we got to church, our friend on baptism date was already there, patiently waiting in the pue. That day, we exceeded our goal of potential members at church, and all the recent converts went as well. Miracles happen you guys, and they happen through faithful prayer.

Other news: I finished working out my version of the goals spreadsheet. It works better than the original (sorry pres) and has a nice BYU theme. 

Tender mercy: On Friday we were walking around and we were approaching a youth. Elder Mena said that they taught him like a month ago, but that he said he didn't want to talk to the missionaries any more and that he didn't believe in God anymore. The kid stopped us and told us this great experience where he now knows with certainty that God is real and cares for us. He wants to meet with us again.

Spiritual thought:

President Brigham Young taught, “Let us train our minds until we delight in that which is good, lovely and holy, seeking continually after that intelligence which will enable us effectually to build up Zion, … seeking to do the will of the Lord all the days of our lives, improving our minds in all scientific and mechanical knowledge, seeking diligently to understand the great design and plan of all created things, that we may know what to do with our lives and how to improve upon the facilities placed within our reach.” Lately I've been captivated by the concept that we can change our very nature in Christ. We can even train our minds to enjoy good thoughts instead of always having to work to put good things there. How can we “train our minds until we delight in that which is good, lovely and holy”? What results from “improving our minds”?

Fotos:

1. Mini pineapple growing

2. Landscape

3. New profile Pic

4. Sunset

5. Meme

6. Her name is Aurora and she likes to sleep

7. My spreadsheet

Mmm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm

 (Elder Mackrory)

Fala galera! Tudo bem com vocês? Yes, this is a Taylor Swift line; go listen to Hey Stephen.

Vi só 14 fuscas, totalizando 1023. Mas eu vi tipo 10 fuscas que já vira antes, então eu acho que por mais que esta área tenha mais fuscas que Búzios, não vou poder contar todos eles.

This week was freaking awesome. Filled with miracles, culinary delights, and more spreadsheet fun. Basically all you could ever ask for.

On pday, I decided to make pizza. But first we went to get haircuts and go to the store. At the barbershop, the wall art hosted some classic F1 cars. Back home, I threw together the pizza and threw it in the oven. Guys. It was the best pizza I've tasted here in Brasil. I've told you that I don't like the pizza from here. My comp said it could easily be sold for 100 reais (your average pizza is somewhere between 50-70 reais). I was like actually jumping for joy because it had been so long since actually good pizza. Good times.

On Tuesday, we didn't have district council. What? Don't worry, we'll get there. On Tuesday we had a lesson with a new friend and we ended up talking a little bit of music and he started singing an Evangelical song that I really like. You should have seen the look on Elder Mena’s face when I started singing too. 🎵Ai Jerusalém, por que deixaste de adorar? O Deus Vivo que em tantas batalhas te ajudou? Chora Israel, num lamento só, talvez Deus Se lembre do bichinho de Jacó. Chooooooora Israeeeeeel! Babilônia não é teu lugaaaar! Clama ao teu Deeeeeus, Ele te ouviraaaaá, do inimigo te libertará! 🎶 and then there's an epic violin solo. Good times.

Wednesday we had our first English class, and it went well I think. They think the way we say Gabriel is really funny. Then again they were all teenage boys so why wouldn't Gaybriel be funny.

Thursday we had district council and Interviews with president. The bus is really expensive so we arranged to have both events at the same time and place. Sister Dutson brought some really good cookies. Learned some cool things in the interview. that night we had a family night and got some free Açaí. We met their neighbors who own a pizzeria. They liked us so much they invited us over the next day for pizza. We were super hyped of course because free food is free food, but I'd rather rice and beans than a 6/10 pizza.

On Friday we had a really special experience where we found a lady who was interested. We found her in her tiny clothing shop. As I looked around the clothing shop, I see a children's white button up shirt. I asked how much it was and it was a really low price. So I bought it and we then went to a recent converts house who doesn't have a white shirt and gave it to him. He's nine and his parents doesn't really do all that much for him.

Saturday night we went over for pizza and started chatting to the guy and his wife and they're really gente boa. He then let me put the cheese on the pizza and then it goes into the oven he built brick by brick. like 5 minutes later a perfectly beautiful pizza comes out and it's ready to eat. Oh my goodness I thought my pizza was the best. This pizza was a 9.5/10. Only complaint would be too much cheese, but that's on me. Seriously so good.

On Sunday there was a really big soccer game after lunch, and so everyone is locked up inside or at the bar. The fact that it was raining as well made it almost impossible to find people. But days like that come, so its all good. I also got an email from Elder Kjar with a copy of President Dutson's goal spreadsheet. So there go my relaxing plans today. We'll be working on that and scholarship essays today.

Tender mercy: Yesterday, I spoke in church. I was given little time to prepare, but thankfully the topic was one that I had just happened to be studying that week and so I was able to find scriptures, conference talks, and more to prepare a talk in record time.

Spiritual Thought: In studying on the topic of Idolatry, I came across the thought that, in the same way that “cold” is just the absence of heat, “wickedness” is really just the absence of righteousness. I brought this up in my interview with President and he made an interesting comment that I liked. He said that there are two types of sin: omission and commission. Basically, you can sin by sinning or refraining from doing good. So, I learned that simply not doing bad things isn't good. Only doing good things is good.

Fotos:

1. Me messing around on Google sheets

2. My rainy area

3. The best pizza in Brasil (the tomato side)

4. Real pizza oven

5. Real cacao fruit

6. Interviews with president

7. The second best pizza in Brasil

8. Sick wall art

Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia galera! Como foi a sua semana? A minha foi incrível. No sábado, eu não vera fuscas o suficiente pra chegar aos 1000. Mas o Senhor me abençoou. No sábado e domingo eu vi 14 fuscas! Talvez isso seja o recorde de dois dias. Em total, vi 31 fuscas, totalizando 1009!!

Also this week I ended my teenage years. It's a real shame that I've gotta act like an adult now.

Last pday we took it slow, cleaning the house and going to the store. Just normal pday things. On Tuesday we had district council in lagomar, and we had to take a bus that cost R$17,30. Then we took that same bus back to Macabú. We then started our normal activities. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday were pretty normal days, but they were full of finding new people and lots of success in doing so.

On Friday we had zone conference. Presidente first got up and spoke about goals. And he had me sparkle-eyed. Why, you ask? Because he pulled out his ✨️spreadsheet✨️ for goal setting and goal tracking. This thing is set by month, and automatically sets the calendar in order, with space to add like 10 goals, which can be reported in binary or in base 10. The spreadsheets averages, shows graphs, points out tendencies, and much more. And this spreadsheet has been active since 2014. It's incredible and I've never wanted something so bad in my life. So that is my plan today. I'm going to make a goal spreadsheet. That day on the way home I tried to do something, but was completely stumped by the coding. I thought at first that I'm just rusty, but then I realized that I was trying to write English functions (they don't work when your phone is in Portuguese). So then things started to smooth themselves out when I started writing “Se” statements instead of “If” statements.

That night we had a family night with Cleiton, who is what missionaries call an “eternigator”. Basically an investigator who takes forever to do anything, but loves to have the missionaries over. His wife was baptized over a year ago and their children are all in primary. We don't do a whole lot with him since he's not really progressing. But since I'm new here we decided to use my newness to try to reactivate his interest. When we showed up, we started talking and he mentioned he's gone a week without breaking the word of wisdom, just because he felt that it was the right thing to do. During that week, he felt the need to be baptized. Guys repentance works and miracles are real and happen. Now that the Spirit has done His part, now it's time for us to do ours.

On Saturday we had a normal day. It was actually a great day. Let me tell you why. Not because it was my birthday, because it wasn't (I’ll explain later). There were lots of things that happened. First, we had an amazing lunch at Cleitons house, then we went to some recent converts house. Great lesson there, and as we left, something weird was happening. On the ground, There were lots of big ants. Like an inch long or bigger. Some of them had wings. When I say there were lots of them, I mean like there were enough that I could have stepped on one in every step if I wanted to. So there's lots of kids in the street with an empty 2 litre bottle “hunting” the ants. They grab the ants and put them in the bottles. And the bottles are being filled. Bugs don't gross me out. But what Elder Mena said is that these ants, called tanajuras, come out once a year and die. What people do is grab them before they die, tear off the rear section of their body and fry it up and serve it as part of the farofa. Nasty. I am not a fan of crunchy ant butt. I got some good pictures of these disgusting creatures.

That night we actually had a terrible experience. Absolutely crushing to the heart. I won't go into it. I left that lesson feeling kinda sick and distraught. As we got home it was time to start my fast, and I was just feeling helpless and pained. As I knelt down to pray, I began to offer up my worries and burdens to the Lord. I don't know how long the prayer lasted, but as I started to finish, I felt an immense peace “as exceeding as was my pain”. I stood up feeling exactly opposite to the way I knelt down. I felt an extreme trust in the Lord and an understanding of the love He has for me and for the people we had taught. I knew everything would be alright. So for my birthday, I received the greatest gift I have ever received: An unwavering testimony of prayer and fasting. I gained a greater trust in the Savior and a greater understanding of His love for each one of His children. I know now for a surety that the Atonement is not only for our sins, but for all burdens, sicknesses, and pains. The Lord is not reluctant to give us access to His power, He wants to give us access to it.

Like I said, Sunday was a pretty normal day. But there was one thing that was remarkable. As the day unfolded, I watched each of the things I prayer for work out. We taught the same family which left me so distraught, this time with the environment completely changed. It was a joyous lesson. During the day, things just worked out and I saw the Lord's hand in all of it. How grateful I am to be a part of the marvelous work and a wonder, and to be feeling to sing the song of redeeming love. This work is His work, no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done. There's no better language to describe my joy here than that of the prophets.

Well that's it. Here's a tender mercy:

Waiting at the bus station in macaé after zone conference, I remembered a sister who owned a restaurant at the station. She provided the food for the conference, so I went to thank her for the food. Turns out she remembered me from when I was in Cavaleiros and gave me and my comp a cup of some of the best guava juice there is. Then she invited us over to lunch for stake conference. So it was good to see her again and get lunch and a cup of guava juice.

Spiritual thought: one thing that my mission president emphasized at zone conference was the importance of making and keeping commitments. He talked about our covenant commitments, our commitment to be a missionary, and in general the appointments we mark with people. He said that as we dedicate ourselves to God completely, He gives us forgiveness. This is why baptism is “for the remission of sins” when it seems like repentance is right there. I there learned that repentance is a change of heart, and making and keeping covenants is how we obtain retain remission of sins. Cool thought that really helped me to understand the relationship between repentance and baptism.

Fotos

1-4: the gross grilling ants

5-7: my beautiful area

8-9 my beautiful companion (feat. The chapel)

10: 300 days on duolingo

I got kissed

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey howdy y'all!

Sorry my emails lately have been so short and non-eventful! I'm going to try to repent by giving y'all a good one today!

So, what happened this week?

The first thing of note that happened this week is that our district had it's "last hoorah" by having dinner with President Standley and his family on Tuesday night! It. was. a. party. We love the Standleys so much. They legitimately feel like family. We laughed BUNCHES. Shared crazy embarrassing stories and jammed to music. It was yeehaw, to say the least.

The next thing that happened this week was that we did bunches of service this last Thursday and it was pretty normal work except for the one lady that had all six of us missionaries rip up all the grass in her front lawn by HAND. She refused to let us use a lawnmower so we legit hand-picked a WHOLE yard. It was kind of insane.

The last event of importance was that transfers happened this last Thursday night and Sister Nybo and I somehow thought it was at 8:30 instead of 8:00 and by the time we realized our mistake and joined the zoom call, President was already way past calling out our assignments so we had NO IDEA if we had been transferred. It was crazy. But spoiler alert, we weren't transferred and Sister Nybo and I are STOKED. We absolutely LOVE being companions.

Actually just kidding, THIS is the last even of importance. Yesterday, I got to drive ALL DAY. I LOVE driving so much. It's actually my favorite thing in this world other than Jesus, and my family and music, and actually lots of other things but that doesn't matter. Moral of the story, I just love driving. So, shout out to Sister Walters for getting the vid so that we could use y'all's car. It was yeehaw.

If you want to hear about how I got kissed on the mish, click the link at the bottom of the email and watch the vlog I made. TRIGGER WARNING if you're afraid of old men without teeth, don't watch.

Okay, I hope that was enough details for y'all but now it's time for the spiritual thought:

" If you want to be like Jesus, remember He had a wilderness, a Gethsemane, and a Judas"

^ I read that the other day somewhere on Facebook and I have just kept thinking about it. Our lives are difficult and sometimes it may seem like we're the only ones struggling but that's false y'all! Christ has struggled too and understands your pain to a perfect extent. Turn to Him. He's legit so amazing!

I love y'all!

Sister Cummings