(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