And you cant wait to move out someday

 (Elder Mackrory)

Fala aí rapaziada

Como é que vocês estão? Esse semana vimos 28 fuscas, totalizando 1155.

This week was really good, lots of fun and work. Last pday we went down to Cavaleiros beach and had lots of fun playing ball and then we went to the mall to eat. At the mall I saw a family from my first area and we caught up. When we had lunch at their house way back when, I used to sit down and draw with their 7ish year old son. When I saw him he was at least 4 inches taller and resembled his father a lot more. It was kind of a wakeup call for me that I've been on the mission for a bit.

On Tuesday we had district council and we gave the training. Every day I see Elder Hernandez speaking more and better, and he absolutely killed it. Then we went to a play performance of a member who's goated at giving us references. After the performance we went and talked to her and met the whole cast and we were kinda celebrities. They got super stoked about the Christmas party. went around and did some visits, all of our planned ones falling through. Good thing the visits God planned all worked out. We met a super old and ornery old lady named Dinah (pronounced Jeana) who has some strong opinions about sin. She gave quite the sermon. That night we had rehearsal for the Christmas party again and it was great.

On Wednesday we met a yapper. We'll actually we met her when we were in division last week, but thus week we passed by her house again. She's called Larissa, and she's so cool. What really frightened me is that she said she's been married for 6 years. That's not weird in and of itself, it's just that she's like 8 months older than me. So yeah. Anyway she also got super stoked about the Christmas party this Friday so that was a win. We accidentally talked for two hours.

On Thursday we had more rehearsal for the Christmas presentation and had a great lesson on the resurrection with Maria.

Friday was a big day. In the morning we helped Cleiton and his family move. Then we went home, showered, ate, and went back to help him unpack. Then we went home, showered again and went to the Christmas party. Larissa lost her dog like an hour before the party and she said she might not take it. But she sent her husband to watch the presentation. His name is Patrik. They didn't end up finding the dog, but she came anyway and it was so fun.

Saturday we walked all around Macabu visiting members and updating our missionary app since it has some (kinda) nee features that make it possible for us to keep records up to date. Met tons of inactive members who were all very kind and we will be working to bring them back to church and to personal conversion.

On Sunday we got to church and there wasn't any bread for sacrament. But no one said anything until 2 minutes before the meeting started, and so we booked it home and grabbed some of ours. Good thing it's a 3 minute walk to the chapel. We played the hymns and had good classes. I was inspired by the phrase “Privileged to serve the Lord”. It truly is a privilege to be on the Lord's errand.

Tender Mercy: After weeks of visiting Vanessa, a member we've been focusing on, I was beginning to lose hope. Sunday morning, however, as we left the apartment to go to church, we bumped into her! On her way to church! My heart was partying and just loving life. And then, everyone at church was so happy to see her too. Cherry on top.

Spiritual Thought: President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “We do believe in setting goals. We live by goals. … [One] important goal is to bring the gospel to all people. … Our goal is to achieve eternal life. That is the greatest goal in the world”

This week was great. As I now track my goals, it's easy to see how I'm doing. With exception to one, I met all my goals. I see myself striving not only to meet the goals, but to become a more dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ. This is the point of goals. When we make goals, we are able to understand better our purpose in life, because we can see it step by step. Even when we don't meet our goals, because we strived, we did better than how we would have done had we not planned. My invitation to you all is to make, register, and strive towards goals. Make Christlike goals and change them as you develop. It brings immense joy.

1. Blocked from WhatsApp!

2. New Christmas album on its way

3. The best movers in Macabu

4. It's summer year round

5. Hills

6. The theater

7. The hills and I

8. Nuggets and burger slaps

What a rainy ending given to a perfect day

 (Elder Mackrory)

 

Fala galera!

Essa semana foi rápido demais, e só vimos 16 fuscas. 1127 agora é o total.

This week was so fast, I hardly remember anything. Last pday we hung out at home because we were really tired. At night we had a sick lesson with a dude who was super interested in the Book of Mormon. We then went to teach some recent converts, but they weren't home, so we went and got burgers instead.

On Tuesday we left early for district council and accidentally got off at the wrong bus stop. But we had plenty of time to spare, so we walked. We then went to visit some people, some were home, most weren't, and then we had primary program rehearsal. I love primary hymns.

On Wednesday we taught Antônio and Patrícia about what happens after we die. Antônio is bald, so I made a good use of Alma 11:44 and everyone (including him) had a good laugh and understood the principles. Tomorrow, they will hear the restoration.

On Thursday I had a division with Elder Oliveira. He's got slightly more time than me on the mission, and it was great to be able to learn from him. We had an exhausting (good) day and made some acerola juice. He gave me some goated training tips which I will use extensively, and I taught him that adding a bit of lime in any juice makes it hit the spot.

Also Thursday was interviews with president. He gave me some really cool new insights to our work in small towns. We also geeked out a little to my spreadsheet (which he said was better than his!!!). If the compliment wasn't enough, he then asked me for a copy of it. It's a pretty nice feeling when a professor who taught an excel class thinks your spreadsheet is really cool and asks for a copy. Anyway, this might mean that next transfer ill be a secretary. Elder Kjar is outa the office next transfer, so they will be needing a new tech sec.

Friday we ended the division and had a dope family night with Cleiton, his family, and Thiago. We had hot dogs, and they gave us the leftovers. Members are awesome.

Saturday we ate those leftovers and went to visit Selma, the less active member who came to church last week after 12 years. We were planning on just stopping by real quick and asking her how she was, asking how she felt about church this week, and re-extend the invite. Then it started raining. The thing is that the forecast didn't predict rain, so we didn't bring umbrellas. She begged us to stay until the rain stopped, so we settled to do a reading of the Book of Mormon. She randomly flipped to a page and said “let's start here.” Guys I've never seen anyone flip to a more goated chapter than the one she flipped to. Mosiah 24. We read it, talked about it, she loved it, we loved it, it stopped raining, she said she'd be at church, and we left. Mission accomplished thanks to the rain God gave us.

On Sunday we were planning a million different visits. And none of them ended up working out. Not because they weren't in house, but because plans changed at the last minute. For whatever reason, the branch Christmas party is this Friday and no one told anyone. So we helped the primary president, the young women's president and the teachers quorum President organize the thing. And by the time we reached Conclusions, it was already time to go home. But it was good, well-spent time I think.

In other news, my trainee Elder Hernandez is learning the Carioca accent really well, since he isn't around any other Brazilian from anywhere else. It's started bleeding into his Inglish. He now says, “oopsh” Instead of “oops”.

Tender Mercy: In our Christmas presentation at the branch party, I'm singing “Quem é o menino” while Elder Hernandez goes wild on the piano. I think the song is so pretty, and it's on my favorite melody of all time: greensleeves. Anyway, as I sang it, I was reminded of the first time I felt that I knew Christ loves me. When I was like 10-12, I always went outside to take naps after church. I would always take my iPod (not the touchscreen kind; think older) with me and listen to music as I fell asleep. One of my favorites (year round) was Little Drummer Boy. One afternoon, as I listened to the song, my heart was struck at the climax of the song “Then He smiled at me”. In that unforgettable moment, I knew Christ was aware of me and loved me. And what was true then is true now and is true for everyone. Yesterday as I sang “What Child is This” I felt the same love and confirmation that His love for me is everlasting, and was the very reason He suffered for all of humanity, including me.

My spiritual thought today echoes my experience from yesterday: Christ was born into this world for a purpose planned long ago. He chose to come to Earth to save us from death and sin, to comfort us when we are sad, hurt, or alone. His birth means everything because His life changed everything. The penitent sinner saved, comforted, and loved by Him.

Yeehaw! life is good!

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey Howdy y'all!!!

Guess what? These past two weeks have been AMAZING! Sooo, let me tell you about them!

First off, transfers happened and sadly Sister Nybo and I are noar lunga companions. It's sad and I miss her but I also absolutely LOVE my new companion Sister West! This is her second transfer on the mission but her first transfer in Australia. She was visa waiting in the Texas, Austin Mission for a transfer so she knows all of my favorite things like Bucees! And Rudy's BBQ! AND HEB! So, we get along really well. Honestly, she seems like she's been a missionary for like a year already. She's just that goated!

Since the new transfer we have been giving SO MANY miracles from God! One of those miracles is more like 5 since we've made 5 new friends in these last two weeks! I know it doesn't sound very awesome but we've been averaging about 0.5 new friends a week but putting in the effort to get about 500 every week. So, the Lord does bless your efforts according to His timing!

Another Miracle is our friend Joseph! Joseph is a child of GOD (y'all are too by the way)! We met Joseph just over three weeks ago and started teaching him and then just last week he told us he wants to be baptized! Isn't that amazing??! His baptismal date is set for January 11 but during now and that date, he's going to be spending a month back in his home country where he doesn't have access to a church building or to missionaries. So please please please please pray for him!! We love him so much!!

Okay here's some funny things that happened this week:

- I got stung by a bee

- We heard multiple crazy conspiracy theories from people we thought were completely sane

- Sister West still can't do a pull up

- Sister Cummings can't do a backflip

- I got a nasty stomach bug at a dinner with a member and Joseph and still tried to teach in between trips to the bathroom #iykyk

- Sister West and I made a 5 minute stop at a cemetery to pray for the salvation of some souls and then just got back to biking. It was fun!

Anyways, I'm excited for this next week and I hope y'all are too! But, here's a real quick spiritual thought for y'all:

Lately, I've been trying to focus on following the spirit always! And not only does it take away a lot of the stress of missionary work, it makes it fun! It's so joyful! Because none of this work is in our hands, it's in the Lord's so as long as we follow His Holy Spirit everything will go according to as He would have it go. And, the same works in day to day life, not just missionary life. So, basically, y'all should do it too!!

I love y'all!!!

- Sister Cummings

You're tired from a long hard week

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa noite meus amigos e familiares! Tudo certinho aì?

 

Essa semana vimos bastante fusca. 29. Acho que o total agora é 1111. Sem chance. Pois é.

Hello everyone. This week was super crazy full of things.

On pday last, we spent time at the Macaé chapel and played some soccer. We also were able to finally buy some much needed Tupperware for the house. We ended up sleeping over at the aeroporto house that night so that we could save some money on travel.

In the morning we had district council and headed back to Macabu. We had an awesome lesson with José, a nice old man who cares very well for his little 2003 VW Gol (not to be confused with Golf). Unfortunately he's almost blind so we will be making many visits to do some reading with him.

On Wednesday we went to the same neighborhood as José to be able to read with him, but he wasn't home so we went finding. We found an sweet old illiterate couple who were so intrigued by the little intro of the Plan of Salvation we gave them. that night we had English class, but no one came, so I decided to clean our area book. I was able to organize our dots so that they were confined to Brasil, but it's gonna be a job and a half to consolidate all of it. Real satisfying work.

On Thursday we traveled to the farthest feasible neighborhood only to have our lesson fall. Oh well we took some good fotos and I spoke some cow. I had a panic session because the “Books and Lessons” section in gospel library was gone. That's where all the teachings of the Presidents are and I love those books.

On Friday we had zone conference. In Cabo Frio. Like 4 hours away. So we got up at 5 am to catch our 5:50 bus. We got on and arrived at the bus station in Macaé about 7:20. We get on another bus and it takes us to Cabo Frio. Books and lessons came back. On the way I finished reading the teachings of John Taylor. Super sick guy. We arrived promptly for zone conference and started. Awesome talks and trainings and food. I meant to geek out with the mission president about my spreadsheet but another suck-up besides me took the seat next to him. Oh well there's always interviews. After zone conference, we left for the bus. We walked 40 minutes to the bus Station, took a bus to Macaé, and then took our bus to Macabu. We arrived in our area at 8:48pm. So I managed to organize a few more dots in our area book. 9 total hours of travel.

On Saturday we walked a whole ton. We again walked to the farthest neighborhood for an appointment we marked with a man we found when our last appointment fell. Too bad this appointment fell too. Oh well then we walked all the way back to the other extremity of our area and on the way talked to Selma, an inactive member. She gave us some bomb mango juice. Then we went and taught the illiterate couple from a few days ago. They ate up the first half of the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon.

On Sunday we went to church, and Selma came! She hasn't been to church in 12 years and I'm so surprised the members recognized her and made her feel at home. That was a win. We then left to teach the couple from Saturday, this time with an RM. The lesson was fire, they totally loved 3 Nephi 11.

So needless to say, we're exhausted today, which is why the email is coming in a bit late. But it was such a bomb week. We were so busy that not much happened other than work. I guess that's a good thing.

Tender Mercy: for whatever reason, our morning bus was a but late on the day of zone conference. This was extremely worrying for me because we could not arrive late at the bus station. Our next bus was not a public transport, but a ticket system, so we can't miss it. We were arriving close to the city at about the time the other bus should be pulling out. It should have been all over. In this thought, I look out the back of the bus, and there is our next bus, waiting in traffic. For whatever reason (likely divine) the next bus was late as well. Had we missed the second bus, we simply wouldn't have gone to zone conference.

Spiritual Thought:

3 Nephi 11:14:

Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

My initial thought upon reading this is that Christ wanted to prove Himself to the people. But upon reading this next verse, I realized that that couldn't have been it:

3 Nephi 19:35

And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying he came again to the disciples, and said unto them: So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief.

So. The people of Nefi were among the most faithful, so why was it that Jesus proved Himself to them? Well, actually, the point of feeling His scars was not only that they would have a perfect knowledge of His divinity, but to have a personal and one on one connection with Him. They all fell to the earth as He announced Himself. There's the faith. Then he said that they all went, one by one, to have a personal experience and connection with the Savior. This taught me a great truth, that the love that God has for us is not only real, but is as much individual as it is collective. He announced Himself to the group, but ministered to the one.

Fotos:

1. French fries are better here

2. Zone conference lunch

3. Scenic route

4. I told them to look at the camera

5. How many shades of green?

6. Sorcetinho nunca machucou ninguém

7. Central terminal in macae

8. I think a mooshroom left that there

Miracles YES

 (Sister Cummings)

Hey howdy y'all!

So many cool things have been happening lately! Two weeks ago I hit 6 months on the mish! Isn't that awesome! I'm already 1/3 of the way through! It's been so dang quick and so dang amazing! I've already learned heaps of stuff and have grown a lot (although not physically, I'm still just a little bit short).

Another amazing thing is that I've been seeing so many miracles!

One big one happened on Saturday during exchanges in the city with Sister Manuel (love her tbh) and we were just doing some finding and we walked up to this dude sitting down in the grass and we ended up sitting down with him and teaching him about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration and he ATE it up! It was yeehaw!! And he also shared a beautiful story of how Jesus Christ saved his life! I legitimately almost cried! And the cool things about this is the little itty bitty miracles like the fact that the dude had JUST come to Australia two weeks ago from Papua New Guinea and didn't even live in the city but had decided to visit that day. Coincidence? Nah. AND THE BIGGEST THING. The dude was lost and was confused by the big city and that's why he sat down and while he had been sitting there he was praying that "someone with Jesus in their heart" would come and help him and then we rocked up! Prayers work!!!

Okay, next miracle happened yesterday at church when another guy, who we'd only interacted with over text and the phone rocked up to CHURCH and LOVED IT and even STAYED for second hour AND the second hour for the ward after ours. So 1) we think he enjoyed the church and 2) he would have eaten up 3 hour church. He was so interested and we were able to set up a teaching appointment with him and another one of our members for later in the week. AHH I LOVE JESUS CHRIST!

Anyways!! My spiritual thought is that miracles are real! Seek and expect miracles because they happen. God makes them happen!

I love y'all so much! Have a good one!

- Sister Cummings

Too many cool kids

 (Elder Mackrory)

Fala Pessoal! Tudo joia?

Essa semana vi 16 fuscas, totalizando 1082. Tanta coisa aconteceu essa semana, nem sei aonde começar.

This week we had transfers, found out about them Monday morning. So technically I could have told y'all last week, but I felt I'd leave the suspense. Turns out I'm staying here in Macabu, and Elder Mena is leaving. My new comp is Elder Hernandez. He's fresh out of the states. So yeah. I'm training again. This means I'm the missionary who has trained the most out of everyone in the mission. Five kids in the mission is too many kids. So we just spent pday packing bags. Well, I just relaxed while elder Mena packed. On Tuesday we went around and visited members and people, and then early Wednesday morning we headed over to the mission office. It was pretty chill at the office, just that it was raining, which is important later. We met Elder Hernandez and he's got a real big Texas accent. It's so weird since everyone I know here has a Utah accent. It's been a while since I've heard the word yall used unironically.

After lunch, we booked it to the bus station. But we ended up missing the bus. It was an early tine anyway, there was not way we were making it. So everyone in the travel group got in line to switch their tickets for a later slot. No biggie, just pay a small fee. But when I went to switch ours, we couldn't. Everyone else switched their tickets just fine. But since we were going to a pretty rare destination, the next time slot was the next day. So we call the office and Elder Kjar hooks me up with some passage to a close by city where we would sleep at another missionary apartment. It's just that this ticket gave us like 6 different possible gates that the bus could pull up in. Since there's no logic in that, I didn't understand at first. I didn't even realize until after what it meant. So we went to the first gate in the list and waited for a bus that came and went in a different gate. So we were confused and went to ask about the bus. “it just left from this other gate” they said. That's when I found out that we had to have been attentive to 6 different gates. So we went to switch our travel again. We got it done and finally, after four hours at the bus station, got on the bus. At 10:15 we arrived at Macaé (also raining) and walked with our bags to the Macaé house. Slept well there and took an early bus to Macabu Thursday morning. So for Elder Hernandez, who had just taken a 12ish hour flight from Salt Laķe, it took a total of 46 hours of travel to arrive in our area. We were able to go work that day, but needless to say we slept like rocks that night.

The next days were filled with finding, teaching, serving, and ministering to the ward. On Friday we had primary rehearsal for the program. Since I'm the pianist, we were there too. Turns out Elder Hernandez is goated at piano. So we split the songs and now I only have 3 songs to learn. On Saturday we stopped by the chapel to practice the piano, did that, and out of nowhere he started playing Cardigan. I tried to sing along, but became immediately embarrassed because I've forgotten the lyrics. Then he played Wildest Dreams and I was glad to find that I hadn't forgotten those lyrics. I even remembered some harmonies and we had a good time. Then we got a call From a member at like 7pm (remember that its Saturday) saying that we need to teach Sunday school. Alright. That's fine. Two hours is enough. Then we get a message from the branch presidency asking us both to speak in church. So. Yeah. So we went home and Elder Hernandez wrote his talkzinho and I got on Sunday school. I decided to use a talk I already had prepared to save time.

Then came Sunday. We basically did everything. Elder Hernandez played the piano, I led the music, I blessed the sacrament, we both spoke, and I gave the lesson in Sunday school. Other than teaching Sunday school, that's not far from what happens every week.

Well, that's it for this week. Tender Mercy: On Sunday we had lunch with a member family that Is having some difficulties. I get very uncomfortable when lunched go longer than two hours because of how lunches were in my first area. But after about an hour and fifty minutes they invited us to stay while they made cake. Usually I would politely decline, but I felt that it would be ok to stay. I was very confused by the feeling since I get stressed when we don't stick to the time schedule (thanks Elder Kjar (that's not sarcastic)). Anyway, we stayed and chatted and had cake. Got a good tip that using hot water in cake instead of milk makes the chocolate stand out more. Someone go try that and tell me how it goes, I didn't have a point of reference. The cake was good, but I have no idea I it would have been better or worse with milk. Anyway, we left after some time there and got a message from the mother thanking us for the sweet spirit we brought and that she hasn't seen her daughter so calm and happy in a while. So then it all made sense. We needed to be there a little longer.

Spiritual Thought:

President Boyd K. Packer taught: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the [doctrine] of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”

I love this quote because there is no knowledge in this world more valuable than a knowledge of the doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of Christ will guide you in EVERY situation, something that a study of behavior cannot.

Fotos:

1. Noite familiar at the pizza place

2. Some nature for yall

3. Birthday party

4. Last night with Elder Mena

5. Ice cream in the bus station

6. Elder Kjar sent me this not realizing it would be in my email.

7. Jesus paid for our sins

8. Mango season!!!

9. Nature and me and my youngest son

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💙🤍