It was all by design, 'cause I'm a mastermind

 (Elder Mackrory)

E aí Mac! Tem um a34 aí que ta dando sopa?

I get a variation of this message above at least twice a week. It usually comes from the same three or four elders telling me their phone is too slow and they need an upgrade. It gets really old since a good portion of them don’t actually have a problem, they just want a better phone. I usually respond with “I’m good thanks, and how are you?” since they never ask me how I am, and then stall to break the news that we don’t have any upgrade to give. Anyway let’s get rolling. I saw 4 fuscas this week, bringing the total to 1251.

On pday last, I spent a good two hours cleaning the house, which was fun. We switched our teaching hours to the afternoon to teach Vera (not to be confused with our recent convert Tia Vera) about the plan of salvation in a public park. During the lesson a goose showed up out of nowhere and stared directly at Elder Ribeiro for a good minute looking very docile and dangerous at the same time. It then turned around, pooped, walked away, and the lesson continued. Since we worked during the afternoon, we bought groceries in the night.

Sunday was again a day of miracles. Perhaps I didn’t notice as many this time, but there were some crazy miracles. In the morning, we left to go pick up a friend of ours, Roberto, and on the way we made some last minute calls to invite people to church or remind them that they accepted our last invite. Roberto took us in his car as we went to church. At church, we chatted a bit and sat down. As people started to arrive, we greeted them, and I started to record who was there. When we sat down, a member of the bishopric asked me to translate for an American family who arrived in the back. This time, translating was pretty easy for me, and I got pretty much every word. It was especially fun to translate Vinicius’ talk on repentance, which was super good. One of the reasons he always like to talk with us before his baptism is because we share the same perspective that repentance is joyful. Very few, he said, have this perspective. His talk showed that he really understood the concept. He didn’t say he knows repentance is joy because the scriptures say so or because the missionaries said so, but because he lives repentance. He bore powerful testimony of the atonement and the power of repentance. After sacrament I looked around real quick to finish counting those of our friends who came. They totaled nine. That’s a new record for me. Thing is, that would be super stressful sometimes, but this ward is awesome and all of our friends went to go sit with the members. After church, the other Elderes had a baptism of their friend Erick, who’s awesome. After church, we had lunch with like two or three member families and another friend who decided she wanted to eat with us. She was excited to tell us that she is ready for baptism and is preparing. She lives in the other Elders’ area, so her progress will be accompanied by them. After church we went to visit Colmar from last Sunday’s miracle and were able to give him a book of Mormon and invite him to church. That night the young single adults did a devotional with fried pastries. Our two friends went and they had a good time.

On Monday we had our normal meeting with president and everybody, and then we had tapiocas. Pretty uneventful day, but in the night we went to teach Tia Vera about the plan of salvation. I brought my little drawing that I made like a year ago to help her visualize, and she asked if we could print out a copy for her.

So on Tuesday morning I got right to work on that and supersized the font and made everything a bit easier to see. We had district council and did not sing “Love one another”, which broke our streak of singing that song for the last like nine weeks as far as I know. We then went to lunch (walking) with 110° and 80% humidity which made it feel like 140°. Not the most enjoyable half hour of my life, nor the driest.

On Wednesday morning we taught Vinicius about the plan of salvation and the importance of enduring to the end. We had lunch at a member’s house who is and old friend of Vera, who we taught on Saturday. She had just gotten back from a trip in Europe, and so she gave us some really nice chocolate. That night we had a lesson with Marcel in which we found out that the fast we did from Saturday to Sunday worked. He has made a huge step to being ready for baptism, and one that I was beginning to think wasn’t possible. But the Lord had other plans in mind.

On Thursday we went to the airport to re-legalize Elder Smith who was robbed like a year ago and got his ID card taken. There, while we waited for them to show up, we taught Isaque about the plan of salvation. After the airport, I stopped by a candy shop and got some peculiar shaped gum and gummies. That night, I had a great personal study, reading Jacob 5 and eating some grapes. I thought it was so neat that I was eating grapes AND reading Jacob 5, until it dawned on me that Jacob 5 is about olive trees and not grape trees. Then I felt pretty dumb. But the grapes were good.

On Friday we had our long awaited hamburger night with Dani, which had been postponed like 5 times. Burgers were super good, and the Coke was super cold. We then re-taught her the plan of salvation.

On Saturday, we did not have pday. That’s why you didn’t get an email from me. We switched it because today is zone pday and we’re having churrasco. I’ll let you know how it went this Saturday. We invited tons of people to stake conference since we would need to invite more to get the same number of people at church given the farther distance of the chapel. We taught Jose and Maria (not that Jose and Maria) about the restoration and they loved it.

On Sunday morning it was a rush to organize rides for everyone who was going. Marcel and Rafael got rides together, and we went in a taxi with Colmar, who we taught last Sunday. Vera got a ride with the goated Relief Society president. It was such a good conference with some amazing talks, and Vinicius gave the opening prayer. Afterwards we went home and I made myself some pancakes and we then left for the farthest neighborhood in our area, to visit someone. We were just gonna give her a book of Mormon and invite her to read and to come to church, but then she asked, “So how to I get baptized?” And so we explained it all and marked her baptism date. We then went home amidst a premature carnival celebration (here, carnival means “sin”. I’m not sure if that’s the definition, but its how it is usually understood). Lots of root free root beer and outfits that are not even swimming pool appropriate. Lots of glitter. My companion and I commented about the quality of the ground the entire way home. 

Tender Mercy: At stake conference, Vera came up to us just exploding with joy. I love seeing people happy, so it made me really happy. That's it😁

Spiritual thought: you may have noticed that I taught the plan of salvation quite a bit this week. I noticed that too. So I decided to write a little about my favorite part: the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of the Fall of man, all people are subject to sin and death. We cannot overcome these things alone. Knowing this, Heavenly Father prepared a way for us to overcome them. His plan centered on this part. For all, Jesus lived a perfect without sin, suffered the pain of all sin, pain, affliction, and sickness. On the cross He finished the suffering, paying the ultimate price which is death. He did this not only to give us the opportunity to become better, but so that he could comfort his people. On the third day, he gave all mankind, not only the repentant, but all, the greatest gift that has ever been given. For having risen from the dead, He made it possible for ALL to be resurrected. All of God's children who have stepped on the earth will receive a perfect body at the resurrection day. Now, all that said and done, what are you going to do to show that you're grateful? What does He ask us to do?

Remember how I said I'd die for you?

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia galera! Como vai?

Essa semana foi muito boa. Vi 9 fuscas, levando o total aos 1246.

Just a warning, this email is super long. Feel free to use Gmail’s new AI, Gemini, to summarize it if you don’t have much time, but I do recommend that you read it in full.

Last pday, we went to the temple. It was amazing. I am so grateful to live so close to it. But we didn’t just go to the temple. We went there with some the young single adults from our ward (of which two are from our teaching group). Our friends got to see the temple, the distribution center and the chapel that shares the lot, and they loved it. In the distribution center, Marcel bought the book of teachings of John Taylor, which I loved. I’m super happy for him. In the temple, while we were helping in the confirmation room, we were the only priesthood holders other than the recorder. Problem was that they needed someone to baptize in the baptistry. Since my companion was just sitting there, they asked if we have to stay together even in the temple. Our desire to help out everyone was put up against our desire to keep the standards. We were in the temple, so nothing would have happened, but we decided to be obedient and trust that the Lord would provide a way for us to be obedient and for the work to continue. And we did not place our trust in vain. About 30 seconds later, a brother from our ward walked in and was available to confirm, thus freeing us to baptize and record in the baptistry. That night as we were contacting referrals and inviting everyone to church, Elder Vieira set up a time for me to talk to our recent convert who spoke so rudely to me the night before. We were both able to express fully our thoughts, and I felt a lot of peace in doing so, knowing that my sincere thoughts and renewed energy to show love to her were what the Lord wanted from me, even though she was not convinced of my sincerity and stormed out again. It complicated, but I’ve learned that even when we do everything in our power to earn the love of those we love, it may not work out.

Sunday was a day full of miracles. We had an old friend show up to church that hasn’t been taught in ages. She is excited to meet with us again. Next, I got to renew my covenants with Heavenly Father taking the sacrament. Next, we had an amazing lunch. During said lunch, we had another friend call us telling us how she felt bad about not coming to church and that she wants to meet with us later. So after church we went to visit with her and set some good goals. If she progresses with these goals, we’ll set a special goal for her to be baptized. Next, As we went to deliver a Book of Mormon, we had some confusion. The person wasn’t home, but her daughter was (definitely not interested) and so we gave her the book and asked her to give her mom the book. A man seated near us then called us over and asked us about this book. He was super humble and was so excited to know more that he suggested that we meet again before we could. Next, as we left the building we stopped to record what had happened, and a recent convert (of 3 years) was on his bike passing by and stopped to say hello. From there, we had a super edifying conversation about the sabbath day and obedience. He was super excited about the idea of taking a day off being a commandment, and is excited to start coming back to church. Next, we arrived home safely during a dark and scary hour. Next, my personal study was chef’s kiss. I read about obedience and then 1 Nephi 4-6. Really nice study in the air conditioning. Next, as I was ironing my shirts, listening to A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, I was thinking about the atonement. Oftentimes when we think about the atonement we think about the pain He experienced. We think about how much it hurt to take upon Him our sins. But there was a more prevalent feeling that night in Gethsemane and in all the moments of His mortal life from them on: Love. Greater than the greatest pain that was ever felt was the greatest love that was ever shown. Not a love that was created then, but a love that existed since before the creation of the world, and strengthened by those moments of suffering.

On Monday we had our first round table meeting of the transfer, and then off to lunch. It was crazy hot out, glad we made it back to the air conditioned office. I did some referrals and helped train Elder Coutinho a little. That night we had an awesome lesson with Marcel and our awesome ward clerk Breno.

On Tuesday, we were super busy, In the morning we had district council and got to meet the new elders, which was cool. Last district council our DL left a banana in the freezer and forgot about it. So this time around I slipped it back into his bag without him noticing. That afternoon I had to prepare the content that the media sisters would share in zone conference. At 4ish we left for a lesson with Vera, who had called us Sunday afternoon. She was super excited to talk to us and we invited the relief society president to participate through a video call. We were able to mark a baptism date with our friend. It’s set for her birthday that is coming up, but we’ll see if her family plans something. She’s practically ready, and so if it doesn’t work out we will just move up the date, but she really wanted it to be on her birthday. We then went straight to dinner with the Elder’s quorum president and his wife. She made the best pudim (poo-JING) I've ever had by far. She used the good brand of condensed milk.

On Wednesday we had zone conference. That morning the zone leaders asked me if I could be the pianist. I said sure and then they sent me two hymns that I didn’t know how to play. Oh boy. Anyway, we headed to the office for me to grab some phones and screen protectors that people had asked for and then we hitched an Uber to the stake center. There, I went straight to practicing, except that Elder Schmuhl stopped me on the way and talked my ears off about spreadsheets (just kidding Elder Schmuhl I love you). The hymns went alright, the media sisters did a killer job and the zone leaders were fantastic as always, although I have to hand it to Elder Schmuhl and Elder de Los Angeles for their mastery in using scriptures to teach.

On Thursday we got stuff ready for the last zone conference in the mission. And I finally got to zero out the referrals that do not have an área. After some more work done, we did like a million online contacts. Pretty chill day.

On Friday we were finally free of zone conference tasks and were able to officially organize Elder Coutinho’s responsibilities. But there was some confusion and now we have to do it over again. We had a phone lesson with Vinicius in which he lost connection, but somehow the phone call was not interrupted at all. The lesson was clearly spoken and he testified of how the Lord allowed him to hear our call. That night we went to visit our other recent convert, Tia Vera, and read with her from a church magazine she got from who knows where.

Well, that’s it for this week, it was super fast. This Saturday pday thing is making the weeks go by super fast. I started my mission 559 days ago. It’s actually insane to think about how much time has passed in such a short time.

Tender Mercy: In the temple, I met a guy who just got off his mission in Londrina. We chatted for a bit about an Elder that I knew who went there. I decided it would be funny to try to put a little bit more emphasis on the carioca “s” which often sounds like “sh”. What happened is that the guy didn't think I was messing around and complimented my carioca accent. I've been trying to get out of an embarrassment cycle where I tell myself that I can't try to make a carioca accent because people will make fun of me, but through this I lost my embarrassment and things have been going well. It was just what I needed to better emulate 1 Corinthians 9:20

Spiritual Thought: (this one comes from my mission president, but as I read about it this week, it really touched me) When I read 1 Nephi 11, I stopped to think about the manner in which the angel taught Nephi about the meaning of the tree. Nephi understood its meaning after learning about the birth of the Savior. The Love of God is that He sent His Son to save us from where we cannot save ourselves. Ok, now that's the tree. What then, do the fruits mean? Well, what does Christ offer to those who hold tight to the Word of God? Repentance and the remission of sins, and the companionship of the Holy Ghost. The sweetest things there are. So it's not too early to celebrate Christmas, for to celebrate Christmas is to celebrate Christ. This I will do all year round and I invite you guys to do the same.

I threw my phone across the room at you

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa tarde galera! como vai?

Essa semana vi 6 fuscas, trazendo o total aos 1237 fuscas.

Last pday, we took it a little bit slower, spending some time at home. We did however randomly meet up with some members from Montana, who pulled their taxi over to say hi to us. Not much else happened, but in the night we contacted some referrals and cleaned and filled the baptism font.

Sunday morning we got trolled. We had arranged with Tia Vera to meet up with us so that we could walk together to church. When we arrived at the arranged place, she wasn’t there. Then we got a message from one of the bishopric saying that she was already at church like an hour early. Apparently she was the first one there. Anyway, we had tons of tourists come visit our ward and it was pretty cool. I chatted with some of them in the beginning, but my conversation was cut short because we had so many friends show up that I couldn’t talk with members. Good problem to have. Sacrament meeting ended and we chatted some more with people. One of the tourist couples asked me to translate for them. I think it went pretty well, but I sure missed a bunch. I learned That Urim means Lights and Thumim means Perfection. I thought that that was pretty cool. In talking with them after church, I found out that they were part of the Tabernacle Choir. After Sunday school, it was a rush to make final preparations for the baptism. We started the meeting and Tia Vera could not stop smiling and giggling. We had her baptism and I was so happy to see how well the members just loved her. It was a great experience all around. Afterwards we had lunch at bishops house and his 5 year old daughter kept showing me all her pokemon. It was the cutest thing. I made a terrible dad joke, Elder Ribeiro shared a message and we left. We then had a few hours of work, finding three people who have lots of potential. We almost marked a baptism date with one of them. That night we had a super cool family night with the young single adults. The whole goal was to integrate Rafael with the rest of them and it worked really well. 

On Monday the transfer news came out. At 8am we all got on the zoom, president explained for the umpteenth time that leadership in the church isn’t like a ladder, and then we watched people climb up the ladder. Just kidding. But I became a great grandfather and gained one more grandson and my oldest is a zone leader. So proud. I’m staying in my area with Elder Ribeiro, and now the work gets crazy busy. We arranged all the logistics for travel and Elder Ribeiro got on buying bus tickets. Just that about 40% through the purchases, the site stopped working. So we were praying pretty hard for this to be fixed so that people can be transferred. At night we arranged a lesson with a friend of ours, that he canceled literally at the last minute because he wanted to go to church. So we asked if we could meet him there. So I went in the Assembléia de Deus. Lot of yelling going on there, but their hymns are pretty cool. Then we walked home at a pretty unsafe hour and got home safely.

On Tuesday we left early to the office early so that Elder Ribeiro could buy the rest of the tickets. And, by a miracle, it worked! In the meantime I did some referrals and some other tasks. Afterwords we had district council and more work to get the transfer ready. After we got lunch we finished up the arrangements and we left for a lesson. It looked like a 20 minute walk, so we started off, but when I went to check the route, it said it would take 45 minutes and walking straight to the top of a mountain. So we called an Uber. Arriving at the house number, we were expecting a house, as one does. Nope, turns out the number we got was to the biggest base of the baddest branch of the Rio police. Their logo is a skull with a knife driven through it and cross way pistols behind. Its pretty sick. So we sent the guy a message, like “Uhhhh, are you sure this is your house?” And he said “Oh, no this is my work, come on in”. So we start to enter this military base that has the sign “Do not make suspicious movements”. The dude meets us there and we had a great conversation about the Book of Mormon and he is excited to read it. Then he asked if we had anywhere else to go, and when we explained the next lesson and where it was, he said “Oh that will take you forever, there’s a shortcut through the base. Come with me.” So we went, and let me tell you I’ve never seen so many guns in my life. It was chill. Then we left the base on the other side, had a great lesson and went to the pizza night. Rodrigo from the bishopric hosts a family night with the missionaries right before the transfer to say goodbye to any missionary that is leaving. Cool conversations.

On Wednesday we had transfers. So we went early to the office again to fix some things. I tried without success to transfer some photos from a broken phone to a micro SD card, but it didn’t work, so that will be a priority. I got back almost all the stuff I was supposed to, except the phone of one elder who claimed his phone was “lost” or “stolen” when it came time at the airport to give it back to president. Oh well. Everyone arrived for transfers, got to see a whole bunch of people and see Elder Flores get his first trainee, my first grandson. In talking with the current Elders from Saracuruna, Sheila is a crazy active member that you can’t tell is a recent convert. She’s helping the missionaries a ton. That made me so happy to hear. Afterwards, everybody left, we cleaned the chapel and did some more logistics as we finalized the transfer. 

On Thursday morning, we again left home early, this time to president's house for the mission leadership council. We had a super good group again this time, and so there were lots of good ideas going around on how we can better lead the mission. I got to see Elder Kjar again, which was cool, and it was fun to dink around with Elder Patterson at lunch. Good times. We took some good photos, including one of the most broken phone screen I've ever seen. Apparently, it fell. On Wednesday night I had received a fully functioning A25, and so my obligation was that this lucky elder got it. So now we're back to just A13's. After getting back to the office, I reorganized everything and put my filing cabinet next to my desk because I'm sick of having to walk a full 20 feet in air conditioning to go get something. Lots of people are having whatsapp problems, so I spent most of my time helping them.

On Friday, we kinda had a big mess. It was super hot out, and we went to deliver some copies of the Book of Mormon with some friends, and then to lunch. Lunch was super good, some of the best beef I’ve ever had. After lunch we headed back to the office. Lots of good work done. At 6ish pm we had a pizza family night with a recent convert who we haven’t been able to successfully teach for a while. So, we play some uno and eat some pizza, and then after the second game we start to deal cards again and she kinda just starts going off. Rude comments, straight up insults and that everything that’s going wrong in her life is because of me. Anyway after an hour of this, she grabbed her purse and stormed out. Then we went home. Super mentally draining, especially since the entire hour was “It’s not you guys, it’s him”. But, today is pday, and we’re going to the temple, so it’s gonna be alright. Hate to leave my weekly summary on a sour note, but its how my week ended.

Tender mercy, after pday, we were preparing some things for the baptism, and I realized that ALL of the information that we needed for Tia Vera’s baptism form was missing. We had gotten all the information we needed, and then it just disappeared. This information we got in one night where she told us the information. When the information was lost, I got really stressed. I had no idea where the information went, and there was no apparent way to get it back. So I took a deep breath, said a prayer, and went in to try to see what I could remember. I was able to remember every single detail. Not a single bit of what Tia Vera told us was unclear. This information was shown to me one time for like 5 seconds as I typed it in. This was not me. This was the Holy Spirit helping me remember all that was necessary.

Spiritual thought: This morning for my personal study, I read some chapters from the teachings of Joseph F. Smith. I read about having no malice to anyone and yielding to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. But those chapters are not what I wanted to focus on. It’s the very fact that these chapters exist. I didn’t choose to study these chapters by need, I’m following a goal to read all the “Teachings of Presidents of the Church”. I’ve been studying them at a pretty regular rate. It just so happened (it was definitely the will of the Lord) that these chapters were next chapters in the list by coincidence (tender mercy). The Lord provides for our needs if we are looking for His help. We must also be open to do what is necessary. I was very worried about Friday nights’ situation, and looking for guidance. What I read what exactly what I needed. And the guidance you are seeking is right there. God wants to give it to you. You just have to look for it and accept it.

High above the whole scene, loves me like Im brand new

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia galera! fala a boa!

Vi apenas 4 fuscas, totalizando 1231. This week was started to speed up in terms of work load as we prepare for the transfer. On Monday the mission will find out the news. I already know that I’ll stay with Elder Ribeiro.

Last pday was pretty cool. At 8:30 we left the house for Lage Park. It’s a super pretty forest park where the trees give complete shade, and the branches are at least 50 feet up. It’s at the base of the Tijuca National Forest. But we weren’t there to sit on a bench and enjoy the nature, though I would like to. We started the second most intense hike of my life. It the same difficulty as the most intense one, but this time I didn’t have 50 lbs on my back nor was I at high altitude. But anyway, we started up and it was super beautiful. Tall trees, short trees, big spiders, waterfalls, tadpoles, foreigners, and some other cool exotic things. After an hour and 50 minutes of straight speedwalking, we arrived at the destination of destinations here in Rio. Christ the Redeemer. A statue of the most important man to ever step forth on Earth that stands over 125 feet tall. Only downside is that they doubled the price since the last time one of us went. For anyone wanting to go by trail, its no longer 30 reais. But anyway, after a painful beep of a credit card, we went in. It was super packed, so it wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I was hoping, but this statue is colossal. Nothing could impede my view nor that of anyone else’s. We spent about 15 minutes up there, took some pictures, and went down. It was a super clear day, and because of that, Christ was super photogenic. Problem with that is that we were less photogenic because we could barely open our eyes for the camera. It was super bright out. We took the trail down again, this time running a good part of the way. As we were running one time, a 3 foot green snake fell on top of Elder Vieira, who’s more afraid of snakes than Indiana Jones. He let out a shriek, but by that time the snake had already fell to the ground and I, being behind him, hopped over it. As we reached the bottom, we saw some people stopped on the trail looking into the woods. We stopped to see what it was, and there were three or four beautiful toucans perched super close. After taking some pictures, we finished the hike and explored the paved trails in the Lage park. I would spend an entire pday there just sitting in the nature. Super pretty.

On Sunday we had church and had so many people come. It was awesome. We had Vinicius passing the sacrament as well. Normally, we like to sit with our friends to help explain how things normally work, but this time all the members just invited them to sit with them. After sacrament meeting, we hardly got to participate in Elders Quorum because we needed to print something for the primary and give a blessing to a sister in the ward. But, from what I hear the comments went on numberless tangents, so that’s ok. Afterwards we contacted all of our referrals and visited some.

On Monday we had our normal office meeting, and we left for lunch. Instead of getting our usual tapioca, we had lunch with a member! She met us at a really nice restaurant and we had some fun conversations. After lunch, we had a good talk with president about the next secretary. Elder Mayer officially handed all of his responsibilities over to Brother Butters, so he’s kinda just helping around with general things. Since he is likely getting transferred to another area, we need to organize some official responsibilities for the new secretary since he won’t be the financial guy anymore. What we’re thinking is that he will take a few responsibilities from each secretary and that way we can work one more hour in our areas and one less hour in the office. It will be interesting to see who it ends up.

On Tuesday we did divisions. We also had a guy trying to make himself the “Boss of EnglishConnect in the Rio de Janeiro North mission”. We also had miracles. I could write a whole email about this day. In the morning I got ready fast to go to district council. When the assistants got there, they asked me if I knew a certain dude. I said yeah, he helps with the English classes in [insert ward name]. Then they showed me some of the messages he was sending. He claimed to be the Boss of EnglishConnect for the mission. He asked to be put as admin in the whatsapp group of the English class there, and asked for a bunch of missionaries contacts. Thankfully the assistants resisted his requests. This guy had entered in contact with me before, asking for contacts of missionaries to help with English classes, and I, under presidents guidance, told him to hang on until we have our English classes more regulated. So now that I know that he was getting contacts of missionaries (the assistants) and was trying to put himself in charge of everything, I sent a message to all the missionaries to avoid contact with him and advise that he is not in any way in authority. From responses to the mass message, I come to find that he had been bothering tons of missionaries. So I sent a strongly worded message to him. I don’t think I was rude, but he did not give me any resistance. I told him that ideas he has can be worked out in his ward, and the missionaries can inform me about the success of his ideas. So that was kinda crazy. Anyway. Part two of this day. I’m in a division with Elder Fredrick, my district leader. This time, he came to our area and was a secretary for a day. Pretty fun, he’s a dawg. He did find ways to make himself useful and help around a lot, despite not knowing much of secretary work. Part three. We left for area work about 6pm to interview Tia Vera for baptism. But when we there to where hangs out, she wasn’t there! No! I was really worried because the baptism wouldn’t happen without the interview. But we decided to keep working and visit some interested people. We went to visit this one guy. But we took a wrong turn without realizing it and got kinda lost (I’m still learning the area guys). But we decided to visit the interested person who lived where we got lost. By miracle, we found a super interested person who has been looking for the truth but said he didn’t know where to find it (familiar?). So we had a great lesson on the restoration and he’s super excited to read the Book of Mormon and find the truth for himself. Afterwards, it was time to go home, but we decided to take a small detour to walk by Tia Vera’s corner. By another miracle, she was there! She had actually just arrived. We were able to do the interview and she’s all cleared for baptism this Sunday. Afterwards we got some overpriced Açaí, and went home. Que. dia.

On Wednesday I woke up to a missed call at midnight from some Elders. I called them back and asked what happened. Turns out their carbon monoxide sensor went off and they had to leave the house. They called the fire department, who said “If the alarm goes off again, call us back.” and then hung up in their face. Nothing ended up happening, thankfully, and in joking with the elders afterward, they send me an audio which sent my flying. So freaking funny. I’ll attach it below we went early to the chapel to finish the division. Afterwards it was just work work work. Fun work but work nonetheless. I standardized the method of contacting referrals in the mission. The method has not launched yet because it isn’t perfect and we will have the media sisters give training on it at zone conferences. It’s the method I’ve used for about 800 referrals that I’ve contacted, and the method that only blocked me from WhatsApp once. So if anyone out there would like to try it out, I can send it to you.

On Thursday we went to the airport again to resolve some legal questions for some foreign missionaries. There we had lunch at a slightly overpriced restaurant, but its ok because it will be reimbursed. There I got to see Elder Hernandez again since he had to resolve some immigration stuff. I also got to meet Elder Vivas, a fellow pedant (a word for a person who knows what pedantic means). We had a super cool conversation about grammar. In the afternoon It was just normal work, and in the night we had a sick lesson with Vinicius on how to use gospel library.

On Friday we woke up super surprised that it was Friday. Also woke up to a photo of the most destroyed phone I’ve seen. So during the night one of the sisters in the mission stepped on her phone and absolutely destroyed the screen. So I had to resolve that. It’ll be fine. We had lunch with a sister in the ward from Venezuela, and, as promised, I gave the lunch message in Spanish. It was pretty cool. More office work and in the night we contacted referrals. Some good potential in a lot of them, we will see how it goes this next week.

Tender Mercy:

Today marks the first full month of using my new goal spreadsheet. This means my monthly summary is complete. I was surprised at how far I was from reaching some goals, and how well I achieved others. Although I achieved just a few of them, I felt really amazing as I made plans for this next month. It was a moment where I was able to feel the power of the atonement working in my life in a way that is personal to me. This next month of February will be amazing.

Spiritual Thought: I thought I’d share the lunch message that I shared yesterday. I decided it would be a cool idea too write a new verse too a well known song. I chose “I Feel my Savior’s Love”. I wrote the new verse about covenants:

Yo siento Su amor,

un convenio yo he hecho.

Él nunca me dejará.

Ni a Él le dejaré yo

The Love that God has for us is eternal and everlasting. But His love is much more special for his covenant people. Those who have made a covenant with Him have access to His love. I invite you to read this article that President Nelson wrote about this love.

The Everlasting Covenant

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/10/04-the-everlasting-covenant?lang=eng

Fotos:

Were you standing in the hallway with a big cake?

 (Elder Mackrory)

Essa semana me deixou com um pouquinho de raiva. Eu vi apenas UM fusca. Não acridto. Só. Nem 2. O total agora é 1227.

Last pday was pretty cool. We started off right at 8am with a jog. We jogged to Sugarloaf mountain to meet our recent convert at the base of the mountain. When we got there, he was waiting for us and so we started the hike right away. We went up this hill in like 25 minutes. Bro is a professional hiker. So he’s leading the way, and were behind him pretending to not be out of breath. Got some good photos on the way up and the view was incredible. We just hung out one the first summit and then went back down. Next time we go to sugarloaf mountain we’ll go all the way up. Anyway we start going down the hill, again with Vinicius leading the way. So he starts literally running. I’m glad my comp is from the backwoods of Brasil, because getting good footing was difficult at the speed we were going despite years of playing night games in the woods. So 10 minutes later we are at the bottom of the hill again, pretending not to be out of breath. Afterwards we went home and took showers and then headed straight to Copacabana. Elder Oliveira (the one I did a division with last transfer) has served in this area before, so he gave me a recommendation for a place to go to get a new filtered straw for terere. So we got off at the wrong bus stop and had to walk a bit, but we got the straw.

On Sunday we went to church, and had lots of people there! Marcel, his mother Carla, Tia Vera, and Rafael. Vinicius came as well, this time in a suit, which was pretty chic. After church we had lunch at the house of a family from São Paulo. Their accents were super weird. One of the kids licked my shoulder, which was also weird. But the food was good. We then went out to work in 120 degree heat. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, because was only 90% humidity.

On Monday we had our weekly planning meeting with president and everyone in the office. Just that, we always start by talking about houses and finances and my part of tech gets left for last. This time Presidente caught me off guard and said we’re starting with me. We had tapioca for lunch and it was really good. We met with Tia Vera that night and marked a baptism date with her. She was super excited ready.

On Tuesday, we made chicken stew. Only with one small twist: we used chicken feet as part of the meat. I kinda liked it. You bite on the knuckle and spit out the bone after you eat the skin and ligaments. There’s a small amount of fatty meat. The palm of the foot (is that a word??) is the best part.

On Wednesday I had my weekly meeting with the Media Specialists. This time around we had tons of participation from them and it was great. The other meetings were just me talking, and I would rather write an email and send it out if that’s how it’s gonna be. But everyone participated and it was really productive. That night we talked with Tia Vera and talked about the Word of Wisdom. She showed lots of faith and even said she would tell everyone about it.

On Thursday we did weekly planning, and it was pretty productive. Weekly planning is something that I will continue doing after the mission. We then went to a plaza to meet up with someone, but they didn’t show up. So we got lunch and headed back to the office. Pretty normal day.

On Friday we started the day with a lesson our recent convert Viinicius. Right when we were about to start, President and his wife walk in with a big cake for Elder Ribeiro, who’s birthday is today (Saturday). So, we ate cake and talked about the plan of salvation. Super cool lesson. We made hamburgers for lunch, and I, using Worcestershire sauce, made a big fire in the pan and it was super cool. As well, we spoke with Isaque, who’s a famous soap opera actor and singer from Brasil. He is being taught by the other Elderes, so we had a transition lesson with all four of us and it was pretty cool. He speaks English really well, so we had the lesson in a mix of Portuguese and English. That afternoon I also found a super fancy microphone for recording voice. I’ll definitely be having fun with that.

Anyway, that’s all that happened. Y’all are in for some good fotos next week.

Tender Mercy: Last week, the other Elders were almost robbed coming home from their area. Problem is, we go home taking that road almost every day. Not always at the time, but still pretty dangerous. This week we have not failed to say a prayer as we leave the office. Now, I can’t say if we would have been robbed had we not prayed. But what I can say, is that we have also been blessed with calm as we go home. I don’t feel the lightest bit worried about what would happen.

Spiritual thought: Most of the time, I just read my scriptures with the purpose of learning. This week, I was reminded of a quote by Elder Eyring that talks about that he studies with the thought “what does God want me to learn or feel?” The part of “feel” stood out to me and I decided to focus more on that. Guys, there is so much peace in this. Read with the focus of feeling what God wants that you feel.

It was one drink after another

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia meus fechamentos. Como vai?

Essa semana vi 8 fuscas, mas tudo bem porque nem faz uma semana.

Last pday we did some cool things. As I woke up, I drank like a liter of water. About half an hour later I did the same. And so on it went until like 9h30. So I’m going to the bathroom all the time now, but it's worth it. You’ll see. First we went to get haircuts, and the guy did an ok job, but he did it super fast. It took like 10 minutes. Then we went to a store to grab our things and I got some R$5,00 juice that I like to freeze and then l make it into a slushy. After that we had to book it to the other side of the pond from president’s house to meet him, his wife, the senior couple Butters, and the rest of our district at Rio Brasa. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it's the kind of restaurant that is all you can eat, and they bring around all sorts of the best meats. That’s why all the water. I needed my stomach stretched out without filling it. So after about 8 times in the bathroom, I’m ready to eat. I don’t have meat vocabulary so they just said gibberish as I nodded yes with a full mouth. Good times. I tried caviar, its pretty bad. I would much rather let the fish grow up and then fry it. We were nearing the end of the course, so Brother Butters was a goat and asked to bring around grilled pineapple. And they did. But not just any grilled pineapple, this one was glazed with cinnamon sugar. Easily the best pineapple I’ve ever tasted. The caramel sugar with soft and sweet pineapple. And its finished off by a slight cinnamon taste. So freaking good. Then we went to the office and I finished up my email and sent it out. Good pday. But still second to the temple pday this transfer. I also factory reset my phone because it was glitching so much.

On Tuesday, we had district council, and I did training on testimony bearing. Super good. Learned a lot from my companion. Afterwards we had our round table meeting with President and Sister Dutson, the Butters, and the other secretaries. They really liked my updated white board that I drew last week. After that we had interviews and President and I talked about sanctification and his PHD dissertation. Really fun conversation. I did some references and unfortunately there were tons that arrived this weekend and the number got to 106, but I managed to get it back down to a reasonable number. I don’t remember what it was. But then we went to dinner and had Cuzcuz, goated.

On Wednesday, we went to buy blank SIM cards. In my manual it says we have to go to the Rio Sul Mall, like 20 minutes away, but we asked around and it turns out the same phone store exists in the mall like two minutes away. After lunch, Elder Ribeiro’s mouse simply stopped working. So we went to like 4 different stores to find a new one. Barely made it back to the office for the weekly Social Media meeting. That night we taught Marcel who came to church last Sunday. He’s progressing nicely.

On Thursday, we made tacos for lunch, they turned out really good. Then, out of nowhere, President Dutson’s first counselor showed up with a car full of old material from the church. As he was delivering air conditioning to the houses, he also was cleaning them out, taking old, torn up books that no-one will ever use, and lots of other things. If there was any need for these things in another place, he would save it. So all we got was the leftovers. Really trashed material.

Friday was a stellar day. The day was pretty normal during the office hours, but when 18h rolled around, we left for the temple. We didn’t need to switch our pday since it was Vinicius’ first time. He got a ride with the Elders quorum president, and we went in an uber with a member of the bishopric. During the uber ride, we got talking with the driver because he was curious about the missionaries. But then the conversation switched around and we basically taught the entire restoration and invited him to take a tour of the outside of the temple with us. It was a long shot, but he accepted. We showed him around the next door church building and then we brought him into the waiting room. He was absolutely amazed by all of it, and we then gave him a Book of Mormon and he was just overcome with excitement. Then he left and we were able to go in and do some baptisms for some of Vinicus’ grandparents. Super cool experience all around. We called another uber home, this time with Vinicius. Since we were coming home at night, we got to see the super cool lights of Rocinha (the biggest slum in all of Brasil). It looked like the fullest night sky. Super pretty from outside. Not so pretty inside.

Well, this was short, so I think I’ll refrain from writing a SummaRio.

Terna Misericórdia:

This week, the number of media referrals that we are receiving went up a lot. So I asked in the mission group if there was anyone who was not receiving many referrals that would be willing to help carry some of the load. Guys, so many people sent me messages. We were able to handle the new referrals to the point that there weren't enough referrals to go around.

Pensamento Espiritual:

Obadiah 1:21 “And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”. At first glance, we might think “saviourS? isn’t there only one Savior?” And yes, you’re right to a certain degree. The Lord has permitted us to perform a work that others cannot do for themselves, but that is necessary for their salvation. Is that not what the Savior did for us? In the temple we have the opportunity to perform ordinances for those who cannot do them for themselves. In the temple (mount Zion), we can be saviors for our ancestors and others who are needing their work done. Go to the temple and serve those who can’t serve themselves.

It was all by design

 (Elder Mackrory)

Bom dia pessoal! Fala a boa

Essa semana foi um pouquinho difícil em relação aos fuscas. Nos 12 dias que vou relatar, eu vi apenas 11. O total agora é 1217.

Preface: I made the goal at the beginning of the year to be more detailed in my emails. Until now, however, I didn’t have a plan to do so. And, as I always say, A goal without a plan is just an idea. So this and the next emails will be longer ones. but I will begin again to include a brief summary of events and the end for those who don't have much time. This email will be especially long because it covers 12 days instead of 7, so don't get too scared.

The first few days of the year were pretty good. I don’t really remember what happened though. We met some pretty cool people, including Marcel, with whom we were able to mark a baptism date on the first contact (Thanks for the tip Elder Owen).

Sunday (the fifth) was a very special experience for me in so many ways. First of all, it was Vinicius’ baptism. Vinicius is a very special person. He is one of the most knowledgeable people I know, and yet he does act like it. He possesses the gift of humility. He was always receptive to our message and readily accepted it when he found out it was true. Since I met him on day one I was amazed by his character and desire to become like the Savior. Anyway, we got to church early for ward council, which was great, and we went right into reception. There are always many visitors in Botofogo ward, especially during this time of year. There was one old lady that walked in and did not speak one lick of Portuguese. I felt impressed to ask if she would like someone to translate for her. Now, there are plenty of people in the ward who are capable of translating. I had more or less spoken that, meaning I would find someone to help her. But then she said (in a Jamaican accent), “Yes thank you, come sit down with me”. And we sat down for the meeting to start. So I started translating. At first my brain glitched a lot and I ended up saying things like “uhhhh.. something about prayer.” or “I forgot how to say that”. So I said a silent prayer that I would be able to translate for this sister. From then on, things started getting easier and I began to see myself succeeding. It's just that I really like when I sound fluent. So I started getting too confident and started glitching again. I’m working on my humility. It’s actually quite humiliating. Anyway, then things got better and I felt the Lord helping me and making me able. Then she said she wanted to get up. So we made our way to the front and sat down on the pulpit. After one or two testimonies, it was her turn. She got up and spoke of how she’s on vacation with her son, and she doesn’t speak any Portuguese, but she knew she had to be in two places here in Rio. She had to be at church and she had to go to the templo. She bore strong witness to how dedication to covenants brings blessing. Then it was my turn. I had planned to speak about my recent study of the Book of Mormon and its impact on me, but I decided instead to speak about the very experience of translating for sister Perkins. After the meeting, we had Sunday school, which was somewhat difficult to translate because I could barely hear who was making comments, but it was a really nice time. Afterwards we went up and got our last minute prep done for the baptism and I again translated the meeting. The baptism was amazing and Vinicius bore a strong testimony of the power he felt as he was baptized and the strength he received as he was being taught. After the baptism, sister Perkins said “I have spent my day well”. She then told me that she had prayed for someone to translate for her. It was such a tender mercy to be the answer to her prayer.  Shortly after the baptism service, as people were leaving the room, another sister in the ward thanked me for my testimony. I didn’t think the testimony I shared was the strongest testimony I've ever born, but it was also a big tender mercy to say the things that one sister in the ward needed to hear.

On Monday, we didn’t have pday. What? Ok, so pday has been kind of confusing since transfers with Christmas and the temple and new years and all. But usually the secretaries have pdays on Saturdays. This is for a few reasons, but one of them is that the church headquarters doesn't work on Saturdays, and we often need to get in contact with them. It's kinda a weird flow, and I still haven't really experienced it. But anyway on Monday we prepared the office for the senior couple we are receiving. The Butters are super cool. Elder Butters is a professor of finances and Sister Butters is a nurse. Elder Butters already speaks Portuguese since he served his full time mission in Fortaleza. Sister Butters is still getting the hang of it. I registered and updated some phone information for missionaries and had no less than three people ask me for an upgrade. I just ignored the request and said “valeu meu patrao”. Guys, all I have is A13’s, stop asking for A34’s. But I can’t get too mad about it because I once made the same request to Elder Kjar. When I got to the office on the 18th, the number of undesignated media referrals was 508. I finally got that down below half, at 236. There’s usually about 10-15 that arrive every day. My goal by the end of the week is to have that down to about 130. That means I will only have referrals from the last month in the system. I also updated some area limits, got a sweet deal at pizza hut and made some terrible dad jokes in Portuguese. They’re actually called Big Uncle jokes here. Everyone in the office agreed that I’m going to be a menacing dad.

On Tuesday we went early to the airport. Some missionaries are still working out some legal processes, so we had to go help them out. I got an Oreo shake and burger there. It was nice. I contacted a bazillion media references, the number is now down to 154. I basically did a lot of the same. At night we had a lesson with our friend (recent convert) Vinicius. We talked a lot about the temple and family history work. Mind blowing lesson. This guy smiles big, and I’ve never seen a bigger smile on his face than I did today. He's incredible. Right after, we said goodbye to Elder Eloi who is heading out to in-person MTC. Super gente boa.

On Wednesday we went a little early to the office so we could do district council. To my surprise, the assistants were in a division and so I got to see Elder Schmuhl again. First time we’ve been in district council together since my training. Afterwards we made some lunch. After lunch, Elder Butters says, “I think we need some ice cream, don't you guys agree?” And we all put on dumb faces and said “Well I don't know, do we?” and he said it was necessary and so we went and got ice cream. I managed to get my references down to 80, meaning I only have references from the last month, with a few exceptions. I also made a super cool video about humility. I’m probably the best at making videos. Afterwards, we walked home in the pouring rain because we didn’t look at the forecast. It's ok. Rain on the tag is good for ya ;).

On Thursday we had another super cool lesson with Vinicius, showing him around the FamilySearch app. More office work, I slimmed down the number of undesignated referrals a bit. Now that I’m getting the hang of it, I think the number will stabilize in the 40’s or 50’s.

On Friday I made a quizlet with all the phone area codes in Brasil. I get a lot of referrals from other states, so I have to send them away. The addresses are almost never precise, and so I have to do a little bit of searching, so knowing the area codes is super useful because I can narrow down my search radius by a lot. Turns out I know like half of them, but it would be ideal if I had them all memorized.

Saturday was kinda chaotic, but it was fun. One of our recent converts came to hang out and give us lunch, but she didn’t leave. So productivity went way down. Kinda annoying, but it was fun. I also found out that they sell Rooibos here, so that’s really nice. That night, the Bishop called and said that there was a complication with one of the speakers, and asked if I could speak for 15 minutes. So it’s a good thing I already had a talk prepared.

Come Sunday morning, my gospel library app wasn't working. Wouldn’t even open. I did all the things to trouble shoot and nothing worked. So I just carried my Portuguese quad to church and used it. It’s kinda cool to use paper scriptures on the pulpit. That afternoon, we went walking. We walked about 6 miles in total. Accidentally left the district, and went underneath a mountain. But then it all worked out. We saw a family that Elder Ribeiro had known in Macae. I also knew this family from when I did a division with Elder Levie on new years adam 2023. They are an extended family of the family I taught. The husband is an inactive member, and his wife hasn’t heard of the church. So we invited them to church and introduced them to the Book of Mormon. Good times.

SummaRio:

11 fuscas, 1217 in total

Marked a few baptism dates

On Sunday I had a special experience translating for a visiting member from Jamaica. It was also the baptism of Vinicius. I recommend you read that one in full.

On Monday I tackled a ton of references and more problems.

On Tuesday I tackled a ton of references and more problems. I also went to the airport to help Elder Ribeiro legalize some missionaries.

On Wednesday I tackled a ton of references, got ice cream, and made a sick video about humility. It’s probably better than any other video on humility.

On Thursday I tackled a ton of references and more problems. Super dope lesson with vinicius about family history work.

Friday I tackled a ton of references and more problems. Also made a quizlet to help me memorize all the area codes.

Saturday was chaotic because we had a recent convert come to just hang out. At night the Bishop called and asked me to speak the next day.

Sunday morning my gospel library app kept crashing and so I had to use my paper scriptures to speak. Cool experience. That night we talked to tons of people, including a family that Elder Ribeiro and I know from Macae.

Tender Mercy: During lunch on Saturday we were chatting about missionaries who have gone to the office before. Our recent convert asked me what I thought about one missionary who was my companion in my first area. As many of you know, my companions in that area were not the most obedient. I could have said a bunch of things against this missionary, but I decided that I would only talk about his positive points. As I did so, I felt the spirit of the conversation change. It wasn’t bad before, but it changed to be better. I also was surprised at how much good this missionary has in himself. It was a cool experience that changed my perspective on this missionary and helped me to understand, on a spiritual level, why gossip should be avoided.

Spiritual thought:

In 1 Nephi 1:1, Nephi related that he and his family have waded through “many afflictions”. Nevertheless, he also states that he and his family had been highly favored by the Lord. In the second chapter, sixteenth verse, he mentions that he had great desires to know the mysteries of God. In due time, this was given, as his diligently lived the gospel. His perspective changed. He went from a wealthy city boy to a poor desert nomad. This must have been very difficult for him. But his knowledge of the goodness of God and His plan made his afflictions bearable. Because he was faithful and relied on the Lord, his problems were bearable and he was even able to bear them with joy. In doing the same, we will find that life is not only bearable, but joyous as well.