Hallo tudo de meu amigos e familia,
So for starters, my apologies for not having a bigger message home last week. I lost track of time with other emails and reading the mission journal, but I took extra time out of my already short opportunity to tell you guys of the mish in Brazil.
I'll start by saying, we had our first baptism last week here in Brazil, and i had the opportunity to perform the baptism. What an experience. His name is Guilherme and he is 11 years old, and already is growing fast in the gospel. As I raised my arm to the square and said the words, Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, even though in another language when I did, I felt inside me an assurance that I truly had been called of God and a verification inside my soul that the priesthood authority that I hold comes directly from the Savior of the World and not from any other means.
Well now about Brazil. The people here are seriously the most carefree people that exist on this planet. As someone from a completely different culture, first glace makes it seem like everyone here is just oblivious to everything. Nope, they just realize that we are all human doing human things. They know when to be serious and when you don't need to be serious just kick back, relax and live life. This is completely opposite of me, because everyone who knows me knows that I'm all about taking things seriously and not messing around. For example, yesterday being
Sunday my companion and I came home from a great time at Church. I felt spiritually rejuvenated, and sat down to stud the scriptures. Well it just so happens that directly across from our casa is a DJ, and Brazilians love American music. So in the middle of me studying the scriptures the song Sexy and I Know It starts playing super loud. Yea, I'm not sure that song is the most appropriate song to hear when reading the scriptures.
So pretty much everyday, as I have said before, we walk...and walk... and walk. when we don't walk we take the bus, and that is ALWAYS an adventure. Pretty much taking the bus here is like riding on the Night Bus from Harry Potter. The drivers pay no heed to speed limits so we just fly through neighborhoods and take turns at who know how fast. Yes there are bus stops, but the buses only stop for pick ups if someone sticks out their hand, so you could like I said be going 60 kph and then the bus driver will slam on the brakes. Yet somehow in the midst of this being so crazy, the bus system is super efficient.
So this past week we had a huge spiritual experience. Our area is very slow, the people here are very set in their ways and really don't like listening to us because they like where they are, the whole idea of complacency I saw in the US. On one particularly rough day, we had every appointment fall through. To make things worse, it was already dark, and in Brazil if you are not where you need to be, especially in the area where we are serving, things can get dangerous, or perigoso. As we were walking i saw what happened to be a family sitting outside of their door, and I felt impressed to go talk to them. I kept thinking, how? I barely know the language and I need to talk to these people, what can I even say to them. I decided to just do it, to open my mouth and speak, and that is exactly what happened. I opened my mouth and the words came to me. We had a powerful lesson about the Restoration and now a whole family is being taught about the Restored Gospel of Christ. What the Lord says about giving us in the very hour what to say is true! This applies to everything in our lives. If we just press forward with faith and don't have a fear of what others will do or say, God will strengthen us and allow for all things to become possible. A fear of God is not necessarily fearing his judgements, it is obeying his commandments with faith, because once we do he will immediately bless us.
Well everyone, I have to get going. As always, I wish I could say everything, but time is short. Yet all the experiences I am having I know everyone can have and can feel of the same spirit in their lives. What do you need to do? Ask the missionaries.
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