This week was the week of rain. It rained Monday afternoon until Thursday morning.
It was the first time I've seen it rain so much here and I had to get an umbrella because I forgot mine at home (Missouri). Whoops.
In all reality not too much actually happened this week, but I'll do my best to explain it all.
Tuesday - it Rained
Wednesday - 9am-12:30 zoom meeting with Elder Uceda of the Quorum of the Seventy. Did splits with Elder Felix and Elder Rodríguez. Elder Felix and I left our area and our zone to go buy him a suit; since he is our district leader and President Bikman told him he had to have one by Thusday, so we walked and got him a new suit and back to our area. It was a long walk into Central. Afterwards, Elder Blackburn and I did some visits with Bispo Jonatas. Oh yeah and it Rained
Thursday - We went to the church of Ala 1 and from 9am-12:30 we met and listened in person to Elder Uceda. He gave many great lessons and discussions which I'll touch upon later in the email. Oh yeah, it stopped Raining that day.
Friday - We went out with Irmão Franklin and visited a bunch of members who haven't been to church in years. The majority of them moved out of the area more than 4 years ago. We are trying to update the records and move the records to the right areas. Also, it was windy and cloudy with a taste of sun.
Saturday - English class brought in 6 people which is a lot for us and 4 were not members of the church. After that we played a little bit of soccer with Everson and then visited some more families. It was a partly cloudy day with sun.
Sunday - Really cold morning that when we woke up we saw our own breath. There are no heaters in the homes here so it was pretty cold getting ready that morning. Went to church where Ariene e Yon got confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ. After church we made a lot of visits and then I called my Dad for Father's day.
Monday - We went shopping. I made coconut popcorn Shrimp and rice, and Elder Blackburn is making Chili for us now.
That's the summary of the week, and now for some interesting things:
- Last Sunday some kids asked their parents if I was Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) and the parents joked and said that I was. That is the 3rd time I've heard it now since being on the mission, so I guess I have some sort of similarly and I guess I'm now Spider-Man to those kids.
- The uncle of a member who lives in the Invasão almost had his eye taken out due to a roof sheet (I don't know what the English word for telhado is) he was rushed to the hospital because it cut above the eyebrow and along the side of his head. Also here they don't sell medicine the same and so they didn't have enough money to pay for all the pills of Keflex they needed, so I gave enough Cephalexin to finish off the rest of what he needed (my dad made me bring some medications just in case I needed them and couldn't get them). The day after he thanked us and was very grateful for the help.
- Elder Uceda gave a great discussion over various topics. The main one is his talk about our mission. He expressed to us all the importance of the mission and on preaching the gospel. He said that the more important work that we could be doing is preaching the truth of the gospel and bring people to church, and that the members, recent converts, and members who have stopped going is our responsibility. We are here to help all and not just focus on baptisms. It was nice to hear that since Elder Blackburn and I have been really focusing on recent converts and not baptizing and through that we have had the blessings of baptism.
I'd lastly like to close off this blog with a story that Bispo Jonatas told while we were visiting a member.
This story is about a King and his Advisor or Hand to the King. The King was great friends with the Advisor and the advisor knew the entire kingdom like the back of his hand. The Advisor would lead the King on hunting trips because the King always loved it. One day as they were out hunting the Advisor was notching an arrow and it misfired and took off the top of the thumb of the King. The King was angry and asked what the Advisor was doing. The Advisor told him that he didn't mean for it to happen, but that since it did happen that there would have to be a reason for it. The King was furious and asked what King doesn't have a thumb and what purpose could it serve. The Advisor told the King that sometimes things happen that are necessary. The King, not liking the response, threw the Advisor into prison and selected a new Advisor. The New Advisor didn't know the area as well and after many weeks of going out and hunting the King ended up going out alone. As he was out he ran into a tribe of cannibals. The cannibals tied him up and was preparing him to be eaten, but then one of the cannibals noticed that the king was missing a thumb, and in their culture if an animal was missing an appendage it was considered unclean, and so they let the king go. The King returned, released the Advisor, and apologized greatly for keeping him locked up and not trusting in him. The Advisor told him that he was happy that he was in the cell the whole time for if he was with the king he, the advisor, would have been eaten.
This story shows how sometimes the many things that happen in our life might be hard, painful, or outright horrible, but that's because we don't understand the purpose. The Lord never gives us challenges we can't overcome, and often times things happen in our lives to help us and guide us. Much like the king didn't know why he had to lose a thumb, but it was necessary because it saved his life. How many times do we bicker and complain about things not going our way or how we don't have everything we want in life. How often do we only look at life at one point of view. Sometimes we need to take a step back and see our lives much like our creator does. If we don't go through trials and tribulations how can we grow and mature? If you don't understand all the bad in the world then how would you understand the good and the joy? This life is for us to learn and grow to become like our Savior and everyone needs different trials to help them get there.
Pictures:
1. Soaking wet, sudden downpour. I wish I had my umbrella
2. Wall of rain
3. The railroad tracks between our areas
4. Reading the Good Word
5. Our group of missionaries
6. Our Zone with Pres and Sis Bikman
Elder Hyatt
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