A Small Taste Of Freedom... And America!

Tudo Bem everyone!! I hope you are all doing amazing! This week has been so eventful and I can't wait to share all of my experiences. And yes, the title is correct! For the first time in over two weeks here at the CTM I was able to get out of this enclosure and experience some of the "real world". This got me so excited for my mission in João Pessoa and I'll talk more about this experience later. 

This week I'm going to mix it up a little bit. Instead of starting with my highlights, I'm going to start with some spiritual thoughts that I've had this week. Hopefully it can set a nice mood for the rest of this email.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

Yesterday, there was a devotional (spiritual message) for all of the missionaries in the CTM. And for the first time since I've been here, this devotional was in English which meant it was much more spiritual for me. President Beck, the CTM President, spoke at this devotional and talked about the impact that one verse (either Biblical or Book of Mormon) can have on someone. He shared the example of our first prophet Joseph Smith. 

Joseph read James 1:5: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Just this one verse prompted Joseph to pray to God, receive an answer, restore this church, and lead to the conversion of millions. 

President Beck also shared the story of his friend Bob Stump. Bob grew up wanting nothing to do with the church. His family were all members and his son served a mission for the church. In an interview with President Beck, Bob said that he would need to get hit on the head with a bat before he would change his mind about the church. 

Then one day, a few months later, Bob Stump was reading the Book of Mormon and came across 2 Nephi 33:6: "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." 

After reading this scripture, Bob was filled with the Holy Ghost and was too stunned to speak. He immediately called President Beck, who was his bishop at the time and said that he needed to get baptized that Saturday. Yet again, one verse can change your life.

So much truth and so much spirit can come from one verse in the Book of Mormon. As we feast upon the Words of Christ (Book of Mormon) we can find our own personal witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I encourage anyone reading this to "find your verse". Whether this verse be from the Word of God, your favorite song, or a quote that you like, find something that will change your life for good. 

HIGHLIGHTS

Now it's time for the highlights of my week. If you skipped over my spiritual thought, please stop reading this and go back and read it. Consider this the dessert after the main course.

- The lunches this week have improved dramatically. We still get beans and rice every day, but this week the beans and rice had some help. We had some fire grilled chicken a couple days in a row, and then yesterday we had some breaded chicken nuggets that I swear were knock off Chick-fil-a nuggets. I got a full plate full of these nuggets. 

- It was Elder Hancock's birthday yesterday and we had a little celebration. One of our old teachers who taught our district online brought us a cake and our current teacher brought the guarana (best soda in Brazil). The Brazilians also get wild when we sing happy birthday. Everyone is just banging on desks, walls, clapping their hands in shouting. It's a sight to see hahaha. Also during this little party, our teacher, who isn't our teacher anymore, told his current class that we were his favorite district straight to their face. I kinda felt bad but it was kinda funny at the same time.

- We learned how to count to one thousand this week... but not in Portuguese. We had a substitute the other day and learned how to count from 0 to 999 in Japanese! She said that it would somehow improve our Portuguese but I never really saw how. I still can't even count to one hundred in Portuguese by the way. For proof, one-hundred and thirty five is Hayku san ju go!

- My app for the vending machines at the CTM hasn't been working since I got here. This meant that every single day I would get to watch all of my friends eat their Brazilian chocolates and chips while I got their scraps. But two days ago, after about ten times going to the help desk and multiple calls to the company who makes the app, we got it to work! Now I'm about to gain so much weight!!

- Our district picked up volleyball this week and we completely destroyed every other district. Now we are the king of both basketball and volleyball. I don't remember the last time we lost a game of anything during physical activity. 

- Now to the title of the email. Sorry I made you guys wait so long for this but hopefully it was worth the wait. On Friday, some of us Elders had the opportunity to go to the local police station to get some passport and visa things sorted out. And by local I mean two hours away. It was just me and Elder Smith from our district and we had such a fun time. It was eight of us Elders, our driver, and a worker from the CTM. The whole car ride, Elder Smith and I were testing our Portuguese on this CTM worker because she didn't know English. We were able to get a lot of things across. We learned that she loves Drake, Call of Duty Zombies, and hates Brazilian tik tok dances (the dances that we learned last week). After we figured out our visa stuff at the police station, Elder Smith and I convinced this "chaperone" to take us to a McDonalds. We walked around the city looking for a McDonalds and eventually found one. Let me tell you, McDonalds has never tasted so good in my entire life. Although I had no clue how to order in Portuguese, I was able to get some McNuggets, a large fry, and a McFlurry. This instantly brought me back home. Those McNuggets were much crispier than America's by the way. 

If any of you guys want to hear more about my week, don't hesitate to reach out to me! I would love to hear how all of you are doing. You can reach me at this email. (joshua.ware@missionary.org) I can email back on Thursdays but I can read the email any day throughout the week.

PHOTOS

1) One of our uno nights here at the CTM. Probably should have spent the time studying but sometimes we need to give our brains a break. These games get kinda heated. 

2) Our McDonalds run summed up in one photo. Let's just say our districts weren't so happy when we sent this picture to them. Sorry Elders. 

3) Elder Hancock cutting the cake that our teacher made him. Not the best first cut but the cake was still muito bom!

4) This is a picture of a Brazilian McFlurry. It consisted of some soft serve ice cream, caramel swirl, and some chocolate coconut candies. Wasn't as good as in America but I can't complain because at least their ice cream machine works in Brazil. 

5) Me and my companion at the temple today. Such a great experience! Scary bus ride back home just like last week, but we made it back safe! Temples are amazing!! Ten out of ten, I would recommend!