Açaí, Bowling Champ, And Milagres!!

Bom dia everyone!! I hope everyone had such a great week! My week was pretty decent, a lot happened, nothing too crazy, but we seriously worked our butts off. I saw myself being able to get involved in the work more than ever, and I definitely saw the fruits of my labor!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

Something that I've noticed on my mission is your attitude changes everything. The days where I wake up with no desire to work, I find that my language is terrible, the people aren't receptive, and I start to see God's hand less. 

In the Book of Mormon, we often hear the story of Nephi. It's the first story in the book and I'm sure y'all have read it thousands of times. And if you haven't it kinda goes like this: Nephi and his family leave Jerusalem because his father receives a vision that it will be destroyed (606BC). They walk in the desert days on end, miles and miles searching for the promised land. They are eating raw meat, constantly bickering (mainly by Nephi's brothers, Laman and Lemuel), and they have intense heat and very little water. Personally, I couldn't keep a positive attitude through this, let alone even do this at all.

Anyways, in 1 Nephi 17: 2, we get Nephi's account of his experiences thus far:

2 And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

Throughout all of this turmoil that he's experiencing thus far, Nephi keeps a good attitude. Nephi chooses to look at the mercies and hand of God in his life rather than the harsh realities.

Then in verse 20 of the same chapter, we get the account of Laman and Lemuel. 1 Nephi 17: 20 says:

20 And thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart; yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions.

Both brothers experienced the same exact journey through the wilderness, but held differing attitudes and perspectives. And if you've read the Book of Mormon, you'll know that Nephi goes on to be a great prophet of the Lord, while his brothers continue in their wickedness and die.

Our attitude is everything! We never know what kind of great leaders Laman and Lemuel could have been had they woken up and relied on the Lord. It goes to show us that if we start to complain, start to looked at the back side of things, how many blessings are we missing out in our lives??

I invited all of yall to look to Nephi as an example. We all go through so many struggles each and every day, and just me, when we keep a positive attitude and let the Lord guide our work, these things get a lot easier! Be happy, trust God, and I promise you will find blessings in your life!

HIGHLIGHTS

- Last week, we went to the mall and it totally felt like a small piece of America in Brazil! It was all decorated for Natal (Christmas) and had American food! We went Bowling and my game has totally gotten worse since by BYU bowling days.

- One of the mornings this week, we decided to wake up extra early (think it was like 5am), run 20 minutes to the church, and play some basketball! Literally the best morning on the mission! Got to do my 3 favorite things, go on the run, play some hoops, and eat a sonho (giant creme filled pastry). 

- Speaking of unhealthy treats, I ate so much Açaí Monday night! We went to thus açaí place and typically we just pay a dollar for the pre-made cup. Well, this time we decided to do the self-service and I absolutely loaded up! It came out to a little bit over 4 dollars (which I promise is a alot here!!) To put into reference, a self service restaurant is 3 dollars. I added everything, mnms, granola, cream, Nutella, and much more! Think I gained back a couple pounds that night.

- Monday was a day of being bold! I was feeling the spirit like crazy that day, and because of that my Portuguese was actually really good! And because of this, I extended 7 baptismal invitations, and 4 people accepted! These are all people that we've been teaching for a little bit, and I had just felt in these moments that these people were ready to make that next step and get blessed!!

- We had a cool experience with Junior this week. Literally every lesson, Junior is either smoking a cigarette, drinking alcohol, or both. Last week while we were saying a prayer for him, he set his cup of vodka in the ground. During the prayer, my companion asked for a blessing to help Junior keep the commandments. In this moment, we hear the cup tip over on the ground! He had kicked over the cup, and proceeded to pour the rest out after the prayer! Junior has so much Faith!!

- Last lesson for the email. We got to the house of one of our friends that we've been teaching. They had friends over and I didn't really understand what was going on. All of a sudden my companion says, "Hey everyone, Elder Ware has a message for you." You should've seen my face lol. But when in doubt, Jesus is always the answer. So I opened the Book of Mormon, turned to 3 Nephi 11, and preached of Christ. Super powerful moment and I extended two more baptismal invitations! The gift of Tongues is real and the spirit does touch the hearts of the people who need to hear your message!

That's all for this week!! Keep sending emails everyone, love reading them! You guys are all amazing! Look for the hand of God in your live and put a smile on your face! Love you guys, have a great week!

Elder Ware

(First pic is us making cus cus with an old t-shirt. Turned out pretty well)

(There are also some pigs chilling in the other pic)