Chicken Hearts, Triantulas, And Peanut Butter!!

What's up everyone! I can't believe it's already been another week. I think I'm on like week 15 or something, but I honestly have lost track of time. But what I do know was yesterday was day one-hundred as a missionary! And that got me thinking of the days in elementary school where we would have a party for the 100th day of school! My expectations were high for a similar party on the mission, but of course that didn't happen. It also got me thinking about how much little I know for doing the same thing for 100 days. Like my portuguese, teaching, studies, and relationships should be so much better! But I guess I can't compare myself to the 4th grade me. I'm way out of my prime. 

This week was honestly super chill because of a couple meetings and interviews, so this email shouldn't be too exciting, I'm sorry! I'm not going to try and sugar-coat anything to make it sound like every single week is crazy! But lets start with a little spiritual thought slash waking up moment for me. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

On Sunday, we were doing our hour and a half walk home from dinner. I had just given a spiritual thought about The Light of Christ for a family, and I thought it absolutely stunk. Then I just started letting my emotions loose on my companion. "I wish I wasn't learning a language; I wish I was serving in the states; My portuguese is terrible; I literally sound like a five year old!" (directly quoted btw) 

My companion then stopped me and said, "Do you think the Lord made a mistake?" I said, "no". "Do you think He sent you to the wrong mission?" , "Uhhhh no" , "Do you think He sent you at the wrong time?" Again (kinda getting annoyed with all of the questions) I said, "no". "Then the only thing holding you back is you." Wow. That hit me like a dagger to the heart. But it's so true! God has already prepared the way for us. He has put us in our own specific environments, given us our own specific experiences, and throws obstacles at us because he knows us! 

But He also knows that these obstacles and these experiences aren't able to be done alone. Sometimes we are given trials that, only through faith and reliance on God, can we overcome. Here's a scripture that I like from the Book of Mormon that backs up my reasoning...

Ether 12: 27 says:

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

If we bring our trials, obstacles, weakness to God, He will see our faith and our efforts and multiple our weaknesses! As a missionary learning a new language, and as a human in general, I have way too many weaknesses. But I know that God has given me every single weakness, because he knows that I can turn them into strengths. My portuguese may be at the level of a five year old right now, but I know through faith, prayer, and practices, it can sound about at the 10 year old level. 

God and Jesus Christ know you! They know that they've given you hardships. They know that you are struggling bad right now. But they also know that you have the faith to turn to them and turn these hardships and struggles into blessings and life changing experiences! Stay humble and put your faith in God!

HIGHLIGHTS

- Last week after I sent my email out, we went to the Mission President's apartment for lunch! His wife, Sister Boone, loves to stay fit and created monthly exercise goals for us. This month, every missionary who did 75 push-ups got to go to this lunch. Well... my sore arms were so worth it because they literally had pancakes for us!! And not the Brazilian tamales which they like to call pancakes, no, real American pancakes! They also had nutella, chocolate chips, whipped cream, this peach syrup, and PEANUT BUTTER!! It wasn't exactly the same as American peanut butter, but I can't complain because it's the first I've had in 100 days! Let's just say I'm not going to be missing one of these exercise challenges when peanut butter is on the line!

- We saw two triantulas (I think that's how you spell it) in back to back days this week. One was on the train tracks and the other on a dirt road. Wow! I just about wet my pants! The second one that we saw was about the size of my hand and super hairy. I wanted to throw up. Oh and we didn't find this out until after, but suppodesly in Brazil, these spiders shoot out toxins. We probably shouldn't have gotten as close as we did lol. 

- Ate some chicken heart at a local street vendor and it was fire!

- My companion and I spent 50 R$ at the store only to come back and we were out of gas. That was kind fun. Had some bread and ham for our meal of the day on Satuday!

- We had another reunion for new missionaries and it was kinda the same content as the first one a month ago, but it was super nice to see all of the missionaries that started with me and have conversations in our broken portuguese! It's also crazy to see the new missionaries that came in and give me closure that my language actually has improved since I started. Little moments like that keep me going!

- World cup started! We have heavily rules against watching it so even if I get a glimpse of a game in a conveniant store TV (not saying that happened or not), I won't include it in my emails. But honestly hasn't been too crazy yet. Just wait until Brazil plays on Thursday at 4pm!

- I taught two Plan of Salvation lessons this week and actually went really well. The plan of salvation lesson is kinda the lesson on the meaning of life, so you could probably guess that it's the hardest one to teach in portuguese. But I definitely saw God's hand guiding me through these lessons this week. In the first one it was with a massive family. Seriously like 15 of them. Usually my portuguese is terrible in big crowds, but for some reason (Holy Ghost), I knew exactly what to say! In our second lesson, I was even able to give a fire soccer analogy and compare it to our purpose on Earth! I love this mission, love this language, and love seeing God's hands working on me throughout it all!!

(This is the smaller spider so don't come after me)

(Also I let another Elder give me a haircut one night and I think it turned out better than I thought it would)