Weight Loss, Marriage, And Death Kittens

Bom dia everyone!! It's time for another weekly email! I feel like I always want these to be short, because I have a million things to do on my preparation day, but once I start typing I literally can't stop. So sorry in advance, because I can't give you an ETA to when this email will end. 

This week honestly went by super fast! I don't know if it's because We had a district meeting, zone conference, and halloween this week, but it was just fast. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

This weeks spiritual thought will be a little shorter, but that doesn't mean in any way that it's not as important! I promise it's good, because it's about Jesus, and everything good comes from Jesus. 

Last week, my Mission President challenged me to read the entire Book of Mormon cover to cover in 6 weeks and mark everything about Jesus Christ in red. This seemed like an impossible task given my packed schedule, but I'm always down for an impossible task! Anyways, I've never realized how much this book talks about Jesus Christ until now! He's literally on every single page! 

Anyways, this week I was reading in Mosiah 3 (a section of the Book of Mormon). This chapter is straight heat, so if anyone needs any spiritual motivation or just a good read, please reach out to me. I'll show you where to find this chapter. 

In Mosiah 3: 9 it reads...

 And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.

Jesus Christ literally took upon himself everyone's pains, sickness, afflictions, mental health, sorrow, and anything else you can think of. He felt it! He experienced it! You may think that no one could possibly know what you are going through, and trust me I've felt that way too, but Jesus Christ has!! 

The sad part about all of this is, there were still people who rejected him, spit upon him, and crucified him.

Then in the next verse, Mosiah 3: 10 it reads...

And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.

This brings me to the little insight that I had while readinng this week. Yes Jesus Christ is our judge, and yes Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. But my favorite name of Jesus Christ is the advocate! Jesus Christ is literally our lawyer! 

This is how I picture things. After we die, we are judged by Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father (God). Jesus Christ is up there begging to Heavenly Father on our behalf. They both want us to live with them. But there's this little (big) thing called Justice. And because Jesus Christ experienced literally everything that we have, there is justice in ALL things. 

How would it be fair to have a judgement where we are the only one with that specific experience, that specific challenge, or that specific mental health issue? We aren't all judged with the same judgement, but we are all judged with the same justice.

We are all given specific obstacles in our lives to overcome. And because Christ experienced those same obstacles, we are given a fair judgement. I imagine Jesus Christ being up with us at our judgement like "yeah, I remember experiencing your mid-life crisis too, it wasn't too bad" or "wow, the mental health struggles that you had have left a lasting impact on my soul. Heavenly Father, this individual went through a lot!"

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, has brought about a righteous judgement through his atonement. He knows everything that you're going through. And he's there WHENEVER you need him. He will plead for you, comfort you, and with you rest.

We have the knowledge of our Savior at our finger tips. We can't be the ones to reject him, belittle him, and lose faith in him. Because in Christ, and only through Christ, can we be saved. Only through if can we fulfill our purpose. And only through him can we literally live "happily ever after" with our families, with God, and with our Savior Jesus Christ. 

HIGHLIGHTS

Sorry that was longer than expected... again. This week was such a solid week with many hightlights. Something that I've noticed though from being out here is that the "crazy things" in my life don't really feel too crazy anymore. I've kinda become desensitized to a lot of the "crazy" so now it's kinda just "normal".

- Last week for our p-day, we played soccer again. This time we actually had a soccer field! It was amazing! The soccer field was in this sketchy old warehouse looking building. But it was a turf field and meant that I could run! I've seriously felt trapped in my body here, because I can't run!! 

- If anyone was curious about my weight loss journey (I don't actually want to lose weight, it just kinda happens) here it is. If you wanna know the specifics reach out to me, I just kinda feel weird including them for some reason haha. But I've officially lost 12lbs since leaving the missionary training center in São Paulo. It's kinda crazy, but I honestlly haven't really noticed a difference. 

- To make up for this weight, I dropped a bag at the store (spent a lot of money). I bought 30 eggs, two loafs of bread, tapioca, a handful of off-brand ramen, salt, pepper, 3 cartons of milk, frosted flakes, and some crackers! Came out to about 20 bucks. I seriously love it here!

- We had a lesson with a lady this week and I had so many mixed emotions throughout the entire lesson. Just off, she told us that we had already met, but I'm confident that we haven't (we're pretty sure that she met some Jehovah's Witnesses). She then interupted us like crazy throughout the whole lesson, saying the most random things that I still don't understand. She didn't understand a word that I was saying and verbally made it known. I felt so defeated in that moment. And then she proceeds to ask me to marry her!! After she just flamed me for my portuguese and after she just told me that she was 63. I was so annoyed at this point that I didn't even play along and I straight up said "no". I kinda feel bad now, but what else was I suppose to do in that situation. 

- Now to explain a little bit of the title. Yesterday we were at a member's house just checking in on them. While we were talking, the cutest kittens were playing with each other under my chair. There was about 6 of them, white and oranged furred, about the size of my hand. They were seriously the cutest things I've ever seen, that is until they looked at you. Literally every single one of them was missing their eyes. Just blood red eye sockets of nothingness. And on top of that they had blood splattered on their faces! Seriously something out of a horror movie. I think when the kittens were "playing" they scratched out each other's eyes! Try not to picture it because you'll never unsee it.

- Election this week here in Brazil! Imagine America's Election just 100x wilder! People driving around on their motorcycles shirtless holding flags and chanting political songs. Definitely a sight to see!

- This week I was able to set two baptismal dates all by myself. While we were walking about 15 teens to our church to play soccer, I was talking to some kids and my companion was talking to some other kids. One of the boys, Aleff (Idk if you remember him from last week) lost all of his desire to be baptized. I then asked him, "do you love your family?", he replied "yes". I then testified of eternal families and promised him that being baptized will open the doors to eternal families! He lit up and everything about him changed! I was able to re-set his baptismal date! And while I was talking with Aleff, another boy named Richardo was listening in. He then told me that now he wanted to be baptized! I was caught off guard and stumbled over all of my Portuguese, but we able to set up a baptismal date for him too! The Lord works mighty miracles!

- Another friend that we are teaching is named Gil. We found her off of a member reference and she's been progressing super well! I'm honestly so happy for her and a tad bit surprised! In our first lesson with her, I was giving the account of the first vision. Half way through she stopped me and said that she couldn't understand nada. My heart dropped  I literally recite this 5 times a day minimum. Have I been saying it wrong the whole time? I paused, said a quick pray in my heart, and continued. By the time I finished speaking, she was in tears. She felt so much piece and so much happiness. The power of prayer is real. These tears started a trend because every lesson since then she has cried literally the whole time. Before we started meeting with her, she believed that she had a bitter hard. She also believed that God doesn't love her. I've had many opportunities to testify to her of so much good! Her testimony and love of God has grown so much and she even has a baptism on Friday! Hopefully everything works out! She is truly one of the elect! 

- Happy late Halloween everyone. Halloween here is so different and kinda dull. No costumes, candy, or even acknowledgement of the holiday. Made me kinda sad, but I celebrated with some candy that my mom sent me!

There's so much more that I have to say, but this email has already taken way too long! I'm try to respond to everyone's email but it's really hard, so if you get a short response, please don't take it personally!! 

Please continue to update me on your lives!! I love each and every one of you! Have a great week!

Sorry didn't take many pictures this week. Got a soccer action shot, probably just got my ankles broken,some pics from Zone conference, and a post workout pic!