Cockroaches, Sign Language, And A Brand New Start

Bom dia!! Another week has passed here in Brazil and I hope that it was an absolute fire week for all of you guys! Had a couple of fun things happen this week, including transfers. Tchau, tchau Cabedelo! I'll miss you! But let's get right into this.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

This won't be a crazy long spiritual thought like I usually like to do, but I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week and came across a couple verses that a thought were super interesting! 

2 Nephi 10: 3-4:

3. Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ -- for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name -- should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him -- for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God.

4. For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations they would repent, and know that he be their God.

I don't know why, but I just found these verses super fascinating. First off, they were received by Jacob (brother of Nephi) through revelation literally 550 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. And second, they show us just how precise and specific God's plan really is. This time and this place (Jerusalem) were the only time and place in the history of the world that would have seen the miracles of Christ, rejected them, and crucified our Savior. 

I just want you all to know with certainty, that God has a plan for everything. He put you in your own personal situations, environments, and challenges because he knows that this is the ONLY way for you to grow and become like Him. Although Christ was placed in the only situation that would have fulfilled the Atonement, He still had His agency. He didn't have to choose to suffer and die for all of us. The same thing applied to us. God put us in these situation, but we still have our agency. We could just complain, say it's unfair, and bare our burdens alone. Or we can exercise our agency for good and use our trials and tribulations for spiritual growth!

HIGHLIGHTS

- found a hand-sized, flying cockroach in the shower with me the other day. Tried to grab it, missed it, and had a frantic chase around the house until eventually Elder Garcia smacked it with his flip-flop. I then finished my shower in peace. 

- The World Cup is rigged! Just kidding, I actually don't know if that's a fact or not but Brazil lost and this country is now in shambles. We caught the penalties on the TV of one of our recent converts and after they lost, everyone in the house was crying, including my companion lol. Soccer is literally people's life here.

- I'm now tri-lingual (if you're counting my broken portuguese). We've been teaching the cutest little family this past week and their parents are both deaf. Literally the happiest family ever! I've been able to teach them some english and they're helping my with my sign language. So far, I got like all of the greetings down and a couple of the basic doctrines (baptism, Jesus, faith). Sadly I'm not in the area anymore, but hopefully Duolingo will make me fluent. 

- Yeah so I think I've mentioned this by now, but I got transferred on Monday. And for those of you who don't know what that means, every 6 weeks we have what is called "transfers". This is where they change companionships and move missionaries around. It's what makes things interesting on the mission. Last transfer, I stayed in my area and got a new companion. This transfer I got shipped down to Parque do Sol (look it up if you want to know where it is because I don't really know yet). My new companion is Elder Rodrigues. He is the kindest soul ever! They area is super nice too! Our chapel is literally bigger than my chapel in Pennsylvania! The only hard part is this area wasn't in the best shape last transfer. There was literally no one being taught when I came in. But I was so down for this challenge and got straight to work. In this two days, we got one person marked for baptism and a couple others progressing! I'm hoping to learn a bunch this transfer! Also shout out to Elder Bradford who is my new district! Let's pray for an exchange together!

- Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that this is the first time that I've had a companion who doesn't speak a lick of english. Kinda makes things hard at times, but I've never had to rely more on my Savior until now! Something I've noticed is that my portuguese has gotten so much better in just these two days here. Literally crazy! But what I realized was it's all The Gift of Tongues. (A spiritual gift that God's gives His children, and missionaries in particular, to preach the gospel in different languages). God uses it to speed up the work a little bit. But what I've noticed, and I've literally been teaching this for so long, is that we need both faith and action. They are always paired together.  The last two transfers, I've had so much faith and said so many prayers. But I lacked action. I was always fall to my english in times of desperation. But now I have action. Faith and action is a dangerous combo and I invite you all to use this in our lives. 

That's it for this week! Send me emails please! I love you guys and hope you have the best week! Até logo!

Also sorry I had a ton of photos but then I just realized that I left them on the old phone. Rookie mistake! Hopefully I'll have them next week!