MIRACLES, SNAKES, E A TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL

Bom dia! (That means good morning if any of you has been confused for weeks lol) Another week has passed her in Brazil and I have a whole lot to tell you guys and little time to do so, so lets get right into it!

Also it was my sister's birthday this week and she turned 18! I actually don't believe it! Everyone wish Olivia a happy belated birthday!!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

4 Nephi 1: 15 -17...

15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. 

16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. 

17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.

I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week about absolutely loved these verses! The happiest people in the entire history of the Earth were not those who had a bunch of money, or fame, or food, or even time. It was the people who stayed away for contention and loved the way that God loves. 

This week, look for ways to elimate contention in your lives. Be humble. Be diligent. And be caritable. Look for ways to spread light, and love others how God loves you!  

HIGHLIGHTS

- Let's get right into some miracles that I saw this week! I was able to see the hand of the Lord in the work my much this week and it was absolutely amazing!! Okay, so the other day, we were walking home after a day of hardwork. Both exhausted, we start our 45 miniute walk through the jungle back home. I had a throbbing headache and really didn't feel like talking with anyone. Then all of a sudden, some lady sticks her head out of her window and says, "Hey Elders". Huh? How does she know who the Elders are? We stopped. Talked. And found out that she found a Book of Mormon a few years ago and started reading it. She's seen missionaries outside of her house for years and was too nervous to talk to them. And she has always wanted to come to church but never knew where it was (probably because it's an hour away lol). Literally a missionaries dream! Unfortunately, we didn't have time to teach her, and she doesn't have a phone, so we marked a time to meet with her and prayed that she'd be home. Well... we returned the next day, she wasn't there. Returned again yesterday at the same time, she wasn't there again. Unfortunate right. This brings me to the next friend that we met. We'll call her Jane. We marked Jane for baptism a few days back and returned yesterday to teach her about the plan that God has for families, because she lost two babies. Well, this lesson turned into a Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and Commandments lessons. Lots of information in 30 minutes. Well, turns out that she has problems with literally every single commandment. Lives with her boyfriend, drinks coffee and alcohol, smokes weed, and does cocaine. Like ALOT. But she wants to stop it all and be baptized! I thought to myself, how in the world am I suppose to help? I have to clue how to help someone break a cocaine addiction?? That bring me back to the first lady. We'll call her Tina. This was last night. We were in a lesson, and I got a strong feeling that we needed to visit Tina one last time. Yes, you can still feel the Spirit with a migraine headache. The only problem was we were on the complete opposite side of town and if she wasn't home we would waste our whole night walking. But we went anyways. And when we got there, she was standing at the front door as if she was waiting for us. Lowkey creepy but oh well. We start talking to her and learn that she is catholic. But she believes that her baptism was missing something and that our church is the only true church. Literally a missionary's dream. When then learn that she lived with her boyfriend, drank coffee and alcohol, smoked weed, and did cocaine. DID. Since then, she separated with her boyfriend and absolutely overcame her addictions. What a beast!! Oh and what a perfect example for Jane. God works in marvelous ways. (sorry for the essay, I hope you enjoyed)

- This brings me to my second miracle that happened in the same day. We talked this lady named Lena the other week. She didn't have much interest, but we decided to return back there and see what's up. The only problem was, we had no clue where she lived in this neighborhood. We went from door to door talking to people, getting ping-ponged around streets and neighborhoods until we arrived at some random house that was no where near where we first started our search. We called in the house, yelling for Lena. Perfect! She had just got home. Only problem, it wasn't the same Lena. We start talking, she's so into it. We invite her to church, she says VAMOS (let's go). We give her a Book of Mormon, she wants to read the whole thing. I think we found an elect! God is so great! Oh and did I forget to mention that she has an 8 year old son! The joy that I felt was unreal. 

- I've been sick for about five days now. Stomach aches, body aches, migraines, coughs, and chest pain. Not ideal to be walking in the blazing hot sun for 10 hours a day. After a couple days of working through the sickness, the President's wife made me go to the hospital. At the hospital they performed a million tests on me. Covid test, body work, IV, and literally a whole body scan. Kinda stressful, especially when they're talking a million miles an hour in what seems to still be a foreign language. Turns out, they found nothing but gave me a list of a bunch of medicines to take and a strict diet to follow. Catch me eating bread and rice for the next 5 days!

- There was a convention at our chapel this week, where a bunch of professors and government officials from around the area gathered together and listened to some speaches. Well since it was at our church building, we decided to pull up with 4 boxes of Book of Mormons. Toward the end of the speaches, they let us missionaries talk for a few minutes to everyone. There was four of us missionaries and the fluent brazilian with a year and a half of experience takes the mic and starts talking to everyone. I was about to pee my pants just standing in front of 74 government officials and teachers. Well... then the unthinkable happens. He hand the mic to me. In that moment, I wanted to swat that mic on the ground and run away. But wouldn't have looked good for the church. I kept my composure and talked about the book and the savior that I've been called to Brazil to preach about. I think it went pretty well. We then handed out 74 Book of Mormons to celebrate!

- Every night we take the same path through the jungle back to our house. But on thursday, we had another companionship of missionaries with us and tried a different way home. So in the pitch black and with one flashlight, we made our way through the sketchiest area ever. On the way, we passed this old, abandoned church and I wanted to throw up. Then about five minutes later, I was goofing off and admiring the stars when I nearly stepped on this snake! Literally my biggest fear. It was red, yellow, and brown and about the size of me!! May or may not have screamed and ran away.

- I've officially become the basketball coach for a couple kids here in Bayeux Alto. I couldn't be more happy to coach these kids on my days off how to shoot, dribble, and play the sport that I absolutely love! 

That's about it for this week. So much more happened this week, but I can't include everything sorry. Still working on catching up on my other emails, so please bear with me. 

I love you all and I hope that you guys have the best week!!

Elder Ware