Peace Like a River

Adriano. 16 years old. He taught 13 lessons with us. Man of the Year right now. Champion (inside the ônibus).

Mission Accomplished everyone...

The letters have entered the hands of Elder Forsyth. I received letters from Mom, Eric x2, a couple from Ed, and Sienna! It was an awesome feeling leaving Zone meeting and heading towards the Ônibus with letters in hand. Whew, It had been awhile since my last one and I am so grateful for all of the love that has been sent towards me. 

1 Nephi 20:17-18

These past couple of days have been really weighed down. It was one of those feelings where you don't know why you are upset but you just are. I have come to understand that when this happens to me it means only one thing. I need to change something that I am doing. On the mission I am trying my hardest to improve all of my attributes from faith to writing to washing the dishes. Sometimes when I feel like I am doing it all, I am still lacking something. Humility and Charity. At times we think we are doing everything we can to be in line with the precepts of Christ, but did we get on our knees to thank the Lord for all of our blessings? Sometimes we follow the letter of the law to the T but what about the spirit.  Sure, I can bear my testimony all day about The Atonement of Christ, but what have I done to accept it in my life. This has been my mind set for the past couple of days. 

Nephi is teaching his people from the words of Isaiah and in verse 18 the phrase "peace like a river" strikes me. I love that word... peace. It is a simple word that carries a lot of meaning. We can be keeping the commandments of God, but what are we learning from them? I don't know why but it makes me think of fly fishing and the film "A River Runs Through It" The cinematography describes fly fishing better than words. The running river, the sound of the line whipping through the air, even the sound of the trees make it seem like you can smell them. I recommend that everyone watch it.  It was one of my father's favorite movies. And if you knew my dad sometimes he was the busiest man you have ever met, but he always took time during all that busyness to teach me something or to spend time with me.  Always finishing a task with new knowledge gained.  He loved fly fishing and always desired to go out to the river, but he didn't just fly fish for the desired rainbow trout.. He went out to learn more about the beauties that our Heavenly Father created and to learn something about himself. If I could create an analogy right now it would be fly fishing and life. Let's keep the commandments with self-development in mind.  Or self improvement I think describes it better. The blessings are numerous but how can we use them to strengthen our lives and the lives of our family, friends, and other friends. :)

Randomness

I need to write something down that just happened. It has nothing to do with life, commandments or fly fishing but....a man just drove by the Lan House with the Back to the Future soundtrack playing. It sounded so good. If you want to know what I hear every day, just google "Brasilian funk."  I think that will bring up some example of the music that everyone here listens to. We were also passing by a really shanty town and someone was playing Fly Me to The Moon by Frank Sinatra. I had to stop Elder Lima Silva for just 2 minutes. 

Os Acontecimentos da Semana (The Happenings of the Week)

We are now the new Gospel Principles teachers every Sunday. It is great practice for me to speak Portuguese in a teaching setting.  I have to prepare a lesson and teach it with clarity in front of 6-10 people. It makes me work really hard on my grammar.

We ate Pistacios from Fortaleza. It sounds much cooler than it actually is. They taste exactly the same. But If you say it with a Brasilian accent it sounds super great.

Accepting many hugs from many drunk guys. People love hugging here. And sometimes they love to hug when they are drunk. And sometimes they love stopping us on the street to let us know about their  lives. We stop and turn the situation into a teaching opportunity if they are lucid enough to understand. We give 'em a nice pat on the back and keep on walking. 

Fazenda Rio Grande

Street contacting