Cool long P-day, companion exchange, our first baptism but not really, and and weirdly agressive opinions in choir

Mon, Nov 14, 2022

 This email is a long one but even if you don't read any of it read the end

On Monday we had a district Pday with some members outside the city. The day before a new rule came out and we can't have anymore district Pdays with members. so this was the last one. the members have a massive yard because one thing they do is raise and train dogs. they unleased 15 puppies for us to feed and mess around with and that was cool they showed us a couple of their more trained dogs and they were cool too. we went up on this really tall hill while we were their and we did a game? I'm not sure for some reason everyone here speaks Portuguese. the hill has an awesome view though. in this "game" we sat in a circle and picked a number? and it determined what we had to do. idk but in the end I had to sing because I said the according to the number the sister picked she could choose a person to do something? and she heard on the first day that I liked to sing. I sang and then they asked me to sing more but I said no. Then it was my turn to pick someone to share their talent that I was surprised to find out they had. I picked Elder Bryan to sing as well but I was surprised when I found out he could sing. He refused to do it and did push ups instead. Elder Almeida who I live with had to lead us in a marching line and then exercises, and he was in the army so it sure wasn't easy for me. We failed at marching, then we did push ups for a while. and I kept up pretty well, but in the end elder Almeida, Bada, and my companion elder Bryan all can do way more push ups than me, then the pushups became slow, then we had to do jumping lunges, which I can do like 3, then held lunges and we couldn't stop until we said the missionary purpose. and I'm telling you guys all this useless stuff because it was strange enough and confusing enough for me because of Portuguese. I deemed it worthy of being in an email. these members fed us churrasco. which is essentially BBQ but in Brazil if there is steak in the meal it basically is just called Churrasco. and honestly its got nothing on US BBQ. 

We did a companion exchange and I was with elder Almeida in his area and he doesn't speak any English so it was a real struggle. and we visited three members the first were so old they looked like corpses and they didn't have teeth and genuinely did not understand a single word that they spoke. the second members wanted to give us their pantry of food. and they gave us a bunch of stuff but also a little thing of Nutella which is a hot commodity here unless you feel like spending 50 reais which as a missionary is a lot. we get 300 reais every two weeks (60 dollars). and the last members really liked hearing about Utah and seeing the pictures of my family.

because I sang on Pday the media sisters asked me if I could sing a song called "Far away" by the national parks The song is beautiful and I really like it and I wanted to sing it but I had to politely decline because there is no way I can sing that high. they also only sent me the song. to learn it somehow and its got a guy and girl part and I was supposed to just learn it somehow that way it goes. the media sisters think I'm lying about how high I can sing to get out of singing. 

We had our first baptism but it doesn't count because they aren't in our area and I don't know the person any more than their name. the sisters taught this person up until they were ready to be baptized and they needed my companion the district leader to do the baptismal interview. but after the interview ended. the sisters asked who she wanted to be baptized by and she decided on my companion. so my companion baptized Markylene this week so that's cool. and I got asked by her to say the closing prayer for the baptism which is a little scary because generally my short not to interesting Portuguese prayers are satisfactory for most things but it didn't feel enough for the baptism but oh well.

 One day this week we walked 30 minutes across the area to grab out restaurant take out for lunch from a member then walked the 30 minutes back to eat it. it was very hot outside. 

yesterday on Sunday we were lucky and got a ride from Luis to church but we walked the 25 minutes home. then after walked the 40 minutes to a members house for lunch. they fed us a very good lunch. and Campinas Brazil has a brand of ice cream called Sergils? might have spelled that wrong too. you can only get it in Campinas and its no where else and everyone says its the best ice cream ever. and i can confirm that after this lunch when i tried this ice cream it was indeed the best ice cream I've ever had. by a lot. then we walked 40 minutes back home it was also very hot outside 32 degrees C idk if its that hot because I'm an American but given that i came from winter in Utah it is very hot

every member says the words Come mais. eat more. and every missionary says this is the mission you go to to gain weight as literally every missionary I've talked to says they have. and given that i weighed 260 pounds when i got here i really don't want to gain more weight, so wish me luck and hope that the extreme amount of walking we do in the mission somehow counteracts it

We had choir practice with the ward for a Christmas thing, and we've done one practice prior but I'm not sure I wrote about it. in the first one me and my comp were the only basses and one tenor, and the conductor who is very talented said he wished he had five of me which is a pretty big compliment in my eyes. but this time there were more people. all the songs are in Portuguese which makes learning them way more difficult for me. and i also kind of dragged my companion into the choir to and he has no choir experience but he's got a good voice he just always sings and octave lower. yesterday during practice we have four basses me my comp and two others. one of the others sings an octave lower and the wrong notes. the other sings incredibly well and confidently and loud but also totally the wrong notes. the one who sings an octave lower wanted to convince me that i was not a bass for the sole reason being that i sang in the correct octave (and it was high) and he sang an octave lower. 

My great big spiritual thought idc if you didn't read anything else this one is important.

one thing I've been thinking a lot about is how i can teach with the spirit. one thing i know is i cant teach a principle by the spirit if I don't know it myself and if i don't teach it by the spirit they can't learn it by the spirit. however I've noticed that even though i could teach any principle of the gospel and i cant necessarily teach it by the spirit unless i have a testimony of it by the spirit. I can tell you all about repentance how to repent and why its important, i can do this with just about any principle of the gospel. but i cant teach you repentance thorough the power of the spirit because even though i have all the knowledge about it i don't have an understanding by the spirit. during my second day in Brazil and most of the first week and a half depression came back to fight me round 2. one thing i do have a understand by the spirit of is faith, in Jesus Christ, and one thing I've known since i got here in Brazil is that i was called to teach the gospel but I've known more specifically that I have a testimony by the spirit about faith and i know that I'm here to teach faith with power to the people in Brazil. i knew partly through faith that even though I was depressed really bad i could read the scriptures and find strength to over come. i prayed to find scriptures of strength and began reading the book of Mormon. I read 1st Nephi 7:12 and it was also about faith. this scripture gave me a lot a strength and i gained not just strength to overcome my problems. i also gained a much greater understanding by the spirit about faith. ever since then ive been able to confidently teach by the spirit about faith because ive gained an understanding by spirit about it. after about a week and a half later i received a blessing from my companion and ive had no more problems with depression. but im sure ill have a round three eventually but i know i can overcome it through faith in christ because ive done it before. but this principle gets better. because of this experience i realized that despite knowing most every principle of the gospel i dont have an understanding by the spirit of most of them. it doesnt matter what your seminary teacher, bishop, steak president, or sunday school teacher or parent says. you cant gain a testimony of the gospel unless you gain and understanding by the spirit. you dont learn the gospel by listening to the words of your teachers or the proffet unless the spirit is carried to you in the words. the spirit is incredibly necessary. my vast knowledge of the gospel is nothing without the understanding by the spirit. and it doesnt matter how much i teach people if its not by the spirit because my words are empty and they wont gain a testimony. for me ive figured out how to gain and understanding by the spirit this week. for me i pray in faith for that when i read the scriptures or a talk that ill be able to learn by the spirit then i start reading ive found that every time i read im learning things by the spirit. and then the most important part im my mind is to then pray and thank god for the inspiration and understanding by the spirit. I found that when i do this im learning things by the spirit and its undeniable and glorious. ive gained a true testimony of the gospel by doing this because very little of what i learned for the past 18 years matters in comparison because as i do this i gain a true testimony of the gospel and not just knowledge in my head because when i read the things in the scriptures the spirit testifies the truthfulness of them unto me and my mind opens up and i learn more than i thought was ever possible. then when i pray in gratitude of what ive understood and learned by the spirit i find that i see the little miracles and blessings from god every single day. when i pray in gratitude i notice more often that the things i prayed for were answered. and the best part is this applies to everyone. any person who want to gain a sure testimony of their own accord and not by the words of their teachers can gain a undeniable testimony thorough the spirit. even when you have a strong testimony, when you study you can gain a greater understanding by the spirit than you ever thought was possible. but the best part of all is dont learn what i just wrote by having read it and believed it, go and find out for yourself by the power of the spirit that what im saying is true. i encourage you to right now to go pray with a question in mind ideally, is the book of Mormon really true? is the gospel true? does god answer my prayers? it doesnt matter the question. then pray to have you question answered as you study. it doesnt matter whether you already believe god answers your prayers or whether the book of Mormon is true or any question you want to know. because you can gain a greater or new understanding. then go and read the scriptures or a talk. do it with a sincere heart and true desire to learn. then after write down what you learned particularly by the spirit. then pray in gratitude of what you learned. this is my promise and my testimony that you can gain a new or greater understanding and belief in the gospel. and i encourage you once again not to just read my words but go and find out by the spirit for yourself that they are true. in the name of Jesús Christ amen.