25 March 2009

Oi! I am so glad to be sitting back at this computer again. I just love to write to you. I have been told I have a couple of letters, but I cannot read them just yet because the pictures that came with them are not yet printed, so I will have to comment on them next week.

I sent my first letters using MissionTies today, so I will see just how well that works. I have now been in Brazil for three weeks, and I have three weeks left. I am slightly less sick of the rice and beans this week than I was last week.

The weirdest thing has been happening to me. In those *cough* rare *cough* times that I end up talking about other things besides the Gospel and Portuguese, I have been unable to remember the names of actors and actresses. I'll think and I'll think and I'll think, and the names will be on the tip of my tongue, and then when I have completely moved on to something unrelated, the names will come to me. It took me a full two hours to remember Alan Rickman, and Audrey Hepburn didn't come to me until I woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night.

On the more misionary-related front, things are going well. Sorry, still no baptisms to report, but I went proselyting again on Friday, and it was fun. Elder Pond and I gave away three Books of Mormon and about twenty pass-along cards. We are in the middle of trying to tech the 2nd lesson in Portuguese now. It is hard, but it is a lot of fun. We have been trying to speak as much Portuguese as possible (just not in emails home  :)  ).

It has been an interesting little journey for both Elder Pond and I. We are each other's second companion, and it's a little akward to leave your first companion behind. It helps, though, that we have a lot in common. We both are pretty obedient, punctual, and the like, and we both were in high school Drama productions. He grew up and lives in Colorado where he lives on a farm, his sister is also serving a mission here in Brazil, and they entered the CTM on the same day. She is a very sweet person.

I sometimes feel that Portuguese is an easier language to speak than to study. We study and study all day long until the language is coming out of our ears, and then we try to speak it. All of us feel humbled that the Lord felt we could learn a new language on top of the doctrine.

I had to give a talk this last Sunday on Knowledge. It was interesting writing a talk where you also need to apply it to missionary work and how each person in the room can apply personally to their lives. My main point was this: Seeking knowledge is a commandment. If knowledge is a commandment, then it must be necessary for exhaltation. If knowledge is necessary for exhaltation, then it must be preached to the people. And if it must be preached to the people, then it must be had, understood, and preached by the missionaries, the Lord's messengers. People choose to seek knowledge in different aspects of life, but as long as it is knowledge in a worthy field, it will help us in the next life, just as Joseph Smith said.

I assure you that your prayers are being heard. I am learning Portuguese way faster than I learned Spanish or ASL. I try to keep busy, and the Lord makes up wherever my own ability is lacking (whcih is pretty much everywhere). It has been an intersting experience singing in the CTM choir. Sister Christoffersen, who runs it, made a comment in her short talk on Sunday night that was interesting, and I noticed it myself when I sang on Tuesday night. Many of us in the choir are lacking in musical ability, and practice rarely sees us making a song perfect, but when it comes time to sing, something happens. Elders and Sisters harmonize, and the room is filled with a wonderful Spirit. The CTM is a place set apart from the world, just like a chapel. Satan cannot dwell here, and the Spirit always does. When we sing, we do not sing alone. Helping us along the way are unseen, but felt, forces for good. When we sing, angels sing with us. It is a most amazing thing. It is a most humbling thing. This Church is true. I know it is; otherwise, I would not have come out to serve a mission. The Lord is helping us here to grow into His servants.

Now for an interesting thought: In my study of the Old Testament, I came across a scripture that could possibly refer to the Nephites. It is is 2 Kings 19, I think. Hezekiah (not Zedekiah), the King of Judah, prays that his people will be spared. This is only a few decades before Lehi and company left Jerusalem. The Lord tells him that a remnant of Judah will survive, and that it will not only survive, it will thrive. The Lehites thrived in the Americas. The kingdom of Judah in the Middle East never thrived again. Pretty cool, huh? The book of Mormon is true after all :P .

I hope everything is well for you at home. Let people know that I really, really enjoy receiving letters. Please let me know how the Lord has blessed you at home. I will write again next week. I love you.