8 July 2013

So many things going on so I'll be brief and clear. Tomorrow is the transfer and my current companion, Elder Motta will be returning home. Hes a great guy and I'm excited to hear about his adventures back at home. I'll get my new companion at the Rodoviaria tomorrow. The Rodoviaria is a huge, central bus station where we meet to get our new companions and then return to our areas. My new companion is a Brazilian and his name is Elder Maciel. I'm excited to be staying in Sulacap and working with the Madureira Stake. We will have 2 baptisms next Sunday in my ward for two young men. Matheus (Matthew) who is 10 and Daniel that is 13. They're excited for baptism and I'm glad that I'll be staying here to help them. We have several missionaries in my zone (stake) that are going home or to other areas but I'm excited to train and help these new missionaries and leaders that will be arriving tomorrow. ...... I might be singing with a member of our ward, Fabiano, at church this Sunday. Its great when I get to sing but I dont have all that many opportunities to do so. Its funny that simple things make such big differences. I'm doing well. I bought new shoe inserts so that helped a bunch! We're walking a lot but thats nothing new. You get used to walking really quickly. I thought that walking 10+ miles would be a TON but its really not all that bad haha. 

I told some sisters at church that you made 10 cakes and they thought that was sooo much food! Must have taken forever. I ate this soup yesterday that is called dobradinho. I think thats how you spell it. They use white beans, carrots, potatoes, sausage, other vegetables and.... cow stomach. Its pretty good. I've eaten it a couple times. I also ate pig tail a couple weeks ago. It was pretty good but just had a lot of fat on the meat but its good when you just cut off most of the fat. 

Well for a spiritual part real quick, I read an amazing talk by Pres Uchtdorf this morning from this past conference. Its from the priesthood session but you can apply it to any person or member of the church. Its called "Four Titles" and I encourage you to read it and ponder on the amazing things that Pres Uchtdorf says. I loved when he said, 

"It can be discouraging at times to know what it means to be a son of God and yet come up short. The adversary likes to take advantage of these feelings. Satan would rather that you define yourself by your sins instead of your divine potential. Brethren, don’t listen to him.

We have all seen a toddler learn to walk. He takes a small step and totters. He falls. Do we scold such an attempt? Of course not. What father would punish a toddler for stumbling? We encourage, we applaud, and we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents.

Now, brethren, compared to the perfection of God, we mortals are scarcely more than awkward, faltering toddlers. But our loving Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him, and, dear brethren, that should be our eternal goal too. God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.

I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged—never to give up or flee our allotted field of service—but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying.   

I loved this part and know that it can be frustrating sometimes but just as a child falls and gets back up again, we must also. Heavenly Father will always lift us up. I love you and will talk to you soon!