Week 49 (Week 3 Back in Brazil)

Pic with Jesus at the chapel!

Hello everyone! Yet another week has gone by, and boy was it a roller coaster. I'll be honest, this has been one of the harder weeks for me that I have had, but still filled with the spirit and some fun experiences.

Earlier this week. we met for the second time with one of our friends Dafine, who lives with her mom and aunt, who are both members of the church. Our first lesson with her was super special, and this one just as powerful. This time we talked about God's plan of happiness for us, and though she had a few doubts, I think Dafine really resonated with what we shared. Then this Sunday she came to church, like she said she would, and really enjoyed it. Elder Souza and I both feel really good about her, and are thinking about inviting her to be baptized soon, but all in all, I feel such a Christ-like love for this woman and her mom and aunt. They are so sweet!

We also went to a little market the other day and bought a bunch of fresh fruit. My first couple weeks here we have been drinking a ton of soda, so Elder Souza and I have set out to stop drinking soda for this next week, unless a member buys some for us for lunch. So we decided to make some fresh juice from Guava, and then also strawberries. They turned out pretty good! We have also been looking for a cowboy-ish hat for me since Elder Souza found a pretty sweet one in our apartment that he has been wearing. But we both want to have a cap to wear. Elder Souza has also been making matching ties for us both with some fabric that he got from Africa. Speaking of, if I haven't mentioned it already, Elder Souza was originally serving in Ghana Africa for about a year and returned to serve in Brazil for his remaining time. But we plan to wear the ties next Sunday!

We also had a fun lunch this Sunday with a family that made a ton of food for us. They kept asking me if we had certain TV shows in the U.S.A., or how much their car would be worth in the states. I also found out that their "Dora the Explorer" show is in Portuguese, and teaches English, which I thought was really interesting! One of the younger guys also told me that one of his companions on his mission was from Oregon, which was super cool. Afterwards, we answered a few questions and doubts of our friend Juan, who is looking into the church right now.

This week has been pretty hard, and I have really felt inadequate with the language and as a missionary, but now I can confidently say, the Lord has not abandoned me, and never will. Naturally I'm a pretty quiet person, and combined with not knowing the language everyone else speaks, you can imagine that I wouldn't say too much right? That has been my biggest challenge, especially because Elder Souza is the opposite, and has no trouble talking with everyone. But Elder Souza shared something with me the other night that really helped. He reminded me that I'm an actor and asked me how I acted so well in these plays while being so shy. I confided because it was a chance to be somebody else, and play a character, and for me that was easy somehow. Then he just told me to wake up each day and start a new page, be a new character in a way and just speak. Now I don't think he meant by any means to be fake, but rather to just wake up and decide each day to be who I desire to be, and interact with others in the way I long to. That advice really helped me, and helped me to realize just how much I have progressed in the language in the last couple weeks. By no means am I fluent yet, but I can understand a lot more than I could even 2 weeks ago, which is so amazing to me. 

We shared a lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ this week, and I was especially touched by one of the points, the gift of the holy ghost. I realized that this gift is so important to me, and has helped me to learn this language quickly, but more importantly to communicate by the language of the spirit. By that I simply mean to be able to communicate with power and conviction, even with simple words and phrases. But this gift can bless us in so many ways, allowing us to be inspired and guided by God's messenger, the Holy Ghost. So I would just invite you all to ponder how the Holy Ghost has influenced your life, and helped you through the trials of mortality. 

~Elder Kasey Lightheart

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week. Here is that same picture again, but uncropped: