Week 53 (Week 7 Back in Brazil!)

 

Matching ties that Elder Souza made for us!

"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength" (Doctrine and Covenants 4:2)

I've found a newfound love for this section of scripture during my time here in Brazil. My second week here Elder Souza made me memorize all 7 verses in Portuguese, and now I can't stop hearing others quote verses from it. This section talks a lot about missionary work, the gathering of Israel, but I've come to realize that this work isn't just for full time missionaries like me; it's for all disciples of Jesus Christ. "Therefore, if he have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." (V. 3). 

This week has been quite difficult as my companion and I have struggled to stay busy and productive during hopefully our last week in lockdown (assuming the date doesn't get pushed back further). As hard as things have been, we have still seen a few miracles this week, and have seen the work move forward.

Earlier this week, we met Janayna, a super sweet lady who was eager to learn more about modern day prophets and the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ in our day. During our first lesson, she accepted a baptismal date in April (conveniently right before Elder Souza leaves). Certainly, we have a lot more to teach her, but it's super exciting to have someone so eager to learn!

We also had a wonderful, virtual zone conference this week. Right as the conference was starting Elder Souza decided to give me a small topic to talk about during his training (since he is the zone leader). I'll admit, I was a little mad that he decided to wait until the conference started to tell me, but it was nothing crazy, simply sharing a scripture and a thought. But overall, the conference was amazing. Sure I didn't understand everything, but most of it I did. At the end, our President gave a more solemn warning concerning a missionary, a couple weeks ago who not only went home from his mission early, but left the church. It's always sad to hear about missionaries wanting to go home early, but going home because they have lost their testimony is even more sad. 

On a lighter note, Elder Souza and I also gave each other a few "challenges" this week, with pizza on the line. The first one was that Elder Souza had to use the word "quassia" (probably not the right spelling) during zone conference when he was speaking, which basically is a way to jokingly call someone stupid. I never heard him say the word, but afterwards Elder Souza claimed that he had, so I decided to get him pizza anyways. The next challenge was eating dog food. Yup, you heard that right. We bought a little bag of hard dog food, and the first to give up had to buy the other a pizza. After we both ate a piece we decided to call the challenge off and both give up because it was SO gross. And there you have it, a small little glimpse into some of the stupid things missionaries do. But it's a good kind of stupid... right?

But that's pretty much my week! Tomorrow we find out if the lockdown will be over or not, and I'm praying that it won't be extended. But no matter what happens, I'm willing to keep serving. I've certainly felt like quitting lately. Having thoughts like, "what's the point?". But ultimately, I know that this is the Lord's work, not mine, and He is going to accomplish it in His own time. 

But I hope you all have a wonderful week and have an opportunity this next weekend to watch General Conference in which the prophet Russel M. Nelson and his apostles will speak to us! Take care y'all!

~Elder Kasey Lightheart