Week 77 (Week 31 Back in Brazil!)

 

Pizza and Dungeons and Dragons (creating my first RPG character)!

É aí pessoal, tudo bem?! Another week down, and only a few more to go! I have to be honest, this has been a fairly uneventful week, but I'll try my best to keep it lively, and spiritual. 

Earlier this week, at around 3 in the morning, I woke up to our phone buzzing, meaning that we were receiving a phone call. I didn't want to get up, but the thought entered my mind, "what if it's important?", so just as the last ring sounded I checked and saw that one of the companionship of sisters in our district had called. After a callback and some venting by the sisters, we discovered that their smoke alarm would not stop going off. We didn't have much advice to give them other than to try again to get ahold of the mission president or a member nearby so that they could leave for a bit, but later in the morning we found out that they had managed to check in briefly at a hotel to get some sleep. Later we delivered a new smoke alarm to their house, and made sure everything was okay, but boy did we feel sorry for those poor sisters!! 

Check out this sweet Mustang
we found on our way home.

The same day we also received the notice that because of disobedience in the mission, a specific zone would be dissolved and we would no longer be allowed for a time to have any district or zone activities or meetings in person. It was a huge bummer since we had only recently returned to having in-person activities due to COVID, but now we were simply restricted due to the disobedience of a few specific missionaries. However, the work goes on, and I know our mission President has to take a stand to keep us focused and working hard, so I understand. 

Blooper pics from another singing video we made.

This Sunday, there was also a Face-to-Face church devotional with Elder and Sister Bednar, which we watched at our stake center chapel, with many other young adults. What I love most about Elder Bednar is that in almost every devotional that he speaks at, he reminds us not to record anything specific that he or his wife says, but to record what the spirit teaches us. Sometimes, we are so focused on writing down every little detail that we like in the scriptures, or that a general authority says, that we forget to listen to the still small voice, which is what will truly give answers to our questions of the soul, and comfort to the aches of our hearts. I would just invite you all to make that difference in your studies of the gospel and the prophets, to constantly be listening for the voice of the Holy Ghost, and seeking for personal revelation. 

We also received a notice this week that our region of the church here will now be entering Phase 2 of the COVID Protocol, meaning that we will now be returning to having second-hour classes, activities, and other projects in person! It'll be really nice to have more activities happening at the church. That way we can start to be a little more involved with the members and especially the youth. 

Reorganizing the chapel
with our awesome Elder's Quorum.

Anyways, that was a little about our week, but I really hope you have all been doing great as well, and have seen the Lord's hand in your lives. I promise that no matter how hard things may seem sometimes, that God loves you, and will never abandon you. This week was a hard week for me, but I found that every time that I prayed earnestly for peace and solace, that I was able to find myself again, and enjoy my life, and my mission. And you can too. 

~Elder Kasey Lightheart