YO WHATS UP GUYS
So this week was super cool. First of all there was a transmission with the area presidency of brasil this week, and we heard from Elder Costa (Argentinan) who spoke in portuguese and Elder Costa (brazilian) and Sister Cordon from the primary presidency WHO IS FLUENT IN PORTUGUESE PLOT TWIST and it was super funny because literally all of them (well, other than the brazilian) were like "hey brasil is cool but like why do you guys eat cow intestines thats just not needed im sorry" and i was like "I feel you man. I feel you."
The first guy who spoke who I cannot remember his name, spoke a lot about how Satan wants to distract us from our divine potential and wants us to not believe in ourselves. Also he left us a little burn (ok. this sounds super weird. but like. it makes sense right? he burned us? idk man. idk.) saying that the lord wants us to be righteous, and not just look righteous. our words and actions need to be the same, and need to be in line with our beliefs. He gave the example of moses when satan tried to tempt him, moses was like "dude who do you think you are, im a son of god." which i thought was funny but also true, like, when Satan tells you you're nothing just be like "dude im literally royalty and what are you God kicked you out"
wow this email isnt super professional. oh well.
Then Sister Cordon talked a lot about "se você quiser morangos, tem que plantar morangos" which is if you want strawberries, you have to plant strawberries. Well ok she didnt talk about strawberries, it was just an example. but she talked a lot about how we need to plant what we want to harvest, and we need to plant it NOW. If you want a testimony of the restored gospel, you have to plant the seeds NOW reading the scriptures, saying your prayers and the like. and you need to have pacience because strawberries dont grow overnight.
Elder Costa from argentina spoke about the sabath and how we need to notice the small miracles in the sabath and appreciate it in its fullest. also he told us to obey transit laws. i think he struggles with this.
Elder Costa from Brasil talked alot about how faith=action. that if you dont act on what you believe, its because you dont believe.
and finally ELDER HOLLAND SPOKE IN PORTUGUESE WHAT. jk. he spoke very little in portuguese and it was very hard to understand which was very funny. I was shocked! He spoke a little and then was like "alright im gonna ask that the translater help me out here because my portuguese is truly awful" and it was hilarious. But yes. So he spoke a lot about how we never know if we'll see the fruits of our labors but it doesnt matter. Brigham young building the salt lake temple after a million failed attempts to mantain said (kind of. im translating, you know how it is) "i don't worry about tomorrow anymore. maybe i'll never see this temple. maybe none of us will. maybe it'll be taken away from us again. but what i worry about is that im doing what god asks of my hands." and it was GREAT. really, lots of the time we wont see the fruits of our labor but it doesnt matter, someone has to do it. in the mission field lots of the time someoen else will harvest what you planted, but couldnt do it if you didnt plant it. so it doesnt matter if we get transfered or not. we have to work.
i thought it was so cool that he tried to speak portuguese. at the end he bore a super simple but powerful testimony in portuguese saying that he knows that this is gods church and that joseph smith was a profet and that he loves the people of brazil, and it was way more powerful in his own voice with his super broken portuguese. you could feel how much he really loves the people he serves, and how much he wants to be able to talk to them without a translater, and he's learning a little at a time.
then the last prayer, the kid just got back from argentina and he speaks a weird mix of portuguese and spanish
so basically the gift of tongues is real because all of understood all of these talks with super thick accents.
AND ROBERTO CAME. Roberto has been inactive for like all of his life but now his wife wants to be baptized and he's resisting but he's not managing hahaha. He drinks and smokes so I think he's spent his whole life looking for something easier, but with us coming to teach his wife he's feeling the spirit again and HE CAME TO CHURCH. HE SAID HE WOULDNT BUT HE CAME. literally this made me so happy.
in other news this week i learned the words to la cucaracha. my peruan companian taught me and i understood the words because #ispeakspanish #justkiddinbutimlearningalittlewithher literally the song just says the cochroach cant walk because its missing a leg. why is this song so happy?
