Field Trip to Brasilia

Outside of Catholic Cathedral

Inside Catholic Cathedral 

So if you are wondering why this email is getting in so late today is because I have been trying for an hour to get into my email! I actually gave up and decided I´d email a different day this week but it finally went through and loaded. But also, I have spent the whole day in Brasília! We saw almost everything super cool and touristy today. I took a bunch of pictures and will probably just send a bunch today if I have time. 

So this morning we got on the bus early and headed to Brasília. It took about an hour and a half to get there and we spent about 4 hours there visiting all the cool sites and taking tons of pictures. We visited the National Congress building and the Catholic church that is way cool and a bunch of other places that were awesome to see. Mom, you would have been proud of me, I was able to pack myself a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the trip. haha. Today was a great day.

This week I don´t have a bunch of time because of our trip today and the computer problems so I will try to highlight a few things this week. The first noteworthy thing this week would be our seminary we had this week. We had seminary in an area called Vila Guará. It is pretty far from where we live and we had it in a recent converts house. We taught about the Sabbath day and how we can keep it holy and what we should do and everything. It was truly inspired of us because people here don´t understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy and not buying things on Sunday. Some members buy some little snacks and stuff going to church! It´s frustrating sometimes because they don´t set the best examples. But I talked and taught about what we should do to ´´sanctify`` this day. And I will pass some of the things I learned this week from my studies with you all. I learned that going to church isn´t sufficient to ``keep the sabbath day holy.`` We truly have to do so much more to keep this commandment. For example, things we should do on Sunday: Read scriptures, read the words from the living prophets, read magazines from the church, watch videos that the church are making (and they are making tons!!!), pray, meditate about things, watch or listen to material that only invites the Spirit, spend time with the family and we should make visits to those that are needing our help. I truly learned that I could have done so much more before my mission and hope to improve when I return. Because as a missionary it is super easy to keep the sabbath day holy. But yeah, seminary went really well and I hope that all of you at home can learn of the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. Always remember Christ and what he would do on this day. 

Another spiritual experience came after our seminary class. We taught and ended at around 8:30. Just enough time to get a bus. But the problem was was that we were super far away from our house and had to catch a bus in the BR. The BR is the main highway in brasil. We just happened to be in an area very dark and dangerous as well. We were waiting for a bus for about an hour and nothing was coming, the only bus that passed didn´t stop for us because bus drivers often times are scared to pick people up where we were. The four of us ended up saying a prayer asking for help and asking that we could be protected and make it home safely. We waited a lot longer. It passed our curfew and we got worried. We continued to wait and E. Nordfelt had the idea to get out his flashlight to flag down a bus to pick us up because there weren´t any lights where we were. So when we saw a bus coming we where all waving him down and E. Nordfelt with his flashlight. But he passed us as well. 3 seconds later we heard his breaks screaching and he came to a stop so we started running in the dark after him! haha. Can you imagine four missionaries running in the night after a bus? It was pretty funny for the situation we were in. So we approached the bus and he opened the doors for us and let us on for free! Which was a miracle because we all didn´t have any money of our allowance. It just happened that the bus driver wasn´t going to stop for us and he stopped because the other bus dude that takes peoples money told him to stop. He told us that a few years ago a couple missionaries went to his house where he lives in another city. He told us that he really loved those ``mormons´´ and he told the bus driver to stop for us. It was a miracle. We were talking about it later that night and knew that God had helped us and that his plan is perfect. He placed 2 missionaries in the house of that man many years earlier so that in the night we were needing a ride, we got one. Those missionaries maybe wondered why they visited that man and why they wasted there time with him because he never progressed or got baptized, but I know why. It was because it became an answer to our prayers. I know that God´s plan is perfect and there is a purpose for everything. How wonderful it is.

On the light side of things this week, my comp and I started teaching english this week! We are teaching in a members house to a few investigators and a few kids that are members. It went pretty well and we taught them how to pray in english! It was awesome and I am thankful for the experiences I am having. Well, I have to go now because I am pretty much out of time and I have to get my haircut still because we have interviews with the president tomorrow. Also, I want to try and send a few photos. So have a good week to all! I love each and every one of you!!!

com amor, Elder Patterson.