Dear Family.
Firstly, this letter was well planned out so that I could send it to you all today. It´s been a combination of a few different days to send it and I did it so you all can get a good update on whats going on because these next weeks, I won´t have much time or no time at all. Dad wants a weekly Monday email, so here it is :) ha. Let me just say that this week was one of the craziest weeks of my mission. The things we did and saw were incredible. I have learned sooo much this week and am so thankful for the many opportunities I have been given here on the mission. This opportunity that I have to be working in the office is just incredible and I want to share with all y´all what we did this week...
But actually, I want to talk about the people I am with right now. My companions: Elder Brown and Elder Nascimento. Elder Brown was born in the England, lived there for like 5 years and now he lives in Philadelphia. He is super awesome. I am taking his place and he is teaching me everything. We have just been like two peas in a pod. And he is the center of all the trunky jokes because he is going home this week, on Thursday. Then I´ll just be with Nascimento.
Elder Nascimento is crazy. From São Paulo He is incredibly hilarious. The best way to describe him is that he is the same as Matt off the movie Grind, Cody would understand best. But he is just insane and it has been so much fun.
Now I have to tell you about Red (Hedge). He is our driver and he stays with us the whole day basically. He as well is hilarious. So being with these guys has been a blast. I don´t think I have stopped laughing the entire time I have been here. This next week I will try to write down some of the things that are said during the day. He has a nickname for all the elders and mine is ´´ferrugem´´ which means rust, because of my hair. Oh man, it´s just been funny stuff.
As you all know, I am with Elder Medina and Elder Seth again. We live with them and at times they are with us in the office doing stuff. But in the CTM Elder Seth and I made a prophecy that we would end the mission together and it has come to pass. Let me just tell you, I have lived with Elder Medina for a total of 7 months on the mission and will be with him for another month before I go home. Him and I are like brothers and we talk about everything we have done and been through on the mission so far. Elder Seth and I are best buds and always have been. Now imagine all of these 5 crazy guys together. It makes for a good time for sure. :) The other night we got home and decided to play soccer in our little area in front of our house. (tile ground) and so played together and by the end of it I had blisters on my feet.
We also work with Rowe´s here in the mission office. They are the senior couple that take care of mission finances and mission supplies. They are so awesome. I love them a lot and she made cinamon rolls for us this week :) score! She was a food teacher :)
And a quick note about today and last night. Last night was Sis. Rowes birthday, so before going to the mission office we stopped by her and E. Rowes apartment building. Us and the assistents took her some cards we wrote and made. She loved them! And then she invited us to eat dinner. She is the best :) We love them. And then they Rowes took us out to lunch today for brown´s goodbye lunch. We ate at the mall at a place called American Prime Steakhouse :) I won´t say much or Cody will say I am spoiled, but I´ll send a picture :) hehe
So this week we did quite a bit. I will summarize basically the things we have done. Tuesday we had a trunky moment when we went to the airport that night to take a visa waiter there. He is going to Salt Lake. But there was a lot of americans there and I was like ´´it´s my kind!´´ and Brown said ´´yeah, the next time we´ll be here, you´ll be dropping me off! hahaha.´´
We also had to go to Recanto das Emas, an area where the missionaries are changing houses. We went there to see the house, check it out, talk to the owner, and see if it would be good for them. I´m lucky my comp is in charge of all the house paperwork, so at least I don´t have to deal with that, but I get to do the fun part to see the houses and stuff :) We also went to another area called Aguas Lindas. It´s an area that got shutdown due to safety issues but will reopen this next transfer, so we are getting everything set up for the new missionaries that will serve there.
One of the funnier things that happened this week was when we went to the mall to get money out of the bank and pay some bills, Elder Nascimento went and got in the line. And it takes forever to pay bills in these lines. But luckily Elder Rowe was with us and went and grabbed the papers from him and went to the ´´senior´´ line where he didn´t have to wait :) Being with a senior couple sure has it´s perks! lol
And just to resume all my responsibilities here in the office, I put into the system all of the baptismal records that are done, I take care of medical insurance, I receive calls from all the sick missionaries, I confirm with Sis. Lundgren what type of doctor appointments the sicklies need and make appointments, and I of course help my comp with his stuff.
But lots of people think we just stay here in the office the whole day but that isn´t true. We work everyday. When we have an appointment Red drives us to and from which is a blessing :) And we have all of Saturday and Sunday to work. Saturday night we were doing lots of contacts in the road inviting everyone to go to church and it was a blast. It´s actually really easy to talk to people when you start out saying ´´hey! how are you? I am from the United States, he is from São Paulo, and he is from England!´´ gets peoples attention for sure :) Saturday night we had an awesome lesson with an inactive. He hasn´t been to church for 20 years. We went there and sat down with him on the curb and taught the lesson about the 99 sheeps and the 1 lost sheep. He told us he always felt that if he went back to church nobody would want him there and everyone would throw rocks at him. We all had a good laugh about that one. But we left a simple message, bore testimony, promised blessings, and sure enough, he was there yesterday morning! It was so awesome to have him back. He was received so warmly and he was the happiest that no one threw rocks at him :) lol. We are also teaching a lady that is fluent in english. She goes to a church here that is just full of apostasy. We invited her to church and she went! She loved it as well. At the end of church she was singing hymns with some of the ladies from the ward and it was the first time we left before an investigator :) So awesome.
I also want to share an experience I had this week that really opened my eyes. Saturday the quorum of elders had a lunch activity at a family club sort of place near the lake here in brasilia. We got permission from Pres. Lundgren to go. There they had tons of patios to have a bbq and have a party. While we were there a group of young adults started to show up in the patio next to us. As the morning/afternoon went on I realized some things in common and some things really different than the two groups. Our group was a group of elders, worthy priesthood holders. We played volleyball together and laughed. We talked about missions, the church, what we can do to help the others, our families, and funny experiences. We ate bbq and all were happy.
The second group of young adults dressed immodestly also talked, laughed, ate bbq, listened to music, and had some alcoholic beverages. They also seemed to be fairly happy.
I thought about and reflected upon that afternoon. I noticed that both groups did basically the same thing, but in a different way. I also thought about how they seemed so happy to be ´´in the world´´ doing things of the world. I thought to myself ´´how can they be happy when Alma 41:10 says wickedness never was happiness?´´ I than realized another difference between us. Our groups happiness is and will be lasting. We created bonds and friendships that afternoon based upon principles of righteousness. It was the first day I met many members of the new ward and we all joked together in church after and acted as if we had been friends for years. Now, the other group I realized that they were truly happy as well. They truly did have a sense of happiness that afternoon, only that the happiness that they felt that day isn´t a lasting happiness. Satan makes the things of the world look so attractive to us and in the moment it may appear as if we are happy. But that all comes crashing down in the end. I learned a great lesson that day, even though things of the world look appealing, they truly aren´t. I am so thankful that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we have modern day prophets and apostles that guide us and warn of us of such temptations of Satan. What a blessing it is to have Christ as our Redeemer. I love you all dearly. I am praying for you all so much. Have a wonderful week, read your scriptures, say your prayers, and prepare to take the sacrament Sunday. Beijos!
com amor, Elder Patterson
Sunday at church with 4 of my companions current and past :)
No comments:
Post a Comment