July 18, 2011

Talk about News, Holy cow, lots is going on in the life of my wonderful family. And its all so exciting. The changes in Trek sound like they would be awesome. And congrats Autumn! As for the weather here, Im keeping plenty warm with my sweater, I actually only have used it three times, you know me I like the cold. And the rain hasn't been too bad here, a few days, but I only needed to use my rain coat one or two days, winter is the drier season here, so we'll see when the summer comes. Ha. And I don't think I really need anything specific out here. All is well, Tudo Bem. (Ha, in English the hymn says All is Well, All is well, and in Portuguese it says Tudo Bem, Tudo Bem. Which is funny for some reason. Ha.) Anyways, the weeks are really starting to fly by again. Its crazy out here, sometimes the days last forever, but then its the next week. Ha. Time is weird, and always will be. So this week I revisited the place where I first was trained, the CTM. Well, I was on a division in the area with Elder Nobre, we didn't actually go inside. The division went really well though, I enjoyed a little change in scenery, though I am glad to be back in my "birthplace." Ha. By the way, the juice here is really good, you wont find big apple juice jugs, but you'll find tons of flavors of juices. So our ward here had a big "Festa Junina" that we were able to attend. And yes, I know its July, not June, dont ask me why it was held in July. Ha. Anyways its a festible with food and all sorts of games for the kids to play, like an electronic bull, and there also is music and dancing. It was really fun there. As a missionary we cant do all the stuff, but we got to talk to the members and several non-members showed up to. So Im standing there and I got some food, looking for a spoon, and my companion comes over, and says something really fast. I then look over, and he says "Presidente, Presidente está aqui." I was confused at first, thinking which president is here, and I look over, and there is President Martins talking to our Bishop. We went and talked to him, and he told me all about Festa Junina. President Martins is awesome. Another awesome thing happened today. We went Bowling! It was sweet, and even cooler because none of the Brazilians had ever bowled before. It was a great time, great activity for our P-Day. Also, in our zone meeting last week they brought up scriptures and we are all trying to make ourselves better missionaries. I really liked one that they brought up, and it is Doctrine and Covenants 112:10. Its about humbling ourselves, and really each and everyone of us can humble ourselves more. We can never truly overcome pride, we can be humble, but we need to keep being humble. Pride is a destroyer, pride is a comparison, when truly the comparisons don't make sense. And the promise in this verse is amazing, if we humble ourselves, then God will answer our prayers, and He will lead us "by the Hand." Who better to help us in our lives and lead help tell us where to go than our Heavenly Father himself. He loves us all and wants to help us, if we are prideful, then we think we don't need God, and we need to humble ourselves. I know that God exists and that He loves us. I know He will help us when we are humble. I love you all, and wish you a great week.
-Elder Tanner Ross Paxman