October 15, 2012

Elder Reis and I didn't have much food in the house ... so we got experimental ... 

A COISA BRANCA!  The lovely invention Elder Reis invented (milk, cornstarch, salt ... with ketchup on top)

So, if you can believe it or not, its already been a week since the last time I wrote. Time is just flying faster and faster, and when I look back, I am always shocked at how much happened. I can't believe that Elder Reis and I have already been together for three weeks ... time flies. Its already somebodies  birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!  Yay! Hope that this Day is wonderful for you. So, this week has been a normal week in the life of a missionary. Wake up, study, go visit people, eat Almoço, visit more people, walking até o pó (until the dust), go home, plan, pray, write in journal, go to bed. Ha. Its a great life though. I'm loving it. We are working with several people, and trying to help them progress towards baptism. One of these people is Ricardo, who is the father of Alessandro. We are working with their family, and they are pretty cool. We get to know a lot of people as missionaries. The thing that is probably most exciting (unusual) out of everything this week, is that one night we got home, and had only a few ingredients for food, but we were hungry. So, therefore, Elder Reis invented "A Coisa Branca!" (The White Thing). It wasn't too bad. Ha. So this week, I would like to highlight Alma 13:28-29. It has some counsel for all of us, and a goal that we can accomplish. We need to humble ourselves and be ever watchful about the evils of the world. When we do this we can be led by the Spirit in all things. We should always strive to live our life in such a way that we are always led by the Holy Ghost. We need to continue with our Faith always pressing forward towards our final and greatest goal which is eternal life. If we do this, always following the Holy Ghost with the Love of God in our Hearts, we can, and will be lifted up in the last day. I love you all, and hope that this week is a great week for all of you and that you can all seek to follow the Holy Ghost in all things.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

PS: I'm sorry to hear about Aunt Lorraine ... but we know that she'll be in a better place now.  Our knowledge of the great plan of Salvation is what lifts us up in these times of trial. We may not know the why, but God knows, and everything is done with a purpose. And as for Stake Presidents and bishops; the calling time is the same amount as the states (bishop - normally 5 years, stake president - normally 10 years). Normally the stakes here consist of 6 wards, and all the wards have about 120 people, sometimes less and rarely more. I heard that there is an English speaking ward somewhere in Brazil, but I think that that's a rumor. Ha. I also heard that one stake has a single adult ward, but that is really rare here. They normally just have a single adults class, and have activities and institute with a lot of stakes.