Come together

Whaaaaaats going on everybody how we doing? Anotha' week passed and gone, only this one was spent half in Macapá and half in Belém! That's right folks we had ourselves a big ol MULTIZONE this week! It was President & Sister Ribolla's finale here on the mish, so everyone came together to see them out and to hear their final message for the mission. 

 President talked with us a bunch about the power of mindset and having the will to make miracles happen here on the mish. He said that when HE served his mission here (yeah dude served his youth mission in the same place he was called as a Mission President) he saw a bunch of miracles brought forth by much effort and faith on the Lord. He said that he wanted to create that same environment for us so that we could have the same life-changing experiences too. Then he showed some numbers of the baptisms from the past years since he'd arrived as president, and since he'd arrived the number of baptisms had almost doubled . He was like yall gotta continue with the work, this mission's a beaut and there are so many good people here waiting to accept the Gospel. I love President Ribolla man, gonna be sad to see him go and strange for a second to have a new President but he fs left his legacy here. I'm glad I arrived at a time in the mish to implement the rules and way of living he pushed for, I know that he really was inspired by God with what he taught us and the things I learned from him and his family are things I'll never forget. 

The non-message part of the Multizone was so fun too. I gotta see all the dawgs for the first time in a second and we traveled to Belém with the whole Macapá zone so it was a party. We kicked it at the CDC in coqueiro and I brought my infamous "Ebenezer scrooge -ghost-of -Christmas-past" pajamas that had some of the guys dying. We got pizza and tried to sleep 20 dudes in a tiny house and it was such a time. At the Multizone I wore the legendary obesity tie my brother Luke received on his mission and passed down to me. Thing's unbelievable. Its like the size of both my hands together, fatty as tar. I wore it to the Multizone thinking I'd for sure be taking gold in the thickest tie department, until to my dismay a bunch of other goons pulled up with a legion of ties to a level of thick I had never IMAGINED before. Look at these Johns:

This should be criminal. Its simply too dangerous. No man should have so much power all to himself, it's democracy we live in. Anyways yeah not to talk about ties for too long but that was a heartbreaking part of the week for me. On a real though the Multizone was amazing lol, included more flicks with the boys down below 

As SOON as we got home from the Multizone we left our suitcases in the house and BOOKED it across the area to lessons. We were behind cause of the 2 days in Belém so we had to make up that lost time, as well as make 3 baptisms happen! That's right, we had young Pedro, his friend Guilherme, and our goat Huldeson on date for this Sunday, so we had to get all them prepped and ready in 2 days. 

Pedro & Guilherme are in the 12-14 age range so we figured its a good idea to talk to their moms and ask them for permission. We did that Friday night and they were more than supportive, it was amazing! They had their interviews and they both passed, it was going to be a great Baptism. With Huldeson, we've been teaching him for weeks now, and dudes been amped about his baptism. He typically comes to church with his sister (inactive member) and so we asked her if this Sunday works for his Baptism and she said yes. Perfect dude. 3 tisms ready to go, all we got left is to do 'em!

Sunday rolls around. We helped our buddy Tomé get to church again and when we got to the chapel we came across a probleminha: the church didn't have water. When we tried to fill the font, no water came out. It gets a little complicated to do a baptism without water. We had filled the font to a little under the knees the day before, and left the rest to fill on Sunday, but when we got there there wa'nt no water. Elder Klinger and I, buckets in hands, asked neighboring locations to the church if they had water we could use to fill the buckets. They showed us to where their taps were but when we tried to use their water THEIRS was empty too! Some wise guy thirsty and drank all the water in the city it seemed, now what do we do? The show must go on. 

Pedro and Guilherme were pretty short so we proposed the idea of just straight up taking a knee for the baptism?  wasn't the best idea but it was all we had. It was funny too cause the member who baptized them's like crazy tall so the water was up to bro's shins. Somehow the baptism still worked out, and the both of their whole families came to support too! It was such a nice baptism, they're both such good dudes and it was so good to be a part of the process. But hold up, what about Huldeson, right? Well something i gotta mention os that for the entirety of Friday and Saturday we were locked out of our WhatsApp (reoccuring issue we are having) so we didnt see many messages for 2 days sttaight. Turns out, dude sent a message Saturday night asking if his baptism could be NEXT Sunday! He didn't explain why, he just said that something came up with his fam but we took his word for it. We told him sem problemas, so hopefully this next week our boy Huldeson'll be well on the tism train. 

1 Nephi 3: 7 

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

This is an amazing scripture. It's already hyped up a ton but it's for good reason, and I've gotta give it some more love. Here our guy Nephi is demonstrating what professionals call a "go-and-do" attitude. This is a very powerful attitude and mindset. He doesn't say he will try, he doesn't say he'll think about it, he says he WILL go and he WILL do. Been really reflecting on that mentality lately. When the Lord asks me to do something, am I as willing to go and do as Nephi? Am I as determined to carry out his will as he was? The Lord loves effort, I want to be someone willing and ready to do what he needs me to do, WHEN he needs it done. Imagine trying to play a game of chess when the pieces are doing their own thing instead of moving where you want them to move. It'd YOU who can see the whole board, you can see what the piece can't and where the enemy is planning to attack. What I want to do is trust his strategy, and go and do his will at all times. I know that peace and strength comes through this, I have seen in and I will continue to. The same promise applies for those reading, take upon yourself the same mindset for a day and see the difference that it makes. Do what the Lord wants, because he wants you to be happy. 

ALSO BIG SHOUTOUT TO MY FATHER 

Love my dad, I would have no testimony about these things if my dad didn't take the time to teach em to me and prepare me for the mission first. Happy father's day to my idle and the man I want to become, best dad of all time. 

Outras coisas:

     - at the CDC we copped LaBocão twice (if ykyk how deadly that is) and we had some fallen soldiers with stomach problems the next day. So funny

     - fatty RIP to Elder Bertoch, dudes mission ended this transfer  thank you for everything taught and our time together 

     - we helped an old lady cross the street for a good 25-30 minutes. Other scouts where you at 

     - we did not win Jogos vorazes unfortunately  put in one heck of an effort though. Proud of my son for pushin'! 

Email Title is from The Beatles' "Come Together," from their album "Abbey Road"

Too lazy to put up captions for the flicks this week lol, but it was a great week!