Patience and Advice

 So, update we got the results back but, we have one more meeting this Friday to find out what the final outcome is. So, I should have a set plan by Friday but that could always change (I think that my mission president likes to keep me on my toes). 

This week was a more eventful week for us we got to go to the temple and get lunch with all the missionaries and made a video for the ward we are in. 

 

Temple 

So, the temple was amazing it was probably the best experience I've had yet. It was just very relaxing and gave me time to step back and just forget about the whole knee thing and focus on helping others and learning in a house of the lord. 

 

Video/service game 

So, we decided to do a little activity for our ward and them members because we can't visit them. So how it works is we made a dessert for a family and the catch is that when they receive to, they have 2 days to do a dessert or a present for another family and it goes on until Christmas. We made a video to explain it and gave an example I'll add it here If I can and if not, I'll add it to my Google drive. 

 

Things are getting better thank you all for your prayers. I love you all and am very grateful for all of you. 

 

PHOTOS

I'll add them here when we get it all loaded, should be later today. 

 

Just Waiting for Results

 

So right now, we’re just waiting to get results from the doctor (we got the x-ray, but it didn’t show anything so just waiting on the MRI). I went on Saturday and should know by tomorrow what's going on. Other than that, we just stayed home all week lots of fun stuff. 

 Doctors visit 

So, when I went to the doctor, they gave me a bunch of stuff I had to fill out about my knee, and it was very difficult to understand what was going on because it was all medical terms which I don't know. So, it was a lot of asking one of the ladies to explain it and at one point she was just like you can just skip this and talk to the doctor when you get in. So, it was a fun time it was actually really fast, I got an x-ray and an MRI in less than an hour. 

 God's will not ours 

Every week we do a study of a book called preach my Gospel which helps us be better missionaries and understand how we can help people in the best way. This week's study was about prayer and the power it has. One of the biggest takeaways for me was about how God has a plan for us and he is going to do what is best for us. So, with prayers we can have faith and want things to happen but if it's not the will of God it won't happen and that's ok because he has a plan for us that is better than any plans we could think of ourselves and sometimes we just need to trust him. It won't always be easy, and we might not always understand but it's all for the best and one day we will look back and be thankful. 

 Division 

This week the zone leaders came to do a division with us and me and Elder Godoy spent the day worming on my Portuguese and telling story's because we couldn't do a lot more because of my knee. But it was good for my companion to be able to get out of the house and walk around. 

 Love you all have a great week and I'll keep everyone updated!!

-Elder Amata

 

PHOTOS

We've been making a lot more food too. 

                                         

Building a Dresser

 

Forgot to send this last week  

 This week I started building a dresser, we got a lot of studies in and that's pretty much it. Now were just waiting to get an appointment to the doctor:)

 Building a dresser 

So, since we've had to stay in the house for these past 4 days and are staying there until I get my exams, so we've had a lot of time. We are starting to build a dresser we found the only problem is we don't have instructions. Soon we've been doing our best and it's turned out pretty good so far, but it's also taken a lot longer then it probably should. One of the cool things I noticed is that even if the start is hard the more you try to put things together the easier it gets. I did 2 drawers the first one I messed up a lot and it took almost an hour and a half but the second one it only took 30 minutes and looked way better. So, with that I remembered that some things just take time and the more we try and the more we do the easier it gets. 

 Staying in house 

It honestly been pretty difficult we can't really visit people because they live to far to walk, and I think we'll be in the house for the next week so if anyone has Ideas of what we could do I would love the help. 

 That's it for this week, love you guys I'll keep everyone updated 

Staying in Lago Azul...Maybe

 

So, this week was a tough one, my knee has been getting worse again and I got a little sick. The sickness is getting better thanks to some good tea and passion fruit juice. Things are getting better with my knee too. I went to the doctor, and he helped me a little and I'm supposed to talk to some more people this week to figure out what I can do. 

 KNEE

So, things with my knee have gotten a little worse and it made things a little harder with the work and stuff. I got to the point where we had to go to the doctor again to see what I can do to help it and they gave me some stuff but it's not going super good it's helping a little, so I guess with time we'll see. But after talking with family and other missionaries I figured that it should get better eventually and as long as I don't puss it too hard it should heal with time. I do know that whatever happens that the lord has a plan, so it'll be good. 

 TRANSFERS

So, I'm staying in Lago Azul for now, but I might get moved because of how the area is with my knee so I guess we'll see. We might just try to move houses and that would help a lot. I would be a little sad if I left just because of how much progress we've been making but also, I cannot handle walking 4 hours a day on my knee so well find out soon. 

 ZONE CHURRASCO 

We had a BBQ in our zone this week too. It was great I forgot to take pictures but after they played football and basketball, and we got milkshakes. Very good. 

 That's pretty much all I can think of this week. I’ll try and do better with remembering and writing interesting stuff down but for now here are the pics.

 Love you all, have a great week and have a great Thanksgiving!

 

-Elder Amata

Mission Tour

 

So, this week we had a mission tour which is different from what I thought it would be. We went to the temple and an old lady let me name her cat. 

 MISSION TOUR

We had a general authority come to our mission to give us some words of wisdom and advice on how we can utilize our time better and focus on the people who are needing help. We are using a lot more of the book of Mormon to teach people too and focusing on how people can feel the spirit and know that this is the church of God through the book of Mormon. It explains more about this in Moroni 10:3-5 go give it a read. 

 TEMPLE

Having the opportunity to go to the temple was amazing. It is absolutely beautiful in there you can really tell that it is a house of God. I want to invite everyone who receives this email to go to the temple. Just search Temple of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and one should come up. 

 TITO

We have a new member, and her name is Adriana, and she is probably 60ish years old, and we go to her house every week to read the book of Mormon with her and do a little study session. She told us that her cat just had kittens and we could name one, so the little cat’s name is Tito which apparently means power? I don't think it actually does but she said it does so we're going with it. 

 Love you guys have a great week and do something nice for someone else this week. 

-Elder Amata

 

Google photos 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mdFN5cxsLANs1HkQ9

Mudancas

 

This week was great we had a ton of rain but it's also super hot. We had stake conference, and our mission president came and talked, and we are passing our P-Day over here with a ton of other missionaries. 

 PRESIDENT SANTOS

I love this man he is amazing. He talked during stake conference and after he got all of the missionaries in our zone and gave us some words of wisdom to help us in our work. He is always talking about duck too and makes the quack sound a lot. 

 RAIN

It has been very rainy almost every day. Working in the rain is way better because it cools us of, the only bad part is when we have lessons or when we get home and are just super wet. But I'd much rather work in the rain then the hot sun. 

 ACCIDENTS 

So, we saw 2 crazy things happen this week I won't go too much in detail, but we saw 2 ambulances and we saw the actual accident that happened, so it was a little frightening. But we're all good nothing too bad.

 MUDANÇAS 

We learned a lot this week and have a lot we are going to move so I'll let you guys know how it goes. 

 Photos 

So, I'll add the photos from the week but I'm just going to put the link for Google photos in all my email now.

 

Mini MTC

 

Not a lot happened this week that I can think of, training is going pretty decent, his Portuguese is getting a lot better, but we've been a little behind on the work. But this week we're going to go get it done. 

MINI MTC

This week we had a stake mini mtc which is like a mini missionary preparation class, so it was very fun. We had about 35 kids there all from 16-18 from 6 different areas. We did some practices and let them teach some lessons. They seemed to have a good time, so I think it went well. 

 TRAINING UPDATE 

Training is going well were both learning a lot we, we are going to try and speak in Portuguese more so hopefully he can learn more. He's been doing better with talking to more people and being able to answer some questions they have. 

 That's it for this week we had a big p day with 8 people doing soccer and volleyball, so we played for a long time. I'll send a better email next week, love you guys. 

 PHOTOS 

I Forgot to take photos this week and my companion is having troubles with his phone so he can't send them to me.

  -Elder Amata 

Storms of Brazil

 

This week we had some crazy stuff happen. We had the craziest storm I've ever seen, had a bunch of stomach problems, and stuff with our house go off. But it was still a good week, and we had a great time, my companion Elder Andrus has 3 weeks in the field and already has some of the craziest stories. 

 STORM

So, this storm we had was absolutely crazy, the day started off with super sunny and hot I got a good burn. But in that same day it started to rain, and we love Rain, so we were hoping for more and we definitely got it, it started hailing then had super strong winds and tons of lightning super close. We had to run home in the middle of the worse part, we got to our area and all the roads were flooded and we had water up to our calf. It was so fun though we were living our best lives. 

 SICK 

So, we got a pretty bad stomach bug and we're out of commission for a day or 2 then just had a little bit of suffering but we got some really good food given to us to help and also some açaí that always helps. We also made some homemade doughnuts. Having the power and water go out made it a little worse when trying to get better. 

 I can't really remember anything else but there's a lot going on that I'll fill you guys in better next week.

-Elder Amata

 PHOTOS

So, we've been doing a lot more videos that don't load so I'll make a Google photos for everyone. 

Forgot to Send This Last Week

 Ok so first this email didn't send because last week we were having lost of trouble with the Internet I did not miss it. 

 This week I've had a lot more to do. With training my companion, he is already talking really well but he doesn't understand everything so it's been a lot more dependent on what I can understand. It's been a little more challenging, but it's been a great growing opportunity my Portuguese is sky rocketing. 

  PUTTING IN THE WORK

So, this week we've been absolutely working our butts off. We have been having to go around and confirm all the addresses of the people we have on our map because everyone was wrong, so we were running around doing that. Then we also found a lot of new people too that are really cool. Unfortunately, none of them could make it to church but they said they wanted to so that's good, we'll find out next week. 

 TRAINING UPDATE

So Elder Andrus has been picking up Portuguese really well and can almost do a contact with people alone now. It's been a little difficult to know what to teach him, but we've been getting it done. I've had to talk a lot and really make sure I focus to not miss anything, so it's been super helpful for me too. 

 Honestly, that's pretty much it not a whole lot to update on just been getting up and getting out to everywhere. Had a cool meeting with the leaders of the church here and told them our plans and what we need help with it went well.

 PHOTOS

Training an American

 This week was crazy we had a lot happen we had transfers so went spent have the week saying goodbyes and the other half meeting new people. I'm trying Elder Andrus from Lehi, Utah and we moved to a new area. 

 NEW AREA, LAGO AZUL 

This new area has a lot of people, and the area is giant. We came into it having no one to teach and are going to have to basically start new. There is lots of hills and we have people in the north then 2 hours down we have people in the south, so we are already walking a lot I hope I don't kill my newbie. I think the weirdest part is that in English it translates to blue lake but there are no lakes here. 

 TRAINING

So, my companion finished the missionary training center Friday, and we started working on Saturday. His Portuguese is pretty good speaking wise but it's hard for him to understand what the people are saying and sometimes he asks me, and I don't even know so these next few weeks will be fun. If any of you have tips or tricks send them my way. 

 HELPING WITH TEMPLE ORDANCES 

On Wednesday we were walking around the temple, and we decided to talk to a lady that was walking around. It turned out to be the temple president’s wife and she said they need people to help with some of the ordinances that happen in the temple, so we were able to help her. The ordinances that happen are to help people who have passed away receive an opportunity to make covenants with God because we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn about God and receive his glory and promises. This is one thing I thought about a lot when I was inside and we need to be doing more on both sides, we need to start giving people the opportunity to learn about God right now, but also people who are able to and have the ability to do temple work need to be helping. We have people who have died and are waiting to receive these ordinances. (If this doesn't make since reach out to me or the missionaries and we can explain more about what we believe) 

 That's pretty much it a lot happen but we're running out of time, so I'll see you guys next. 

 -Elder Amata 

A Week of Special Experiences

 

So much happened this week I don't even know what to write. We had a lot of special experiences, and we had some crazy things happen. General conference happened this week and it was really good. Long story's but I think it's worth a read. :)

 

CRAZYNESS

So, this week we had a lot of crazy things happened. We were teaching a lesson and the guy we were teaching started to have a seizure, so we were able to catch him before he fell and give him a blessing, and he turned out OK. It was really cool experience and we’re going back tomorrow to check on him.

Also, we were sitting down waiting because all of our lessons fell through and no one was home, so we said a prayer asking that we would be able to find someone and out of nowhere who we hear a voice, and it was a lady that we did a contact with but couldn’t find her house so we didn't return. She asked if we were waiting for her, and we were like yes absolutely and she invited us to her house to teach a lesson. But I kid you not we said amen and she was like oiii meninos and I swear she came out of nowhere. 

 

BEING ABLE TO HELP

I'm not sure if this will make sense but it's hard to explain because it happened in Portuguese so good luck. And I know it's long my bad. 

This week I was able to help a lot more with one of the people we are teaching, and it means a lot to me because I can’t always understand or help people as well as others. She has read the book of Mormon and has a strong testimony, but she really likes the church she's going to. Her mom and her sister are both members. And she really likes the church, but she didn't know what to do. In between sessions of general conference, we went to visit her to invite her to watch. She ended up coming with us and watching the night session on Saturday. After she said she had a question for one of the other missionaries and she wanted him to be sincere but would ask him the next day. So, the next day in between the afternoon and evening session, we went back to answer her question. We were at her house talking to her and her mom. trying to answer this question for about an hour. Her question was why we kept coming, why we kept teaching and weren't giving up. After one of the missionaries responded the best, he could he told me to tell her what I thought. The first thing I did was, I asked her why she had this question in her head. She said that she felt a spirit, a good feeling about us visiting her and about the church and the things we're teaching so I told her that she already had her response it's because of this feeling, the spirit. She has a lot of questions and doubts and wanted a response right away, so I told her that sometimes we don't always receive responses right away. But with the prophet and the apostles speaking to everyone it might be a way for her to receive an answer. I reminded her that we loved her, and the savior loves her more and we are here to demonstrate the savior's love for others. And this is the work that we need to do as missionaries and as members of the church, we need to be able to demonstrate this savior's love for others because sometimes people have a hard time feeling the savior's love. I know for a fact that the holy ghost helped me to say these things because I know Portuguese, but she understood everything I was saying exactly. Before we entered, we didn't know what the question was, what we would say, or what we would do, but we were able to respond the best we could and she is still having a hard time she's really confused and I know with time she will figure these things out and she will find happiness. Sometimes we need to just do everything that we can, and the Lord will take care of the rest, but until we give it our all we cannot stop. She came to the night session for about 20 minutes and after she had to leave because she had other things to do but she came over and told me thank you for inviting me I don't know what I feel but your heart can be calm I will continue to look for responses. This was very special to me, and I wanted to share it because we cannot give up on people even if we can't help them anymore, just showing love for them is the least we can do. 

 

PHOTOS

We ate jackfruit. 

Got pizza after conference. 

It's Hot Here

 

This week went by so fast we did so much this week. Had some cool experiences and worked our butts off. Forgot to take more pictures but I got a few. 

 SERVICE PROJECT 

This Thursday we had a service project and it turned out to be way more than we were told, and I got fried, I looked like a lobster after. But it was good because she gave me a tie that's pretty cool and did a BBQ for us, so it was sweet. 

 

WORKING IN THE HEAT 

It's been in the high 90s this week and it's been killing us. But also, we've been going a lot further in our area and working more so it's kind of our fault. But with going further in us we found some really cool people. One Lady said she had a Dream or received revolution that 2 men in white would visit her and then the next day there we were. So good stuff in hot works. 

 

EXPLORING 

We found a lot of cool places this week. We went to a mini waterfall, found a cool mural with fish and stuff, and we explored a route where it's dirt roads and pretty much abandoned we've been 3 times and seen 1 person so it's relaxing.