Oi from Lago Sul !

Hey guys! I´m sure everyone is super busy at home because of school starting. It´s so weird not to be going back to school in August.

 

    We´re getting more and more used to our area, Lago Sul. It´s definitely different than all the other Brasilia areas. This week E. Parada and I were able to bring two people, Juvialdo and his wife Sandra to church with us. It makes you so happy to have people come to church with you after looking for people to teach for a whole week. After church we were able to visit with Maralene, who we met near the bus stop. She is such a happy person. I really like how open the Brazilian families are that we visit. Having two visitors over to your house you´ve never seen and inviting them to eat with you is no strange thing in her house, haha. We were able to discuss the restoration with her and she is very interested. Also, João´s mom, Maria, (the one who loves to make sure I have eaten) is very open about her beliefs and interested in ours. This week we talked to her for awhile about the concept of religion, what Christ established during his ministry on the earth, and the founding principles of His gospel. I love hearing other people´s beliefs here. It´s a great example to me--the way that the people we´ve encountered are living their lives. Speaking of such, João never ceases to teach me new things by his vision of life. His imagination is unlimited in the potential of the gospel. The more I´m able to actually converse in Portuguese, the more I can discuss things with him and learn from him. Because he has a fresh perspective on the church (being a recent-convert) he is an instrument in re-igniting the enthusiasm of the people around him about the gospel. There´s so much to learn, and there´s so much we can do to better ourselves and the world--and he´s grasped that. Sometimes my grip on my zeal for what I know is true is too loose, and he helps me tighten that grip. He and his Mom are very warm, affable people. Their natural disposition to love gives them an inherent ability to share ideas in a way that sparks interest and makes people feel good. These are things I´ve learned just from watching the people we come in contact with.  

    Alma 32:23 says that little children have words given unto them which confound the wise and the learned. I´ve always appreciated this scripture, because I have observed its truth in my family. The same principle applies to people who are new to things that are old to you. Over time, after you encounter something new and wonderful, you inevitable lose a sense of its novelty. People who still have a sense of that novelty can shed light on that which you have forgotten. I´ve realized more and more that God blesses me through the lives of others.

 

Something you might find interesting/fun/cool/whateverandstuff is that this week I got to talk with Hudson, the guy who studied computer science. In addition to an awesome collection of old books and currency, he has/had tons of computers in his basement. E. Parada and I helped him move everything out. I was privileged to see all his old computers. He had about 30. One was a Commadore 128. 512K memory. So awesome. Remember when Bill Gates was convinced the world wouldn´t need more than a few MBs of memory? We had to test some of the computers before we took them out so I replaced some RAM and stuff. It made me feel at home, haha.

 

The relief society gave us a ton of candy! I´ll attach a picture. I´m super excited to eat it.

 

Don´t be too busy starting school! Have some fun! Love you guys!

 

- Bryce