Week 64 Obidos

Hey Y'all! Tudo bem!? 

This week was a good one and a fast one! We baptized our friend Junio! And we found some really elect people that are progressing really well! And one of our couples set the day they will get married and the date of the baptism! So overall we're just thriving here in Óbidos! 

This week our friend Junio introduced us to his friend, Roberto, and let me tell you, it was a blast! He is a Senhor, he is a Brasilian cowboy and is more than 70 years old! He took us to his home and showed us everything because he is reconstructing all of it and it is honestly pretty nice! And then he showed us his bird and let us hold it! And then he took us to his little freezer to show us a unique fruit and a fish that is probably almost 100 pounds! Its so big that he literally can't eat it all at once so he'll cut off parts and eat those parts. The fish will probably last one whole week. 

Óbidos is really a special place and I am so grateful that I get to serve the wonderful people here! 

This week I would like to share a scripture with y'all that is pretty special to me! It's kinda long but its good! It says: 

         17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

        18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

        19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

There are so many amazing things in this scripture! I honestly could talk about it for like an hour, but I will withold for now. I really loved the part at the beginning of verse 19 that says "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious." I think the promise of one day being "glorious" is pretty special and pretty unique! God loves so much that he will help us to become glorious! Even better than all of you already are! So, to recieve this blessing we need to receive all things with thankfulness! I think that this is something small but I think it has potential to make a huge difference in our life and in the world! Many of you participated in President Nelson's (God's prophet on Earth today) #givethanks invitation! I think those who participated saw just how many blessings they really have and how much the Lord has blessed them! I know that if all of us have a grateful heart, and share our gratefulness the world will be a better place and everyone of us who participates will be a whole lot happier and will one day be made Glorious! 

Now the pictures! 

1. I'll start with the great steaks here! 

2. The cool bird we got hold! Its pretty young, it only has 4 months! 

3. The closeup of the bird! 

4. Here I am learning to be and act like a Brasilian Cowboy  

5. Irmão Junio 

6. Another one of irmão Junio but with his wife, Irmã Regina 

7. Baptism!  

8. Last one of the baptism! Irmão Junio is such an awesome and elect guy! 

This is about all for this week! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

 

 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer. 

 

 

Week 63 Obidos

 

Hey Y'all! Tudo bem!? 

Man, this week was sooo good! So many miracles and I am soooo glad that I have the opportunity to serve these people! They are so amazing and so humble! 

Earlier this week we walked about 30 minutes outside of town to a man we are teaching from Valenzuela! He lives on a farm outside of town and he also really doesn't speak portuguese! So that has been really awesome to get to know him and to speak with him! Sometimes he'll just go off in spanish when he gets passionate about something! But I have loved talking with him and I have seen that I am understanding him better than my comp and another Brasilian that visited with us! If that isn't the gift of tongues I don't know what is! 

We also visited a family that I believed has changed my life! The have 4 kids, ages 12, 9, 5, and 2! The first day we arrived we played with the kids with a bottle cap of a coca cola bottle! That was their choice of toy! They are all so incrediably and I have already developed such a deep love for them! The family has been struggling with a lot of things and they just want to follow Jesus and get baptized! We are working a lot to help them and I would appreciate prayers for them! So if you could offer up a prayer for Rosinaldo and Mária José I would appreciate it and I think they would appreciate it too! 

This week I studied a lot in the war chapters in Alma in the Book of Mormon! And in alma 48 verse 10 stood out to me. It says "And thus he was preparing to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God, and that they might maintain that which was called by their enemies the cause of Christians." Here the leader of an army was preparing the people for war! And the reason was not so that he could do cool things and go fight others, or so that he could say he fought a war! He did it because it was necessary to preserve the peace, liberty, happiness, and family, and so that they could worship their God! And I think today many of these same things are at risk! And while today we oftentimes are not fighting a physical war but a mental war! A spiritual war! Sometimes even a war in our family! The battles are a lot more personal today! And all of us need to prepare so that we can fight successfully the battles in our life! And luckily we have a guard on the watchtower in our life! The prophet of God is here to guide us to victory in our individual battles! And like Moses, the prophet, Russell M Nelson is guiding us tour individual promised lands! So always follow the prophet! 

Now pictures! 

1. This week we passed by some houses above the amazon river! 

2. The amazon rainforest! E também aqui pareço gordinho 

3. One of our ideas to find more people this week! Our chapel was giving away the covid vaccine and so we put a table in front and contacted a ton of people! 

4. And now I got vaccinated here in Brasil! 

5. A vacina 

6. It's just us the cow and the field 

7. Another view of the houses on the amazon river 

8. Here in the Amazon the cities don't have Jesus statues like they do in other places! But they are building a cell tower here and everyone jokes that it is their Jesus statue of the Amazon! Also, great sunset! 

This is qbiut all for this week! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer.

Week 62 Obidos

 

Hey Y'all! Tudo bem!? 

So yeah, this week my comp and I got emergency transferred to another area! So there is an area in our zone that had sisters. It's an amazing area and we'll just say it started to get too dangerous for sisters, so our mission president called us on Wednesday and asked us how we were doing and how the work is going. I excitedly told him about all the miracles we have been seeinh and how excited we were, and he said "That's wonderful elder! Look, there is a great house in Óbidos, really big, really nice, I'll send you photos right now." And in that moment I knew that I was gonna be leaving to Óbidos. To say we were a little sad would be an understatement. My comp and I were having a lot of success and loving our area! But I have learned here to do the Lords work without complaing, so on Friday night we took the 7+ hour boat ride to Óbidos! It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience to take a boat down the amazon river and to live in a lottle town in the amazon! 

Except that we arrived in the port at 3 am and it was only a 10 minute stop, so we ran and carried all of our stuff and got a taxi to our house and we arrived in our house at 4 am. It was a pretty exciting night! And the next day we got to know the area only a little and we worked a lot to contact people on whatsapp. The sisteres only left a list of their 10 people that were progressing the most, and thats it! So we have been working a lot to get to know the area! 

But I am already loving this area! When we were arriving we saw some cows that were up to there knees on the amazon river! Here it is just normal to go take a swim in the river or go fishing or hunting early in the morning to get your lunch! It's all so amazing to me! I am already loving it all! 

This week I studied a lot about humility, and in my experience when you study humility the Lord will find a way to really show your weaknesses, not only to you but to everyone! And I wasn't really liking that, so I studied and pondered a lot, why? Why is humiliation the only way to be more humble!? And I found a lot of great scruptures, and I refound a scripture that I have not read in a lot of time! Ether 12:27! My favorite scripture! And I learned 2 things, 1 is that the Lord has already helped me better my weaknesses a lot! And I am still finding a lot of weaknesses in myself and then I realized, that when the Lord points out our weakness, he is really saying "hey, I am showing you this because I know you can be better. I can turn this around for you, to really be one of your strengths!" I realized that the Lord is just showing us perfect and individual love! He really has a magnificient vision for each and every one of us! We just need to turn to him in humility and he will show us our weaknesses and help us to turn them around! And one day we will look back and realize that all of those weaknesses have turned into strengths and we have started becoming the person that God wants us to become, the person we were designed to be! 

Now pictures! 

1. We visited the docks in Santarém last Monday! 

2. Another pictures of the docks in Santarém 

3. The back of the boat before we left 

4. In this one we were on top of the boat 

5. Us with the port behind us

6. Goodbye Santarém  

7. President said we could rent a cabin since it was so last minute, but I think that the future trips we'll be sleeping in a hammock 

8. Another boat on the river at night 

9. Woohoo, arrived at our front door at 4 am, woot woot 

10. A giant frog that was on our door. I poked it and it jumped onto my head and then onto my bag and then the ground and jumped away 

11. Saturday morning I woke up and took this photo of our area. Its a little more rural 

12. First lunch here in Óbidos was really good! 

13. My comp last night. I was calling another companionship of missionaries to see how there week was and afterwards I looked back and I saw that he was asleep with a rubicks cube on his eye I love elder Caldeira 

14. He took this photo of me yesterday just chillin and sending messages to people, almost all day that was a little different than how we normally worked but its all good now, we should be good to go for the rest of this week! 

This is about all for this week! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer. 

Week 61 Santarem

Hey Y'all! Tudo bem!? 

My week was a pretty good one and a pretty basic one! We worked a lot in our area and we we had a lot of fun! We saw a lot of miracles this week and I am excited for this upcoming week! 

Earlier this week we were waiting at the bus stop, so that we could take the bus to our lunch, for like 25 minutes and my comp says "hey elder, I forgot my mask" so we start heading home to get his mask and we see the bus for our lunch pass the stop! So I am a little frustrated, we were running late and so was the bus and now we had to walk all the way home, just to walk all the way back to the bus stop again. So we do that, me and my comp both put two extra masks in our bags so that we won't forget the next time. And we wait for the bus again and finally we take the bus to our lunch. By this time we are running almost an hour late, which isn't good because that means that a family has been waiting on us so that they could eat. but we are finally on the way, almost there, and some white car stops us and the guy inside rolls down the window and asks, in english(although I didn't realize it at the time), "are you American?" Haha, I replied and we started talking. He said he wanted to move to Utah, and he heard that in Utah they have a lot of our churches. He explained that he wants to get to know our church and visit it! We were pretty stoked and now we are teaching him and helping him prepare for baptism! Also he delivered lasanga to us on saturday night, for free, so thats just another blessing! Also, if we hadn't had that little frustrating hour of forgetting things and walking back and forth we wouldn't have ever taught or met this guy! So really the Lord blesses us in our trials and many times through our trials!  

This week my comp and I shared 1 Nephi 3:7 with a lot of people and it is really one of my favorites! Imagine, the Lord tells you and your family to leave your city by foot and walk for a really long time, like weeks or months! And then you get to a good spot and God says, "ha, jk, you gotta go back to grab something you could have gotten before you left, I just didn't tell you about it" that would be a very dificult situation! I don't know if I would have had the faith to deal with it! But I love the faith of Nephi, he said "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." How powerful! The Lord will always provide a way! Many times the way is already prepared! We just need to have the faith necessary to find His path and stay on it. To trust that he already made the way, our job is to humbly find it! I know that the Lord provides a way so that we can all accomplish what we need to, with faithful action! 

Now pictures! 

1. My comp snapped this picture at a lunch without me knowing somehow 

2. Alter do Chão! It is starting to dry, so in about a month there will be a whole lot of Beach! I love visiting here and the hour long bus ride is always an experience! Haha, the bus is always full of people, almost to the point where they can't close the doors  

3. Idk if y'all can see it but this time there is less water than the last time I was there 

4. An ugly horse 

5. The horse looking a little cooler while stomping my comp 

6.  So, the sun was really bright and we couldn't see the phone when we took this picture 

7.  Residencial Salvação é um lugar muito legal! 

8. The lasagna that our investigator delivered to us! 

This is all for now! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Week 60 Santarem

 

Hey Y'all! Tudo bem!? 

This week was a pretty wild week! To start out, this week was transfers, so I left my companion in the airport Tuesday, he got transferred to Belém, and I spent the day with the other elders here in Santarém. And then, on Wednesday, I went to the airport to get my son, Elder Caldeira. After that it was basically a regular week! We visited a lot of people and shared a lot of experiences with him! 

Somthing I have noticed this weel is how far I have come as a missionary and disciple of Christ. Before, with the other people I trained, I couldn't really see it, but for some reason with Elder Caldeira it is a lot easier to see my progress, because I remember when I was in His shoes, when I was lost as a new missionary, and now I have the chance to help him get out the same place that I was in, and I am learning a lot with it! But I am loving it and my time here in Santarém! 

This week I read in 2 Nephi 33, and here Nephi, a prophet, is struggling a lot, and in faith he says "I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry." I love this, and I relate to this. Sometimes all that we know know to do is cry unto God knowing that with Him, you can face and win your current challenge. And the testimony, "I know that he will hear my cry" the Lord will hear our prayers and especially our cries to him, he will remember. 

Now pictures! 

1. The sleeping situation on monday night. Do you like our wall of fans? 

2. Guarana Jesus! It is the best! Here in Brasil, any food or drink with "Guarana" in the name is absolutely amazing. 

3. Meu filho!! 

4. A cute little puppy that we got to see in one of our visits 

5. A sweet truck and view on a rainy morning 

6. Taking a little break 

7. Here we were leaving our house right when the rain started! I love it when that happens! 

8. Just chillin during a break 

9. Today we climbed the mont again! 

10. Uma outra foto acima da cidade 

11. Be the person that God designed you to be, I had never thought about it, but probably designed all of us with a purpose, and now we need to fulfill the purpose of our design

This is all for now! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer.