WOOOO I´m so excited to be a Tio (uncle) again! Tell Bryan and Holly Congratulations for me! It´s so weird to think that by the time I return home from my mission, their baby will be over a year old and probably able to walk and stuff. Que legal! Halloween sure sounded great at home! I spent halloween here doing a division with a Brazillian elder in my district who likes to sing lots of Brazillian music and talks super fast. I can´t imagine kids going trick or treating here in the middle of the night. When we were telling a family here about that tradition, they called us crazy. ´Merica!
I´m glad you asked what kind of stuff I could really use, because I´ve kept track of a few things that would be nice to receive. You know, stuff that good ol´ Alcãntara doesn´t sell:
-Eyedrops (like eye wettening drops)
-Powerade (the powder stuff would probably be more reasonable to send)
-Glasses cleaner
-American Candy (Brazillian candy here is pretty lame, and I could really go for some sour patch kids)
Nothing else really comes to mind, but those are a few necessary ones. Writing that stuff down reminded me that I´ve been using my glasses recently! Since it has been super hot on some days, my eyes have gotten a lot more irritated and dry. One day, they were bugging me so much that they were all red and people kept telling me about it, but after I switched to glasses, everything has been better. Well, kindof. I still don´t like wearing glasses very much, but it´s better than having the eyes of Satan staring down our investigators while teaching the Restoration.
Miracles are certainly happening for Elder Grow and I. The biggest one, was that Presodent Lima gave us and the other companionship in our apartment permission to leave our area last Monday to visit Niteroí! It´s a city that´s on the east side of the mission (next to our zone), which has a good view of the bay in Rio, as well as Pão de Açucar and Christ the Redeemer statue! Photos will definitely be included in this email.
Saturday was a holiday for Brazil and a bunch of other Hispanic contries called Day of the Dead. Many people spend that day visiting loved ones and relatives in cemeteries, so as a whole mission, all the Elders and Sisters in our mission went to different cemeteries to teach people about the Plan of Salvation while many members gave out pass-along-cards. It was a super spiritual experience being able to visit people and bear my testimony of our Father in Heaven´s glorious plan of happiness. I know with all my heart that life doesn´t end with our mortal death, and that this time we have here on Earth is our time to prepare to return in the presence of our Father in Heaven. It was wonderful to see the Spirit touch the hearts of those we visited and I can´t wait to return to their homes to finish teaching them the Fulness of the Gospel of Christ.
Guess what! I´ve been doing a good job at writing EVERY SINGLE DAY in my journal. Since day 1, July 10th, that way I have something to remember the good times and hard times of my mission. Even though I was terrible doing it before my mission, I´m trying my best to make time every night to write a little, even though most nights I feel like I have nothing exciting to write.
As the snow starts to fall in Spokane, the thought of an existence of cool weather in the world is beginning to disappear for me down south. I love you all! Your prayers have not been left unnoticed, and I´m truly grateful for your love for me while I´m here.
Elder Braun
We ran into a famous actress from some Brazillian soap opera, so here´s a little taste of Brazillian heaven
for yáll. I think she looked like a Female Michael Jackson, but hey, at leadt she´s famous.
Me, Elder Grow, Elder Pinheiro, and Elder D. Silva at Niteroí
Our zone at the Cemetery activity
No comments:
Post a Comment