Week 22💌 - I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22

 I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22! 

Hi guys, we have officially made it to the end of another great week. It's been 22 weeks, and as of today, I am officially in the 300s for days left (399 days to be exact)! Time flies so fast on the mission.

Segunda: Pday at the mall! It was such a fun day. I bought a new dress, a shirt, sunglasses, a present for my sister, and a planner to use when I go back to school. It was fun getting to feel like a normal human being again. I love being a missionary!! But man, it was nice to feel normal.

We had our mission devotional and got 2 notifications from President Tonini. 

1: Duolingo is now banned. Duolingo offers chess lessons, and too many missionaries are just playing straight chess instead of studying a language. I wasn't surprised by this notice at all. My comp and I had actually been talking about it early in the week. I was pretty relieved,  now I have an excuse to let my streak die. 

2: My mission will no longer have Facebook Messenger. This one floored me. President gave us one more week with Messenger, so that today we can talk to our families and make the switch to WhatsApp.  But the only numbers that I am allowed to have are those of my immediate family, so the rest of you guys are going to have to send me emails if you want to talk to me. (HINT HINT). I mean, you could send them on Messenger,  I just won't see them until 2026! This rule is a bit harder for me to be excited about, because we share our WhatsApp account with our companion. I know that President is doing what he feels is best for the mission in the long run though. 

Terça: We had conselho de distrito at 10:30. We were supposed to go to lunch at 11:30... our LD is a YAPPER. We didn't get out until 12. It was so funny, everytime we thought he was done talking, he would go "Oh! Uma mais coisa!" Elder... some of us have places to be!

Lunch was really good though. It was stroganoff and cheesecake ice cream for dessert. 

We ended the night with the Noite de Integração.  Bispo asked me to give the spiritual thought, thanks for putting me on the spot! It went okay though! 

Quarta: Today was a busy day! We were running around like crazy people. The first person that we met with is Kauany. That was... an interesting lesson. Her grandma does not like that we are teaching her. When we started the lesson, her grandma wasn't in the room, and there was some soap opera on the TV. So we decided to turn it off so that everyone could hear better and feel the spirit. Like 2 minutes into the lesson, her grandma came in and sat down. She then turned the TV BACK on. Awesome. After a few minutes, we were getting to the part of the lesson where we were discussing the HG. So while grandma seemed distracted with her phone,  we turned the TV off again. Nope. No dice. She turned it on again, and then cranked up the volume.

We met with Lucia as well. She is still smoking, but she is down to 3! Her progress was 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0, 4, 3! So she is progressing! She gave us a huge bag of mangos. 

Quinta: I made American pancakes! Guys. I haven't had pancakes since the CTM, and let's be real. The CTM food isn't awesome. My comp had a box mix of Flapjacks, and a member had peanut butter. So we had pancakes with peanut butter, Nutella, bananas and/or homemade buttermilk syrup. Mapple syrup is not a thing here, but we made a pretty fire buttermilk syrup. 11/10 guys.

Sexta: I had a really good personal study this morning. I am 50% done with the New Testament,  and 30% done with the Book of Mormon! I am really enjoying reading the New Testament.  I had never read it by myself before the mission, but I am really enjoying it now.

We taught some of our lessons over WhatsApp. Because everyone who said they'd be home changed their minds. But, most of them said we could do a quick phone call. So that’s what we did. I am so grateful to live in the age of missionaries where we can do online work. Because I did not want to miss out on these appointments. 

Sabado: Guess who is sick! I started feeling crummy Sexta na noite, so I took some NiQuil. I woke up and felt like I was going to die. I AM NOT DYING!! There is just this bug that passed through the Primary kids, and I have a terrible immune system. So I spent the day dealing with body aches, a headache, chills and super congested. I told my comp after lunch that I was going to lie down for a bit, and then turned off my fan. She asked if I was nuts, and I told her that I was cold. So yeah, I am definitely a little sick.

We took it a little easier today, and ended the night with a Noite Familar.  We had a great lesson on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We watched one of the Church's addiction videos. The man talked about how it doesn't matter how many times you fall down, how many times you break the same rule and do the same stupid things. Christ will always be there to pick you up. The Atonement doesn't have a limit attached to it. Thank heavens! 

Domingo: Guess who will be playing the piano próximo Domingo... me! Thankfully not for the whole meeting. I am just going to play while a couple of primary girls sing. But still. That is what I get for eating lunch at Bispo's house! His wife saw my music note ring and asked if I sang or played an instrument.  I told her I used to play the piano. And she immediately snitched and told her husband. 

I also got a message from Sis Tonini asking if I could play in the Conferencias de Natal. Lucky me. I am going to have to spend a lot of time in the church practicing if I wanna pull this off. It has been a FAT minute since I've played. I played once in the CTM, but that was it. I didn't have a piano in college, so I'd kinda slacked off. Now I am super rusty. Let this be a word of caution to all of you: if you don't use it, you lose it. 

We had another Noite Familiar and watched the episode of The Chosen where Christ heals the man who had been waiting by the pool of water for 25 years. That episode makes me cry every. single. time. I also learned that they released the episodes about the last week of Christ's life! If you haven't seen The Chosen, go watch it! It is so good.

Spiritual Thought: Genesis 3:9 vs Moses 4:15

Genesis 3:9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Moses 4:15 And I, the Lord God, called unto Adam, and said unto him: Where goest thou?

This was something that was talked about in out Noite Familar last night. These two scriptures.  These scriptures both take place in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve partook of the fruit. Upon hearing God's voice, they were ashamed and hid themselves. Genesis is the original translation.  Moses contains the translation done by Joseph Smith through the same power and spirit that he used to translate the Book of Mormon.

What do you notice? They are almost identical, except for one word. In Genesis, God asks: "Where art though?" Isn't God supposed to be all knowing and all powerful? And if God knows everything,  how could He not know where Adam was hiding? In Moses, that word is changed. "Adam, where goest thou?" And with that change in wording, the meaning in changed.

Because God is all knowing, He knows exactly where Adam is, physically. He is less interested in his location, than He is in his progression. He wants to know where Adam is going. God knows everything. He knows where we are, and where we need to be. So he was asking Adam "Where is this road taking you?" Because it certainly wasn't taking him to God. 

One name that I love for Christ is The Good Shepard. Christ knows exactly where all of His sheep are. He knows what we are doing, what we are feeling, everything. He also knows where we should or could be. When he asks us, "Where goest thou?" He is gently trying to correct us. He is asking us to review if our actions and decisions are bringing us closer to Him, or are putting up a spiritual wall between us and Him.

I invite you all to evaluate your recent decisions.  What are you doing that is bringing you closer to Christ? What good habits have you built? Are you becoming who He needs you to be? What are you doing that is pushing you away from Him? Are you making any choices that make it harder to feel the spirit?

I know that Christ and God know everything.  I have a firm testimony in the fact that they are omnipotent.  I know that they know where we are both physically and spiritually,  and that they place things in our paths to make us think. Things that cause us to pause and ask ourselves "Where will this choice take me?" As you ponder this question, I promise that your decisions will slowly start to change. You will notice a difference in your thoughts and behaviors. You will start to find yourself becoming more aligned with the Savior.

I love you all so much! I hope that you are all happy, healthy and safe. Keep looking for miracles,  you will find them. Feel free to shoot me an email throughout the week! I am staying in the house today because I am sick, so I should have more time to answer emails (if I am awake). 

Picture time! We forgot to take a lot of pictures... so this is literally all I have. Oops!

1. PDay at the mall!

2. Such a fun pday!

3. Acai!