SO this week was pretty cool. We had a leadership meeting for everyone that is a leader in the mission. I am not in leadership but my companion is. SO we went there and pretty much the whole way of missionary work has changed. We are focusing a lot on everyone now. Keeping EVERYONE strong in the church not just less active members. Everyone. I really like this because it is important to have strength in the church in every part of every country. I will see how much this changes things of how we work. As of now not much has changed, but I know when we apply things it will change for sure. One thing that wasnt good about this meeting was that I had to pay for 3 people to get to Fortaleza and back... I lost quite a bit of money that day. PRetty sad, but we got there and back safely so thats what really matters. thats another thing that I really need to focus on. Not worrying about the little things, but enjoying the little things. Especially thinking in an eternal perspective. Thats why we are trying to get everyone to go to the temple. IT is a not only a beautiful area, but really an important place for us to go. And be strengthened and edified by it.
So everyone is asking me about my relationship with dogs here in Brazil. Well I finally was bitten by a dog this week. But dont worry it is not as bad as you are probably thinking. I was playing with this dog.. And it decided to bite my pant leg. IT was totally fine, but then it decided to go a little deeper and get my leg. I lifted up my leg and the dog was just hanging on haha. A detail that I left out is that he was about 3 weeks old and stuper cute.. IT didnt hurt whatsoever.
This week we walked a lot more than I thought we did. We have a reaaaaaallly big area... Like I dont even understand how big this area is. There are parts that I havent even seen because we would have to take a bus 20 minutes just to go there. IT is huge. But anyways we were walking a lot to obscure places in our area this week. My feet hurt haha. I have a bunch of sores on them from walking so much. When I get back I will have feet like rocks haha. Ew...
So this week I finally realized how hard it is for me to speak english. I can hardly pray in english anymore. I can type only because I get to think in my brain before I type it out. When I speak I speak super slowly and probably incorrectly at times. I hope this is a sign that my portuguese is getting better. I think it is. We are teaching better, and I am sort of starting to be able to talk to people like I would normally.. SOrt of.. But we are teaching better, So I think my portuguese is getting better. There are some things that I say that I know are wrong and I correct myself afterwards and people just seem confused. I need to stop doing this and just speak correctly. SAdly it is a lot harder to do than to say... haha.
I am trying to veer my thoughts away from me being bad for this area. Every companionship in our district has had some good success this transfer.. With at least one baptism. WE havent had one this whole time. Its hard because before I got here they had a lot of success. I guess I need to find out what I am doing wrong here.
This is definitely work. It is physical, it is mental, and for sure spiritual. I have never grown so much in these three categories At once in my life before. I know that it is changing me for the better. Something that PResident Fusco said to us in the meaning has really hit me hard. About our hearts. HE told us we have good hearts, and if people realize that and see that they will trust you and listen to what you have to say. But how do we show our hearts to people? that is the hard part. I think that I will continue to study. I care about people a lot, but at times I dont think that I show it well enough. If I dont show it how will they know? and what is the point? think about it. We all have love for people, but at times they dont know it because we dont show it.
I hope everyone had a great week this week. YOu can all confide in the fact that I am here sweating and being hot and walking a lot and trying to help people every week. You can know this with a certainty. LOve you all, miss you.
Elder Parker Hamrick
So everyone is asking me about my relationship with dogs here in Brazil. Well I finally was bitten by a dog this week. But dont worry it is not as bad as you are probably thinking. I was playing with this dog.. And it decided to bite my pant leg. IT was totally fine, but then it decided to go a little deeper and get my leg. I lifted up my leg and the dog was just hanging on haha. A detail that I left out is that he was about 3 weeks old and stuper cute.. IT didnt hurt whatsoever.
This week we walked a lot more than I thought we did. We have a reaaaaaallly big area... Like I dont even understand how big this area is. There are parts that I havent even seen because we would have to take a bus 20 minutes just to go there. IT is huge. But anyways we were walking a lot to obscure places in our area this week. My feet hurt haha. I have a bunch of sores on them from walking so much. When I get back I will have feet like rocks haha. Ew...
So this week I finally realized how hard it is for me to speak english. I can hardly pray in english anymore. I can type only because I get to think in my brain before I type it out. When I speak I speak super slowly and probably incorrectly at times. I hope this is a sign that my portuguese is getting better. I think it is. We are teaching better, and I am sort of starting to be able to talk to people like I would normally.. SOrt of.. But we are teaching better, So I think my portuguese is getting better. There are some things that I say that I know are wrong and I correct myself afterwards and people just seem confused. I need to stop doing this and just speak correctly. SAdly it is a lot harder to do than to say... haha.
I am trying to veer my thoughts away from me being bad for this area. Every companionship in our district has had some good success this transfer.. With at least one baptism. WE havent had one this whole time. Its hard because before I got here they had a lot of success. I guess I need to find out what I am doing wrong here.
This is definitely work. It is physical, it is mental, and for sure spiritual. I have never grown so much in these three categories At once in my life before. I know that it is changing me for the better. Something that PResident Fusco said to us in the meaning has really hit me hard. About our hearts. HE told us we have good hearts, and if people realize that and see that they will trust you and listen to what you have to say. But how do we show our hearts to people? that is the hard part. I think that I will continue to study. I care about people a lot, but at times I dont think that I show it well enough. If I dont show it how will they know? and what is the point? think about it. We all have love for people, but at times they dont know it because we dont show it.
I hope everyone had a great week this week. YOu can all confide in the fact that I am here sweating and being hot and walking a lot and trying to help people every week. You can know this with a certainty. LOve you all, miss you.
Elder Parker Hamrick
