September 22, 2014

Well this week passed by as if it missing a few days. But in the end we had quite a few adventures! This Sunday was really special for me too- I gave a talk and sat up in the front. So I got to see all of the people in the congregation. And from there I saw almost all of the people that I've taught filling the benches. It was really cool because all of the young men who passed the sacrament on Sunday were ones that we baptized. I counted almost 4 benches full of people that we've baptized or reactivated. I feel happy and grateful because the Lord has allowed me to bless this branch so much!

Today we're in Santa Cruz with 4 other missionaries. There was a fireside last night so we stayed the night here with them afterwards. Today we did a churrasco together and it turned out pretty awesome! A member taught me once how to do it, so I went with Elder Palma to buy a bunch of meat (we bought like 5-6 pounds), coal, salt, and stuff. And then we went to grilling! September 20 was a holiday of the gaúchos (people in Rio Grande do Sul) and Elder Hortêncio did a churrasco in our house that day too! So I think I've had my share of meat for a while!

Speaking of meat, in one lunch this week Brother Daudt made fried liver for us. Well I'm not a huge fan of liver, and neither is Elder Hortêncio. Elder Hortêncio struggled to eat the liver on his plate and I realized that he'd made a LOT of liver. So I said "I love fried liver! This one is really good!" and put two more livers on my plate. I have never eaten so much liver in my life, and I don't think I plan on doing it again in the future either... but I realized that liver really isn't that bad after all. Also, if you have a lot of rice and mayonnaise, it's easier to eat liver.

And while I'm on the topic of food, I tried something new this week- we don't have a microwave, right, but we wanted microwave popcorn... so we tried to make it in the oven. I guess it might have worked out a little better if we'd remembered that we'd put it in there. Unfortunately the smoke detector remembered before we did!

I had a cool spiritual moment this week when we were walking along the highway one night. A car fell into a ditch on the side of the highway. The man wasn't driving very fast, and so the car didn't break or anything and he got out okay. But his car was stuck in the ditch. Well Elder Hortêncio and I made our way over to see what we could do. I suggested that we try to lift the car out of the ditch. Another man came over to look and he said we should call a tow truck. The car owner didn't want to do that because he didn't have money and he was in a hurry.

I suggested again that we could down into the ditch and lift the car out. They didn't think much of that idea, so I jumped down under the car to show them that it was possible. I lifted with all my strength and the car moved a little bit (no, I'm not super man I could never manage to get it out all alone). So Elder Hortêncio jumped down with me and lifted too. Seeing the car moving, the other man came down and joined us and we three managed to lift the car out.

I remembered a talk from General Conference by Elder Ucthdorf called "lift where you stand" I was reminded that we are often faced with hard problems but if we do our part and lift where we stand we can overcome them. If I had given up when I didn't manage to lift the car alone, we'd never have gotten the car out of that ditch. In the same way, when we face difficulties, we just need to continue with our part because other people will be able to learn from our example and help. Anyway, Elder Uchtdorf explains all of that better than I do, so read his talk! (Speaking of general conference, I heard that in this conference, everyone will speak in their native language, which means, I think, that Elder Uchtdorf, for example, will speak in German!)

In a lesson this week an older woman was listening from a different room. In the middle of the lesson, she interrupted us and asked if she could buy a bible from us. I told her that we give people bibles and she responded asking to have mine. Well that put me in a bind because the only bible I had with me was my personal bible and it's pretty special to me. So I reached into my bag and gave her a Book of Mormon, telling her that it was a book of scripture, like she'd asked. She accepted it without complaint so that becomes the easiest book of Mormon I’ve ever planted!

I'm loving the work here in Rio Pardo and hope y'all are all good!

Elder Jasperson