An American Cowboy In Italy

 Micah is incredibly proud to be an American. He loves our founding fathers and everything they fought to establish, a land of liberty, a place of freedom for all people, one nation under God. He has the constitution downloaded on his phone and has read it many times. One of his greatest historical heroes is George Washington. When Micah was 14 or 15 he bought George Washington's book, "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation".  

When Micah sees where much of modern America is, the morals and values that have been trampled, and how many of his peers are being sold to the propaganda and lies seeking to tear our Country apart it saddens him deeply and only strengthens his resolve to stand up for the goodness and truth this land was established to protect. I'm so proud of him for this. He is a light in the dark! He strives to be kind to others even if they disagree but he will not back down on the things he knows to be true.

When his History Teacher began planning this tour to France and Italy, she warned Micah not to stand out too much in Europe because they don't really like Americans there. Micah obviously didn't listen. He didn't care if he wasn't liked. He's not ashamed because he knows the truth of why America came to be and when others understand that, they know that this land was established by God, to be a beacon of hope for all people on this earth. 

So, with that introduction... here is an American cowboy in Italy. 👇

Also, while Micah was on the trip, he met a couple students from the state of Washington there, Hans and Cayden. Hans is a  practicing Lutheran and Cayden, she is a believer in Christ but doesn't attend any church. They had several discussions on the topic of God and religion and some of the things Micah shared caused Hans to see things in a new light. Cayden expressed a similar sentiment and they both told Micah he will be a great missionary in Mexico. They have all shared their contact information and plan to stay in touch. Who knows where that contact will lead them. It's exciting to think about. I'm so proud of Micah!!

Micah, Cayden, and Hans

4th Week with Sister Alves - Ô RAIVA!

Sister Alves has this thing she likes to do while we're walking down the street. She picks these little green fruit things (I don't know what they are) and will throw them at me while we're walking. I have also picked up this habit, and now it's a bit of a battle as we walk down the street chucking fruit at each other.

Sister Casperson and Dias had a baptism this last week, and they invited our whole district. So Sister Alves and I, and Elder Letherwood and Sanchez joined them for the baptism. But not only did we join them, we sang "When I Am Baptized" while Elder Letherwood played the ukelele. From that moment on, we decided to refer to our district as "Banda Anhanguera" (Anhanguera Band). 

While teaching a lesson to an investigator, Matheus, we asked him if he had done what we asked and prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He told us he had forgotten, but he had fervently apologized to Joseph about it. Sister Alves and I just sat there like, " No, no, no, no, Matheus. You don't pray to Joseph, my friend. You only pray to God."

He was a little confused, but he's got the right spirit.

We ate waffles with Mariana and her mom, Lourdes, again this week, and it was Sister Alves' first time eating waffles. She approved 100% of this food, and we've decided that we're going to eat waffles every day for breakfast when she comes to live with me while she studies in the United States.

We talk a lot about this because her family wants her to study in the United States. Apparently, if she speaks English and has a degree from a college in the States, she has way more open doors for her in Brazil. I told her when the time comes for her to come out and study, I'll be her ticket in.

It should be a good time, all things considered.

We had interviews with President Card because transfers are next week. That's a little strange to say, but it's true.

I asked him for some advice in our area because nearly every day, the visits Sister Alves and I have planned run out unfortunately early. When I told him this, he asked me when the last time I just stopped in the road and prayed for direction was. It wasn't recently enough, so I, with Sister Alves, decided to try and put it into practice.

Inevitably, a few days later, we ran out of visits again, so we followed President Card's advice and stopped to offer a prayer. We asked that He would light up a door, or a person, or one of the little dots in our Area Book to help us find one more person before we went home. When we finished the prayer, we sat and thought for a moment before Sister Alves got distracted by a cat sitting inside the gate of the house next to us. While she pet the cat, I decided to clap. A woman named Rosana answered, and we introduced ourselves. She actually stopped making dinner to listen to us.

Now, she's part of the Church of the Holy Spirit or something like that, so nothing crazy happened, but that's not the point. We had our prayer answered within seconds of ending it. No, God didn't light up a door or send an angel to point our the direction we should go, but He new exactly how to get Sister Alves' attention, and we found one last person just as we had asked.

Last thing here:

THEY REPRINTED PREACH MY GOSPEL, and they changed a lot. I'm quite excited for this new version.

While reading through it, something caught my attention that quite frankly blew my mind.

Pay attention to the wording of these paragraphs found in chapter 4:

Old version:

Gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are special spiritual blessings that the Lord gives to worthy individuals for their own benefit and for their use in blessing others. For example, missionaries who must learn a new language may receive the gift of tongues to give them divine help in learning a language.

New version:

The Lord gives us gifts of the Spirit to bless us and to use in blessing others. For example, missionaries who learn a new language may receive the gift of tongues to give them divine help to teach others in their native language.

 

Do you see the change???  I'm learning Portuguese to receive divine help and learn how to teach in ENGLISH??

And...Kaylee Is At Girl's Camp

 Kaylee has been at Girl's Camp this same week Micah is in Europe.  Here's a few pics of Kaylee at camp...

All while Kaylee is at camp, Miriam in Brazil, and Micah in Europe, ... Chandler is flying out to his cousin's wedding in Kentucky. This is Chandler's very first time flying in a plane that he'll actually land in. The other two times he has flown, he's jumped out.... with the skydiving team of course. ;) 

It's so weird having one child at home. 

Speaking of home... Joseph has been working remote the last couple years but they'll be mandating him to go into his office near the Riverwoods three times a week starting next week. I think he'll like the change-up. Plus, it will give him a chance to walk. There's a pretty trail that goes under Center Street he takes home.

And speaking of work... I took Amillia to my work at the Lab a couple of times this past week since she's been so bored without anyone around. She really seems to like that. She thinks my job looks a lot more fun than Dad's... I have to agree. 

As for this moment, I just took MJR TOM to the car wash. Amillia had fun with the pressure hose... 

...and now, I'm catching up on my blog while watching Amillia and her friend, Stela, swim at our Orem Rec. Center. 

Meanwhile... Micah is in France

 Micah flew to France with his Senior Year history teacher and some other students on Monday.  He has never flown on a plane or traveled outside the country before so I was extremely excited for him to do this! 

He'll be in France a few days and then head over to Italy. Micah loves Roman history with a passion, so he is especially excited about the second half of the trip. He's the only guy in his group. The girls on the trip aren't his type at all but he gets along really well with Miss Pack, his teacher. 

Being his first time ever flying, his teacher messaged me this morning, "I can't tell if Micah's grin was wider when taking off on the plane, or seeing the statues at the Louvre.😂"

Touring the Sainte Chapelle

More pictures coming later.... 

3rd Week with Sister Alves - 4 minute Miracle and Pictures From the Week

While we visited over Messenger on Monday, Miriam told us about a four-minute miracle:

 A few days ago, she and Sister Alves had to take an Uber to a meeting that was 45 minutes away. The whole time the sisters rode with the Uber driver they felt strongly to start a gospel discussion but neither of the girls could muster the courage to say anything. So, they sat mostly in silence or just chatted with each other. In the final four minutes to their destination, Miriam finally asked the driver, "Have you ever wondered what your purpose is in life and why you're here?" The driver paused and responded affirmatively, "I have been thinking about that a lot actually but I have never found the answer."

"Well, we have the answer," she said happily as she gave the driver a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with their contact number. The man seemed sincerely interested. And later that day, they received a text from him checking if he had their number right. That was encouraging! 

Then on the following Sunday, the 18th, HE SHOWED UP TO CHURCH! And get this... After the meetings were over, he shared how impressed he was that so many questions of his were answered in just a short amount of time. To top it off, he is planning on visiting again this coming Sunday. Such a miracle! 

It was a lesson to Miriam to boldly strike up conversations when she feels impressed. She hates to think what would have happened if she let those final four minutes in the Uber get away without saying a word.

I'm sure she'll share this story in her own words some time. I've probably missed some details but it's the gist of everything. I love that she is learning to follow the Spirit, to be an instrument in this great work, and experience first-hand just how well God knows and loves His children!

Miriam didn't send an email this week but she sent the pictures I've posted below. 👇 

Miriam says there are dogs roaming all over the place in Brazil. In the first couple of pictures, it looks like rooftops are no exception. When she says dogs are everywhere, she's not kidding. 

There are also lots of chickens... and cows.

Making Tortillas... but not with any of the aforementioned animals.

Rainy Days and "Sun"days

Visiting with Members

Update:6-27-23

👇Miriam sent her email for this post one week late. It was sitting in her draft box but and she sent it yesterday when she discovered it there. I figured I would just copy-paste it here instead of deleting my comments at the beginning of this post.👆

So one would like to think that a tropical country like Brazil would be all nice and toasty warm because it's tropical and what not. This past Friday, I was absolutely shocked that I wasn't seeing snow with how cold it was. Fortunately, my body was made for the cold, so after only a few minutes of walking, I was peeling off layers and wondering if wearing boots was a poor decision. BuT that DoSeN't change the fact that it's cold here in bRaZiL where is should be WaRm.

But anyway

It was a pretty good week.

Sister Alves had a doctor's appointment this past week and we had to take a 45 minute Uber ride to a different city. We made small talk with the driver, Everton, during the trip, but I kept I thinking in should bring up a gospel topic. However, I didn't know how to do it to make it feel natural nor did I have a clue what subject I should bring up. So I kept my mouth shut and tried to sleep a little. But I couldn't relax, and I kept watching the time tick down until I started thinking, "If I leave this car without leaving something with him, I'm going to regret this 45 minute Uber ride." Still, I didn't say anything. 

Until we have 4 minutes left in the ride, and I finally said, "Can I ask you a question?" He said yes and I asked him if he had ever asked himself why he's here on Earth. He said he had and was, in fact, still looking for an answer. We ended up leaving him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and our testimonies. It wasn't much because I procrastinated for 41 minutes, and it wasn't pretty, but he accepted the pamphlet, and 10 minutes or so after we left the car,  we received a text from him confirming our phone number.

Long story short, he ended up coming to sacrament meeting yesterday, and he told us after that he hear many things he needed to hear and was feeling much lighter. He wants to come again next week.

Thank goodness the Spirit was a tad more aggressive with me during that ride because I think I really would have regretted that ride if I had left without saying anything.

I celebrated 5 months in the mission! Sister Alves bought me a little cactus to remember our adventure with the cactus. We also did a division this day, and I worked in the neighboring area with Sister Dias. We ate lunch in a bakery, found lots of people who were old references of the system who still have interest, and we got attacked by puppies. 

We had a pretty solid lesson with a woman over the phone, and she expressed interest in learning more. So she passed along her address for us and we put it in Area Book with a plan to visit her the next day. We started our trek - a trip of almost an hour of walking - with high hopes. Upon nearly reaching the destination, we realized that Google maps and Area boom were showing the little yellow dot in two different locations: one in our area and one outside. Unfortunately, Google maps was correct and it turned out we had left our area following the location Area Book was showing. Every day that passes my disdain for the glitchy app known as Area Book grows with all its misplaced dots and incorrect addresses.

Saturday night we decided last minute to do a fast for a miracle with people showing up to sacrament meeting because we have not seen much success in that area. It was a small fast, just skipping breakfast Sunday morning, but we saw a miracle. Everyone who said they would come, came. It was only three who confirmed, but three out of three came, which is a record for us.

It was pretty cool to see that happen so soon after with such a little thing like skipping breakfast with a purpose. I felt like Ephraim in Ephraim's Rescue: Mercy, Lord, what took you so long?

2nd Week with Sister Alves - Lição do Dia: NÃO toque em cactos

 When writing essays in high school, I always got 90% or 95%; 5 to 10 docked because my essay hooks were a tad weak. Unfortunately, my weakness in writing story or letter hooks remains weak, so y'all have to deal with this completely unrelated paragraph because I don't know how to make my thoughts connect.

Cats watching over the missionaries from above.

In between some visits after lunch, Sister Alves and I were walking down the street and I saw some beautiful flowers that I wanted to try and pick. The only problem was that they were attached to a cactus. After observing the cactus, Sister Alves determined that trying to pick one would be a problem because there were no large needles. So we tried to pick some. After a few unsuccessful moments, I felt something prick me, so I pulled my hand away, as did Sister Alves. Lo and behold, our fingers were full of teeny tiny needles, which we all know is 1000% worse. Fortunately we were near some members and we sought out their help, and in the end everything was removed from our fingers. I'd upload the video she took, but alas, this phone is trash, so...yup.

Sister Alves made a cartoon of the cactus fiasco. 

We had Zone Conference this past week. President Card had to talk a lot about obedience. Again. And, out of no where, he got up and told everyone that we need to grow up and stop promoting one race over another o_O. I'd like to know who prompted him to bring that up.

Everyone also got the flu shot, and President Card took several unflattering pictures of the missionaries and put them up on a big screen to mock their reactions as they were stuck with a needle. Needless to say that he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Funny (by that I mean interesting) story. A while back, Sister Casperson and I were walking down the street and she was having me pick a house at random. I selected one, and we started teaching the woman who answered. However, she was extremely resistant to the idea that God called prophets in the Americas because reason, reason, reason, that didn't make any sense. In any case, we left that house and didn't take down any information because Sister Casperson was a little ticked off.

This past week, Sister Alves and I were wrapping up the day, and I randomly selected a house. A 15 year old girl named Julia answered us and listened to our message, after which she agreed to meet with us again. So, two days later, we passed by again and she let us in. We began talking with her, getting to know her a little better. After a little, her mom came in to greet us. Then she looked at me and asked, 'Have you guys been here before?'

In that moment I recognized her as the woman Sister Casperson and I had met. I had once again "randomly" selected her house.

I don't know what will happen here, but I do wonder how random it really was for me to pick the same house twice.

When we're doing a first contact on the street, we usually ask 1 or two questions first to try and discover the person's necessity. I though I'd ask you all the same questions and let you think about what you would say:

1 - How is your relationship with God?

2 - If Jesus Christ stood in front of you right now and you could say or ask Him something, what would it be?

I had another story I was debating about putting in, but I think I'll leave it to your imaginations.

Sorrynotsorry#

Elder Leatherwood (the missionary on the right) set up a little lunch treat for the district.

[This is Alicia interjecting... fortunately, we get more info from Miriam while visiting through Messenger and she told us the story she didn't include in her letter. Miriam and Sister Alves had an appointment for lunch with a member family early in the week. When they arrived, their 21 or 22yr old son saw the sisters at the gate and took off running around the corner embarrassed. Miriam and her companion figured it was because he didn't have a shirt on. The mother of the house greeted the sister missionaries apologizing for her messy home and blamed it on her "lazy son" (the young man who ran around the corner).  Miriam noted later that week when they went for there lunch again, the son made sure the entire house was sparkling clean! It was clear he wanted the sisters to have a better impression of him.]