Buses, Burgers, And Birdcages? - SEMANA NOVE
E aí, minha base de fãs maluca? Love ya, miss ya, but the work goes on! Take some time to read the inside scoop of a missionary in the half-jungle of Caucaia, Brazil!!
I want to hear from you and I will read your emails because I can during the week, but sorry if I don't respond due to time restrictions haha.
Google Photos! Daily Updates!
Tuesday
Zone Pday! Crazy fun! We took a almost two hour bus to this amazing gated community to President Almeida's house (idk what he's the President of, but I love his house. Our whole zone was there and we played Futebol, frisbee, brasilian dodgeball (so cool), and Magic the Gathering. I got the biggest compliment you can get here, which is “Elder Stock é ótimo no futebol!!” so yk I was rocking it. And yes, Magic the Gathering. I miss playing this game so much and it's like twice as much fun in Portuguese. Gonna be how I get fluent for sure. President Almeida also served an amazing Feijoada.
After the Zone Pday, the bus we had to get on was insanely packed. So packed, that on the frickin highway, I was putting all my weight onto the flap doors that you enter, unable to get further in than the first step. Brasil is ridiculous.
We met up with Josefa at her house and talked with her and her granddaughter for a while. She has like 5 cats which are so fun to play with!! (This is to make my mom mad haha, I’m allergic)
We got home and had nothing to eat because Zone Pday took up all our grocery time haha. So…. Garage Burger!! Ate a double patty bacon barbecue sauce burger that we ordered via WhatsApp! Fast food is so good here.
Wednesday
Hit 200 day streak on Duolingo so that's lit, gimme my flowers
Lunch at Irmã Suely's house! She's an amazing cook and she and her husband were amazed that I liked hot sauce lol. I told them I enjoyed Mexican food (don't worry I told them Brasilian food is better) and so she pulled out her hot sauce! was just a simple pimento hahah.
Took a bus all the way to Cotia at the edge of our area to check up on some yellows. However, once we got off one bus to get on another, Elder Silva realized he left his wallet on the bus, his temple recommend, personal card, and church card all gone, headed around Cotia. So we had to stop what we were doing and took all the steps we needed to, which took a long time so we had to take an Uber back home.
Once home Elder Silva got help from a member to finalize the things he needed to do after losing his card.
After that, all our plans had kind of backfired so we contacted and invited people in the street to church.
Also, today the handyman came and fixed our broken window, our shower, and our sparky sockets. Pretty much FixerUppered our apartment haha
I had the Spiritual Thought during our 10 min Zone Conference and talked about Chapter 8 of PMG!
Thursday
Had Lunch with nice members, meh cooking haha, I found so many hairs (Protein)
Friday
So many buses and tons of walking almost all of our meetings fell through and they were very far away by bus, so we couldn't do much
Met up with Irmã Josefa and are trying to convert her granddaughter! Josefa made some amazing bolo de cenoura and limonada
Saturday
Attended Seminary, and played some volleyball after with the Seminary kids
Had lunch with the other companionship near our area and LOADED our plates because FASTING begins from LUNCH on Saturday to LUNCH on Sunday!! So fun hahah
We took an hour long bus to our Referência de Média and he is AMAZING!! His name is Wellington and he wants to know everything and is willing to put forth the effort!!
Git a ride home with some members heading our way, got dropped off at our house and immediately commenced our 30 min walk to Eliana's!! On the way we invited 12 people to church!! We were excited this time with Eliana because we were gonna teach her daughter, the daughter's husband, and her granddaughter.
The house of the husband is SICKKK. It's not much, but they LOVE animals, so he has about 15 birdcages each with a different bird inside!! Also 7 or 8 dogs in or on the property. He also had about, I don't know, a 50 gallon tank (or more) full of massive fish, little sharks, and eels. I wish I had taken a picture. Spent a long time with them and had amazing conversations about the Restoration, mainly prophets and Jesus Christ because they loved to ask questions and talk haha.
Sunday
TWO MONTH MARK AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST. Just need to do that 11 more times lol. Love ya family.
Went to Testimony Meeting and I chose to bear mine!! It went super smooth, which isn't good because then everyone thinks I'm fluent and I can't respond because I don't understand haha
We convinced some of the older young men to bear their testimony and both mentioned how they are preparing to serve a mission! I joke with them saying they're gonna have to learn English on the mish. Most people in school know very basic English so it's fun to explore what they know.
We got a ride to a member's house for lunch where we broke our fast, and thank GOODNESS she was a good cook because I FEASTED. Beans and rice, as you could've guessed, but it's filling! She also had graviola juice (soursop) and I think it's now one of my favorite drinks ever. I hope I can find it in the US. The husband played the guitar for us and sang! I had the opportunity to share a message, and I talked about one of my favorite chapters in The Book of Mormon, Alma 26! Went great! I just need to expand my vocabulary and work on past participles and fun stuff like that.
We weren't lucky enough to get a ride home, so we walked the half hour back home in our suit pants 
Our plans to go to the Temple Visitors Center were foiled so we changed clothes and spent the rest of the day contacting in the street and online
Monday
Had a District Council! Just four of us, Elders Silva, Madsen, Reis, and myself. Went over our past three weeks and set more goals! We also did some training with is super fun when you can barely hold a conversation
Afterwards, we headed up the long way to lunch with a member (the one with the hair in the food again) and had a great time! Spent way too long there.
Hustled home to plan our week, which includes three plans to set dates to be baptized on the 14/15th! They just need to come to church!!
After planning, we hiked Mount Verde and spent a couple hours checking with members and used-to-be members and clapped some doors. Ah Monte Verde. It's a massive hill, with hills within it, so now my feet are killing me hahah
After we descended Monte Verde, we currently have a goal to invite 30 people to church everyday. Our 30TH PERSON… we gave a Book of Mormon, received his contact information, and invited him to meet with missionaries in his area!! We will also contact the missionaries there. HYPE. We were fewling so hype that we invited ANOTHER person, and she was interested! Kinda lol, but enough that we got her contact information!! MILAGRES!!
Returned home just in time, 9:30, and proceeded to order Garage Burger again and DEEP CLEAN the house. Yes Mom, I did the dishes and mopped, you proud of me? We did it then because we wouldn't have time tomorrow, as we are hiking to a waterfall with our district! But that story will have to wait till next week!
Spiritual Thought
I had a hard time choosing what I want to say for my Spiritual Thought this week, but maybe this will suffice.
Helaman 7:29
"Behold now, I do not say that these things shall be, of myself, because it is not of myself that I know these things; but behold, I know that these things are true because the Lord God has made them known unto me, therefore I testify that they shall be."
I LOVE this verse, because it perfectly sums up personal conversion, desire, and missionary work. No one besides the Godhead has a perfect knowledge of everything. It is our amazing opportunity on this Earth, with the gift of Agency, to choose if, how, or what we believe. In this scripture, Nephi, the Son of Helaman, admits that he doesn't know everything, that he's not perfect. However, he shares that he personally recieved a testimony through searching, and the Lord God "made [it] known unto him". It is only through the Spirit of the Lord that we knkw the truthfulness of all things. I invite you, if you haven't, to truly ask if this is the True church of Jesus Christ. Because it is, not because I say so, but because I have felt the confirmation that it is so. Please, find our for yourself, and receive your own personal testimony.
Love you guys so incredibly much!!
Até a próxima semana!!
Elder Stock
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