The Mission Life, V.19 - Ponte Nova

well, first off, i will try to start this email somehow different than i always do by saying what an awesome, fast, great, exhausting week it was and giving my deep thought from elder clites for the week that really has got my head spinning! "days are always 24 hours, weeks are always 7 days, a minute is always 60 seconds, and an hour is always 60 minutes. i´m really disturbed by the fact that a month as well as a year are just a variable amount of time. what does a year even mean!" haha i thought it was funny. its true tho.

anyway, the last week was great and exhausting as always. the life of a missionary in a nutshell. i did get the sweet opportunity to meet some sweet people this week! first was barack obama...well the white portuguese version of him anyway. this man came up to us on monday and just said (in portuguese) "barack obama needs my help... wait, scratch that... i AM barack obama!" to which we responded the best way we could think and told him he was pretty white to be obama. then his reply came back surprisingly fast that it was because he had a french uncle. (yes not just a french mother or father but that genetics of his uncle made him white.) and well off he was, on his way. talk about awesome! i met barack obama on monday! if someone could let me know if he is still black or white that would significantly decrease my nightmares at night! thanks!

i also ran into michael jackson believe it or not. don't worry, i know it sounds crazy since he died and all but really he just moved to brazil! haha! so we were teaching a woman and in walked her brother (michael jackson impersonator) dressed up to do his thing. you all need to do me a favor and on youtube, look him up. apparently if you type "machuca jackson dançando nas ruas de ponte nova" you will find him dancing on top of his vw bug. and yes this is his profession. =) i just love brazil!

lately, elder clites and i have been walking a lot or in ponte nova... hiking! anyway we decided we needed to make things more fun so now we are playing football in the streets. really we don't have a ball or pads and we are one man teams against the people of ponte nova but we still call it football. i'm going to be great in the turkey bowl at thanksgiving as a punt receiver. i can dodge 2 old ladies with purses, the standard 5 person girl gossip group, and even the 4 man construction crew with tools. it's a pretty intense game. we haven't quite worked out the scoring system yet but it's under way. but we really have been walking a ton. about 50 miles last week. do i get a 50 miler patch for that? just saying...

lately though, i have had some awesome experiences while we walk out of the city about 40 minutes down a dirt road through the forest to teach some families. we usually end up coming back at about 8:45 so its pitch black and apparently the road bank robbers would take out of town to hide out if a bank was robbed. anyway, it's enough of an experience to get your heart racing and we´ve been told to leave all personal stuff at home when we go out there just for safety but anyway... every night we pray before walking and it's amazing the comfort that brings. i can sometimes very seriously feel the angels walking beside us. dad, i have no doubt that uncle bob is walking with us through these forests. i feel so safe and feel the spirit so strong walking out of that place. its a very cool experience!

unfortunately, satan still has his hands in the work we do. it's so apparent that he doesn't want this work to happen. we had an investigator named marilda who had already been interviewed and was set to go swimming in the font sunday until we got to her house saturday night when she told us she wouldn't. we did everything possible. when i say everything i mean it. she just was afraid to live the law of chastity and quit having those "relations" with her boyfriend. what a slap to the face it felt like tho. there is seriously no worse feeling than having the person you've taught, and come to truly love, fall to the influence of others and call the saving ordinance off. it literally is hard not to cry walking out of those houses sometimes! its really tough. satan is just like the guy in high school who steals your girlfriend, and as much as you are just so so so upset with him, you have to give him some kind of props because he worked the situation so well. we left no cracks with marilda and had everything to win with nothing to lose but somehow he broke the wall! battle well fought... one foot in front of the other!

i also learned a very important lesson this week and it was a lesson pretty much titled "how to act like a grown up" - i wont include names or probably even tell much of the situation but we had some other elders here doing interviews and a scuffle kind of broke out about how someone felt mistreated and used. anyway, i had a very spiritual prompting to just keep my mouth shut and let the feelings of the elder be thrown out on the table... so i did. i learned in that moment what is really important and have made a new life goal accordingly. my life goal is in every situation or conversation, think two ways... how can i help this person now and how is this helping me eternally. it was a very big lesson in patience. most of you know that i am always up for a good debate and scuffle. if you don't, you can ask my mom and she will tell you. but i learned the other night to just do the right thing, just take the high road and be yourself but put yourself after others. we really are here on earth as a test. part of that test is to see how we can mesh with our eternal brothers and sisters. to pass the test, as difficult or simple as it may be, you answer the questions about others first and the question about yourself is last. we are here to make other people better and by doing so we make ourselves great!

last thought is from the book of mormon and to be honest i don't know the reference off the top of my head but it's where lehi is explaining to nephi his dream and the tree. well it uses the word "empurrar" in portuguese to describe how the people are heading to the tree of life. empurrar means to shove. and i thought how powerful is that... getting to the tree of life is worth shoving to get to. it made me think of black friday shopping and the doors open to toys r us and everyone wants the new, we'll say...furbie. haha. anyway the doors open and everyone is off. how to get there first? there are 18 aisles and which one is fastest? sometimes there are obstacles in your way to shove out of the way... whether it's your neighbor or extra toys on the floor you shove them out of the way. they are just like satan....wow i just compared our neighbors to satan. sorry bad metaphor. just run with it. anyway the furbie (eternal life) is worth shoving the bad things out of our life. it's worth finding for yourself. giving it to your family as a present! eternal life is worth the stress of lines and crazy ladies with purses. bottom line... no matter what, don't let anything get in your way of eternal life! it's worth everything!

anyway...i love you all so much! i am so excited to get some more letters and packages from everyone and hear how life in the states is going! i hope you all know, family, extended family, friends and everyone... i think of you often and pray for you too! i hope everyone has a great week! i love you all!! until next wednesday!

Elder Excell!

p.s. can you believe it's been 2 years since graduation as of friday! wow! where did that time go!