Anyways. This week we had to have a teacher swap. Because of some scheduling problems with incoming missionaries, Irmã (Sister) Hart had to move to another class. Luckily, we still have Irmão (Brother) Hirschi. Our other teacher is now Irmão Pinho. He's from Brasilia, Brazil and talks super fast Portuguese, obviously because he's a native. But that's super helpful. I feel like my fluidity with the language is advancing in leaps and bounds. That, and he's been giving us all sorts of super helpful tips about the country and the culture and everything. I'm finally becoming comfortable with a lot of this. In other churchy terms, we had some really good talks and testimonies given this week. Elder David F. Evans of the Quorum of the 70 came and talked to us about missionary work this past Tuesday. He talked about the relationship between Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. They always refer to each other in loving terms, like Beloved. And when Jesus suffered for our sins and later died on the cross for us, he did not only for us, but mostly because His Father asked Him to. And Christ knew that his Father's love was so perfect for him, that He would never ask Him to do something that would hurt that wasn't absolutely necessary. So to go along with all the talk of having charity for people, I hope that I can have that same relationship both as a son, and eventually as a father. The other thing that really hit home with me, is that what I'm teaching is MY gospel. Like Moses 1:39 says, "this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Heavenly Father says that, but I can change it to make it more personal to my job as a missionary. This is MY work, and the FATHER'S glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I believe in this gospel and know it's true, so I take it personally.
This week has definitely been fun. One of the Elders in my district received revelation in the shower. There are now 7 elders in our district, and there are 7 dwarfs. So we split up names according to things that have happened during our stay here and then took a picture trying to act out our character. From front to back in our picture, there's Elder Marchant (Doc; wants to be a doctor), Elder Verhaaren (Bashful; is kinda shy and awkward), Elder Howard (Happy; more of a big teddy bear than anything), Elder Ashford (Sleepy; because I couldn't sleep for weeks), Elder Nissinen (Sneezy; had a sneeze fit for a day), Elder Jacobsen (Grumpy; we took a picture once and he had a super serious face and we never let him live it down), and Elder Jacobs (Dopey; he's silly and hyper and fun). So those are the guys in my district! Along with us, there's 4 girls in our district that are super fun and really know their stuff.
All in all there were 12 of us, now 11. From left to right, there's Sister Basham, Sister Archibald, Elder Youd (now in Brazil), Elder Jacobsen, Elder Howard, Elder Nissinen, Elder Verharren, Elder Ashford, Elder Marchant, Elder Jacobs, Sister Burch, and Sister Tait. Together we make up a pretty great crew of missionaries, out to learn Portuguese! We're split half and half, with half the guys and and half the girls going to Sao Paulo North, and the other half to Sao Paulo West. It's super fun with them and we try to spend lots of time together as a district.
So, I think that's my life for this week! I'll have more next week. Everyone stay safe and work hard! I sure will be! Make sure to keep in touch and let me know how you're doing!
Sincerely,
Elder Michael Ashford
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