Hello one and all! How are you doing this fine Easter Monday? I'm doing pretty great as always. It's hard not to be with all the blessings we get honestly. That and I think I could find a way to be happy even in a prison.... knock on wood.
Anyways, I think I need to really work on cutting down my email time. In this mission we are allowed to email as long as we need/want to but I think my Brazil it might not be that way (from what I heard Pres. Wright runs a tight ship). So I'm gonna change up the emails a bit and try and focus more on the lessons I learned this week rather than do a weekly break down of everything. I think that would help us both out a bit more.
So I guess the first lesson I learned this week came Monday. We FINALLY had a normal P-day where we would have sometime to do something fun at the end. I wanted to do some sports like always but Elder Richeson talked me into seeing the space shuttle Endeavor at the USC science museum. I like to work out a lot to help cut loose a bit and games are all the better, but this was SO much better. They had some really cool stations set up and a whole movie about the ship, it's last voyage and how they got it to USC. My favorite and by far the most awkward exhibit was the one about the astronaut toilets. Who knew that using a toilet without gravity could be so hard? Ha ha. Anyway, the lesson here I think is that we need to be ready to broaden our horizons a bit. In psychology they call it fixation. It means that you are so focused about thinking about a problem one way that you can't see the simple solution. I think I tend to really get "fixated" on stuff and this was a good eye-opener.
Another cool experience we had was going to help a Pastor Gattis (Gah-tis) put together food kits for the homeless for Easter at his baptist church. We went and put in two days of 10-2 work to help him out and it was great. Working with the 4 or 5 churches that were there was a great experience and it let others see us a bit too. We had us, the USC missionaries, the UCLA sisters and the YSA sisters all there plus about 5 members. It was funny to see so many missionaries among the group. At more than one time we were more than half the people there. But I was really impressed by the people of the church as well. They were really being a great light to the community and I had a bit of "Holy envy" for them.
So the next thing I guess is a bit of a rant more than an actual lesson. We did church cleaning like usual this week and by I us I really mean it was just the missionaries. We got it done just fine but it took two hours and only a few members showed up. Please people, let's keep our meeting houses clean. We're blessed to have them and shouldn't take them for granted.
The last lesson I want to talk about was one I learned about happiness. On my planner I have taped "the steps to succeed in life" that were in the ensign a while ago. The number one and two things on that list are: 1. Establish principles to guide your life and 2. Don't make exceptions to your standards. I think that it's cool that those are the two very first things that we are told will make our lives happy. They sound pretty secular if you don't look at them right but if your principals are based on Christ and his teaching and you never make exceptions from those principals than you have the gospel in a nutshell! I sat down and decide to do this one day and wrote down about 7 things that I want to guide my life and how I will live it and it was a pretty cool experience really. I suggest you all look up that article and give it a read, it's so good and you will find a little more guidance in this crazy life we lead.
As for questions this week:
Q: What was your favorite part of conference?
A: Well, my man Jefferey R. Holland killed it as always but I think my favorite is like in a 5 way tie.... It's hard to say. Elder Christopherson gave a great talk, as did Elder Halstrom, Elder Eyring and so many others! I guess not to be a cop out I will say Elder Halstom's talk was the best.
Q: I want to take Elder Ballard's challenge and become more familiar with Preach my Gospel, but where do I start?
A: I really like the Chirst-like attributes section. I think as members and missionaries that if we have those qualities we will be great no matter our call. I also find the how do I study section really helpful.
Well, that's it, short and sweet. I hope you all have a great week and that the Lord blesses you.
-Um no exercito de Deus
Elder Teela
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