Enjoying the Sunlight: O Melhor Semana (Christian's Mission

Olá

Essa Semana e a melhor semana que nos temos no CTM ate agora.

It started Saturday night with maybe the funnest and funniest physical activities we have had. Elder Becker, Elder Falevai, and Sister Haguewood were playing volleyball, but the game was full, so that left Me, Elder Polmateer, and Sisters Evans Burnett and Young to figure something out to do.

We ended up deciding to play Elders vs Sisters Basketball, hoping that the 3 on 2 advantage that the sisters had would even out the playing field, but it turns out it doesn't matter. Elder Polmateer and I ended up winning 20-8, maybe the first time I have ever actually contributed to a winning basketball game. I scored 16 of our points. Apparently being a foot taller than somebody really helps when playing basketball.

Despite the deterministic defeat, everybody was laughing so hard and we had a great time. We were supposed to help clean up the patio, but the instructors who are supposed to give us the brooms and dustpans never showed up, so we turned that time into an hour and a half long district devotional. We talked about so many different things and we could all feel the spirit so strongly.

On Sunday for our Sunday school class, our Branch President, Presidente Sorenson, taught the class. He taught about how we need to mentally weed our minds and how we all have divine potential to achieve and how we should always be working towards that. It was by far the most interesting and most spiritual lesson we have had yet in the CTM.

Early Monday morning, Elder Polmateer and I were down at the help desk for some reason when Elder Yung and Elder Evans (from one of the other english speaking districts that arrived with us) stopped me. They told me that I needed to interpret for Elder Evans during his doctor appointment. Elder Evans is from England, and has a slight accent, apparently none of the CTM translators could understand his accent well enough to accompany him to the hospital.

So Elder Evans and I got to be companions for the first part of the day and we took an Uber to the hospital. It was about a 45 minute drive to Hospital Sao Caterina, and I tried teaching our driver something, but he ignored me entirely. When we got to the hospital I translated for some of the receptionists and got Elder Evans all set up for his appointment.

Luckily the actual doctor spoke english so I didn't have to translate any strange diagnoses. Apparently Elder Evans has a broken Scaffoid and needs a piece of his hip put into his hand. He is probably going to go into surgery next Tuesday so he might be stuck here a few extra weeks.

All of Monday I was super grumpy and kind of harsh with my companions. I think going to the Hospital kind of proved to myself that I am ready to leave, and I wasn't looking forward to another week here. Tuesday morning I received an email from one of my other friends who is serving a mission, and in it she shared a quote from a Sister Training Conference.

This quote was exactly what I needed to snap out of it and refocus. I noticed I hadn't been studying nearly hard enough and that I was kind of letting myself go. After receiving that Email, I resolved to read the entire Bible and Book of Mormon in Portugues before I leave the CTM.

We lost some of our best friends this week. The Americans who lived across the hall and arrived a week before us all left Wednesday morning. Elder Horner and Elder Ellsworth were our zone leaders for the whole time we have been here, and Elders Barnes, Call, and Walkenhorst helped us to get adjusted to missionary life when we first arrived. We'll miss those fubecas.

We are also getting to know some of the newer missionaries Elder Harrel, and Elder Thalgott, but it is sad that we are leaving so soon. I never thought I would say that.

Elder Polmateer threw up early Wednesday morning, but because it was temple day, he was told to stay and wait for the doctor while I went to the temple. We did a session in the temple, and when we got back Elder Polmateer was nowhere to be found. Turns out the doctor diagnosed him with Appendicitis, and he was in the hospital.

He spent 5 hours in the hospital getting a bunch of tests done to make sure he had appendicitis, and they all came back false so that is good, but he was on IV antibiotics and pain killers because they literally thought my companion was dying.

Throughout the Temple trip I was paying extra close attention. Its only my 5th or 6th time going through, so I don't know very much about the Endowment. I came up with a few questions to pray about and study and that night I started.

My prayers were answered, many of the parts of the Endowment that I had questions about were clearly explained, and I was shown the significance of many confusing things. I know that a swift answer to prayer is one of the blessings of missionary work. Living in a dedicated building with a sacred mantle upon me has allowed me to greatly feel the spirit.

To my missionary friends, don't be afraid to ask questions becuase you WILL recieve answers. To my non-missionary friends, I would encourage you to try and live your lives in a way that you can feel the spirit and be in a position to also receive answers to prayer.

On Thursday we took the language test. For those who don't know, the language test is scored from 1-10 with 7 being considered fluent. Average score for missionaries leaving the CTM is about a 3.8 for Americans learning Portugues. Our district averaged a 4.4 and I got a 6.2, so that is pretty encouraging. I hope that the rest of my district realizes that we aren't lying when me and the instructors say they are better than the other districts.

I have almost finished the Old Testament which I started on Tuesday. I started in Genesis 1 and just finished Jeremiah this morning. Reading it all the way through so quickly has helped me to understand so much more, and understand the inclusion of some of the more bizarre parts of the Bible. If any of you get the chance I would highly recommend a one or two day read through, especially of the first part of the Old Testament. The history of the Israelites is fascinating, and conectivos are everywhere. Some throw-away comment in Judges will proceed to be important in 2 Kings. Or a random confusing story in Genesis will be significant to a prophecy in Isaiah.

《 ! 》 SKIP SONG OF SOLOMON 《 ! 》

I also started reading the New Testament on Tuesday, and I hit Acts 3 this morning. Book of Mormon wise I am in Mosiah 2 (third read through this year). Reading the scriptures in this manner is so cool and so interesting, and I would like to once again highly recommend reading quickly through entire sections of scripture.

-Elder Hill

PS. I have been falling asleep everywhere, I guess I have my grandpa Christensen's genetics.