This week was NuTs!! Sister Selman and I hit the ground running... literally. We had to run to put my suitcases in the house so we could get to our first appointment. Since then its been go go go go and then you pass out at 10 pm and do it all again.
Costa da Caparica is one of the prettiest areas I've served
in! It reminds me a lot of Portimão. We live right on the beach.... Like you
leave the house, walk over a little sand dune and it's the beach. I still
haven't seen any whales but maybe later... ;) Just kidding. They don't have
whales here but they do have a TON of Brazilians! One of the first guys I
talked to was this Brazilian with a brand new blacked out arm tattoo smoking
weed next to a panda mural. We're like BFF's now. One day he sent us a message
that said (in English) "I'm high as kite. Tired. Wedding today....
booooooring. Can we talk about Jesus?" We responded yeah sure, but it
would best if you were sober. We're gonna teach him this week! #makingfriends
#everywhere
One day our plans had fallen through and we decided to knock
doors of the neighbors. We knocked the first door and this guy opened it. He
had this huge BBQ going on with a ton of people inside. He invited us in
enthusiastically and we started meeting all the people there. We got 8 people
marked for appointments and taught all of them about the Book of Mormon. It was
fantastic!
Another day I was touring our church for the first time and
all of a sudden this little bird dive bombs us from inside the building. We
spent a good 30 minutes trying to catch the little sucker with cups and bowls.
Eventually he hid in the supplies closet and we had to take everything out very
carefully so we didn't squish him. Then we let him go outside and he flew away.
It reminded me of the general conference talk that was given this weekend about
how sometimes we freak out about accepting help.
General Conference is always the best on your mission... I
was taking notes furiously and I noticed that in every single talk (that I've
seen until now) the speakers talked about service and coming to know Christ. It
reminded me of a scripture in John 17:3 which says
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
In Portuguese the word "know" can mean two
different things. They two words to express "know". They are
"saber" and "conhecer". Saber means to know something
factually such as to know math, to know how to do something. Basically it's
information in your head or like computer coding. Conhecer is more personal. It
means to be familiar with something and means "to get to know" like
with people to to be familiar with a route. In the scripture I shared
above, the word "know" is translated to conhecer. To know God and
Jesus Christ is more that to just have a bunch on information and facts in your
head. It means to be familiar with them; to understand them.
I think that the prophets are asking us to become more
familiar with Christ so that our testimonies aren't repetitions of what we've
heard other people say. Instead, our testimonies should be rooted deeply,
personally, and uniquely in us. My mission has been teaching me this principle.
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve and to come to know my Savior.
Love ya'll
Sister Ellsworth
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