I Like to Think I'm Tough

Well how do I say this... this week was... AMAZING.  I swear every week on the mission just gets better and better.  It was funny we were talking as a district and saying how before the mission no one tells you how a mission really is.  They so oh it’s amazing you’re going to love it the best two years of my life. You know the normal stuff. Which is all-true!  But they give you the idea of a Disney land mission not the real deal that’s hard and hot and a lot of work. Now some of you might be asking why I would say something that is hard and hot and a lot of work makes up the best years of my life? Well its because that’s exactly what it does!  You learn so much on your mission that you can’t learn anywhere else you are happier on your mission than you can be anywhere else.  To have the spirit with you and to be able to help others find this happiness is truly what makes life enjoyable.  So this week we taught some amazing lessons.  We are teaching a man who is just amazing.  Every time we teach him he gets more and more excited with a bigger smile on his face.  We are also teaching a single dad who has a ton of questions but is just progressing amazing.   I can just see how the Lord is preparing this area.   This branch here in Senhor do Bonfim is amazing. This past Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and I think it was one of the most spiritual meetings of my life.   I’m so grateful for the chance to be serving here in Brazil.

We did have one funny story this week.  So we live in an apartment complex thing and our house is at the end of a long dark hall.   With only one light, that is motion sensitive, but of course it’s at the other end by our house.  You have to walk all the way down the dark hall just to have the light turn on, as you are about to walk in your house.  Well, one night this week we got home as a district and the 4 of us were walking down the hall.  Right as the light turned on a bat started flying around us.  No to set the scene, there is me, Elder Mender a big, tall, I like to think tough, man. Elder Mota, a professional soccer player, Elder Sato the Japanese missionary, and Elder Merrill, the country farm boy. Well the light turns on and Elder Merrill is just like whatever and doesn’t move. Elder Sato kind of turns off to the side all cool like but off course me and Elder Mota, we grab on to each other, (try and picture this) and give our manly screams, and then we start running down the hall as fast as we can.  As we reached the end we looked back and saw the bat right behind us so we both jumped at the same time and landed on the ground with what I thought was a pretty beautiful dive. Elder Merrill said after that it looked like something from a war zone.   If you tell this story to anyone I will deny it, but it was pretty funny night and to this day we still laugh our heads off about it.  Well that’s about it.  My time is up so I hope you all have a great week and I love you all.

Love,

Elder Mender