What Brings You Joy?

So we had a pretty dang good week if I do say so myself. We had a lesson with Jake and their awesome brother Glen was there to tag along!! We discussed the plan of salvation with them and it was fantastic! When we read verses 23-25 in the 2nd chapter of 2 Nephi, their minds were blown with how simple the gospel was and that God has a purpose for LITERALLY EVERYTHING. We did quite a bit of service with our awesome friends at MMIA (Mike and Jillian). While helping them out, they were generous enough to inform us of some suits and coats they wanted to get rid of, and I found me an amazing coat that looks spiffy. We received a referral from some elders in the mission, Donald’s the name. He had requested a Book of Mormon and so we fulfilled that request and it turned into a nice discussion on the book and where it came from. We hope to see him soon because he's got a lot of great potential! This week, we were tasked with the job of making the quality post for the Facebook page and I had noooo idea what I should do it on. We decided to make it in hopes it would benefit those we are teaching, and they needed some joy in their lives. Thus, we made our video on joy lol. It was a prayerful process and for some reason, I was having a STRUGGLE staying on task. It's alright, because in the end, it turned out to be a pretty great video and I enjoyed making it. That makes me begin to question, what brings you true joy? Be sure to let me know this next week and to share my video if you'd like;) I have started to work on my language skills even more because all of these Brazilian missionaries are getting calls from their mission presidents telling them that they will be going back this February!! Who knows, maybe I'll have received a call by the next time y’all hear from me! That's all for this week, falouuuu!

Keep Dancing Till Your Blessed

This past Tuesday we had transfers and I had to say adios to some of the great people I've been with the past 4 1/2 months. Elder Stohl and I will stay here for another transfer, but we ended up going to transfers because we had to bring up the other elder's stuff. What was really funny was that we had just finished up doing service for Lola and we were covered in mud and wearing service clothes while everybody else was wearing suits and dresses, lol. While saying my goodbyes at the mission office, I came across one of my old friends, Sister Breanna Green! She looked as stunning and full of the spirit as ever and it was nice to see someone from home out here serving the Lord along with me. We had to hurry up to go to Wake Forest for an appointment, and on our way back, we returned to the mission office to pick up the new elder's stuff. As we entered into the building, we said “hi” to President Maurer and he looked at my comp’s missionary tag that was flipped around which revealed sticker on the back with a price tag. In response to seeing it, President said, "Elder Stohl, you must be a very expensive man as you seem to be $420" hahaha. He also turned to me and asked how much my tag says I’m worth and I responded with, “I’m priceless President”;) 'Twas a very memorable day indeed.

Throughout this week, we have tried to get in contact with many members to set up a time to share spiritual thoughts in hope of receiving referrals or promoting the Facebook page, but we haven't had too much success. BUT that's totally fine. In the letter from the Maurer's this past week, they told the story of an African tribe that confounded all of the anthropologists. It seems that this tribe had for centuries enjoyed a 100% success rate with its rain dance. In comparing this tribe to other tribes who did rain dances, but who didn't always experience success, the experts couldn't find anything that differentiated the one tribe. They performed the same rituals, praying the same incantations to the same gods, in the same costumes. Like all the tribes, they sometimes danced for days, even weeks on end. Finally, an astute observer noticed something very telling. The successful tribe did one thing – and only one thing – different than the other tribes. They ALWAYS danced UNTIL it rained! So that’s just what I'll do, keep dancing till the Lord rains some blessings on me.

Like I talked about a little last week, I watched the devotional with Elder and Sister Gong. They were amazing (of course) and I wanted to share two President Nelson quotes that they used. The first is, “education is the difference between wishing you could help other people, and being able to help them" and the second one is "nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work. A covenant path to enduring joy." I thought these were some pretty amazing quotes from our living prophet and I thought I'd just leave these with you for your pondering pleasure for this next week.

Goals Are Meant to Stretch Us!

Howdy! This week was pretty good. I went on an exchange with Elder Jack (my DL) and we had a great time. On Tuesday morning, the Maurers had a zoom call with all of the missionaries to talk about their plan for this mission. They talked about how they feel like they haven't been showing any faith in us and want to start showing it by implementing the new mission standards of excellence. Now our goals for each week are: 10 new people, 5 investigators to sacrament, and 2 investigators on date for baptism. These new goals are meant to stretch our efforts and faith in the Lord’s work and I am excited to see how things turn out. They told us to think, "if President Nelson called you on the phone and said that he needs you to double your numbers and efforts, what would you start to do differently?” That question really made me want to buckle down and get to work even more – haha. I had a pretty good week and I am starting to see some fruits come from my labor, like having 3 people come to church!!! It was awesome and it makes me eager to do more and more:)) I'll catch y’all on the flipside!

#NoRegrets

The work is moving forward as always, but if I am being honest, I did not feel too accomplished after this week. Nobody really talked to us and we spend a lot of time at home because we didn't have the car this last week. This area is still pretty good and I wouldn't mind staying another transfer if I’m not going back to Brazil just yet. The main reason I wouldn't want to leave this area is because Elder Stohl is such a beast and this transfer with him has gone by wayyy too fast. Even though we butt heads a lot, he’s a heck of a missionary and I really enjoy being with him. I just hope I can give him more of my knowledge on teaching so that he can be as confident and smooth in lessons as me. ;) This past week was full of some cold rainy days where nobody got to see the sun for some time. So it was my favorite week weather wise. Haha. I think one of the main goals I have for this year is kind of what I’ve already been doing in my mission, with the #NoRegrets attitude. Elder Stohl has received many things from family and friends, one of these things were his lacrosse sticks. And since we both need to go outside to stretch our legs every once and a while, he has been generous enough to teach me the ways of the lax. I have been grinding out conference talks when I’m at home; I think I’ve listened to all of the past 3 conferences. I have noticed that whenever I am in a lesson, or just talking about the gospel, I somehow make a connection with one of the talks I’ve listened to – haha. I think it’s pretty cool and I've received some really great insights. I love you guys and I am going to be better about writing emails, Tchau!!!