Elder Benson Plaster

This week was nice. Lately there have been a lot of fires in our area. It is really funny how nobody cares about the fires and the don't call the firefighters even if they are right next to houses or stores. They are a lot more trusting in the moisture of the plants than I am.  The world cup starts this week and Brasil is definitely ready for it. I don't think I've ever seen so many streets painted, flags, and jerseys for one event in my life. It's going to be a super cool experience being here during this time.  The work here has been progressing very slowly recently so we are going to try to focus our efforts on a few people/families and see what happens with them.  Recently I have been studying Elder Holland's talks. I started at the beginning and am about halfway through. This week I studied his talk called "Safety for the Soul". In it he talks about how the Book of Mormon will help us and protect us in these last days. He says, "Love. Healing. He...

This week was pretty good. I got to do exchanges with my companion from the MTC. It's been a while since we had talked so it was good to catch up with him and see how much we have grown so far.  We found a lot of people to teach this week which was amazing because our teaching group has been a little rough recently.  Recently I have been studying about charity and how I can get better at loving everyone especially the people we are teaching. While I was reading the Book of Mormon this week I read the story of Ammon and King Lamoni. The King offered Ammon his daughter but he denied and offered to be his servant. Alma 17:25 "But Ammon said unto him: Nay, but I will be thy servant. Therefore Ammon became a servant to king Lamoni. And it came to pass that he was set among other servants to watch the flocks of Lamoni, according to the custom of the Lamanites." I love the example of Ammon showing that the way to love others though service. These next few weeks I'm going to ...

This week was pretty good. The members had a surprise birthday party for Elder Cunha so I had the job of getting him to the chapel without raising suspicion. He tried to go to the chapel a little early so I had to do my best to convince him that we couldn't go early. In the end it worked out.  We had Zone conference this week and we learned about the sense of urgency we should have to help people to be saved and baptized.  This is the scripture I want to share this week. Mosiah 1:7 "And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers." This scripture really shows the importance of keeping the commandments and covenants that we make because through them we are blessed and will prosper.  If you have any questions or just want to talk you can email me at benson.plaster@mis...

This week was okay. Elder Cunha is still a little sick so we got to return to the hospital again. I had a cool experience though because I got to do an "exchange" with President Faria while his wife stayed with my companion. It was a good experience to have to see that he is human and just trying to do his best just as any other missionary. Other than that nothing much happened this week other than we were stuck inside a lot.  For my spiritual thought I want to talk about a lesson I learned for the Come Follow Me last week. It is the story of the 10 spies that Moses sent into the city of Canaan. Reading this story I learned a lot about how we see challenges in our lives really affects our attitudes and how easy it is to forget about everything that God has done for us. Truly He wants the best for us but we need to trust Him and remember what His plan is for us.  If you have any questions or just want to talk you can email me at   benson.plaster@missionary.org . Tchau, Eld...

This week was pretty crazy. I traveled to my new area and we only had to stop once when the bus broke down. Then I got to take a 40-minute Uber by myself from the bus station to pick up my companion.  My companion has been pretty sick during our time together. We've been to the hospital twice already (where h e tested positive for dengue)  so hopefully he will start feeling better this week. His name is Elder Cunha and it would be awesome if you guys could pray for him that he can heal and rest up this week.  I also got to go to p-day with President today and see some of my friends. I don't have all of the photos yet so some will get put on next weeks email.  I want to share a scripture this week for Alma chapter 8. "30 And Alma went forth, and also Amulek, among the people, to declare the words of God unto them; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. 31 And they had power given unto them, insomuch that they could not be confined in dungeons; neither was it possib...

This week was pretty good. We had the baptism of Lidiane. It was super special and her own son got to baptize her.  We got transfer news today and I'm going to be leaving Araxá. They actually are going to put Sisters in Araxá so all of the Elders are leaving. I'm going to be returning to Goiânia to serve in a ward called Ipiranga. It should be pretty fun to return to a big city, but I will definitely miss the time I had in Araxá.  Today we went and visited the Barreiro again and the capybaras.  I want to share a scripture today that I found when studying about prophets and Joseph Smith. It is in Numbers 12:6. "And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." This scripture is very good to help us know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God because if we pray and know that the visions (especially the first) that he had are true than we can know that he was chose...