Elder Benson Plaster

Thank you to everyone who reached out this week. I love reading updates from everyone and the pictures are always fun to look at. I will try to respond to as many of you as I can, but I won't be able to respond to everyone.  This week was awesome. It was a little hotter because it didn't rain as much and there weren't as many clouds. We did still get drenched in rain at least once this week though. One day we were eating lunch with a member and they said that I looked like a young Lionel Messi. I honestly thought I would get told I looked like someone from the US or Canada and not like someone from South America. On Thursday we had a Mission Tour. It is basically a 4-hour meeting with half of our mission and a Church leader. Of course, he was from Brasil, so I didn't understand much during the meeting, but the mission president's wife did speak to us in English because she doesn't know a lot of Portuguese, so I understood that part. I also got to see my buddies ...

This week felt like forever because the excitement of being in Brasil wore off and Portuguese is not getting any easier. I do have a few good stories though. To start off, Elder Marvel (my companion) and I found out that our dads served in the same mission (the Argentina Cordoba mission) about 24 years ago. They were even in the same district as each other at one point. (A missionary district is a group of 8-14 missionaries in the same area that meet about once a week to learn and train with each other.)  This week was also the first time that I got to go to a district council meeting and all of the missionaries in my district were super nice and welcoming.  It rained a lot this week, but the worst of it was Tuesday afternoon. It was dumping rain and I got puddles in my shoes. Everyone keeps on saying to enjoy the rain while it lasts because after it's gone I'm going to have puddles of sweat in my shoes instead of water.  I also got to eat liver or at least that's what th...

This week was very long and crazy. On Wednesday almost everyone in my district woke up at 3 am to leave the MTC. We flew from the Campinas airport to Goiânia and met the mission president and his wife at the airport. They are awesome and Sister Hancock is hilarious. She told me and the 3 other missionaries from my district in Goiânia to go buy rings to wear for the next 2 years to keep all girls away and she also told us to tell them we are engaged. The day we arrived was transfer day. Transfer days are super awesome here because more than half of the mission meets up at a chapel to have a devotional and spend time together before everyone gets shipped off with their new companion. This happens because President Hancock likes to change every companionship every transfer and move everyone to a new area every 2 transfers. Luckily my area wasn't too far away so we only had an hour-long taxi ride. My trainer's name is Elder Marvel and he is the district leader. He has only been out...

Today is my last p-day in the MTC. It's kinda sad, but I am super ready to leave the MTC. This week I listened a lot to the new Youth Music the church released. It is awesome and if you have the time to listen to it, I would definitely recommend it. Sadly, it is not out in Portuguese yet so I'm a little salty about that.   When I got my mission call to Brasil I never thought I would be sleeping in sweats with socks on and 2 blankets. I got sick this week though and my roommates didn't want to turn off the AC, so I did what I needed to do to stay warm.  Halloween this year was a disappointment because they don't celebrate it in Brasil. So Elder Rigby and I decided to celebrate in our own way. We both got buzz cuts Halloween night. It's a little weird because my hair hasn't been this short since elementary school.  My spiritual thought for this week is a quote from Elder Holland. "Salvation is not a cheap experience." This teaches us that we are going to...