Elder Benson Plaster

This week was a little crazy. We only had 3 full days to work in our area this week, so we had to try to make the most of it. We had divisions this week with our zone leaders which was awesome. We didn't have a bunch of success, but I learned the importance of being outgoing and talking to everyone.  We have a lot of good work going on in our area right now. It is awesome to see what happens when we put forth all of our effort and trust God to do the rest. We got to help some people move this week with some other missionaries so that was fun. It was also cool to see how different yet similar it was to the US.  We also had Zone Conference this week. It was really good to hear from the leaders of our mission and the guidance they had for us. My favorite thing I heard was love will help motivate us to do anything. This is something I have and will continue to focus on when it gets rough, because our love for God can help us overcome any challenge or difficulties that we face....

This week was great. I have now completed 6 months of my mission so I am 1/4th the way done. Our friend Alexandre was baptized this week and afterwards he asked his girlfriend to marry him. It was a little awkward because he did it in front of everyone and he is also only 18. It was also super weird to think about how he is a whole year younger than me.  We had a lot of lessons this week and during many of them I felt the spirit strongly. I also got bit by a dog this week. It was only a little chiwawa and he just bit my shoe so I didn't even feel it. He did look like he wanted to kill me though.  We also got to go to Goiânia for zone p-day today and that was awesome, but now I am sunburned and tired.  My spiritual thought this week is about patriarchal blessings. A patriarchal blessing is advice from Heavenly Father that we can receive as a member of our church. I read mine recently and it has helped comfort me and motivate me. I invite everyone to either read theirs agai...

This week was a little crazy. It started with transfers and it was super fun to talk with people there. After that I got to take a bus to Anápolis and I was traveling with 6 other missionaries and unfortunately we missed our bus so we had to get some help and catch the next bus an hour later.  So far my area has been great. Our members love to help the missionaries and everything is a lot closer to the church than my last area so that is great. My companion Elder Graham is awesome and I can already tell that this transfer is going to be great. I met a cool member in our ward this week. He has 2 giant tubs of water that have over 100 fish. The coolest ones were either the 3 ft monsters or the albino catfish.  This week I want to share a very popular scripture from the Book of Mormon. It is 1st Nephi 3:7. "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the chi...

This week was awesome. Yesterday we received transfer news and I will be leaving the area. It's a little sad because of all of the great people here. My next area is going to be in a different city. It is called Anápolis and the area is called Jundiaí. My new companion is going to be another American. His name is Elder Graham. I was kind of hoping for a Brazilian, but I guess I just need to be more patient.  This week Pedro decided he was finally ready for baptism. If any of you remember his younger brother was baptized last transfer, about 2 or 3 months ago. It was such an awesome day and we had a ward Churrasco afterwards so that was a bonus.  I got to have divisions this week and it was difficult to work because it was the last day of carnival and nobody was in the streets. I did learn a lot though from Elder Schoen and how to learn and grow from the companions I have during my mission.  For my spiritual thought this week I want to talk a little about baptism. Baptism ...

Hey everyone! How's it going? This week was pretty chill. We had Zone Conference this week and interviews with president, so I got to spend lots of time with other missionaries and learn a lot. It was good to be able to catch up with a few guys and catch a little breather after being sick.  Carnival started this week. This is basically just a giant party that happens over the course of a weekend in Brazil. Not a lot happened in Goiânia because it's not a big party city like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. We did see some people dancing around drunk while we were walking to lunch around 11:30am, but other than that I would have had no idea it was a holiday here.  We met this super nice lady while knocking doors this week. She had a hard time understanding our Portuguese because she was older. She was so grateful to hear about Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to talk to us. She said that I looked a lot like her grandson, and it was nice to be reminded of him. We almost passed...