Testimony Meeting - October 10, 2016

Who is curious to know what a traditional Brazilian meal consists of?? Well luckily I am now a connoisseur of Brazilian food and can tell yah. Every day we eat lunch with members. I have never gone a lunch without out eating rice and black beans. So that is guaranteed. Usually we also get 1 type of meat (chicken is standard sometime beef). Juice is an essential ranging from flavors of maricuja to limao. And Farinha, this bread crumbs thing that Brazilians throw on top of everything. That is the standard Rio Grande do Sul meal. Sometimes on Sundays though we get churrasco... Every meat imaginable cooked to perfection. It truly is miraculous. Honestly though, the food is awesome down here. I have yet to eat something I haven’t liked.

This week was pretty standard. We taught, taught, and taught some more. Our investigators are progressing, and we should have two baptisms to finish the transfer. The spiritual note that I want to hit on this week was Sacrament meeting. Man it was powerful. It started off with all four of us missionaries bearing testimony of Christ, missionary service, and families. Then, people started sprinting for the pulpit. So many members bore strong testimony of this church. It was one of the best testimony meetings I have ever attended. This week I tried out the advice given in a talk during General Conference last week. I tried to improve my partaking of the sacrament through; preparing during the week, arriving early to the meeting, listening to the sacrament hymn and the message it has, listening to the sacrament prayers, and lastly, really focusing on Christ, while partaking the sacrament. Wow, it was amazing. I really noticed a difference in feeling of the spirit and how imperfect I am. Also, how Christ is essential to the plan of happiness. I challenge all of you to use these steps during this week. The Sabbath day is a day of love and gratitude. Remember that the sacrament is the most important part of the week. It is an opportunity to renew baptismal covenants, receive forgiveness, think of Christ, and grow closer to him. Thank you for all your love and prayers.

Elder Bodine

I didn't take many photos this week, but here is an awesome picture of an investigator of the other companionship in Erechim.  He has a skin disease where his legs cannot get wet.  It was awesome to see how happy he was after the baptism.

And of course a ping pong photo