HAPPY NEW YEAR,
I honestly don’t know what happened in 2016. It feels like I
blinked, and it was all over. I’ll try and give a quick re-cap of this year. January
I headed back to BYU for second semester and finished my mission papers.
February I got my call and was
hyped to serve in Brazil. March I
anxiously filled out all forms (there were a lot) to get a visa to Brazil. April I finished my second semester of BYU (Best
school on the planet). May I
headed back to California, worked on the cabin sanding boards, and went through
the temple. June I got my visa
and headed 20 hours by plane to São Paulo Brazil. July I enjoyed the boredom of eating and studying
cycle at the MTC/CTM. August I headed to the field feeling pretty
confident with the language, but found out I knew absolutely nothing…Haha. August,
September, October Enjoyed my first
area of Erechim 8 hours away from the mission home. October, Novemeber,
December Got transferred to Canela
(practically Europe) and enjoyed my 20th birthday, Christmas, and a
New Year. Overall, 2016 was filled with an incredible amount of spiritual
experiences and blessings. Despite the greatness in 2016, I know 2017 will be
even better. In church yesterday, we talked about the importance of
establishing metas or goals. Every new year we set goals. Buy a gym membership,
plan to go to the temple more, focus more on our studies, eat healthier, and
many, many more. I’ve been studying in 3rd Nephi this week. I love the chapters that can be compared to
Christ’s Sermon on the Mount found in Mathew 5-7. Two verses stuck out to me as
I deeply studied and thought about goals. As this new year begins, we all have
many needs, wants and goals. In Chapter 13 of 3 Nehpi, verse
32, Christ teaches that God knows all of these desires and needs. In verse 33,
we learn that the best thing to do to acquire or accomplish these needs and
goals, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” This is my
goal this year: Commit to put God first in all thoughts, words, and actions. If
I can accomplish this, “All these things (goals/desires) shall be added unto
you.” I’m not saying trash all your other goals. Please establish goals, but
think how you can apply righteousness and gain God’s kingdom in these goals. If
you can do this, I promise you 2017 will be the best year to date. Update on
life: This week was hard with everyone travelling and all, but next week we
should have two baptisms of Elen and Oruildo. So pray for them to stay strong.
Douglas is still progressing, but his work schedule got switched back to Sunday
mornings. We have been working with an 83 year old man named Virgto. Both his
parents just recently died at the age of 106. So he’s still young and spry and
loves the messages. We are teaching a couple named Abreu and Roze who have
amazing questions. When we asked them how many kids they had…they lost track
counting….I think 13. There are many other families, kids, and couples we are
teaching, and I’m hoping that the next transfer will be amazingly successful.
Time is flying by…Sometimes I think, “Wow, I still got a year and a half…that’s
so much time.” But then I think how have 6 almost 7 months already gone by…I
know this year will fly by and before I know it I’ll be on a plane home. So I
got to take advantage of every second here on the mish. Thanks for all the love
and support. Have an amazing 2017!
Love, Dave
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| streets of canela |
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| 58 minutes |
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