A Visit to Macapá

April 8, 2013

So I’m here in Macapá.  The last few days I did a division in Santana that is located about 45 minutes from Macapá by bus.  It has a port that is located on the Amazon River.  It was nice to get out of the office and work like a normal missionary.  I went there because the companionship that is there now has been having problems for some time (no baptisms).  I spent 3 days there with Elder R.. Elder R got into the mission field the same time I did.  It was interesting.  He left on the mission with 18 years and 3 months of age, and I doubt that he was ready.  I am sure that a lot of missionaries are prepared when they have 18 years of age but there are a lot of others that I think need to wait.  I think that I was one of those elders that needed to wait a bit to go on the mission.  Observing him I saw that he didn’t have much going on in the area because he didn’t have much attitude.  He had problems but didn’t have the attitude to resolve the situations.  Many times when looking for addresses or when presented with opportunities to talk to people he would try to avoid it.  He is a bit closed and lacks confidence.  I tried not to be really hard with him. Instead I tried to understand what his problem was.  I tried to give I’m an example of how he could have a bit more success.  We finished the division after finding a young woman that is super prepared (she almost cried when I invited her to be baptized).

I have been really lost in the last two weeks but now I feel calmer.  I am also preparing to give a talk/training to the zone during the zone conference this Wednesday.  I will talk about resilience and consistency again and hopefully be able to use some new examples.  I have been thinking about what you guys said comparing my wanting to stay with how I play hockey and soccer.  And I thought that would be a good thing to use during the zone conference.  We will see how it works out Wednesday.

I have not had the opportunity to take a lot of pictures unfortunately I’m not here in Macapá to site see.  But I will see what I can do.  

I loved general conference and was lucky enough to see all of the sessions.  They have live translators that switch every few talks.  I thought it was interesting how many of the talks cited the scripture that says something about a stone being cut from the mountain without hands and rolling to fill the earth.  I heard a long time ago that the speakers don’t receive topics but pray to know what to speak on.  So I thought it was interesting that there where a series of scriptures that the speakers used that where the same.  I took 9 pages of notes.  

Sorry, Emma, I do read your letters but I have a hard time using my time wisely so I end up without time to send a letter.  But congratulations on the FPS triumph and the 100% on the science quiz retake.

I was really sad to hear that the Carmans are moving.  They have been good friends.  Send them a really big hug, and wish them luck for me.  

Got to go know and finish some of my A.P. work!!

I love you all a lot!!!!

Ben