Week 16: Caucaia, Brazil

     Merry Christmas to all as somehow it's already happening tomorrow (that being the reason I'm writing today, our p-day got moved). Now this might make you wonder, "Elder Bennion, as the incredible missionary you are, what are your plans for Cristmas?" To which I would have to respond using the words if a fictional portrayal of Angelica Skyler and respond, "work, work", but I do get to call home so thats nice. Also I have today off and Christmas Eve is the big day down here.

      This week marks four weeks here in Brazil for me and I've gotta say, its fantastic. This week weve been given so much cake by the members, I don't know if its the holiday season but members giving us cake has become a basically daily occurrence.

      In other culinary news, this week I put on my imaginary chef hat and decided it was time to introduce my companion, Elder Da Silva to the joy of American Pancakes, that being said they had no syrup at the shop so I had to make chocolate chip pancakes to compensate (improvis, adapt, overcome). 

      We also had a big Christmas conference with half the missionaries in the entire mission. It was a great time with a talent show, food (more cake), and exchanges afterwords.

     Exchanges are when you swap with another companionship so for a day; I worked a different area with Elder Farrer which was awesome as he is also new so I could understand what he was saying and we where right by the ocean so we got the ocean breeze and I got to lay eyes on the Atlantic Ocean once more. A moral boost for certain.

      A lot of people here think Santa, or Papai Noel as they call him is Catholic, but I would have to reject that notion as we went to the ward Christmas party and you guys, he was there! I believe thats case closed.

     I hope yall are having a fantastic Christmas season, I cant wait to write you next week about whater hijinx we get up to, until then take care and heres the Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xtrv4XrgQjEyX7XK6

Spiritual Thought: No surprises here, I'm talking about Christmas and specifically about the gift of Christ. For any of you who have seen the Peanuts Christmas special, you'll remember the part where Linus reminds Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about. He talks about the birth of Christ and it reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). The gift of Christmas is Christ himself. His life was totally devoted to serving others, he left us with teachings that bring joy into our lives and so much more, the chance for life eternal. Cheesy as it may seem Christmas truly is a time to remember the one who gave it all and pay it forward. Marry Christmas, remember Jesus loves you.

   - God be with you till we meet again, 

                Elder Bennion 

Week 15 Caucaia, Brazil

      Hello one and all, gather around the imaginary fire pit and prepare to be regailed with the tales of my week here in Brazil.

     The week started off stong with a meeting with other missionaries in my zone (a big part of the mission area) for breakfast and a training I didn't realy understand as alas, I still don't speak all that much Portuguese. That being said it was fun getting to catch up with the other Elders including Elder Beare.

     Walking all day every day is definitely getting easier for me and I can usually keep up with Elder Da Silva dispite him literaly being the Flash. It also helps that we visit so many cool people who are always so chill. We where literaly listening to American Christmas music with a member yesterday, so yeah, the people here rock.

      My Portuguese is getting much better as I'm now able to introduce us and talk about what we do and offer a Book of Mormon as a present while explaining it. Still have legitimately no clue what anyone around me is saying but that should come in time (fingers crossed). 

     The food here continues to be delicious and my pizza counter increases to 3! I'll admit going in to the mission, I was a bit skeptical regarding Brazilian food but its easily one of the highlights. 

      If you wish to keep up with my journey, also feel free to check out the Google photos ablum:https: //photos.app.goo.gl/Xtrv4XrgQjEyX7XK6

      Its starting to feel normal being here in Brazil which is awesome,  I cannot wait to regail you with tails of my travels in this far off land next week, till then, adeu.

Spiritual Thought: One of the coolest parts of being on a mission is how much you have to rely on God. I'll be the first to admit there's a lot about Brazil that goes against what I'm used to and pushes me out of my comfort zone, but every time I've had an actual problem I have brought before the Lord, I have seen it all but vanish. He didn't stop being a God of miracles after the scriptures where done being written, he has blessings and even miracles planed for you if your willing to come to Him in humidity, accept His will and ask. I know He loves you and wants all the best things for you.

     - God be with you till we meet again,

                  Elder Bennion 

Week 14: Caucaia, Brazil

      Hello one and all, as you can see. I'm not yet dead! I've spent the last week having a grand old time preaching the word in the most broken Portuguese known to man with Elder Da Silva, my new companion.

      Elder Da Silva is amazing but alas, he dosent speak english as he is a native Brazilian. Due to this, our conversations are usualy pretty surface level or interpreted via google translate. That being said we've gotten the important things to know down, he likes zombie TV shows, video games, and his favorite Pokémon are Lucario and Mega Charizard X. Another interesting tid bit about Elder Da Silva is he happens to be the fastest walker on the planet earth; I've always considered myself a fast walker, yet he's got me beat by a mile. 

     The weather here is no joke, A few days ago, Elder Da Silva and I where teaching a seminary class in the church at about 7:00 PM, after the sunset. I remember walking outside and thinking, "wow, its so nice out: only to check and see it was 81°, feels like 93°. So yeah, hot.

      We had a big meet up of all the missionaries in our zone this week and I got to see Elder Beare and Sister Anderson, two missionaries from my MTC district, so that was neat! Also got to speak in English wich felt weird after a few days of only Portuguese.

      Finaly, the work: its popping, everyone here is super nice and willing to talk. Our normal line is asking if they want a present, after that Elder Da Silva pulls out either a stuffed Minnion from Dispicable Me, or a toy hairbrush as a joke, before going to the Book of Mormon and having me explain it. It actually works really well.

     Thanks to everyone who reached out this past week, I love hearing from yall, can't wait to tell yall about all the fun stuff I get up to next week!

    Also for any interested, here's my Google photos album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xtrv4XrgQjEyX7XK6 

Spiritual Thought: I want to focus this week on how the Lord wants to help us. One of my favorite things to bring up in lessons is how God wants to bless us as much as we'll let Him (mainly because I can't say much eltse in Portuguese). This week was hard  with lots of walking through the hot Brazilian streets on tierd legs and I found I was in sudden need to remember this promise myself. I can tell you, its true, God wants to bless you, He often works in subtle but real ways to keep us going and help us out. He didn't lower the temperature or make us need to walk less, but he made those challenges seem less overbearing and helped me keep a feeling of peace and joy in my life despite hardship. He doesn't love me more then you, His blessings arent just for missionaries or even members of the church, ask Him for help, He will answer.

      - God be with you till we meet again, 

                Elder Bennion 

Week 13: Presidente Kennedy, Brazil

Hello all, the much anticipated time has come and today I write to you from Presidente Kenedy, Brazil in an apartment with three other Elders; there is much to say so let's get down to the details. Monday night I enjoyed Arizona for the last time (there was mist!), packed, said bye to Elder Corless and Parmenter, and headed to a hotel for the night. I woke up bright and early Tuesday morning at 4:00 AM with the missionaries going home for Thanksgiving, we all grabbed our stuff and headed off. We got the the airport and where given a super important envelope with out birth certificate, Visa, and Passport, natural I lost mine within an hour of getting mine. I left it at the check baggage station and didn't notice until about 5 minutes later when I noticed, to my horror, it was gone. Luckily an employee hunted me down while I was looking for it and I made it to my flight in Atlanta, Georgia. After we landed all the other missionaries had connections to make, but I had about a 9 hour layover so I bummed around the airport all day being board, pacing, and getting McDonald's at the end (woo!). Just before the flight a huge group of about 25 missionaries all arrived, including Elder Anderson, an awsome Elder from my MTC district (shout out Distrito 13-E). We got to catch up on our time state side as we prepared for our flight to São Paulo, Brazil. As we boarded the biggest plane I had been on in my life, I was upgraded to comfort class and realized I had no idea what comfort class was like. They handed out hot towels (wich I didn't know what to do with, so rejected) and served Dinner and Breakfast (alas my appetite was shot due to flying so no dice there either). After a horrible night of trying and failing to sleep, we landed in São Paulo. Wednesday we got off the plane and rushed to get our bags checked again for the flight to Fortaleza. We then went through the Brazilian TSA who where so chill; they didn't care about like anything, I walked through the metal detector and like an idiot forgot my watch, the guy held my watch, had me walk through again and then handed it back to me. Long story short we got on our final flight and where finaly off to Fortaleza. On the flight over me and another Elder talked to a Brazilian man who spoke great English and at the end we even gave him a Livro de Mórmon (I did it Irmão Dalglish, LdM dispensed). After getting to the airport we got our bags and got to meet our new mission present, Presedent Fetosa, who fed us lunch consisting of rice, beans, and sausage, and then gave us a rousing speech in Portuguese wich another Elder who had been there for a while translated for us English speaking missionaries. After that, we where off to our areas and one solo Uber ride with a guy who did not speak English later, I got pared up with three other Elders, two Zone Leaders (Elders who manage a large area of the mission) and one other new missionary who didn't speak Portuguese. Before you ask yes this needs it's own paragraph, prepare yourself for... THE BRAZILIAN PIZZA REVIEW! Its good, it doesn't really have sauce or cheese, but it more then makes up for that because the crust is stuffed with the greatest chocolate I've ever tasted, its sounds weird but your gona have to trust me on this; its fantastic. It's a bit of a contrast going from pepperoni and onion (wich is what my pizza had) to chocolate but in a good way, variety is the spice of life after all. As my email is currently mad long I'll keep the rest breif, we've been walking the streets of Fortaleza all day every day, the people are always so awsome and realy nice and the food is great (see my pizza review). Thursday some menbers made us an "American Thanksgiving" wich consisted of chicken, rice, and mashed potatoes, it was awsome and realy cool to get a taste of home day one. That being said, the heat is no joke hear and being dry is a thing of the past with such high humidity and limited to no AC. The Portuguese is a bit rough but I can more or less get my point across and have even taught a few short lessons to members after lunch. Overall it's been an awsome week and I'm starting to get into the swing of things. This Tuesday is transfers and so I get to meet the missionary who's gonat teach me the ropes for the next three months. Can't wait to write yall next week and tell yall about how I probably got heatstroke! Spiritual Thought: I'll try to keep this one breif, the Lord has got you. He wants to help you in all ways and always make sure you can get though whatever challenges you may face. This week should have been miserable and hard for me but I was able to remember that this is the Lord's work and He has am eye on me personally; dispite all my troubles I have enjoyed this week and found found joy in serving the Lord and helping others. Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding". I can tell you these words are true, I promise you with all the energy of my soul, you don't have to suffer alone or carry more than you can bear; His job is to make your burdens light and He already payed the price. All you need to do is ask. Lean not unto your own understanding, don't worry how impossible your situation, He's got you. I have leaned on my Savior and because of that I stand today where I truly couldn't be without Him, you can to. - God be with you till we meet again, Elder Bennion P.S, I know it's mad long this week, my bad I'll keep it shorter in the future but lots happened this week so... yeah, tchau tchau!