Futebol

Well, soccer is a very important part of the lives of the people here; and really any other reason to celebrate. Like daylight savings, apparently it is celebrated here, they have cookouts and everything. Oh, and also we have some major fans of CAM here (a soccer team), they have a lot of fireworks/explosives which they use frequently to show that they are excited (scared me the first couple of times, thought people were trying to blow up a building or something kkkk). At least that is what my comp told me. But yeah, the people here are pretty great, they just get really excited!

Spiritual thought about faith; I was reading the last pages in O Livro de Mormon(Book of Mormon)(which I finished today!) but yeah it was talking about faith, and that we need hope in order to have faith, but in order to have hope we must have charity, the pure love of Christ. It always boils down to the great two commandments, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart might mind and strength and love thy neighbor as thyself. So love is indeed the essence of all, and we must learn to love all of our brothers and sisters, whether they return that love or not. It is hard, but it is well worth it. Love you guys! Can’t wait to hear from you all!!!!

Elder Hilchie

Elder Hilchie's Hiking Analogy

Well, this week we were in Congohance (a different city) waiting to do intervistas batismais, we had some time on our hands because the times for the bus there is not the best, I think only 4 times a day. But anyways, we decided to go to a catholic church nearby with 12 statues depicting different prophets, it was really cool. I learned that the statues were made by a famous guy without hands, he did good work. 

Spiritual thought- this week I was thinking, and I came up with a good analogy. The three kingdoms of glory (celestial, terrestial and telestial) are like three different places during a hike. You have many different people, but only one trail that leads up the mountain. People arrive at the first place to camp, it has water, good shelter, tents, and hammocks, everything you need for a good campsite. Some people decide to stay and not put in the extra effort to reach what will be a better campsite. Everyone else moves on and arrives at the second campsite, which has a waterfall, a really good shelter, food, water, fire, everything you could ever need. Some people decide to stay because this is legitimately a really good campsite. But there is a promise that there is an even better campsite if you go just a little bit farther. And so, some people stay, and some people move on, and after a long and difficult hike, they reach the top of the mountain, with a gorgeous view and literally everything you could ever want or need, water, delicious food, a really big house with air conditioning, literally everything you could ever want. And its all there for free, for those who work for it.

Hope you guys liked that analogy! Hope you all have a great week!!!! Love you all!!!! Let me know how it’s going!!!

Elder Hilchie

Lots More Rain

It rained quite a bit this week. So much so that one day while we were walking back to the house, the sewer grates were being pushed up by the force of the water that was pretty neat. Oh, and yes there is Ouro Branco chocolate, but it is not made in Ouro Branco. It is just the name they came up for it. It was pretty good though.

Moses 4:1-3 (Pearl of Great Price) what I got from it is that Satan is trying to take away our agency through sins, like drinking, smoking, pornography, and muito mais. All these have a grande allure and have promises that they will give us joy. But it is a temporary and false joy, and causes us to have addictions to them, where we can think of nothing else but them, and this is how Satan drags us down to the abyss. BUT God knew we would fall, and that’s why He sent His son, to guide us and heal us through His everlasting Atonement, which shines even in the deepest abyss. We just need to follow it so we can return to our loving Pai Eterno and live in His love for eternity.

Love you guys!! Hope you all have a great week!!!! Let me know how everything’s going!!!

Elder Hilchie