Week 24: Duolingo Was Blocked

I learned that this week was my last with Elder Dickens! I will be transfered to a new area while he completes his last 6 weeks in the wonderful Planaltina GO. I'm sad, but, alas, pois é. And I'll be anticipating seeing him again at BYU when I get back!

⛪️ -- The biggest highlight from this past week, like always, had to be my second time at the temple here! As always, the presence of God there is undeniable. That and it seeming to be the only fully carpeted building in Brazil makes it a great place to be. And after, we went to Burger King in Brasília, and I learned how unsatisfying fast food really is!

🇺🇸 -- We had our second attempt at english class this week, and this time, people actually came! We had two people there, we taught the letters, and it was a blast! I also got to share our slang of the day, which was three ways to say "cool." I taught "cool," "awesome," and "fire." If you think the words I taught won't make them super fluent among the youths, you can drop your complaint here. --> 🗑

🔴 -- I heard a few crazy stories this week, but the best I heard during a division with Elder Walter, our ZL. We got to hear it because we knocked on one guy's door and asked if a "Domingues" lived there. He said NO, then pulled us across the street into the shade and began to explain why. What followed was a 20 min dramatic complaint of his experiences with robbery, identity theft, and being accused of killing his mother. This was one of those "what I am I doing here moments," listening to a Brazilian list the consequences of identity theft. And after, wanting to make something out of the interaction, we asked to say a prayer with him. He said NO again and that he was "busy," then ran inside. Elder Walter was so annoyed by him that he marked him as a red dot, a "do not contact," in our system, haha.

6️⃣7️⃣ -- Duolingo was taken off of everyone's phones this week, and our mission president sent a message saying it was blocked by mission headquarters for all missionaries. I've yet to check if this is true, but if it is, it's probably because every missionary was playing chess all the time on it, including my comp lol.

🎶 -- Teach Me to Walk in the Light: This hymn reminds me of the first words spoken by Jesus Christ when he visited the Nephites in 3 Nephi 11:

I've been reading the New Testament lately, for the first time since my freshman year religion class 5 years ago. To be honest, I was a little scared to begin this study. I recently finished studying the Book of Mormon for the first real time, and I gained a strong testimony from it, but I also would often think of teachings from the Bible I had heard from others, ones that are against the Book of Mormon and our church's beliefs. However, as I've read about Christ's mortal ministry, I've only found more connections between it and his teachings among the Nephites and the teachings of prophets in the Book of Mormon. I may still not have a perfect knowledge, but each day I can more confidently testify that they are both the word of God. I encourage you to do the same! Whichever you haven't read recently or not at all, you should read it! I know you'll learn more about Christ and his divine mission from it.

That's it for this week,

Till next time,

Elder Haroldsen

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