Week 33: Outback

Another temple trip this week! So, as always, it was a great week!

And after, while wondering what to eat for lunch, my companion suggested Outback Steakhouse, and to my surprise, there actually is one here in Brasília! And ya'll, don't go to Outback Steakhouse Brasília.. I got a steak, and it was so overcooked, it was literally a hamburger.. But it was still a lotta fun to go with everyone, ask our server to take a million pictures of us, and enjoy American food prices.

And if I had a nickel for everytime I had bad meat this week, I'd have 2 nickels. This other time, we were having barbecue at someone's house, and the beef wasn't that good, super dry and tough. I thought maybe he just overcooked it as well, until he told us that the butcher probably lied and that it wasn't the fancy cut of beef they advertised it as, or maybe not even beef. So Santa Maria now has one fewer street dog to attack us.

Anyway, things are going alright here still. Valdirene hasn't been smoking for the past few days, and I'm confident she'll be baptized this Sunday!

We started going out on visits with our recent convert, Isaque, and while he says some wild things only sometimes, he actually bears a pretty good testimony and already super wants to be a missionary in a year!

Favorite Hymn -- One thing I've been thinking about recently has been the danger of relying on our own abilities. 

Korihor, the "anti-Christ" preaching against the gospel in Alma 30, said that "every man prospered according to his own genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength." This sentiment is repeated many times through the Book of Mormon as well, including my recently discovered and deeply studied 2 Nephi 4.

So, when I heard I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go this week, I was reminded! I already used this hymn as my spiritual thought, but with relation to the fear I had of my own skills not being enough, of *needing* to rely on the Lord, and how to do that. But now, it's been a bit. I'm fairly comfortable in the mission; I may not be the most successful missionary here, but I can get by through my own ability. So, what now?

I am always looking for ways to improve my contacts, lessons, relationship with my companion, etc. But, I've been reminded iver and over again lately that I can't just rely on my own skills, even though I can! And this is very applicable in life as well. How can we seek to have the Lord's help with us all the time, whether we're being truly challenged or not?

I think the first step is humility. It's about being to recognize that we could always use the Lord's help, even if our own genius seems pretty dang smart. Then seek it out! I've been trying to implement this during my scripture study, praying beforehand, asking the Lord to bring ideas and other scriptures to mind. I'm excited to hopefully improve my scripture study with this, then probably implement it in my other studies as well after the mission.

So, this is a little bit of where I am in my journey to become "what [He] wants me to be." I encourage you to evaluate where you are as well. If there isn't enough God in your efforts and successes, get more in there!

That's it for this week!

Till next time,

Elder Haroldsen

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