Week 37: Stuck in the 90s

This past week was pretty normal; not much exciting stuff happened, except that no one's been coming to church again... 

As always though, the mission likes to mess with us. (I would say the Lord likes to mess with us, but I haven't yet found a scriptural reference to back this attribution to our Heavenly Father nor His Son.) 

One morning, we went to an older lady's house, whom we had met the day before. We were doing a little bit of small talk before our lesson when her son-in-law walks in and walks past us. "He's from your land" she told us, and he turns back and casually says "what's up guys." He then asked where we're from and said from Florida and studied engineering at a university in Kentucky. I would like to clarify how surprising this is: Santa Maria Sul is not a place to find middle-aged engineers from the US.

He then told us his life story, that before the internet, the world was a very different place. When he was in high school in the 90s, his friends and him decided to take a trip around the world -- Brazil, Europe, other parts of South America -- and while they were at it, they started performing copyrighted, American music to an unknowledgable audience and claiming the songs as their own. They played at larger and larger venues until he became quite famous in Brazil. But, not wanting to get too caught up in the rock star lifestyle, he decided to finish his degree in the US. And, upon returning to Brazil, he used his electrical engineering degree to design concert venues and later clubs all around Brazil, apparently some of the most famous ones that exist.

But, comparing the financial successes of Edison and Tesla, he said it's not always the inventor that gets the fame and fortune, so that's why now he lives in a mediocre suburb of Brasilia. Despite this, he is at least able to support his family. We then taught the two of them the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that there is a greater purpose that he seemed to have been trying to find for a long time but never found, and that greater purpose is Christ!!

It was also quite fun to talk to him because, the whole time, it was clear that he hadn't spoken english in a long time, because he still spoke like a 90s teen.

Favorite Hymn -- One hymn that's very popular here is the new I Will Walk with Jesus, #1004, and it's become essential in any hastily made list of hymns for any meeting. 

Though, ironically, it's not a very easy one to sing. When singing a capella, everyone always moves off key when singing the line "Change my heart for ever and help me clearly see." I'll leave the chord analyse as an exercise for the reader to figure out why. ;)

But, it's easy to remember what it's about! It's about growth, which is something we think often about on the mission. I was just talking with one of my friends about how the mission is an incredibly rounding experience, where strengths are encouraged (and perhaps humbled a little) but especially where weaknesses are recognized and made strong. 

And for this, the scriptures even have a fun, little plan for this kind of rounded, personal growth, from the perfect example, Christ himself:

(Luke 2:52)

And while we may think of skills as something developed on our own, only through practice or study, the hymn describes instead the strengthening power of Christ:

It's interesting to consider, so many things are promised to be made better through Christ -- our skills, our relationships, even our language study here on the mission -- thing that can certainly be achieved on our own. So, it really can be an act of faith to ask for His help!

That's it for this week,

Till next time,

Elder Haroldsen

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