Kites, Water, and Transfers

- July 17, 2023

Monday, July 17, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil:

A little bit of Manaus Brazil Culture is that people love to fly kites. It's amazing to watch kites super high in the air and note the control people have over them. However,' my favorite part is seeing tons of kite skeletons stuck on the power lines. Many times, I see people flying their kites in and out and around power lines and for me that's just super dangerous for the kites. But seeing an awesome sunset with cool air and kites speckling the air is just beautiful.

This week I had a division with Elder Jensen, also from the USA. He has 1 year and 7 months in Manaus. It was nice to talk to him some, as well as get some wisdom from him.

This week we had a District meeting online, so I got to see this District once before transfers. My District had a trio of Elder, two duplas of Elders, and a dupla of Sisters.

Then Thursday all the missionaries in Manaus got to go to the Manaus Temple again. This was my third time, and I chose to do Baptisms for the dead. The Temple is always super beautiful, and it was cool to see a new part of the temple. There was a beautiful giant mural of when Jesus was baptized. The Baptistry is spacious. However, it does not have much natural light.

This week we had a baptism! A girl named Isis has come to church some with her grandma, and she saw someone get baptized and asked if she could be. She was a little too young then, but when she came of age, her grandma had US teach her a few things and prepare her for baptism.

So that was cool :)

Today are transfers. My companion, Elder Rufino and I are going to stay together in this area. In the past, we covered 2 wards of People, with another set of Elders for one other ward in our chapel. But those Elders got transferred and that area shut. So, my companion and I got another ward, 3 total. And 2 don't have Bishops... just lack a little bit of local leadership :( . But that's ok.

Also, my companion and I are now part of a newly created District, along with three duplas of Sisters. 2 weeks ago, in my other area I was in a district of 8 Elders, now my district will be 6 Sisters and 2 Elders... different dynamic. Though honestly we don't do too much with our District, a short meeting every week. Still, noteworthy for me.

This past week during our online Mission Conference, President França talked about something that I also thought about throughout the week with my current and past areas. Here in the mission, there are areas that have lots of success with baptizing people, where missionaries find lots of interested people to teach, etc. There are also areas with few baptisms, few people to teach, little missionary success. Each area has differences that affect the work. Some areas are bigger or smaller. Some have more people. Some have better local leaders in the wards. Others struggle. Some have more or less youth, etc. Presidente França even asked for the lingo missionaries use to describe these less successful areas. But he talked about how we just need to trust God. How God has prepared people for us.

I think this can be applied to member missionary work, and really anything in life. God has a plan for us. Sometimes we get discouraged when we aren't having success. In school, in work, dating and family life... but we just need to trust God. I have found that even if we have less success than we want, we will always feel better when we are positive. We will work harder and get better results. And results come how and when we need them. We learn and grow more when life is hard than when life is easy.

I challenge each one of you reading this letter to think about your struggles right now. Are they made worse because you are thinking bad about them? Stop. Have faith. Trust i n God. And 🌴groooooooooooow.

I hope y'all have an Superb week!!

Elder David Olson

🌴M🌴A🌴N🌴A🌴U🌴S🌊

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