The Zoo

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 Tuesday, August 22, 2023: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil:

Hello to all of you,

This past week we had a short online conference with the Mission where our somewhat new Mission President gave a few new rules for us, some of which aren't new but were reiterated, focusing us back on our purpose and using our time wisely. 

I found out that mango season starts around September. Occasionally we visit houses or areas that have baby mangos covering the ground. They remind me a little of some green nuts in Raleigh NC. There is a mango tree above my house here, so maybe I will get to eat fresh mango in the near future.

One of the days last week our air conditioner had a problem and stopped working. So now we just have a single fan and a tiny bit of ventilation at night to sleep :( 
There are other areas in this mission that only have fans too so I have just been spoiled ;)

We returned home to our house one day to find someone fixing our air conditioner, but he knocked the power in our house out. And then the mission president and his wife came to visit us... well they got us two nice, new fans. Major blessing for us :)

Apparently, it's about to be the middle of the hot season here. This month most days are around 36 degrees. Honestly, I don't care what the number says. All I know is it's super-hot. Every day at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, the sun is shining and it's super-hot... 

This week we had Stake Conference (i.e.: a special meeting with people from 6-8 local congregations all together) with Elder Barros, a member of the Quorum of the 70s (put simply: a special leader). I ended up going to just the Sunday morning session, even though there was one Saturday night too. The session I attended was super good, and he gave counsel to all of us, along with several other speakers. 

Finally, today we had a preparação day with all the missionaries in Manaus, and we went to a zoo, that had tons of different cool animals.

This week I thought a lot about the Holy Spirit. Usually, I have tried to have the Holy Spirit with me for lessons and when I talk to people in the streets. But I have tried to change my view and tried to have the Holy Spirit to actually guide me. Help me know where to go and who to talk to. For all of you, if you don't already, you can have the Holy Spirit in your lives. If you have it, maybe you could change your point of view. Maybe you struggle to have the Holy Spirit with as you read the scriptures or General Conference talks. But maybe you are narrowing your view. As in, maybe you pick a scripture and then try to have the Holy Spirit help you there, but don't allow the Holy Spirit guide you to study something else more relevant to you. Maybe you are trying to control what the Holy Spirit does, not let it guide you. 

So I invite you all to do two things. One is to let the Holy Spirit guide you. And the other is to pray for help in following the Holy Spirit. 

Not much time this week...


Elder David Olson
🌴M🌴A🌴N🌴A🌴U🌴S🌴


Photos-
-Eagle
-Monkeys
-A Bird
-Elder Wagner and I

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