A Palace!?!? And New mission Pres!

 Monday, July 1, 2024; Rio Bronco, Acre, Brazil:

This week was pretty normal. At the same time, a lot has changed. 

So, on Tuesday of this past week, my new Mission President and his Wife, Presidente and Sister Taylor, arrived here in the [new Brazil Manaus South] Mission. On Wednesday, we had a zoom meeting with them, my old Brazil Manaus Mission President, and all the missionaries in the Brazil Manaus South Mission. There are around 70 missionaries in my new mission (as opposed to the like, 160 in the old mission), so, a lot of missionaries I have made friendships with are no longer in my mission. 

President and Sister Taylor are from the Iowa, USA. President Taylor served a Spanish-speaking mission in Uruguay, and Sister Taylor speaks little Portuguese. So.... they will be having fun learning and fine-tuning their language skills. It will be cool to see their leadership in action and learn from them. I can't wait till I actually meet them in person.

This week was pretty normal, just a lot of walking, dust, sun, heat, you know, the normal. We did however get a full day of cold, that was different. One night we had trouble sleeping because of the heat, the next morning it was cold enough to wear a sweater to church. 

We went to our other Ward for Sacrament meeting on Sunday. It was interesting to see that chapel for the first time, as it was the first chapel built here in the city. It is in the downtown part of the city and, interestingly enough, the street of the chapel-which once acted as a normal street-is now blocked off and full of small booths where people sell clothes and similar accessories. So that happened AFTER all the buildings were built on this street...

We passed by a Palace (Palacio Rio Branco) and took a few photos. It had a cool water fountain out front too. 

Besides that, we were working on helping a few families with some of their difficulties. I wanted to talk about one of those situations with you all today. 

There is this mother of a family. She has several addictions, Including smoking and coffee. She knows that smoking is bad and wants to stop it. But as we talked to her, she mentioned that she didn't have an addiction to coffee. As we talked more with her, she said that she could stop drinking it any day without having side effects. At the same time, she has been drinking it since birth, not stopping for more than a day. She also mentioned that she does use it to help her through her day, especially her morning. As we talked with her and taught about the Word of Wisdom, a commandment to us to avoid substances like alcohol, cigarettes and coffee that make us addicted, we explained more about the why. Besides the fact that it is a commandment from God, so we should obey it, as well as the health problems associated with each of these substances, it's more than that. The Why behind God giving us this commandment. 

God wants us to be FREE and HAPPY. He knows that using and doing healthy things with help us be happier. And he knows that addictions make us powerless to those things to which we get addicted. By letting [them] in, we give up our freedom. How many people let their lives be governed by addictions? Some are so lea by them that they could die super early in life, live on the streets, or worse. Others just [make it so we] have less free time, maybe get tired faster, or make other bad decisions. But God wants us to have control. The more control we have, the easier it is to live a happy life, and to follow the guidance of our Father in Heaven and His Spirit. 

So, I wanted to invite you all to ponder: In what ways, what things, what addictions do you have that you must get rid of? What things take away your choice, your free agency to choose? I encourage you to evaluate those, and free yourself from those things. 

Love y'all!

Elder David Olson

Missão Brasil Manaus Sul

Fé, Obras e Poder

Pics

-Cups, Filters/Straws, and herb for Terere in a local store 

-Rainbow

-Elder Whipple and I with the Palace in downtown Rio Branco 

-A fountain in front of the Palace