Interviews and Zone Conference

 Monday, July 22, 2024; Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil:

This week was awesome!

Here I included a few of the highlights! It was a busy week, a lot happened. 

First, one of my two Wards had their yearly Arrial, or July Festival. This was the fourth time one of my wards has had their festival, and it was for sure my favorite! As always, they had a lot of food cultural to another part of Brazil. It was fun seeing more of the culture, how this ward does their festival. But also, we met a lot of people and have started teaching a few of them. 

There was a couple who were invited by their cousin to come. They spent a little while beforehand reading a little about the church as they have been searching where to find God. It was so awesome when they showed up to this event and asked us to help teach them! Super excited to see how our first lesson with them goes! I also know how much the messages help each of us know our role in life, and our potential!

During one lunch at a member's house, they pointed out the distant sound of monkeys screeching from the forest behind their house!  I didn't however get to see any of them this time. 

Then we had Zone Conference with all the missionaries here in the state of Acre. Several of them came in from distant cities. It was our first time meeting our new Mission President, President Taylor. 

First, we had a lunch with the Zone. I was sitting near President Taylor, and he mentioned he didn't like that the place [from which we received our food] weighed your plate at the end for the cost. He said that was because he knew the math for how many calories you could work off running a mile. And how many calories were in a pound. So how many miles were needed to work each pound of weight off. Good thing he likes running, I guess? 

The Zone Conference itself was awesome! Various missionaries, a member and the President and his wife gave awesome trainings. Honestly though my favorite part was our Mission President talking about technology. He gave us a presentation about technology, indicating that the world isn't using technology right. How often people use their phones when they need to be working. How the government let laws through such that you can be fired for phone abuse at work.

President Taylor spent many years in the military. He got various college degrees, and knows a ton about Technology, chemicals, the military and more. 

With those few specialties, I know for sure he is qualified to help us young missionaries in our mission to help God fight evil. 

We also had interviews with President Taylor. He is American, and so for the Americans he did our interviews in English. So good. He talked to each of us individually about some things to help us continue progressing. 

He talked some to each of us missionaries about this. Because Lucifer (Satan) and his followers were part of God's plan but didn't receive bodies for their rebellion against God, they have the purpose of making us miserable like unto them. And how do they do that? By swaying and controlling our desires and passions. 

We can't control Satan, but we can stop him from controlling us! We just need to keep control of our desires and passions and follow God. Easy to say, very hard to do!

How many things do we let control us in this world? Whether it be Drinking and Drugs, Gambling, Our phones, food, other people. A great gift from God is our freedom, and yet how freely we give it away!

I guess that's my invitation to you all! Find those things, people, ideas, passions and desires, that bind you. Free yourself of them! You can do it! Just focus. Trust God. Be free and happy

Love y'all!!

Elder David Olson

Missão Brasil Manaus Sul

Fotos

-Zone Conference

-Lunch before Zone Conference

-Two current missionaries and two future missionaries

-A table selling things made here in the Amazon, wooden carved animals, fridge magnets...