Rio Solimões!🏞

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 Monday, January 6, 2025; Iranduba Branch, Iranduba, Amazonas, Brazil:

Olá a todos! 


As last pday and this pday are only a few days apart, I wanted to be brief. 

For pday, my companion and I walked down to the river. So, basically there are two rivers kind of close by. One of them, Rio Negro (Black River) is between us and Manaus. The other, Rio Solimões, is where my current city is built off of. 

Iranduba is basically on a península, or Island, with one river below and another above. But later thise two rivers come together.

Many of you may have heard of it, but there's an interesting thing that happens. The rivers are actually different colors, temperatures, and different speeds. But when they come together to form the official Amazon River, they flow next to each other without mixing for a distance. [It is calling the Meeting of the Waters. You can Google it and see pictures of the two rivers flowing side by side!]

Today, we went to see Rio Solimões. Its color is a reddish-brown color. 

What was even funner is that we were walking on a dirt road on the edge of the river, when we saw a storm in the distance. It made for a beautiful view. But then it started advancing on us. So, we had to get out of there. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we found a restaurant/bar to duck under while we waited for the rain to slow. Because of that, we had a nice view of the water in the rain. The clouds and storm moved super-fast getting to us. But it made for beautiful sights, helping us see even clearer the color of the water. 

There are several different Apostles and other leaders who have talked a little bit about this phenomenon. If you all want, you can read one of their talks. Here's one from Ulisses Soares about being one in Christ

[ Um em Cristo ~

But I decided I wanted to make an analogy of my own here. 

So, these two rivers come together but don't mix. Kind of like they don't want to mix until they realize they are stuck together, going the same direction. Combine or split up!

That's kind of like us in our lives. God, out of love, gives us commandments, guidance and prophets to follow. Sometimes as we learn about them, we walk next to them but don't actually want to accept and apply them. 

God says to love our neighbors and love our enemies. We'll, maybe I can love some of them, that's enough, right? I don't have to love THAT person, right? Or alcohol, drugs and coffee are bad for my body and God said to not use them but.... just a little is ok, right? 

Sometimes we want to flow with God, follow him, but we pick and choose what to follow. We may act just like these two rivers that never come together. God's will is one of these two rivers, and our will is the other river. I was making goals this past week, and I thought.... we'll maybe I don't have to make that goal. Maybe I can make an easier goal, and goal that is less constant about...

That's when I realized no. If I want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, if I want to be an example to others, if I want to bring others to Christ both on my mission and afterwards, I must always commit to do what's right. To FULLY follow ALL of God commandments ALL of the time. And yeah, I'll mess up one thing or other. But when we set the bar high and strive for it, we will over time get better and be blessed. If we want to be happy, we must work for it. 

Just like this one note I remember said: "You can search all you want for happiness, but you will never find it. Instead, you must make it." 

So, my invitation to all of you, is to find true happiness and joy in life. Do this by bringing your will in line with God's will. Who is more likely to be right? The guy that knows every single thing there is to know, or one of us imperfect humans? 

✨️Bring 'your river' together with 'God's river'. Follow Him. Seek Him. Obey Him! ✨️

That's all for today, love you all!

Elder David Olson
🌴Missão Brasil Manaus Sul🌴
📍Iranduba, Amazonas, Brasil 

Pics-
-Elder Olson and Rio Solimões 😁
-Wetlands near the river 
-Rio Solimões, with a few boats
-Storm Clouds, accentuating the color of the water

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