Zone conference and An Exchange!

 Monday, January 27, 2025; Iranduba Branch, Iranduba, Amazonas, Brazil:

Olá a todos! Como vocês estão? Está semana passada foi muita boa. Tivemos Conferencia de Zonas, uma divisão, e mais!

Hello all of you all! How are y'all doing? 

This past week was another busy but normal-ish week. 

To start the week off, we had a Zone Conference for all of the missionaries in my Zone. Because my Zone has missionaries in cities across the Amazon and the

Amazon river, it doesn't work to hold them in person. So, our Mission President goes to one of the areas, and does the zoom call from there.

This time my area was selected, so our Mission Pres. came, a few other missionaries in nearby cities, and other missionaries joined in via zoom. It was an awesome Conference, a lot about our daily morning studying and planning, among other things. 

We also had an exchange with the Zone Leaders, so I stayed with Elder Alvarenga for the day. Because of distances, all 4 of us missionaries stayed here in my area, as opposed to the normal where one dupla will be in each area. I took not one photo with them thought, so RIP.

This week we got a bunch of rain, but also a lot of Sun. I saw, among other things, several large snails and a bunch of types of fruit trees. It is starting to be Goiaba season, so I will try to buy and make Goiaba juice as much as I can before going home. It's my favorite juice and we don't have them in the USA (I don't think).

My comp Elder Jensen also tried two new fruits this week. One is kind of like a big banana that you don't peel, but crack the shell open, and it looks like banana sliced up, each part with a big Black seed stuffed in it. Inga? Not sure how to spell in. The other fruit is kind of like combining a grape and a thornbush with a seed in the middle. There's an outer shell you either cut with a knife or your teeth, and inside there's a big grape containing a seed. Both taste good but I don't think I will miss them too much.

This week we had some awesome lessons. In one of the lessons, we were talking with a guy and when we talked about baptism, he was super happy and kept shaking our hands with a big grin. 

Another lesson had a key listener being a pig... only he made everyone else not listen. 

On Saturday, one of the members gave a special training on public speaking. Honestly much better than I had thought it would be. Few people showed up, so more special attention was given. The guy leading it had the members all talk for a short amount of time, and then had each of them give a short talk. Being that each week during church different members are asked to prepare and give talks, it was a good practice and training to learn at. I however was not the most impacted. That's because for me as a missionary I am always ready to give a short or long talk about the teachings of Jesus Christ, about His Church, or about God's plan for us. The mission really does help missionaries learn both the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as physical skills like public speaking.  

It's a miracle because I remember my mom telling me she would give her testimony [up at the front in church] if I gave mine, and I never wanted to go up in front of people. 

But speaking of testimony, I wanted to mention it a little here to finish today's email.

So... what's a testimony? I like to think of a testimony about God, about faith, just like a testimony given in Court. When someone is on trial in court, there are normally testimonies given by witnesses. These people say what they saw happen or give their witness about the case. 

Just like that, we all can be witnesses. We can testify to others about what we know. It doesn't have to be a speech or spoken testimony. But we just need to share what we know. About God, about our beliefs, about the things we have learned. 

In the scriptures we are promised that when we share our testimonies, they will grow inside us, and the Holy Spirit can help those listening know the truthfulness of our testimony. 

What's great about it is, our testimony doesn't need to be big and elegant. It doesn't have to be complete or have all the answers. It just needs to be from the heart. 

And a testimony grows when you study the scriptures, pray, and share it with others. Yep, that's right, when you share it, it will grow within you and ones listening!

So, my invitation to each of you is just that! Share your testimony! Is it big? Is it small? Doesn't matter. Just share it and build it. It will give you peace and reassurance amid life's difficulties!

That's all folks! Love y'all!

Elder David Olson

Missão Brasil Manaus Sul

Iranduba, Amazonas, Brasil

Pics-

-Elder Jensen with Inga? For the first time

-Estado Amazonas!

-Rain clouds daily

-Alex, Elder Jensen, and I