There's a first for everything!

I had an exciting weekend!

Thursday night, we got home from working. We had gone to a part of our area that is kinda far away, but we were visiting a member and teaching his friends. Out of 4 families we visited, 3 of them made us eat something. Side note, I love Brazilians. They give me food. :) So I was pretty stuffed at the end of the night. Everything was delicious.

So we're at home, and I realize how stuffed I am. We go about our nightly routine and I start to feel a bit nauseous. But I got ready for bed and laid down and I figured everything would be fine. I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I woke up about 11:30 and went to use the bathroom. It was diarrhea. Dangit!

Unfortunately it was the kind that attacks you frequently, as in every 20 minutes or so. I kept trying to fall back to sleep between my runs to the bathroom and then around 12:30, the nausea comes back. And I just knew it was going to happen. I get to the bathroom and bam, all that delicious food they gave me comes flying out. Oh it was horrible. I start to yell for Elder Yorgason. I figured I might as well prepare him to be a dad.

I was able to get back to sleep until 3 and I had to throw up again. It was not fun. Throwing up hurts too.

5 rolls around and the nausea hits me again. I would have thrown up again but I literally had nothing left. I also notice I had a fever, and my body was hurting. I called Sister Dias and she sent me to the hospital. However, I was not willing to go to the emergency room here in Açailândia. So I convinced them to let me go to Imperatriz.

Worst hour car ride of my life. I was hurting all over, I had a fever, I was cold. We get to Imperatriz and we go to hospital. It was a decent hospital, I at least wasn't afraid of dying in it. I was admitted quickly and the doctor saw me and sent me to th]e emergency room to get an IV of that clear liquid you always see in TV shows. I don't remember the word in English. OH MY GOODNESS. I hated it. I hated the bed. I hated the needle in me. I was in pain, sick, tired, dehydrated. The bed was super uncomfortable. It put a lot of pressure on my lower back where the pain in my body was highest. I couldn't get comfortable!

It was the longest 20 minutes of my life. When it was over, the nurse came over and asked if I felt better. I didn't, but of course I lied and said yes, I just wanted out of there! There was no way I was laying on that bed one more minute.

I had to find a pharmacy after that to buy the medicine the doctor prescribed. But, I've never been to Imperatriz, so we just wandered around until we found it. This entire time, my entire body was just aching. You know that sick, aching feeling all over. But little by little, I started to get better. Whatever they stuck in me was helping.

We also had a Zone Conference on Friday, the day I went to the hospital. So we had to find our way to the Stake Center where it was at. It was not fun. By the time I got to the Zone Conference though, I was feeling better. And by the time the Zone Conference was over, I was much better.

However, the worst part of that entire day: Because I had diarrhea, I couldn't eat for 24 hours! And our lunch: Brazilian barbecue buffet! Eat as much as you want! But me? Nope, I couldn't eat anything.

Oh well, I didn't die, so it made me stronger. I hope at least.

It was an unforgettable experience that's for sure!

But I love you all! I'm fine now, so no need to worry! It's just weird to think the first time I had to go to the hospital was in Brazil.

Love,
Elder Rackham

So we've discovered a cursed house. It took us a little bit to figure
it out, but we are now completely certain that it is cursed. There
are no doubts about it.

The best time to visit this house is in the afternoon, because the
family is always there in the afternoon and usually the afternoons are
a bit slower. So we usually get there around 3 in the afternoon,
after eating an amazing banquet of brazilian food, and walking around
in the sun, so you can imagine how good it feels to sit down. It
doesn't help that the chairs they have are quite possibly the most
comfortable of all chairs I have yet had the pleasure of sitting in.

We start to teach and it goes well, except every time with out fail,
the sleep brick slams me in the face and I can't help myself. I start
to nod off. I do my best to stay awake, but it's just too difficult.
I usually end up sleeping for a minute or two every couple of minutes.
One time I was saying the closing prayer and in the middle of the
prayer I fell asleep! I was saying the prayer out loud!

So the house really isn't cursed, it's just that every time without
fail I am unable to stay awake. And it's only this house that I have
problems with. I could be at another house at the same time of day,
and there's no problems. I think it really is the chair that's doing
it.

Anyway, my companion told his family last week about this story, and
it looks like his cousing decided to use the story (of my I might add)
as an example in Sunday School, so I decided to set the record
straight before it hits the newspapers ;) Working hard makes you
tired. We work hard.

I love you all! Until next week!
Elder Rackham

Uh oh...

Ran out of time, sorry! I was emailing President Dias and it took a bit longer than I thought it would. Basically this area is keeping us so busy, so I had a lot to report to President Dias about! We never have enough time to get all the things we want done during the week!

Anyway, next week I'll write more, sorry!

Love you all!
Scott

A week of training!

This past week we had a training that I participated in in Teresina. It was a 12 hour bus ride there, and 12 hour bus ride back. Not fun. But that's besides the point.

I enjoyed all of the training that we received. President gave some very good insights on what it means to "take upon thyself the name of Christ". We notice that in the sacramental prayer (the prayer said to bless the sacrament, the bread and water) it mentions this. In fact, as we take the sacrament, we promise to do exactly that, take upon ourselves the name of Christ. We explored several scriptures to be able to understand more of this. In Exodus, Moses is talking with God and asks him what he should tell everyone his name is. God responds by saying that he should tell them his name is I AM. It's interesting that as Christ ministered during his earthly life, he declared his divine heritage and eternal existence by saying "Before Abraham was, I am" which is exactly how he identified himself as we read in Exodus.

President Dias talked about how in Portuguese we have two verbs for to be, ser and estar. The difference between the two is that estar is more temporary, and ser is permanent. So we see how it reads in Portuguese, by using the verb ser, his eternal identity is reinforced. By using the verb to be, it shows that the name of Christ is all of His attributes and characteristics, which make up who He is. Christ has some 38 titles applied to Him in various scriptures. They serve as a definition of these attributes and characteristics, and as we come to know His various titles, we come to know who He really is, or in other words, what Christ's name really means and what it means to take upon that name.

Beyond these titles, Christ's name is also associated to several things. In Mosiah we learn that His name is the power to cure. It was very interesting to learn this, and study more about this. I know that as I study these things, I will come to know Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Redeemer.

I hope everyone had a great Mothers' Day! I'm thankful for all you Moms out there and all you do to help us learn and grow!

Love you all!
Elder Rackham

Another week!

It's been a good week.

Like I said we're trying to create a ward here. We trying to focus on
families but it's been a little difficult these past couple of weeks.

However, this week we've had several experiences with fasting and
praying that have strengthened me and my desire to find families in
order to create a ward. We want to have a strong leadership here in
the ward, otherwise the new ward won't be able to sustain itself.

This is how it would work:

The ward of Açailândia will divide and the ward here in Vila Ildemar
will be created. The ward will then rent a place in the Vila in order
to hold meetings here. Then it needs to up it's frequency to 125
people and then mantain it for 9 months in order to have a chapel
built. If we don't create a strong leadership, then the ward will
degress after it's created, instead of progressing and getting a
chapel. So we're very worried about this.

But like I said we had some good experiences that have helped us get
closer to our goal.

I hope everyone finds themselves in good health and happy. Mother's
day is before next P-Day, so I wish everyone a happy Mother's Day!
Mothers are so important, especially in the family. I am so grateful
for all the the moms out there that work hard to take care of their
children and their families. I pray that they are all blessed by the
Lord.

Until next week!
Elder Rackham