It was an interesting week. It was really like a roller coaster ride. We saw just about everything, I think.
We started the week with a family that was preparing to be baptized. Well rather, we started the week without this family, because they moved without telling us and then gave the Book of Mormon back, but not to us, to a member that lives close by. It was really sad to see them give the Book of Mormon and all the pamphlets back. We've tried to locate them in their new house, but we haven't had any success. I think someone talked bad about the church to them.
That's how we started off our week, then it got worse, then it got better, then it got a little worse again. It was just one of those difficult weeks, but in the end, Church was great. There are 6 missionaries in the ward here in Açailândia and we all sang "I Believe in Christ" It was beautiful. I was able to pull off a decent bass part. The sisters and my companion filled in the other parts. The members loved it. The Bishop got up afterwards to talk about the temple but felt inspired to talk about another subject and it was perfect for several of our investigators and the members in our area. So despite all the stuff that went on this week, it was a great way to end the week.
Anyway, time is short, until next week!
Love,
Elder Rackham
Friday, July 29, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Howdy!
Well I missed you all last week, sorry about that! At the internet cafe we were using, they put a time limit, and I literally finished all the other emails except for this one just before the limit ran out. So I wasn't able to get this email out.
We had a good week of studying. We focused alot on understanding better the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. We had some really great insights, and my understanding was taken to a whole different level. It's amazing how simple personal revelation is, but how profound it is in terms of changing us.
We had an unfruitful night where almost all of our appointments fell through. I had to use the bathroom really bad. It was about 8:30 at night and we decided to head home. As we were walking home, we said "Good evening!" to an older gentleman and he responded. We kept going but I felt we should talk to him. I didn't want to because I had to use the bathroom! But I felt it again that we should talk to him, so I turned around and told Elder Eberhardt that we should go talk to the man. I didn't know that he had also felt the same thing! We talked with the man, he invited us in and we talked and conversed and we got to know each other. We set an appointment to come back the next day. When we came back we had a really great lesson. He was really hooked by the plan of salvation. He really felt like it was how it's supposed to be. The Spirit was there testifying to all of us. We're going to go back today and teach him that God speaks to us today through Prophets. We had mentioned that this plan we taught him was revealed to us through modern prophets. He became really interested by it.
It was a good experience for me. I learned that I need to do God's will and not mine. I wanted to use the bathroom. God wanted me to talk to that man. In the end, I learned what was more important.
Until next week!
Love ya'all,
Elder Rackham
We had a good week of studying. We focused alot on understanding better the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. We had some really great insights, and my understanding was taken to a whole different level. It's amazing how simple personal revelation is, but how profound it is in terms of changing us.
We had an unfruitful night where almost all of our appointments fell through. I had to use the bathroom really bad. It was about 8:30 at night and we decided to head home. As we were walking home, we said "Good evening!" to an older gentleman and he responded. We kept going but I felt we should talk to him. I didn't want to because I had to use the bathroom! But I felt it again that we should talk to him, so I turned around and told Elder Eberhardt that we should go talk to the man. I didn't know that he had also felt the same thing! We talked with the man, he invited us in and we talked and conversed and we got to know each other. We set an appointment to come back the next day. When we came back we had a really great lesson. He was really hooked by the plan of salvation. He really felt like it was how it's supposed to be. The Spirit was there testifying to all of us. We're going to go back today and teach him that God speaks to us today through Prophets. We had mentioned that this plan we taught him was revealed to us through modern prophets. He became really interested by it.
It was a good experience for me. I learned that I need to do God's will and not mine. I wanted to use the bathroom. God wanted me to talk to that man. In the end, I learned what was more important.
Until next week!
Love ya'all,
Elder Rackham
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
I'm alive!
So I didn't email yesterday, because I was traveling. I'm in Teresina currently. And I got here safely. There will be a few days of training, then I go back. Due to me being in a bus for 12 hours and getting to Teresina much too late, I was unable to email. Sorry! But today President Dias told me to email.
This past week was a good week. We worked really hard to help some families. We're already seeing a difference in a family that was having some small arguments and unhappiness in their marriage. We can already see the change. It's been great! This past Sunday, the husband and the wife came. We're following up this week and preparing them for baptism.
Elder Eberhardt and I are getting to know each other more. We're laughing and having fun on the streets, and we're happy. It's always nice for the people to see that. Then they have a desire to learn more about it!
Well, my time is short, but until next week! I'll tell you all I learned about this week.
Love you all!
Elder Rackham
This past week was a good week. We worked really hard to help some families. We're already seeing a difference in a family that was having some small arguments and unhappiness in their marriage. We can already see the change. It's been great! This past Sunday, the husband and the wife came. We're following up this week and preparing them for baptism.
Elder Eberhardt and I are getting to know each other more. We're laughing and having fun on the streets, and we're happy. It's always nice for the people to see that. Then they have a desire to learn more about it!
Well, my time is short, but until next week! I'll tell you all I learned about this week.
Love you all!
Elder Rackham
Monday, June 27, 2011
A wonderful week!
Well, it's been a lovely week in the neighborhood!
This week we really pumped things up! We got all bold and what not
teaching this week, and we set a lot of baptismal dates. Many people
accepted. We saw a lot of progress in a lot of investigators. It was
great to see that.
We're doing well here.
It's a short update because I'm running out of time, sorry!
Until next week!
Love y'all,
Elder Rackham
This week we really pumped things up! We got all bold and what not
teaching this week, and we set a lot of baptismal dates. Many people
accepted. We saw a lot of progress in a lot of investigators. It was
great to see that.
We're doing well here.
It's a short update because I'm running out of time, sorry!
Until next week!
Love y'all,
Elder Rackham
Monday, June 6, 2011
Another good one!
So I got better. That's quite the blessing. It's definitely an experience I never want to go through again.
As far as news, Elder Yorgason is being transferred to São Luís. He's leaving Tuesday. My new companion will be Elder Everhart (something like that, I'll find out for sure on Tuesday as well). It's going to be sad to see Elder Yorgason go. I'm going to miss him! It was a very good (almost) 3 months together. It went by so fast! I blinked and it went by. We had such a great district. But the new district will still be a good one.
With it being the first Sunday of the month, it was fast and testimony meeting. Near the end, there was a space of time after all the members had gone and born testemony, so I decided to also bear mine. Lately, I've been studying and thinking more and more about what it means to take upon ourselves upon the name of Jesus Christ. And I felt that I need to come to know better my Savior.
With a few investigators, we've been focusing on the existence of God and Jesus Christ. That they're real, with bodies of flesh and bones. I've had strong experiences that have shown me that God exists. The natural desire we have to know who were are and where we came from is proof of this. Proof that God lives. It is not some evolutionary side-effect. To those that deny the existence of God, I testify that He is real. I know that he is real and that He exists because I have felt his great love for me, in a very unexpressable way, but nonetheless, I have felt it. All who truly desire to know if God exists or that we matter to him, can and will come to this knowledge.
However, I feel that my personal witness of Christ the Redeemer needs to grow. Yesterday we read an investigator a scripture: For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God weare not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time. I pondered on this scripture and I began to understand that because God is, Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ and His atonement is the focus of God's plan for all of us. Not just for a select group of people, those who believe and proress his name, but for ALL of His children. How can a perfect God create a plan that saves just a few of His children? That is why Jesus Christ is the rock of our salvation.
Job's words and conviction of the reality of Jesus Christ encapsulate what I wish to express, that "I know that my Redeemer lives!" That we all may be able to know that our Redeemer lives, on a personal level. That we all may be able to feel of Heavenly Father's love for us. That we all may be able to taste the sweetness of forgiveness, that only comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
With love,
Elder Rackham
As far as news, Elder Yorgason is being transferred to São Luís. He's leaving Tuesday. My new companion will be Elder Everhart (something like that, I'll find out for sure on Tuesday as well). It's going to be sad to see Elder Yorgason go. I'm going to miss him! It was a very good (almost) 3 months together. It went by so fast! I blinked and it went by. We had such a great district. But the new district will still be a good one.
With it being the first Sunday of the month, it was fast and testimony meeting. Near the end, there was a space of time after all the members had gone and born testemony, so I decided to also bear mine. Lately, I've been studying and thinking more and more about what it means to take upon ourselves upon the name of Jesus Christ. And I felt that I need to come to know better my Savior.
With a few investigators, we've been focusing on the existence of God and Jesus Christ. That they're real, with bodies of flesh and bones. I've had strong experiences that have shown me that God exists. The natural desire we have to know who were are and where we came from is proof of this. Proof that God lives. It is not some evolutionary side-effect. To those that deny the existence of God, I testify that He is real. I know that he is real and that He exists because I have felt his great love for me, in a very unexpressable way, but nonetheless, I have felt it. All who truly desire to know if God exists or that we matter to him, can and will come to this knowledge.
However, I feel that my personal witness of Christ the Redeemer needs to grow. Yesterday we read an investigator a scripture: For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God weare not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time. I pondered on this scripture and I began to understand that because God is, Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ and His atonement is the focus of God's plan for all of us. Not just for a select group of people, those who believe and proress his name, but for ALL of His children. How can a perfect God create a plan that saves just a few of His children? That is why Jesus Christ is the rock of our salvation.
Job's words and conviction of the reality of Jesus Christ encapsulate what I wish to express, that "I know that my Redeemer lives!" That we all may be able to know that our Redeemer lives, on a personal level. That we all may be able to feel of Heavenly Father's love for us. That we all may be able to taste the sweetness of forgiveness, that only comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
With love,
Elder Rackham
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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
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
Thursday, May 26, 2011
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
