Elder Benjamin S. Smith

  So... I'm serving in Jacarepaguá at the moment. We were returning home and I noticed that one of the tree roots had scales. I couldn't believe it but I was 50 feet from an alligator! I felt like I was in Florida. Then my companion informed me that "alligator" is "Jacaré" so I am literally living in a place named after alligators and never realized that they live here. So basically I almost died.  Also, I tested positive for covid this week so we got put in covid jail 😕 my symptoms weren't bad but it wasn't super fun. We started wearing masks inside and couldn't go to church with our investigators. The good thing is that the members here are amazing. So we had two people going to church for the first time, one returning member and one new investigator. We did a video chat with the returning member and Sister Ytailandia so she'd have a friend at church and she loved it!  And we shared the number of a member with our new investigator and they...

This week was fun. On Tuesday we went to the Temple for mission conference which is always a blast. Also, we've been walking to Rio 2 to teach one of our friends, Andrea. Rio 2 is an area near the beach with these huge apartment buildings and so it's cool to visit. Andrea has a bunch of faith and felt the spirit powerfully in our first lesson. Powerfully enough that this week she quit drinking coffee after drinking it ever day for decades. This week we were trying to visit someone to deliver a Book of Mormon but their phone was off and we didn't have the exact address. Then someone on the street called out to us. He was a member who hasn't been to church for 20 years and the perfect person to help us find the right house.  Also, one evening while leaving the church building, there was a nice sunset and I thought "everything the light touches is our kingdom". Have a good week! 

We taught a few in person lessons this week which was fun 😁😁 We had exchanges with the other Elders in our district which was quite the adventure. I went to visit a recent convert at the edge of their area. So we took a small bus to the last stop, walked through a Brazilian farmer's market, and crossed a stream on a wooden plank to arrive at their house. It was lots of fun to talk with them. From their backyard, we could see a field with a group of youth flying kites and the mountains behind them. They also gave us some of the chocolates that the family sells on the street. Then we were able to answer some of their questions about the scriptures. Our friend, Cleber, came to church this week! It was really good to see him there and talk with him some more. He got to know the church as a youth but never joined. As he got older, he started traveling all over. He has traveled to 4 different countries, so he has lots of neat experiences. But he always remembered the peace he felt at c...