A Voice Letter!

Ty sent us a voice letter! It's so fun to hear his voice!!
 

A few pics:
 

Cat Called??

January 29th

Hello! Another pday is already here!

This week has been raining a lot. It's been pretty nice to have some change in the weather. Usually it rains and stops raining so fast that the only thing that changes is the ground gets wet. But this week has had some solid downpours. But it's funny- even though it's raining, it is still very hot most of the time. So whether or not i'm using an umbrella, i'm going to be wet. Either with sweat, or with water. But it isn't as hot as it normally is with all this rain. 2 nights ago was the first night I slept on the mission without a fan or the ac turned on. Thought that was pretty neat. The downside of the "cold" weather is that there were only about 20 people at church on Sunday. I guess people here can't handle a little breeze. Funny how everyone gets used to the temp of the place they live. When it changes, they don't adapt very well.

Another... interesting... experience, was with being cat called. Cat calling isn't something new here on the mish, but this week I was cat called by a dude. I forgot to tell you about the other times, but this is the 3rd time that this has happened. Usually they say something like "Oi" and laugh but this time some guy said "coisa lindo, coisa desejável". Not too excited about that. But my companion is very happy that this happened to me. In fact, he reminds me almost every day. Oh Canindé....

We also had an integration night this week. It's basically just a night for all the members to get to know each other a bit better. There was games, food, and I got the oppportunity to give a talk. It was the first of 2 talks that I gave this week. I gave another talk on Sunday. Luckily, because we study a lot here on the mish, it isn't too hard to give talks with no time to prepare. I've been studying the talks of general conference from the liahona's a lot recently. Like i've said before, conference is something that I took for granted for sure. The mission changes your perspective on a lot of things. Almost always in a more positive way.

One thing in particular that I have come to understand more this week is the Plan of Salvation. It really is a perfect plan, and it is probably my favorite lesson to teach. When we teach this lesson, we get to answer questions that some people have had their entire life (where did I come from, why am I here, where will I go). When people really are interested in our message, it gives them a whole new perspective on life. This additional study that I have given to the Plan of Salvation recently has helped me with this perspective. This eternal perspective. When you have an eternal perspective, it becomes much easier to deal with all of the challenges that we face in this life. Because I know that I have an eternal life ahead of me, I know that all of my problems are only temporary. Even if we have some sort of life-long problem, it is still only temporary. This plan also helps me to know why we have our problems in the first place. Without them, we couldn't grow. I think almost every important thing I have learned while on the mission has come from some sort of challenge. For this, I am grateful for the challenges I have overcome, and for the challenges I am still facing.

But that's pretty much everything exciting that happened this week. Love you all, keep on keepin on.

Elder Odom

The Mission is Awesome!

January 22nd

This week has been tiring! Elder Prates and I are going a little bit crazy due to the expansion of our area. When you have to walk everywhere, it's huge. We are trying to work in Canindé A one day and Canindé B the next day, and switch every day. But it doesn't go as smoothly as you'd like when you have investigators who only have time on specific days during the week. We also didn't get a single address this week from contacting. Our teaching pool is pretty small right now. And the investigators that we have that are progressing aren't married, just living together, so it'll be a while until we can think of baptism for them. But, as they say here, vai da certo. If there's one thing I've learned from last transfer, it's that hard work pays off. We've just gotta do that hard work. We've also had some rain in the past few weeks which has been amazing. The last time it rained, it rained hard. It was actually crazy. Luckily we were close to an investigators house so we were able to stay somewhat dry but it reminded me of the storms we had in Texas. It was great.

Also the family of Eliane (the family we baptized) is pretty much my Brazilian family now. We tend to go to their house at around the same time each day, and they all wait for us now. When they see us, they come running. It's awesome. Especially the little one with long hair, Kaue. He is almost always naked so seeing a fat naked 4-year old running down the street towards you is quite the sight. The mission is awesome!

The language is coming- I think. I can't really tell how much I've improved, but I think i've improved a little bit. Like I said, I can understand everything about the gospel. During lessons I understand everything. The day to day stuff is what I am having problems understanding still. But i'm going to really crack down on vocab now. I feel like that's what I need to work on.

This week I have been studying trials. Everyone has them, and I have been dealing with some tough ones recently, so I figured it would be good to understand them a bit better. I've come to more fully understand that pretty much everything I have learned on the mission thus far is due to some form of adversity. This life is a test, and this test is different for each person. Heavenly Father loves each one of us. He loves us more than we can imagine, and he wants to see us grow and become better. He has placed trails in our lives in order to help us become better. Each trial I face is specifically tailored for me. Each trial you face is specifically tailored for you. Our goal is to find out why he placed that trail in our lives. Learn what we can from it, and get through it. This is much easier said than done. That's why we don't have to complete these steps alone. Lucky for us, God is with us every step of the way. He has provided scriptures, living prophets, and his telephone number if we have any questions. We also use the term prayer for that last source of help. I know that through the trials I have faced, I have become a better person. I have also come to trust in the Lord more which is something that helps immensley.

 Thank you for all the prayers and support!

Elder Odom