Secret to Happiness

February 19th

 These weeks are going by insanely fast now! But now we are on the last week of the transfer, and it's very likely that things are going to be changed for the next one. Change usually slows down time a bit while you get used to the new companion, area, etc. I didn't get to email last week due to the Carnival. Here in Canindé, Carnival is just an excuse for everyone, including evey LAN House, to not work from friday-tuesday. And everyone just sits around and listens to the same selection of songs on repeat. Not sure how the songs are chosen, but everyone listens to the same 10 songs over and over. I know you guys know how much I love it when people overplay music. Not sure if i've talked about the music in Fortaleza, but it is seriously awful. I don't really know how to describe it but I think i'll be brain-dead after 2 years of this stuff. At about 7ish, the people here start to play those 10 songs using a MASSIVE speaker. The speaker is a collection of smaller speakers put together, and it's about as tall as a building. Once they start using that speaker, you can here the music no matter where we are. They play the music until about 2 in the morning, so sleep is difficult. Carnival definitely isn't as great as it looks in the movie Rio.

 Also, I forgot to record my voice this week, whoops. At least I recorded last week! This week has been pretty good though. I'm really grateful for all this time I have to study. I am learning a lot every week. But while the studying is going smoothly, the teaching is rough. We are trying to find new people every day, and we are succeeding, but none of the people here are interested. People just really really love São Francisco and being Catholic here. Many refuse to even pray about which church is true. They don't have any desire to know the truth, because they think they have found it. Or at least don't care enough to change anything. Those who do pray receive answers. They believe that what we have said is true, but they still don't want to change their religion. Doesn't make sense to me, but I've learned that logic doesn't work too well here. I know there are people here who are waiting for our message, who will accept our invitation to be baptized, but we just can't seem to find them. We are praying to be guided by the spirit, but there still hasn't been much success. I guess the real challenge of the mission is learning how to listen to the spirit. Seems to be the real challenge of life when it comes down to it. But it seems like baptising someone will be a miracle at this point. Doesn't mean we won't give it our best effort though.

 Speaking of my studying, I have come to really love 4 Nephi 1. I never really read 4 Nephi with real intent before, so I never learned anything from it. But through my recent studies, I've come to realize that 4 Nephi 1 pretty much has steps to obtain happiness. As it says in verse 16, "...and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God". I'm going to invite you guys to read this chapter yourselves to find out what made these people so happy. It was a pretty fun experience for me. I will tell you one thing, though. The chapter never states that that happiness was a result of lots of stuff (big house, money, etc.). I have found myself asking the same question that you asked mom. The people here have so so little. Even my companions have very little in comparison to what the average American has. Yet that doesn't mean that they aren't just as happy as we are. Just like you, mom, I've wondered what I ever did to deserve to have so many blessings in my life- it sure doesn't seem fair. But Heavenly Father tailored each of our lives in a way that will allow us to more effectively reach our potential. We may not understand it now, but when we look back on our earthly life when we have finished it, i'm sure we'll all see the reasons behind our situations. But we do know one thing: because we are blessed, there's no doubt that more will be expected of us.

 As for the language, I think it's improving still. There are some days that i'll feel pretty good, and there are others that I won't be feeling so great. Maybe i'm just too hard on myself I don't know. My comp and I are getting along well as always. It's always fun to share stories with each other. Even though our cultures are very different, there are some things that are the same no matter where you go. Love you all.