The highlight of this week was being asked to speak at the Sao Paulo, Interlagos Mission multi-zone conferences on Wednesday and Thursday. We both gave presentations, Mike's was on resolving conflicts and mine was on how to have a better relationship with your companion. We gave them in Portuguese and they were both well received! I made a power point, wrote my script in English and then tried the best I could to translate it into Portuguese, then I went to Google Translator for help and then I sent it to Hannah for further help and finally had another Portuguese speaking senior sister in our office do a final edit. We loved being there with 175 missionaries. We were fed a delicious Brazilian lunch both days and then we gave our presentations. We had a total of 30 minutes and it was just about the right amount of time; any shorter and we probably couldn't have gotten our points across (I had 10 minutes and that was just right for my first time); any longer and they certainly would have fallen asleep!
The four simple points that I stressed were: 1) Share ideas, 2) Serve each other, 3) Help each other, and 4) Forgive each other. Simple ideas, but they are effective when we really try to put the needs of our companion ahead of our own and truly try to love each other as the Savior commanded in John 15:12, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."
This was on one of my Instagram feeds this week and although it doesn't relate directly to young missionary companions, it's a good reminder for all of us in our marriage and other important relationships.
This was the handout Mike used in his presentation which I find is so helpful in all of our relationships:
We also had the opportunity to attend the temple. The peace we feel there is so incredible. When we come out of the temple, this is our view. The buildings in the background on the left is our apartment complex! Still seems surreal that we are here and so close to everything that we need!
I feel this when I think of what we are doing here and how blessed we are in our lives to have a purpose greater than ourselves and for the opportunity to be helping others to accomplish their purpose here! It really is an amazing feeling!
I've been wanting to get some live plants in our apartment and last week we scored this beautiful one. We also find having fresh flowers keeps our spirits up! These are the little things that make me happy!
This is what we see when we come out of our apartment building each day. So beautiful and so safe within our gated, fenced in complex!! When we come back in the evening, there are always happy children playing on this playground. It truly is the little things!! Enjoy every little thing!
We didn't take pictures of our Saturday adventure, but we went with some of the other senior couples to an antique flea market and it also happened to be on the same street as a huge music district with lots of music stores. We decided to start an old Geezer Samba band with some of the other couples. Mike will play piano and some of the others along with myself will play some of the rhythm instruments we found and purchased with the help of Ray and Marilyn Anderson. We will keep you posted on how this proceeds. We also had lunch at a wonderful restaurant that serves Bahian food, which is a lot of different seafood cooked in delicious sauces. It was awesome!
It was a great week and I leave you with this thought from the scriptures. It is from the Book of Mormon, but definitely applies to all who try to keep the commandments of God.
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