It was cold!

May 22nd

This past week we really focused on finding again. We were able to have success, but sadly it was another hard one for my companion Elder Naytson with his health. Now it's his spine that he says is hurting him. It's crazy how many problems he has, his back, knee, legs, feet, so many things hurt. We had one last doctor visit on Tuesday and they said that his legs are hurting because of his muscles, and the only thing he can do is rest which is hard if you're a missionary. I talked to President about it and he said that he just needs to take as much medicine as he needs to deal with the pain and keep working because if he rested enough to actually make a difference, maybe 2 or 3 weeks, it would be too much time away from the work. He still has 8 months until he goes home, so I don't know what he's gong to do honestly. I personally think that the cause of all of his problems is his weight. He is around 5'5" but is 213 lbs. Your body just cant carry that around all day, and because during his first year on the mission he walked even more, he's feeling the consequences now. But we were still able to find a family and a couple other people to teach, so it was good!

Something funny that happened was we were knocking doors and a guy let us in. We started to talk to him and he started to tell us how he loves Jesus and is catholic and stuff. He said "My sister sent me a video this week and I want to show it to you guys, here watch this" and pulled it up on his phone. My comp and I quickly recognized that it was one of the Bible Videos that our church makes that I've already seen a bunch of times. The only difference is that the end part where it has the church logo was cut out. He was a nice guy but was one of those that try to teach us about Christ and the gospel. I was funny how he used our video to try to do that!

On Friday I had an experience that I've never had before here on the mission. I was cold! It had been raining all day long and at night it only got worse. We were out in the streets looking for an address and the wind was blowing super hard and we were soaking wet. It was the first time I've actually been cold in 9 months! We ended up going to a members house to get out of the rain and she gave us some warm food which was nice. When I got to Brazil, I was in the hottest city in the mission during the hottest months of the year. Now, I'm in the coldest city during the coldest months. Pretty cool! I'm super grateful that I don't have to worry about the heat for at least a little bit longer.

On Saturday we had a pretty cool activity with the ward. Lately the ward has really been focusing on helping the members do their visits, so we came up with the idea to do a training for them to show how to do a good visit. We explained how to prepare, what to do during the visit, and what to do afterward. Then we did a quick demonstration. After we showed a video of President Eyring and Elder Holland talking about the Atonment and how we can't ever give up in our callings and in life because the Savior never did. It brought the Spirit really strong and helped motivate the members that were there. The video is awesome! You can find it here   It's worth watching for sure!

Sunday was pretty cool too. President and Sister Scholz came to our ward to give a fireside, and they even participated in ward council too! He talked about the tools that the members have to help in missionary work. His purpose was  to try and motivate the members a bit into doing more! He did a good job and the members really seemed to like it too. It's always fun getting to see President and Sister Scholz.

That's it though! This week is the last of the transfer, and I'll figure out what happens on Saturday! This transfer went by super fast again, especially because it's only a transfer of 5 weeks. The phrase "The days are long but the weeks fly by" that every missionary says is totally true. Time is going by quicker and quicker! But have a good week and until next week!

-Elder Odom