So..... Happy New Year!!

Hope all is going well at home.
New Year in Brazil is pretty crazy haha. I wouldn~t really know because we were inside from 6pm to whenever we went to sleep. But from the fireworks (if that is what you want to call them) it sounded pretty crazy.

Highlights from this week.

1) Paula Fernandes - We were sitting on the bus on the waterfront when a helicopter landed. Guess who got out? Paula Fernandes (she is a singer super famous here kind of like the brazilian Taylor Swift) so we took a picture from the bus (descritely as not to ruin our image as ministers of Jesus Christ) she played on the beach on new years (we were not there don~t worry)

2) Weigh in - Good news I got my six pack back. In this house we have a pull up bar and some free weights so I have been working out everymorning (before it was just push ups and sit ups but now I can do more, I have been doing 120 push ups and sit ups everymorning since July so don~t worry I haven~t lost anything) Bad news Weighed in this week... wantt o guess how much I weighed 83 kilos or 180 pounds. haha crazy huh?! Looks like Romney better watch out when I get back. haha

3) My Companion - love him. He is great. He is not a frantic worker. Which I needed an example of someone who works but not frantickly (sp) because I was killing myself. I am learning how to work hard but not run faster than I am able. He teaches well, different than I would but really well, and now I am humble enough to learn from him rather than trying to show him how good of a missionary I am like I did with my trainer. We are moving areas because there are not enough people for two companionships so we are working in another area the area of my trainer who is now a zone leader. I am getting to see the leadership side of the mission which is good and bad.

It is really nice to talk to and make friends with the good missionaries here in the mission. My companions have all been good and have been leaders of this mission so I am getting good examples.

It is bad becasue I see more of the mission now. I thought the mission was this celestial place where everyone was 100 invested in the work but its not. There are people here that hold the office and hold the power but don~t do what it takes to use it in a worthy powerful manner. It is frustrating but mostly sad.

For example, I can~t believe that missionaries talk about the physical look of the sisters. There is one sister here who everyone talks about how ugly she is. I hate it. When the Assistant and the Zone Leader are talking to eachother about this and laughing I get so sad. That poor girl will suffere for the rest of her life because of this and we are making her suffering worse. And what is worse is that Christ suffered for her sins so as we make her suffereing worse we make His worse as well. That was really hard this week. But I saw some progress in myself because I didn~t get mad. Just sad.

Sorry wrestling was rough this week. Sounds like a rough weekend. But I am learning here what I learned in wrestling and am understanding something that I learned in the MTC that we learn more when we lose.

Elder Holland Said that he was thinking about why missions have to be so hard and his conclusion was that `the road to salvation always goes through Gethsemene and it was never easy for Christ so if you want to walk the same path he did it will never be easy for you.

I understood this week that that means losing. Becasue we have more opportunities to learn when we lose. And loosing early makes it easier to win later.

I have been studying Jacop as well. I love his writing. I was reading in Jacob 1 and 2 about the personable responsibility that he took upon himself to teach the people and to be held accountable for their sins if he didn~t teach them well enough. It is something I want in my mission.


Love you all,

Hope your new year was amazing!!!

Elder Noel