Brothers in Brazil: Serving the Lord: July 4th

4th of July is always a weird time to be out of the country. Lost in the work or not, loving Brasil or not, I can't help but turn my thoughts back to the homeland for a little bit! Especially since I received an awesome american flag towel this week (haha yes mom I got it).

This week was great! We got to go to Goiânia and see some old friends and have a meeting with President Kuceki. He is a really inspired man, and draws my thoughts often to the eternities and glories that await after this life.

We also saw a few miracles this week. One was with our investigator who we're helping get married. He has been going to church for a while, and the other day we decided to teach the word of wisdom. We knew that he likes to drink beer, and that it might be a problematic commandment. So we explained what it is, what the blessings are, why God has given this commandment, everything. And then Elder Sales said "So we want to help you live this commandment, by taking all of your beer that you have here at home and throwing it out, to get rid of temptation." Until then he hadn't even agreed to live the word of wisdom. He looked up, seeming a little bit sad, and I was really nervous. And then he looked at us and said "na hora." basically like "lets do it." My eyes even filled up with tears to see this grizzled guy taking steps and making sacrifices to follow the Savior! It was amazing.

I know that the gospel is true! I know that Jesus can change lives and give us life eternal. And I thank yall for all the support and prayers!

Much love,

Elder Nick Olsen

first sushi in Brazil

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Bom dia meu povo!

The days are dragging on as we near the transfer. At least, the time in the office is dragging on! Elder McDown knows how to do almost everything already, so I don't have much to do. Next week will be more exciting though, and a lot more busy because of transfer preparations!

I have tried to take advantage of my free time in the office to strengthen m testimony of the Book of Mormon. In case anybody was wondering, it is true. If we take the time to REALLY read and ponder it's teachings, we will see how true they are. I've asked the Lord each day this week to strengthen my testimony of this wonderful fruit of the prophet Joseph Smith, and each day I have felt myself have more certainty . It's been a wonderful blessing, and I know that God will manifest the truthfulness of it to anyone who reads it with a desire to know of it's truthfulness, patience, and faith.

AND we didn't even pass the first round of our cake competition in the church last week. It was a super pretty cake though! I think my cake career is over, we got pretty sad afterwards......

It was our landlady Tania's birthday yesterday as well! We bought her a cheesecake - a real one from Sam's Club! Holy cow, those things are not cheap here! but we split it 5 ways. and it was totally delicious.

In other news, we woke up at 4 am this morning and climbed a hill and a TV tower on top of the hill in order to watch the sunrise. We were super high, so it was really windy and kinda scary, but it was such a beautiful sight!

My companion and I knelt down to thank our Heavenly Father for allowing us to see such a miraculous view. When we recognize all that God has done for us in our lives, and are obedient to His commandments, we will always be happier.