This past week was so much fun! This week we got to try actual Brazilian acai! I'm sorry, but the acai I tried with the Shelley's doesn't even compare to the stuff in brazil lol. Our district is convinced it's the fruit from the tree of life hahaha. I don't think I've ever had anything quite like it and it was amazing!
On Saturday went proselyting. They took us to a giant square in the middle of Sao Paulo and simply told us to get as many referrals as possible. I was pretty nervous going into it, but as soon as my comp and I got going that all went away. I was able to understand everything the people were saying and we were able to share a message with most of the people we encountered. In total, we got 12 referrals in an hour and a half! That isn't even the biggest miracle that happened though. Just before we were about to head back, we found a Dad with his son, his son was maybe 8 yrs old. As soon as we told him that our message would bless his family, he gave us his undivided attention and the spirit was super strong. He had questions about the Book of Mormon, and I happened to have my Portuguese copy with me. I gave it to him and he immediately started reading, asking questions about the different books, the introduction, etc. I wasn't able to answer all of his questions because we simply didn't have the time, but I told him we would get him in contact with other missionaries! It was amazing how prepared this guy was to hear our message and all it took was having a conversation with a stranger.
It's amazing how receptive all of the Brazilians are of the gospel. They are all Christians for the most part and believe in Jesus Christ, so that makes it easy lol. While we were proselytizing, we also ran into a couple from Uruguay. We started to talk to them in Portuguese, and after about a minute or two I could tell that they couldn't understand what I was saying. Then all of a sudden, the guy says in pretty broken English, "I don't speak English or Portuguese! Nice to meet you!" It was all I could do to not crack up in front of him hahahaha. You can't win them all I guess.
You all probably heard about the shooting, and it was probably more dramatized than what happened, lol. All that happened was a crazy Brazilian guy who wanted to talk to the mtc president was stopped by the church security here. The security called the police and when the police got here, the Brazilian guy attacked the police, and the police shot him 8 times, which was kind of overkill. The police are like stormtroopers lol. The most amazing part about the whole deal was the devotional after the fact. President Terry called everyone together after it was all over and gave everyone a personal priesthood blessing all at once. He had all of the missionaries bow our heads, close our eyes and fold our arms, and by the power of the priesthood, he gave a blessing of comfort and safety to our families and us. He also said that as long as we are on the Lord's errand and keeping his commandments, we don't have anything to worry about. As long as we are living faithfully, we will always have His protection.
I also CANT WAIT to get to the field. I love all of the people here, but doing the same thing everyday gets pretty old haha.
I love you all! I hope you all have a good week!
Elder Larkin
