A Monkey Jumped on Me

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Today we decided to climb Pico de Jaraguá (Jaraguá Peak) here with a couple guys from the office. It was super fun and full of laughs. When we were on the trail we saw two monkeys. I forgot bananas this time, but i got these chocolate crackers out of my backpack and one of them immediately started approaching me hahahah. I was trying to give him just one, but somewhere in the middle of this process he jumped on me and grabbed the whole bag and went back up in the tree where he was...😐 bruh these monkeys always get the best of me. But it was good to go back to this mountain one more time. I´ll put all the pics down below. 

So in relation to the work this week...we may have had one of the BIGGEST MIRACLES OF MY MISSION YESTERDAY! So for the past year this man named Luis has been investigating the church in our ward. Me and him have been able to enjoy a great relationship as good friends in the time I've been here. I love him and his family. His son was baptized a year ago and will be going on a mission here in a couple months. This past Sunday he pulled aside my comps, our bishop, and me and told us he had decided to be baptized on August 4th...the last day of my mission!! He told us he had decided on this date cause his son returns from BYU Idaho to Brasil on the 1st and I leave on the 5th. So it works out perfectly!! I couldnt hold the emotions back as the happiness just rushed to me for this man. He is a great man and I feel honored to be able to be here while he made this decision. I'll tell more about his story in my last email to you guys before my mission ends, but man am I happy with what has happened. 

Its funny how this has all happened. This past Sunday, a family we were gonna bring to church cancelled at the last second and it was a real bummer. I was praying to be able to see a few more miracles before going home in sacrament meeting, and thats when Luis pulls us aside after the meeting. 

This past week we had another really interesting experience. One day while walking in the street a woman screamed to us to come talk to her. She told us how her husband had went to the Church of Jesus Christ a few years before but was in a really bad situation now. We went back another day to talk to him. We walked into a situation totally different than what we expected. This woman is a normal 40 year old, upper class woman here in Brazil. We walked into her nice house and her husband was literally sleeping on the couch with hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a week, a big beard, and old clothes. Apparently, he has fallen very hard into drinking in these past years. She told us the only years in their marriage that he stopped drinking was when he was attending the church. She told us how great of a man is and how many great qualities he has. We really believed her because even after basically throwing his life away, she is still with him. We know he is a good man on the inside. He told us how he is wanting our help to get back to church. It was a really interesting, cool experience and I really hope we are able to help this man make a 180 degree turn in his life. I bore my testimony of how Jesus Christ doesnt care for our past. His gospel has the same molding power over ALL people. We just has to let Him in and let this power move us. 

I love this gospel. I love the chance I have to introduce its power to people. I love this mission. 

I love all of y'all!
Elder G

Pics- pdayyyy zão





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