The Bright Side of Things

Hi. This week lots of cool things happened. We had a pretty busy week with lessons and working with members. We dropped off some goodies to people at their doorsteps again. Elder Speakman also made a breakfast casserole thing we brought to a lady we’re teaching. We also got news that this week we will finally be having Zone Conference in person! This will be my first in-person Zone conference since the very first one I went to back in January. We can also start meeting with people in person IF we keep the social distancing requirements and if they are not in the high risk category due to age or other circumstances. So nothing really changes for us because most of the people here fit that category. We also got to meet in-person for District P-day today! We haven’t done that since the beginning of March. I really enjoyed that! Just being around other missionaries again was a lot of fun. The last thing is, we got to go to church yesterday. Haven’t done that since March as well. Only 25 people were allowed to go but it went good. I spoke, along with the branch President. My Mom wanted me to put a little bit of my talk in here so here it is.
I talked mostly about how sometimes things don’t always work out the way we think they will and that God answers our prayers the same way. This has been how my mission has been so far. I didn’t know what to expect all that much before coming out, but I never could have imagined it being the way things are right now. Although it is different, the work still moves forward and we can still be happy regardless of our circumstance. I have learned more, felt more, experienced more, and progressed more than I could have ever imagined I would in a time like this. Three things came to my mind as to why that is. 1st is Prayer. It is so powerful and brings a lot of peace. 2nd is the Book of Mormon. Along with the Spirit, the Book of Mormon is our greatest tool in our conversion to the Lord. It will truly bless your life. 3rd is our attitude. A constant thing that keeps coming up is to learn all that I can from these experiences and to do so happily. I read 1 Nephi 17:2-3 and 1 Nephi 17:20. (You can look those up if you’d like) these just talk about what Nephi’s attitude was after wandering in the wilderness for many years compared to Laman’s attitude. It was far different. Nephi found the happiness where he was. Things dont always go to plan, they aren’t always easy, but we can still find happiness where we are. Circumstances do not determine our happiness. President Gordon B. Hinckley said to “accentuate the positive.” Find the happiness where you are. I believe God will make much more of our lives than we ever could. I also believe that complaining doesn’t do anything for us. Trust in the Lord, he doesn’t always lead us where we think we should be, but to where he needs us to be. Have fun. Love, Elder Souza