Mahloongoo!

 How's life.....yeah, it's better here... a lot better. Last week was just a hard week and you are right, I just can't expect everything all at once and I have a really bad habit of doing that sometimes.  The Lord will bless when he chooses and he also chooses when to try us. That is also something I am learning this week.  Something I discovered in my personal study of the Book of Mormon and in reading Jesus the Christ... I have been looking for more ways to have faith in Christ and the things that I teach to other people.  I learned by way of James E. Talmage that humility is the source of faith and here is how:  It took me a little bit to make the connection that when we are humble enough to recognize that the Lord plays a part in every part of our life, even down to the simple things, we begin to learn that he is always there for us. Then we can have more confidence (or faith) that he will help us or that we can rely on Him. That was the first thing that I learned or that I had opened up to me. The second was that faith is about quality not quantity. Like the Savior said that if ye have faith like unto a mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain: remove hence and it shall be. The quality of your faith is far more important than the amount. Some of these things are easier said than done and I have had the grand opportunity this week to be able to learn these things, more or less, the hard way.ha ha ha  But how are you going to polish that faith if you never test it?  I was told to think of faith in this way a while ago. When you have a diamond fresh out of the ground it is usually cloudy or does not shine.  But after being in a master cutter's hand, the diamond slowly begins to take shape and eventually the diamond shines clear and bright.  I believe this is also true with faith. Each cut on the diamond removes waste (or doubt in this case) and we will eventually have a perfect brightness of hope through our faith. Pretty cool, huh?  It's amazing what the Lord teaches you when you feel like the path is getting a little steeper. Oh, and in the Book of Mormon, I'm trying to start it over again, but I am so close to the good stuff in Jesus the Christ that it's kinda hard to stop. ha ha  Anyway, in the Book of Mormon I was reading about Nephi and his first experience with the Spirit and his vision. I thought it was interesting that after he had studied and prayed that he sat and pondered. Not just fell asleep or went onto some other activity, but he sat and pondered the things that he read and prayed about, and only then did the Spirit act upon him and begin to guide him, letting him choose to follow the Lord instead of just jumping out at him which is what I think is sometimes what we expect.  After that first show of faith, the Spirit then asked him if he believed the words of his father.  He did this before showing him more. He tested his faith again. Nephi answers yes and he was shown even more things about Christ and the twelve. But it get's even better because after that he becomes a witness of Jesus Christand it made me think, "Am I worthy to be a witness of Jesus Christ like Elder Holland said in his Sunday talk in conference, "Do You Love Me?"  I kinda like to put my name in front of that question like the Savior might be asking mespecifically.  It changes the way you think about what you are doing for him.  After all these great experiences, he actually gets to speak with the Spirit as one man speaks to another. How amazing would that be?  I noticed that it was only until after Nephi first showed his faith and to have faith you need to be humble.  So not only was Nephi obedient, but he was also a man of great humility and good quality faith.  That was my study this week and it was really good.  I feel a lot better about this week just because of that.  It's funny how when you don't nourish the spiritual side of things, the difference you feel. I forget sometimes that there is a Spirit inside this body that gets hungry in a different way than the way my body does. Something I am learning from the Savior is something we use in every day speech, but when applied this way we can have greater happiness. The adage is mind over matter. The way it has been presented to me lately is Spirit over body. To exercise spiritual control over the wants and desires of your body.  This idea is especially helpful when you want to think about resting and taking it easy when you know you shouldn't, like not going to church, for instance.  Basically being lazy and not giving it your all. I have found that your spirit does not necessarily need the same things that your body needs and that sometimes to feel accomplished at the end of the day you need to push your body a little further because, really, your body is a gift from your Heavenly Father and if you fail to use that gift, like in the story of the talents, you loose your talent or your gift or the connection between them becomes weaker or non-existent.  So spiritual over body... it's food for thought. ha ha.

 

So onto this week. Well, there are good parts and bad parts, but I will take anything over last week.  This week it started off with the sickness that Elder Phillips got from the pigeon.  Surprise, surprise...NOT.  I didn't get sick. That had us down and out for a day or so.  After we started back into our area, kinda slowly because the sickness that Elder Phillips had was still affecting him, we did contacts for the most part near the end of the week and that was a rough day.  We ran into two people that wanted basically to talk our ears off. One was just bent on not going to any other church because he was convinced that he had found the truth and didn't want to change.  What was interesting, though, is that he said he had to choose between two churches which one was true and compare.  Had I known that's what he had said and not misinterpreted, I would have asked him to do the same thing with our church.  My Portuguese still lacks in some areas.  I am going to get better. The next guy we found was a teacher at a Catholic church who was convinced that money brings happiness. He was set on it, in fact he tried to convince us all the while we are trying to show him there are other ways of receiving happiness. He told us that as missionaries we get paid to do this.  My companion, who loves to debate, told him that we pay our own way here out of our own pocket and receive nothing, save the blessings of heaven from it.  It was funny because when he said that, the guy didn't have a reply. He just went off on some other tangent about how only money will bring happiness.  So all the while he is telling us these things, my companion asks, maybe out of frustration, if he has ever had any money and by this point it's more of a debate. ha ha  The man says, "No" and my companion then asks, "How then do you know that it will bring you happiness?!"  This man found another dead end in his conversation and began to switch topics again.  This conversation went on for a good little while and near the end I managed to ask or rather tell the man that I knew he had faith because he previously had said he didn't believe in anything, not even Jesus Christ.  He said, "The first man that gives me money is Jesus to me." I thought that was kinda sad so I told him that I knew he had faith and I also told him I knew he had faith because even though he didn't believe in Christ, he had a belief in something.  Sometimes I feel like you just have to start somewhere with these people. I gave the story of Ammon a lot of thought.  He didn't try to tear down what King Lamoni believed, but he built upon it.  That was this week and I am beginning to learn that the way this mission works is focused on your attitude and how you take things. Remembering not to get caught up in the rat race of life and keep your head on your shoulders, spiritually and figuratively. I am learning that my companion and I agree on a lot of things and that I need to trust his guidance, but at the same time I should not be afraid to go out and suggest something for the two of us.  This week was really good for trying to get my priorities straight and I want you all to know that because when I feel lost or I can't seem to figure out how I should handle a situation and I am worried about falling into a spiritual pit, I rely on the teaching that I received at home with my parents.  I remember who I am and where I came from. 

 

I am really excited to hear about you guys going to Colorado and taking some time there.  If you guys decide to move there for some reason, just make sure to notify me and take my stuff with you when you go.  ha ha.

On to the questions.... Yes, I can see the ocean, but not from my house. I am close enough to catch a ride to it and it is one of my favorite things to do.  Most of the people don't know where Las Vegas is.  If they do, I get a lot of crap about Sin City and junk and they all want to come back with me.  I usually just tell them that they wouldn't be ready for it if they went.  They really wouldn't, I don't think.  The city would just eat them alive. There are good people out here, just some are not always the brightest bulb in the shop, if you know what I mean.  I'm just saying that there are some people that "get it" and there is always someone out here who knows how to do something better than I do, whether that be fixing a car or playing soccer or really just being able to speak Portuguese... ha ha ha.

I am not the only white person in my branch, but every time you walk down the street, there is always someone calling you mahloongoo, which is dialect for "whitey".  It's funny, my companion just calls them mahloongoos too.  Thank you for all the election updates.  Everyone out here is super excited to hear the results. 

Tell Reid to keep his head above the water and learn from the mistakes of others so he doesn't have to learn the ugly things first hand.  Listen to Kelsey at work and try to do exactly what she says.  The more you do, the more you will see that you are trusted and others will follow.  Break away from what every body may think is cool or not fun to do.  Do the hard work that I know you know how to do.  Show them why I say, "Yeah, that's my little brother Reid."  For Alex don't forget you have an education to get.  Don't settle for second best.  Get out there, stretch yourself like you did on your mission, never settle, never stop.  Life is a hill and if your not going forwards, you are sliding backwards. 

 

This message is getting kinda long so I think I am going to close.

I love you all and hope that your week goes good.  I love you guys and thank you for your support.  I am so glad that I have such a great family to miss!

Love, your elder
Elder Proksch