"Why Are You Still Here?" -President Evanson

Olá todos,

Como vocês estão? 

Take a look down at the pictures and take a guess where I am!

If you guessed Orem, you'd be right on! Congrats!

Funny enough, this week was my first time visiting Orem since being in the Utah Orem Mission. We had to go down for an oil change at a specific shop down there and ended waiting over two hours for that to get done. We took the opportunity to go to Pho Plus, a Vietnamese restaurant that I highly recommend if you're ever in Provo or Orem, and a little Brazilian shop named Via Brazil. It was a cool opportunity to see some of the foods, drinks, and other goodies I might come across when I get down to Brazil right here in Utah!

The woman who owns the store has a few shelves set apart for copies of the Book of Mormon, pamphlets about the restoration of the gospel, and the phone number of the Portuguese missionaries in the area there for anyone who is interested. She told us we needed to bring her more to give away, as people had regularly been taking stuff, so we happily dropped off a shipment of books, pamphlets, and our phone number before heading back up to Lehi!

Besides that experience, we have been working hard to keep meeting people, learn the language, and sharing the gospel! We met a Catholic family who said they would live to hear about our beliefs and also another who we were able to help out with some car troubles he was having. We were planning on sharing a message but upon our arrival he said it would not be possible as he needed to figure out what was wrong with his car as he could not speak English nor find a Portuguese-speaking mechanic. We were able to talk to a few members of the Church in the area, find a mechanic for him, and help him out! That's one of the many reasons why I think Church is so important; it really is a big family where we get many opportunities to help serve each other, especially with the Portuguese ward in which serve; when English is a second language or even not spoken, a community of folks with a similar background is such a unique and wonderful opportunity!

Every week and even each day I see my ability to understand and speak the language grow. While my progress may not be as fast as it would if I were to be completely immersed, I continue to see the Gift of Tongues in my life. 

I found out this week that I am the last missionary in the UOM waiting to go to Brazil (because of that story I related last week). During President interviews this week, he joking asked me why I'm still here. And you know what? I'm still not really sure! But I know there's a reason, and there's something that I can do during my time here to make a difference in someone's life. In ten days, when Elder Romero leaves for Portugal, he will be replaced by a Spanish Elder (as there will be no more Portuguese speakers in the mission besides me and the Sisters serving in the south). In three weeks, he and I will be replaced by two sisters who will be assigned here. I don't have much time left in this area, so I'm going to make everything count and allow those miracles to happen! 

While I'm grateful to be here for the time being, President told me I need to be in Brazil and that he would be praying for a quick processing of my visa, so I think it's alright to ask you all, if you are willing, to do the same. That would mean the world to me!

"And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will."

Words of Mormon 1:7

Love you all and love hearing from you! Keep on living your best lives and let me know how they're going! And remember: Deus é bom!

Tchau tchau, 

Élder Lindsay