11 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Dad)

[Dad mentioned some scriptures regarding why Jesus Christ suffered death (2 Nephi 9:5 and 3 Nephi 27:14).] I was reading in Romans (because Romans teaches you everything you need to know ;) and it talks about this a little bit too. I will have to see what I can do about those scriptures :)

[I really appreciate your insights into and viewpoint about your experiences. You see beyond the surface of experiences and understand the significance behind them, like what you talked about last week in describing the tough times and the point of a mission being more than teaching, but including experiences, feelings, etc. (although I didn't catch the full meaning of Paul/Jeffrey's experience with eating something nasty and putting pieces in his pocket; what was the nasty thing, by the way?). Getting beyond the superficial meaning of life's events (and everything else) can make a big difference in our perspective.] Just things I was thinking, the Paul thing was kind of random but the point was I think that Paul had a lot more experiences than the stuff that he wrote about. I know those experiences with Christ changed his life and helped him to become better. Also, they gave him thoughts or feelings he will never forget. I was eating Mandioca which is a root and is kind of like a potato. But it was nasty beyond belief so I stuffed it in my pocket so that I could finish faster. It might have been better with something on it, but it was just plain. That and Doce de Leite on cheese are the only things that I haven't liked so far. Coconut water is nothing to get excited about. Açaí is a miracle fruit, nectar from heaven. I could eat it everyday. Maracujá is good too, but it makes you sleepy (Passion Fruit). I have had a little bit of starfruit too but it tastes like apple. Guava is nasty too. There are tons of fruits that I haven't tried yet though. It's hard to look beneath the surface sometimes, especially when things are hard. One of our investigators was talking about how it's easy to thank the Lord in the good times but when they turn bad you forget about him and worry about yourself. The area is still hard here and the members aren't helping, nothing is really getting better. I will just keep working though and pray for miracles to keep happening. I did have a cool experience with a drunk yesterday. He was screaming at us that his name was Michael and he tried to shake my hand. It's an unwritten law that you never shake drunk people's hands. Instead he grabbed my hand and yelled we are going to church together. If only all the people had this kind of will to go to church :)

11 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

[Mom mentioned that she had started reading the book, "Jesus the Christ," by James Talmadge.] I like it, it's not that hard for me ;) The beginning isn't so exciting but when he talks about the parables and things in Jesus's life it gets more exciting because you get to learn things you never knew. I'm almost done now, but I have been reading since the MTC. I really just read it because I wanted to hear what he had to say about Pilate but I ended up reading the rest of it.

[Mom talked about difficulties we all have in changing behaviors and why that is the case.] I guess it's because people don't want to be wrong and they think they are right. The easiest way is just to apply everything to yourself. When you hear a person say that people in general should be like this or that, stop and think about yourself...am I that person? That's also one way to study the scriptures too. Just apply everything to yourself. You can read to learn about history, you can read to learn doctrine, or you can read to apply everything to yourself so you can change. In my scriptures in Alma 17 I have tons of notes. It talks about Ammon and the beginning of his mission and cutting off arms. I have tons of notes that apply to life today (with help from my MTC teacher). You can always apply the scriptures to yourself. I have a lot of things I want to change to and I was thinking it would be helpful to study about that for a week. If I want to be more patient I should study patience for a week, just a bit everyday, and pray about it to ask for help. It will be easier the more you know about it and the more you understand the principle. After all, we should obey because of understanding etc. not because of fear or promised blessings. Like you said if we knew these things we would be exalted. We can know these things on earth though, and we need to know these things. We can even receive the blessings and promise of exaltation while we are still on the earth. It's something you have to work for and you have to study and pray to know and understand.