Matt #43

Other week has passed... and other week of life changing experinces that cannot be expressed in words... Today I would like to start my E-mail a little diffrently. I would ask each person who reads this to pray in your hearts right now that the Spirit will be with you as you read the things I write and hope will help... I hope everyone realizes that Ben and I are nothing out here in the Mission. We do not teach people and we do not have Baptisms. We do not do anything out here... Its all by the Spirit. If you meet a good Missionary back home he will tell you that he only did what the Lord wanted him to, that he did his best to follow the rules and do the work not because it was his obligation to be a obiedent Missionary but because he realized that without the Spirit of the Lord in his heart he was nothing. This past week I really tried my best to understand this principle but its one thing to say alguma coisia, but its a whole other story to do something about. To start of I would like to thank you all once again for the wonderfull e-mails.. they are so amazing to recieve every week and I'm so glad for the news I hear from everyone. Its pretty interesting because as I read all your words the Spirit shouts to my Heart and mind "Talk about that in your E-mail" or "That would be really neat to write down and use for another time." but when all is said and done and I've finished reading your wonderfull loved filled letters, I only feel the Spirit and your love for Ben and I and I cant remember what I wanted to write! Haha. I love what you said mom about having a little pressure to write e-mails... These past few weeks I've been really worried about what I would say that might help those back home who might be having a tough time... but then I realized that I only need to bear testimony and the Spirit will do the rest. :) Kinda like when were teaching investigators huh? Haha. Dad thank you for the E-mail about "Making your Calling and Election made sure" I was reading a few things from Elder Bruce R. McConkie about this subject and it sparked my intrest but after I really pondered about this deep Doctrine I also realized that as long as we are truly trying our best it doesnt matter to much. :) The Lord knows the intentions of our Hearts and thats all that matters to me. Also thank you mom for your words... I miss you so much you have no idea! Alyssa your story touched my heart and also I cant believe all the snow! The brazilians would freak out if they saw this picture haha. Sister Tighe when you mentioned about Alex, Ben, and I when we were younger just playing around or waiting for you and my mother to stop chatting so we could go play some more at your house a flood of memories came back into my mind! Those were really good memories. Also Kristin thank you for your e-mail about conversion... this is so important and I hope you all realize just how important your E-mails really are to Ben and I.

Well lets begin... to be honest I'm not sure what I really intented to write today but I hope it will be good. Just so everyone knows we had transfers and it looks like I will be staying in my area another transfer along with my companion Elder Larsen... this is his last transfer before he goes home so things are a little diffrent for us but I know its going to be a great adventure. He's an amazing companion and I love him so much. We havent had a single disagreement and we just work hard everyday. Actully next Sunday we will have two Baptisms with a mother and daughter. They were planned to be Baptised yesterday but she told us she would like all her family there. I totally agreed with that one so next Sunday will be a speciel day for all of us. :) This week I've done a lot of soul searching as I noticed that I was once again being sucked into the day to day routine attitude of the Mission (This tends to happen a lot so future Missionarys who may be reading this prepare yourselves to always remember why your on the MIssion and you will be protected.) One of the routines I was sucked back into was this. I'm not sure why but I'm still having a hard time STILL with the language... (I know you all thought that I would never bring this one up again huh? haha) but this is whats happening, I can speak Portuguese just fine but when it comes to an understanding level of what is being said on the streets things just dont make sense... one hard thing about Brazilian portuguese is nobody speaks it correctly so what happens is you spend all your time studying a book to learn proper grammer and then when you get on the street you say to yourself "Holy cow what did he just say? Thats not what I studyed this morning!" haha its funny at times and I've really been trying to laugh about the situations and keep going and I've received some many blessings because of this attitude, but this week Satan planted a seed in my brain that was almost destruction for me. I had this small thought enter my mind that went a little like this. "what would happen if I returned home and couldnt speak portuguese correctly... what would people think of me... they would propably think I was slacking and doing nothing on my Mission. Everyone would think I just relaxed my whole Mission and did nothing there..." Now my family and friends on a scale from 1 to 10, (10 being the highest) how selfish was this thought of mine? For me I would say about 13 haha. Theres two diffrences between my E-mails I sent each week and my Brother Bens E-mails he sends... He always focuses on others with incredible stories of helping milton or reaching out to others. (Love of the Savior) Mine tend to focus only on me and my problems haha. (Pride) Pride is something thats very dangoures... you know why? Because we are selfs cannot realize or detect it within ourselves! If that was the case it wouldnt be called Pride haha. I want everyone to take a moment and try and find the Pride in your own lifes. It wont be easy but I know that once we find our little Pride problem, we can work on changing this and grow closer to our Heavenly Father. My whole life I've only cared about what others thought of me... Especially during school or other activites. This same attitude has followed me on the Mission as well, and I'm doing everything in my power to overcome this obstacle. The reason I'm talking about this Pride Problem is we read in the Scriptures that when we have Pride we cannot feel the influence of the Spirit and if you remember what I said at the begin of this e-mail. We cannot teach or learn anything without the companionship of the Spirit with us. I hope this all make sense and I'm sorry its all jumbled together but I hope everyone know how much I love you all... I'm not perfect but I know this church is true and that through the Savior and his Atonement. All things are made possible for us. I also want everyone to know how much I love my Twin Brother... I LOVE him. His e-mails are so inspired and I know that one day when hes an Apostle Everyone will have the chance to hear is life changing advice when hes writting articles in the Ensign. Please read his E-mails and re-read them. Remember that your not reading just a normal E-mail but an E-mail sent from a Representitive of our Loving Lord and Savior. :) He knows what hes talking about!

I love you all and I hope you never forget this. I cannot believe how fast this once in a life time experince is going but I also know that up to this point in my Mission I have no regrets... and I will countinue to work hard no matter what. :) I love you all and I want to wish everyone a happy Valentines day. It seem like it was only yesterday It was Valentines day. Weird! Also Rachel my amazing sister dont think I have forgotten about you. I hope you have an amazing birthday today. I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you but just know that in the future after the Mission there wont be a single day I will miss when it comes to spending time with my family. I love you all and I hope you know that its because of your incredible examples and Faith for Ben and I that doing most of the changing in us... along with the incredible experinces we have each day. :) Love you all so much and I cant wait to hear from you all soon. Love Elder Matthew Ryan Doggett