Brás Cubas - Week 4

6-11-2012

Howdy y'all,

(I'm running out of random greetings...This is bad.  I've got another 94 weeks and I can't think of any more random ways to say hello.  I will keep trying.)

Some business first:

- I've been in the field for 4 weeks now.

- Next Monday, the 18th is my birthday and Elder Todd and I will celebrate.  If you would like to write me, my address is "Elder Tyler Andrew Bushman,  Brazil São Paulo East Mission,  Rua Caa-Açu, 229 Belenzinho,  03171-020 São Paulo - SP,  Brazil.”  If you write me, I will write you back, always.  I hope you know that on my birthday I will be thinking about you and praying for you.

- I know that many people who are reading this have never met me and I'm glad that my words are still meaningful to you.  If you have any friends who you think would enjoy this blog then please share it with them.  I am a missionary but that does not mean that my work should be exclusively for the people of Brazil.  If I am saying things that are meaningful to you, then they can bless someone else's life too and my work as a servant of the Lord will be magnified.  Thank you for your love and support.  I feel your prayers.

Now for my actual message:

I have been praying and reading a lot about charity and faith.  In my studies I have found a list of attributes or activities that help us to build charity but also embody what charity is.

     
Charity is:

- loving someone enough to give up what is pleasant or easy to help them.

- demonstrating your love for someone and making sure that they know you love them.
- loving someone enough to hurt them so that they may grow.
- losing yourself in the service of others.
- giving the last thing you have to give to someone else who needs it more.
- serving the Lord and giving back to Heavenly Father the only thing that is truly His, our free will.- teaching a man to fish even though it would be easier to give him a fish.
- allowing the pure light of Christ to shine from your eyes so that others can see it and want what you have.
- always writing thank you notes and remembering birthdays.
- forgiving someone who has hurt you, but more than that, it is helping them to make a better choice next time.
- remaining worthy to receive revelation or exercise the priesthood, always.
- not just the outward expression of love, but the inward transformation caused by love.
- an experience, not a feeling.
- never faileth, ever.
- one of the greatest blessings and responsibilities of this life.
- the pure love of Jesus Christ.
- to begin to love as God loves.

We worked hard this week and a girl that we taught was baptized.  She is so happy and filled with a light and glow that she did not possess.  She is filled with the Spirit and has a greater desire to choose what is right and keep this feeling with her always.  It is sad that the feeling of cleanliness does not remain with us always.  We have the opportunity to feel like that every Sunday after we partake of the Sacrament, but that feeling become commonplace and we take it for granted.  We must try to understand what the Sacrament is and how meaningful it can be.  I will strive to be more worthy to feel that clean feeling, that closeness to the Lord, and that true love from God in my life.

The quote of the week is from President Eyring.  He said "Form a habit of pushing on through the fear and fatigue that might make you think of quitting.  The Lord's great mentors have shown me that spiritual staying power comes from working past the point when others would have taken a rest."  We have potential within ourselves to reach out to the Savior and find Him reaching back and then discover that together the impossible becomes just another stepping stone.  We can work harder, love deeper, and change the world, if we have the Lord helping us.

With great love,

Elder Tyler Andrew Bushman