Called to Serve

This last weekend was the first LDS General Conference with our new Prophet President Thomas S. Monson. Adam and I were able to attend the Saturday afternoon session at the Conference Center. It was a first for me, I've never actually seen conference live and it was such an enjoyable experience. I was excited because my Mission President was called to be in the First Quorum of the Seventy.

President Godoy, or should I say Elder Carlos A. Godoy, was an incredible Mission President and I remember when I left the mission saying something like, "Someday he is going to be a General Authority, that is for sure!" 9 years later it has come to pass. Here I am with President and Sister Godoy on my last night in the mission.

I served in the Brazil Belem Mission, right in the heart of the Amazon jungle. This was my first area--Abeatetuba (it took me 3 days to learn how to say the name of the city right).

The Amazon river ran through our mission and I had to travel on it to go to Mission conferences or for transfers.

I loved my mission and had so many great and unique experiences. It was a great time in my life when I could literally forget myself and go to work. President Godoy taught me so much and I look forward to hearing from him in the years to come. He was only 36 when he was called to be a Mission President making him only 10 years older than my trainer in the mission. That's kind of funny when you think about it.

Here are a few highlights from serving as a missionary for the LDS church on the equator in the Amazon jungle: being transferred to new areas by boat, bus, and plane; being pleasantly surprised to find running water in our house, hearing the sound of a telephone in someone's house after 9 months and not knowing what it was (because really, who has a telephone IN THEIR HOUSE?), experiencing 115 Degree heat with 100% humidity and walking around in it all day long, realizing a good bucket is your friend--how else are you going to shower or wash your clothes? It wasn't a mission for the faint of heart, and I loved every minute of it!

You know, at one point in my life I was super brave. While in Brazil I wasn't bothered by the REALLY REALLY big spiders or the "life size" rats, or the ants in my bed or the geckos and cockroaches that had free reign of the house. I thought it would last but the bravery left me once I returned to US soil. These days I won't even catch a teeny tiny harmless spider with a tissue--that is definitely a job for Adam!

Ahh, good times. Here are a few pics:

You thought I was kidding about the little critters, but I wasn't! Here is a picture of a gecko eating a cockroach on our wall


I know, I know, TMI! Adam served in Bogota, Colombia so the 2 of us have a lot to talk about when it comes to missions. We start to lose each other when he talks about missionaries hitting the deck to avoid gun fire and I talk about taking all night boat rights to get to mission conference. We both loved the work, however, and it really was a privilege to serve.