Gratitude: A Path to Happiness

Family and Friends,

With transfers and our work behind us this week, we are recovering on Pday from what has felt like a storm. In the rush of these stressful times we must have a basis to help keep us grounded. A foundation upon which we can bring ourselves back to when we are in need of peace. I found that this week through Gratitude. Gratitude has had an impact on many lives including my own, those we are teaching, and other missionaries and members serving around us. 

We learn that gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.

Elder Jeffrey R Holland said: "Mercies and blessings come in different forms—sometimes as hard things. Yet the Lord said, “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.” All things means just that: good things, difficult things—not just some things. He has commanded us to be grateful because He knows being grateful will make us happy. This is another evidence of His love."

We should thank our Heavenly Father for His goodness to us by acknowledging His hand in all things, thanking Him for all that He gives us, keeping His commandments, and serving others. We should especially thank Him for His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, for the Savior's great example, for His teachings, for His outreaching hand to lift and help, for His infinite Atonement.

That we may always be grateful for him, and as we promise every week through the Sacrament: always remember him.

Have a great week!

-Elder Matthew Arscott

Photos:

I call this one "Mighty Army of God"

Elder Lira is the new Office Secretary

Transfers were sponsored by Spider-man and the                                               T-Rex this month

  (And I am calling this one "THREE Super HERO's)

When we're wrong: Humility

08.18.18

Good afternoon Family and Friends!

This last week was one of growth and strength for me! We are preparing Monday for another transfer. I personally love transfers because they are a time for a new start! We will receive a large group of new missionaries and we will have a lot of changes this transfer. This last week when approached by one of my companions about having a disorganized closet, I felt as though my Dad was once again talking to me as he said: "You need to keep your clothes picked up in your closet area". The comment frustrated me. I had seen so many faults in how he hadn't washed dishes or kept the bathroom cleaned. A million of his faults passed through my head. But before anger overtook me and I started to argue, a thought popped into my head: "Forgive him, for though he may be wrong, you too are wrong."

Are we not all wrong? Are we not as King Benjamin states "Are we not all beggars?" or to say: Are we not all sinners and wrong at times? Realizing this and forgiving others puts off the natural man and one of Satan's strongest temptations against man, that of Pride. This Christlike attribute necessary for our Exaltation and eternal Progress is called Humility. 

Church sources state that "to be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous. Jesus Christ is our greatest example of humility. During His mortal ministry, He always acknowledged that His strength came because of His dependence on His Father. He said: "I can of mine own self do nothing. … I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" . The Lord will strengthen us as we humble ourselves before Him. James taught: "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. … Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up" .

Similarly in a Spoken word message recently the message was shared: "We know that nobody is perfect—the evidence is all around us. It’s not hard to notice faults and errors in other people. But we are often less eager to admit our own faults, our own mistakes. It’s sometimes embarrassing, uncomfortable, even risky. Will others think less of us if we confess to being wrong? A student once approached his teacher after class to dispute the low score he had received on an essay. Instead of brushing him off, the teacher read the essay again carefully and realized she had undervalued his work—she had made a mistake. After correcting his grade, she not only felt better about herself but made a lasting impression on the student. Rather than resenting her mistake or losing confidence in her abilities, he gained new respect for a teacher who was willing to take responsibility for her errors. Admitting mistakes is not shameful. It simply means we are learning—that we are now wiser than we were before. Everyone who has achieved anything meaningful—great inventors, scientists, artists, athletes, entrepreneurs—experienced many failures on the path to success. But those failures are only beneficial if we’re willing to accept them as such. Those who are too proud to acknowledge their own imperfections are fooling themselves—and usually nobody else. They are inventing an image that blocks their view of the road to improvement. And they miss the peace that comes from living with honesty—which always means living with imperfection. When someone admits a mistake, we feel a rush of admiration. We also feel safe acknowledging our own shortcomings and confident that we too can improve. Imagine the effect on a child who learns from observing a parent that when we make mistakes, we own up to them, and we do better next time. How much better that is than pretending that we never make mistakes. It isn’t until we accept that we are all works in progress that we actually do make progress. It’s a beautiful paradox that we cannot move forward until we admit that we’ve been moving backward. Owning our weakness is, in reality, perhaps the best way to show strength."

That we may think this week on forgiving others in a way that liberates us to grow is my invitation.

I Love and miss each and every one of you! Have a great week!

-Elder Matthew Arscott

Fotinhos Simples:

 Baptism of João

Elder Hammond and our Cardboard stash

Alex left for his mission this week

 Group Baptism Photo

Giving a little of ourselves: Sacrifice and Service

8/11/2018

Hello Family and Friends,

These last few weeks have given me opportunities to grow, learn, and serve those around me. Service in the Lords name has been one of the greatest opportunities I have ever been given. All around us there are those who live in need. Some people’s needs are obvious. Others carry burdens that may not be so evident but are equally hard to bear. As we pay close attention to the people around us, we will become aware of their suffering and how we can help lighten the load they carry.

The recipient of our kindness may be a loved one, or it may be someone who crosses our path for only a moment. Our compassion will prepare us to act in the instant of opportunity to do something positive, something worthwhile. The good we do may be just what is needed.

The range of possibilities for loving service is vast. Though some have given their all as a testament of unselfish sacrifice, every one of us is given opportunities to offer what we can. We can be modern-day good Samaritans as we answer the question “Who is my neighbour?” by visiting the sick, helping the hungry and homeless, reading to a child, cheering someone up with a hopeful word, or including in our circle someone who is lonely. Such acts of kindness will lift others and, in the process, make our own troubles seem less significant.

The light of our lives burns brighter and all the world seems better when we give a little of ourselves to assist someone in need. And we’re all in need. In such service we also serve the One who inspires all good deeds, for, said He, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . , ye have done it unto me.”

That we may Serve and Sacrifice one for another in Love is my prayer. I hope you all have a great week! 

-Elder Matthew Arscott

Photos:

Starting Five: Elders Quaresma, Cavaco, Me, Grover, and Hammond

Out on the balcony on Pday

 "Brasil must be paradise!"

 We had to get up at 6am to help with a move, I promise im happy

The Lost Sheep, part two.

August 4, 2018

The Lost Sheep

( Part Two....this is the short version of a talk Matthew gave in church last week. See last week's post for the original talk. He ended up just giving the brief version) 

One of my favorite parables of Jesus Christ is that of the lost sheep, and it says the following:

4 Which man among you, having a hundred sheep, and losing one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go not after the lost until he come to find it?

5 And when he had found her, he laid her on his shoulder, full of joy;

6 And when he was come to the house, he called his friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.

Who is the lost sheep, and how can we find it?

Jesus Christ also gave the greater law when he taught:

37 ... Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second, like this, is: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

We do not have a better way of living the law than helping one another. It is essential that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we follow the example of the good shepherd, seeking to love our neighbor through support and love.

When we hear the parable of the lost sheep, we often think of people who do not know the gospel, but the lost sheep can also be the one we associate with day to day, members of our ward who have problems going to church, day over us.

So what are we doing to look for the lost sheep?

The Answer: We Must Be a "Testimony of Christ"

To achieve this, my invitation today is to do three things:

1. Pray

When we pray to the heavenly Father for opportunities to help our neighbor, he will give us opportunities to serve. Each day as a missionary we need to pray to meet people. We know that if we pray to be instruments in the hands of God, it will not hold us, but it will reveal to us who, when, and how we can help our neighbor.

2. Search

Then we pray, we can not be happy, The lost sheep will not knock on our door and say "I'm here! You can help me now! "We need to demonstrate to our heavenly father that we are willing to do everything to look for it. They offer service, talk to someone you know is having difficulties. Let's search with "All of our hearts."

3. Love

When we pray and seek, the result will be what we will find. When we find, we will "put the sheep upon our shoulders" through service, love, and support. The part of loving people is putting their needs above our needs.

Praying, Searching. Loving.

7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Ask, and you will be given to you: Pray

Seek, and ye shall find: Search

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Love

It is my testimony that if we follow this simple pattern, we will not only find the lost sheep, but we will be able to bring it back into the fold.

In doing so, we will be disciples of Christ. Christ said:

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.

That we can be witnesses and disciples of Christ through our love for one another is my prayer and testimony. In the name of the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, amen

Here's some photos i took this week: I tried extra hard this week to take photos

 Personal Study this morning

 Stake Soccer tournament happening as i write this, President is downstairs watching as his kids are playing. Exactly like Church basketball but Soccer. Today is the tournament day so its the biggest day of the season

 Elder Sanchez from Florida

 Our family that we are currently teaching

The classic Pizza photo this week with the "Pitanga" missionaries sleeping at our house (they live 8 hours away by bus)