Just a quick note this week

Hey y'all!

Sorry I don't have any time, so I will send pictures and explain how everything was this week in the letter next week. All is well here, I am not sick, and the work is still going strong.

Love you all and stay safe!

Quick quote I like: "Sanctify yourselves because tomorrow the Lord will do WONDERS among you." 

We still have an incredible general conference that is approaching. Prepare yourselves!

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

Eating chicken feet🐓

Hey y'all! I had one of the best weeks of mission this week! One of the friends we met this week is a family of artists. The dad and his 8-year old son are super artistic and they were showing us all their projects, and I am dumb because I forgot to take pictures, but I'll get some for you guys next week if possible! Truly though, this 8-year old draws better than I do by leaps and bounds. It is super cool to see the talents that people are developing.

I ate a chicken's foot this week and let me tell you, it was really strange. I didn't think there was anything to eat off of a chicken's foot, but I was wrong. You eat everything but the bone, skin and cartilage and all. It took me a solid 5 minutes to get everything off the bone, but it was a cool experience! I don't know if I liked it or not, to be honest, but I would try it again if asked.

Today I want to talk about repentance. We teach this concept to a lot of people as missionaries, and sometimes I forget exactly how amazing this gift is. However, in those quiet moments of prayer, it is shown to me time and time again. I want to bear my testimony about this. Repentance is real and it is essential. The purpose of this life is to learn, and in learning we are going to fail. However, as we use this loving gift that a loving Father gave us, we do not need to fear these mistakes. We will grow, we will learn, we will win this battle for our eternal lives! I love the repentance process so much!

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

I didn't know that Brazil had foggy days, but we woke up to this, so I guess I was wrong haha

Guys, this hospital is not faking it or lying, it is an actual hospital lol

Brazilian slang haha (more or less, ''you chilling in a spaceship?'')

I forgot to take a picture of me so this is to make my mother happy (sorry mom)

Limeade king...Destroyed by a 9-yr-old...Being the light on the hill

Hey y'all! So my mom told me that I need to send more pictures of myself because for some weird reason people like seeing my face, so I'll start trying to do that for you guys haha. This week I made Brazilian Limeade, which actually is a little bit different than how they actually make limeade, 2 times!!! I am such an amazing cook and everyone should be so proud of me! But it was actually so good and both Elder Rogoski and I drank all of it super quickly.

This week I was absolutely destroyed by a 9-year old girl and it was hilarious. We were at a lunch at a member's house and as the mom was finishing dinner, her daughter came out to talk to us and get to know us. I ended up asking her how old she was and she told me that she was 9, almost 10. As a joke, I responded that she was really old and ancient. She immediately quipped back with "but you're the one who has white hairs!" haha. It was so funny and my companion and I DIED laughing. I can't even think as fast as this girl did lol. It was great and I am super proud of her for making fun of me.

My spiritual thought this week is more about the Savior from the book, Jesus the Christ. I am reading right now about the last week before His crucifixion. As a missionary, and in general, as Christians, we receive a lot of rejection from the world. As I have read about the Savior and his ultimate rejection by the very people He was trying to save, I am in awe by the meekness and humility He showed. We are the lights on the hills, we show the way to the Savior, but there is definitely resistance and people trying to quench our lights. However, when we stand for that light despite everything, in complete meekness and humility, like the Savior, we start to become like the Savior and receive His help to continue in our faith. We are all the Sons and Daughters of a Heavenly Father who prepared the one and only way to return through His Son, Jesus Christ. As we follow His example, we become more like Him. As we become more like Him, we become the people Heavenly Father wants us to become. As we do that, we fulfill the plan He has for us and will live eternally with Him. I KNOW this to be true. 

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

Açai and Coke(The missionary diet ;P)

Rainbow(a.k.a. arco-iris)

Incoming storm that we thought was going to kill us and then did absolutely nothing

This friend of ours gives us hamburgers like once a week for free, I love him so much

I found the equivalent of Martinelli's!!!!!!! (I absolutely LOVE Martinelli's)

PATOS!

(Click here to watch the video below)

Cheese with sweetened condensed milk is strangely delicious haha

(Click here to watch the video below)

Sometimes you wait...but it's awesome when you get the fruit!

Hey y'all! We saw the blessings of God FLOWING upon us this week and it was SO great. Sometimes it is really hard to give everything you have and not see the fruits of your labors at the present time. However, this week we were blessed with the sight.

We were working super hard and barely having any success. Sunday was super hard because it was very hot and we were super tired from the work. Then, as we started work right after lunch, we met this amazing family that immediately let us in and were super receptive and we were able to talk with them about tons of stuff and make a friendship and they loved the message of the Gospel and want to learn a lot more!

So, this week I had a really funny experience that scared my companion a ton haha. I decided to just start speaking a ton of random things for 10 minutes in Portuguese. When we woke up the next morning, he was super confused and started asking me what the heck I was thinking the night before. This, in turn, made me really confused and for like 10 minutes both of us had no clue what was going on haha. It was fun though.

My thought this week is something I learned from "Jesus the Christ" (the book). Guys Jesus Christ was and is the Ultimate Teacher. He knew exactly what He was doing and set the perfect example for all of us. All of us, from Primary kids to the elderly have opportunities to teach those around us, and I encourage everyone to take the many teachings of Jesus Christ and try to apply them in these teaching opportunities we have in our lives.

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

Just cool things I saw this week

It's not all or nothing...be an example

Hey y'all! Hope everything is good back home! We had an awesome week out here in the Brazilian countryside haha. Sadly it got hot again, I think God was punishing me for making fun of you guys next week lol, but it was seriously a great week.

On Saturday and Sunday we met some awesome friends that I am super excited to teach. We also had two members give us food and I loved it! We had Pão de Queijo with one member and a full dinner with the other (usually we just make a small dinner at home at the end of the day). Another thing that happened was we saw a motorcycle crash and had the opportunity to be the first responders, helping him up, and moving the bike so he wouldn't get hit. Luckily, he was just scratched up a bit and didn't need to go to the hospital.

Something that was kinda funny this week was with a meeting we usually have with all the missionaries in our area on Tuesdays. We showed up at the chapel like normal and waited for the others to show up. We waited for like 30 minutes and still nobody showed up, so we called them, but nobody answered. We finally waited for another 20 minutes and finally our district leader called us asking why we called. It turned out this week we didn't have the meeting and he had forgotten to tell us. Luckily we had made good use of the time planning and studying, but it was kinda funny because our leader was like ''Oh shoot, sorry, uhhhh we don't have it this week'' haha.

To end, I want to share a scripture that I shared in a talk I gave this Sunday. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, ''Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.'' I was talking about doing missionary work as a member. The point I want to make this week is missionary work is not just for full-time missionaries and it is not all or nothing. If missionary work is super hard for you, just start with being an example! Then you can start talking more and helping others and growing until you are a day to day missionary like the Savior wants you to be!

I love you guys, keep being awesome!

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

Cool pictures and places in my area! It's so cool here!

We started talking to this guy near this restaurant and he ended up buying us both hamburgers and Coke!! I love people here!

This dog followed us ALL day haha, it was pretty funny and adorable.

Click here to watch the video (it's at night, so you can only see things every so often)

If you give a girl a cookie...🍪

Hey y'all! Is everyone enjoying the cold? I have actually been having absolutely perfect days of 75-80 degrees with a nice breeze, so HA to everyone who thought I was going to suffer (it really has been a blessing directly from God and I am so grateful).

This week was a little hard for me because I got sick, but it wasn't bad enough for me to want to stay home and rest, so I just had to work through it. The good thing about that is I received a ton of blessings for working through my trials! I am all better now, and super excited to continue teaching this week. 

This week was the 1-year anniversary of when my companion came into the mission so we ate a ton of food and bought balloons. It was really fun and the next morning I completely covered him in more than 40 balloons. Sometimes it's nice for you guys to realize that we are still teenage boys haha. I sent a picture and video for you guys to see. I thought I was pretty funny.

My spiritual thought is about a little girl I saw on Sunday. She was probably 4 and taught me a super valuable lesson. So we're in sacrament meeting listening to the talks and I look over and see this 4-year old that was given a cookie by another mom. I expected her to just gobble it up and ask for another, but no. She proceeded to offer the cookie to another kid and another mom before finally taking one bite. AND THEN SHE OFFERED IT AGAIN! My golly, if we could all be like this little girl, could you imagine how much better this world would be? So, my invitation for everyone this week is to share. It's not just a principle for kids, it's a concept for humankind and when we share the things that mean so much to us (for adults: TIME, energy, knowledge, etc. it doesn't have to be money or temporal things) we receive so many blessings for it! 

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

More landscape pictures, Patos is super pretty!

Random shenanigans with balloons haha

Click here to watch the video below

Click here to watch the video below

We have no clue what this bird was attempting to do...

Click here to watch the video below

This is almost a daily occurrence where we kinda just accept the fact that we are about to die. It's pretty fun lol.

Click here to watch the video below

This bird flew into our house and scared me to death when we walked back into the house. We barely got it out of the house because it was so scared of us even though we were trying to help it. Fun times as a missionary!

Click here to watch the video below

The Lord keeps His promises

Hey y'all! This week we walked A LOT haha. It was great though. Today we met up with another companionship in my district and played war for a few hours, it was a blast! A good time to let my mind rest from the constant pressure of trying to help others learn how to have salvation. 

Something absolutely amazing happened this week. We had three churrascos (Brazilian BBQ´s) this week, in a row, it was freaking amazing! I love the meat here and literally everyone knows how to cook it. I'm literally just thinking about it right now, and my mouth is watering haha.

A quick spiritual thought this week: D&C 82:10 gives us the promise that if we do what the Lord says, He will always hold up his end of the deal. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, this means eternal happiness living with family and God. Sounds like a really good deal to me haha. Sorry my e-mails have been super short, I will try to give a little more insight by writing them earlier so I have more time.

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

This Husky is SOOOO cute, I love huskies haha

The Brazilian countryside 

This lake was pretty cool, right in the middle of the city

When Brazilians try to spell words in English (I thought this was pretty ironic lol)

Loving Patos!❤️...our "Escape Room" experience

Hey y'all! This week was CRAZY!

Elder Rogoski and I are opening an area here in Patos, and the sisters that were here before us left almost no information (and also no food). I felt like I was in an escape room trying to find out all the leftover hints of how to live haha. It truly was crazy. I love it here so so so much though. Elder Rogoski is an absolute beast and we are already having a ton of success!!! I love seeing the hand of the Lord in the work. He always helps us with anything we need, even if it's just helping us not to be discouraged. I love the work so much!

Something cool that happened this week was in the house of a member. He told us that when the São Paulo temple was finished, he and a friend went and did 400 baptisms in the place of people who had passed away. This means that 800 people were able to accept their baptism and have the opportunity to follow their Savior!!! I love the work of the temple! (If anyone wants to know more about what exactly happens in the temple, you can talk to my mom!)

For something spiritual this week, I gave a blessing to a member completely in Portuguese!!! It was so awesome and the Holy Ghost was so strong! Guys, the gift of tongues is truly real and truly a huge blessing. The opportunity to have the help of God in learning a language is so cool and I love it! For all of you, God cares about you guys and will help you in whatever thing you are currently learning, whether it be a language, school, or work, He WILL help you!

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

(P.S. - I added pictures to last week's post if you want to go back to the previous post and see them!😊)

This is Irmão Igor, he and his wife are super awesome and he cuts our hair haha

This is Irmão Waldir, I love him with all my heart and I am SO sad to leave him here in Uberaba

Some landscapes during the bus ride to Patos

Patos de Minas at night

Transferred! Conversation of my family caught on video...

Hey y'all! I have almost no time because I got transferred haha, but I'll write a little.

This week was crazy and the miracles of God were amazing. I love seeing his hands in the work! I am super sad to leave this area because there are so many great people here, but God needs me in the land of the ducks haha (Patos de Minas means ducks of minas, the state I'm in).

As a quick challenge to everyone, read 3 Nephi 11 where Jesus Christ visits the Americas and think of how amazing it will be when He comes again.

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

My district!

A dinosaur with a santa hat lol

This was on our window when we went to sleep, it gave me nightmares haha

Some elders in our district that I love!(Elder Diel, Elder Queiroz, Me, Elder Motto)

People told me this was a queen ant, it's freaking HUGE!

O Evangelho de Jesus Cristo(The Gospel of Jesus Christ)

The sky is so cool here!

(Note from Danette: The following conversation is a snippet of all of us (minus Mark who was at work) getting to talk face to face on Google Hangouts! It was so fun to have Colton in Brazil, Morgan in Paris, and Bryan in Provo, Kyle and I here in Phoenix...all of us able to see, talk, and laugh together kind of in the same room! My kids were cracking me up...

(Click here to watch the video)

Uncle Colton!!!!

Hey y'all!

First off, I'm sure a lot of you know this, but I'm an uncle now!! I have been dubbed Uncle Colton for forever and to be honest it makes me feel SUPER happy (and also kinda old lol). I'm a little sad that I won't actually be able to hold little baby Hudson for a solid 20 or so months, but this work is worth the wait!

My week was FULL of walking. I walked about 50 km in 48 hours! My feet don't feel very great but all is well haha, my legs are much stronger because of it.

Something funny that happened this week wasn't too funny for me but for you guys it might be. So I do not know what happened, but as I have washed two pairs of pants they have slowly turned pinkish purple until now they are too discolored to wear (see attached picture). The funny part is I didn't notice for a while so I've been walking the streets of Uberaba with pink pants lol. 

To end, I want to share a scripture I found this week. It is Alma 34:41, ''...have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.'' God does not want us to be discouraged, but He does want us to grow. So what does He do? He has us bear affliction in order to become more like Him, and reveals His perfect plan to us to give us hope and a goal to work towards. Yes, we may be in a dark tunnel, but God has given us a light at the end (and also showed that it's not a train haha). I love the plan that God has given us, and I also love teaching others about it!

With love from Brazil,

Elder Colton McOmber

My zone leader, Elder Peek

SNAILLLL

Uberaba, my cityyyyyy

Cool looking bird

My poor pants

(Note from Danette: I sent the picture of the pants to the company and called them and they very kindly refunded our full purchase price😊)