Break In
Hey friends! Yours truly is headed to… drum roll please… the office!! What secretary? I don't know. I do know that my comp is the best person in the whole wide world Elder Allen. I am so so hyped. When I found out I yelled so loud. On top of that there is a chance I learn Spanish now! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Welcome back to another week of random events. Yes, there was a break-in this week. Where? At our zone leaders house. Why does that matter? I was there on a divisão. Who broke in? Me, I broke in. Keep reading and you'll find out why.
Outside of that I spent three days outside of my area, went on vacation, ate a bunch of cake, and made about 4 million phone calls.
Vacay
This week I did a three day divisão with my ZL. Gonna be so for real nothing came out of it except a few random side quests, a broken lock, and a dead area. I went to an area called Vila Ema which is a pretty rich area. It reminded me a lot of the nice downtown KC area. We did some nice sightseeing, walking around, and talking to people. Day one of the divisão was Wednesday. We did this thing called First Responder where we call all the online referrals that people have made and send them off to the areas responsible for them. After that we made some contacts and went to teach an English class.
Thursday we had lunch with Bishop and did street contacts. That night we had a meeting that was super cool to watch but I didn't participate much because it wasn't my area. Thursday was also the day I broke into the house. We got home and we found the other Elders outside the house looking lost. Found out that the greenie (new missionary) snapped the keep in the lock. Our ZL called the housing helper for the area and the other dupla went to a member's house to get some sort of tool to help. The housing guy was 40 minutes away and his plan was to just cut the lock so I just took the issue into my own hands, grabbed a wrench, and snapped the lock. Pretty great and the most eventful thing of the divisão. It did show me how easy it was for someone to break into the house if they wanted to.
Friday wasn't very crazy either. We had lunch and did some more First Responder calls. Since we only had one chip I just sat and chatted with a member that came to the park with us. He was super dope and invited me to his wedding haha. After that we had a little therapy session (I was the therapist not the patient don't worry). The therapy was followed by an activity at the chapel and the day ended. I got back to my area and it was the exact opposite of a vacation. The Elder we left in my area did nothing so I had so much work to do but hey it happens.
So. Much. Cake.
Outside of a divisão that threw the week off it was my birthday! Birthday's on the mission are just like any other day unless you have lit members which luckily we got. We had lunch with some Venezuelans who happen to be professional cake makers so they whipped up a cake and we sang in Spanish. It was super lit. We did some work then we had a family night with the family I baptized. They made so much soup and had three, yes three, cakes for me. We sang in Spanish and Portuguese again which was super fun. Super thankful for the ward family I have here to make special days a little more special. Truly a blessing and the hand of the Lord.
Random
Tuesday was a Holiday and no one was answering the doors so we went on a hiking side quest to watch the sunset.
Had a super fun pie face night with the ward
We rode with a cop (speed unkown)
Walked through a park that looked like the sacred grove.
Went to Japan? (See google photos)
Had a mini chocolate pizza on Saturday night and almost dropped it on the floor
They have started painting the streets for the world cup
Quotes
“LETS GOOOOOO” [Elder Urbano, 4/27/2026]
God's Hand
A super spiritual conversation with an old lady on our divisão.
The birthday wishes and the birthday cakes
Ward family
Pretty side quests and sunsets
Talking to Bingham yet again
Meeting some cool members
Personal ties to members here
Listening to some talks that were the answers we need
Transfers to be comps with the best person in the whole world.
Spiritual Thought
In a 2024 BYU Devotional titled “Let Us Run with Patience the Race That Is Set Before Us,” Bradley P. Owens said:
One way to “think celestial” about the future is to try to replace expectations with hopes. It has been said that “expectations are premeditated resentments,” but hopes entail a future-oriented sense of gratitude. While hopes lead to grateful yearning and proactive flexibility, expectations are often associated with discontented entitlement and rigid resistance. While hopes are centered in God and eternal promises, expectations are based on people and circumstances. While hopes are tied to an eternal identity, expectations are tied to mortal roles and identities.
I love this quote (and the whole talk) because God is a God of hope. God is not a God that expects us to reach the unreachable standards of heaven. God hopes we will return to Him by turning to Him to become better disciples of Christ. Likewise, faith is not setting expectations that may or may not be reached, it is hoping. Hoping for better, hoping for light, a hope in Christ.
2 Nephi 31:20 says “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”
I love hope. It is such a powerful principle and we can do so much with hope. I testify of this. I invite you to set less expectations and have more hope. I promise this will change your view of many things. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Okay that is all for today. I love you all. Thank you for the birthday wishes and emails. If I haven't responded to you yet I will next week. Praying for you all! Update me!
Muito amor,
Elder Urbano
