Secretary of Sidequests
Hey friends! This week passed by in a blink and I don't remember too much. The thing about the office is there are four levels of information: Random things, things I won't tell you because they are boring, things I shouldn't tell you for one reason or another, and things that I can't tell you. It's an interesting life I live, certainly not one I expected but I love it. Most of this week was just random sidequests but we did hit the other levels of information a few times which always makes life exciting.
Sidequests
As financial secretaries my comp and I are the only people authorized to use the mission credit card which means anywhere that purchases are being made we have to be there. That also made this week full of random tasks. On Wednesday we hopped out of our zone and went to an office supplies store and bought a bunch of random stuff. Folders, sticky notes, whiteboards, a bunch of stuff we are going to need to organize the mission split. After that we sprinted over to the mall to casually open 15 new phone lines (5 of which are under my name hahaha). On Friday we went to Brás. Remember the India of Brazil that I talked about a while ago when I was new on the mission? Well that crazy place is actually in my area now and we had to go buy 70 blankets to give to missionaries as we go into winter. We fit 7 giant trash bags of blankets and 4 Elders in a Honda Civic. That was an adventure. The fun part of these sidequests is that I get to buy everything. The not fun part is I also have to report every purchase. This week we submitted a 50ish page expense report. Receipts, signatures, spreadsheets, all the fun stuff. And we still have two more to go.
Água!
Last Sunday Pietra got baptized! Pietra is the daughter of Thais, someone that I baptized two transfers ago. She is also the sister of Ana Clara who I baptized last transfer. She has always wanted to be baptized so we helped her understand what it means to be baptized and why it is important. Unfortunately I got transferred out before her baptism but seeing that it all went smoothly and she was still able to make that first covenant with God made me super happy. Her baptism will for sure strengthen her family and hopefully it will touch the hearts of her other family leading to their baptisms.
Visits!
This week, being a little less crazy than the past week, we actually got out to do some visits! It was nice to get out and see some miracles happening outside of the office. On Monday we met a guy who speaks Arabic and very little Portuguese. We started teaching him. Our lessons are a lot of conversations via Google Translate but it is going well! We got to visit him again on Wednesday and teach him how to pray.
On Wednesday we got to finally meet with one of our baptism dates in person. He has seen so many miracles in his life already and it has been so great to get to know him. He injured himself over the weekend and missed Church. We promised him that through faith and prayer he would be able to work and come to Church. The next day he didn't have any pain and was able to work great. Miracles. We went to visit him at work and he taught us about sewing machines, which he sells. I almost left there buying one, never in my life did I think I would see a sewing machine hype video.
On Friday we visited a family that we still had in our teaching list that was from the Elders before. They hadn't responded to our messages or phone calls so we hoped for the best. It ended up being a really good visit. We are going to take them to the temple and Visitor's Center tomorrow. They listened and even prayed with us. I have high hopes for this family.
Secretary Sidequests
Found out some things. To my fellow missionaries in MSPL, when you find out please tell me (Don't worry when you find out you'll know what I am talking about).
On Monday we were in the office when two missionaries went home and let me tell you it is super weird to send people off.
We got the Credit Cards for the new mission!
Hit up Brás today and bought two suits.
Quotes
“Eu amo de destruir essas coisas (Translation: I love to destroy these things)” [Presidente Andrade, 5/15/2026]
God's Hand
Baptism of Pietra
Small miracles and paths crossed
Help from the Lord on how to be better missionary
Divinely inspired study sessions about topics I didn't understand before
Patience
Spiritual Thought
I have been studying a book that my President gave to me. This week I read about how our desires, efforts, and faith work together, with the Lord's help, for our gain. The Lord promisesto help us with the desires of our heart, but how do we know if something is a true desire? The book said that true desires motivate us to action. For example, if I want to learn to play piano but I don't put in the time to get better, do I actually want to learn? No, but if I put in hours and hours of practice is it a true desire? Yes. When we have those true desires the Lord helps us because he wants to see us succeed.
I applied this principle this week. I have been focusing on having more charity and a softer heart. Last week I realized this was something I was struggling with this transfer and I wanted to get better but I didn't do anything about it but pray. Don't get me wrong, prayer is good but as we learned above we have to be driven to action. I didn't try to get better so I didn't improve. After reading part of the book. I applied the principle and almost immediately had a change of heart. The Lord loves effort. He will help us when we show him we are willing. This may seem like an “oh duh” moment but sometimes it's easier said than done.
That's all for now. On Monday we get audited which goes through Tuesday… pray that we live to see another day. On Wednesday we get to go to the temple which is very much needed and I am super excited. I hope y'all liked this random email, I hope to hear from you! I love and am praying for you guys!
Muito amor,
Elder Urbano
