Elder Avery Rhodes Mission

  Hello!! I am happy to announce that I am alive and doing well! I have made it to Brazil and am loving it. It has been such a new experience. Fun, crazy, difficult, yet amazing all at the same time. I can tell that these next 13 months will be a lot of growth for me haha. For the past week I have been in Santos which is a huge island city about 2 hours from São Paulo right smack in the middle of the mountains and the ocean. The area that I will be serving in the at least the next month and a half or so is the most northern area in the mission where elders go, it is called Caraguatatba and I can't wait. Everyone says it is so beautiful and fun and it'll be great. The language, oh boy the language haha...Now that is a feat we have ahead of us! It is so cool being immersed into a language and culture where you have to learn everything very fast and everything is so new. I an able to not speak much haha but can understand the conversations which Is good! If there is one thing ...

Well folks, I got word last week that I will be shipped off to Brazil this Friday. It is just so crazy to think back and reflect on my time here in Idaho and Oregon and the many miracles I have seen and been privileged to witness first hand.  If there is one thing I know for sure it is that the work of the Lord goes forward, so we must continue to push forward in faith as well. Being a missionary is like seating in the front row to the best show ever, a miracle a day is what I like to say.  One miracle I would like to recognize is the joy and happiness that comes through simple gospel principles. Being kind, going to church, reading the scriptures, praying, and being full of gratitude to our Lord and Savior truly is a recipe for enduring joy and peace.  Idaho and Oregon will always hold a special place in my heart ;) I am so grateful for all of the people that I have met, taught, and ultimately been blessed by. So thank you. I am leaving my home, a place that I love with ...