Happiness . . .

Attempting to teach my hair how to have a part

Two classy looking missionaries!

The edge of the downtown shopping area

Hey, hey!

This week went pretty fast for being 8 days long.

It was a good week. We had 7 investigators at church. Will has testimony problems now, and it’s not looking like he sincerely wants to fix them. He hasn’t gone to church for the last 2 weeks.

We’ve been teaching a surfer type dude, named Ricardo, who is progressing a lot and has a baptismal date for March 20th. Also Luana, the daughter of Mercia (who was inactive for 30 years), she is also progressing, may be ready for the 20th, too. We’re on a serious dry streak, but the work here is improving. A month ago when we baptized the Dos Santos family, we had to clean the dirt out of the baptismal font, so... yeah, it hadn’t been used in while before them. We don’t want to let the dirt build up again.

Everyday we have to do at least 30 street contacts, and usually we like to spice them up by asking questions. Usually, we’ll ask “What is something that is most important for you in the world?” Usually they say God, or family or health. Some say money, or “Me.” Then we expand and tell them how the Gospel can help them in those areas. One day, we made a contact with a mom and her little 5-year-old kid. While she was thinking about it, her son responded “Ser feliz,” or “be happy.” Coming from a child, that was quite profound. And I also have thought about this question and after he said that, I am going to have to say I agree, and that would be my response. Yes, family is important, but even family boils down to one being happy. Happiness, in my opinion, is what is most important in the world. At least as a foundation, and all other things are built upon happiness. Happiness is an interesting thing though; happiness is a state of mind that only you can be in charge of. You allow things to make you happy, or on the other hand, you can let bad things not make you unhappy. Happiness is a choice that you’re completely in charge of. No one can make you happy, and no one can make you unhappy. I’ve had a lot of chances to develop this attribute, and I’ve come to really appreciate being happy. And I’m constantly learning how to stay happy, even when times are rough, even during a day of rejection. Ultimately, I am the one who chooses my mood. It’s tough, but do-able. Something that I like to do after getting rejected is to smile as big as I can (in the other direction, of course). It’s ridiculous, but it makes me happy.

So, let’s all try this week to be more happy -- especially when its hard, and let our light so shine, and help lift up other people as well.

Tchau!
Elder Titus