Bad Guys End Up Winning

Carta Semanal:

Almost nothing has happened this week. Barreiras has been getting a TON of rain these past couple of days and it appears that every day I woke up last week, I woke up a little chilly, something I haven´t been used to for a long time.

Wednesday, we had a special mission broadcast for all the missionaries in the world and our zone all got together with two of the assistants to the president and they came to first watch one of our district meetings and it made me a little bit nervous to have a district meeting of instead of 6 to 12 missionaries. That day though it was pouring rain in Barreiras and downtown Barreiras had rivers in the streets so when we finally got to sit down and watch it, almost all of us were drenched from head to toe. Unfortunately, I couldn´t watch it in english though and for some reason, it was rather hard to piece things together. For some reason, it´s harder to understand when people dub over the voices and translate it than when you actually listen to someone actually saying the things. It´s not a question of understanding because I´ve gotten to the point where I can understand almost everything but at times it gets monotonous and hard to piece together all the sentences and make out the idea that they´re trying to say. They talked a lot about teaching faith and baptism and stuff like that which was pretty neat.

This is our last week of the transfer and we´ll be finding out who will be transfered next Sunday so I´m pretty anxious to find out what´s going to happen as it´s always a surprise and nothing happens like you think it will.

As I don´t have too much else to say, I would like to share a spiritual message that I noticed while I was reading the Book of Mormon (about halfway to finishing the book in Portuguese for the 2nd time, not to brag or anything hahah). In Alma 47, we learn of a man named Amalackiah who seeks to subjugate the Nephites and rule in wickedness. He wasn´t just one of your typical bad guys though who just wants to gain money and what not but we learn that he´s actually somewhat of a criminal mastermind who slowly gains more and more power through secret murders and all kinds of evil deeds. Verses 14-20 read:
 14 And it came to pass that Lehonti came down with his men and surrounded the men of Amalickiah, so that before they awoke at the dawn of day they were surrounded by the armies of Lehonti.
 15 And it came to pass that when they saw that they were surrounded, they pled with Amalickiah that he would suffer them to fall in with their brethren, that they might not be destroyed. Now this was the very thing which Amalickiah desired.
 16 And it came to pass that he delivered his men, contrary to the commands of the king. Now this was the thing that Amalickiah desired, that he might accomplish his designs in dethroning the king.
 17 Now it was the custom among the Lamanites, if their chief leader was killed, to appoint the second leader to be their chief leader.
 18 And it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died.
 19 Now, when Lehonti was dead, the Lamanites appointed Amalickiah to be their leader and their chief commander.
 20 And it came to pass that Amalickiah marched with his armies (for he had gained his desires) to the land of Nephi, to the city of Nephi, which was the chief city.

The Book of Mormon tells us that unfortunately, the bad guys end up winning at many times and achieve what they want at times, even though it isn´t fair. Something that I always supposed is that the guys that choose to follow God will ALWAYS win but there are several accounts that show to us that the righteous suffer so that their sufferings will stand as a testimony against the wicked in the last day (when Alma and Amuleque witness the fiery deaths of those who believed in God). But a promise we have in the scriptures is that if we keep God´s commandments, we will ´´prosper in the land´´.  Just a small little message I wanted to share with you guys. Love you all!

-Elder Skinner
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