Week Twenty-Eight

"this week has been incredible! Lots of changes. first of which would be my companion Élder Sutto. He´s a Paulista(from São Paulo) with an Italian background, hence the last name. its always a big change when a companion transfer comes. i went from Élder Carvalho, an energetic playful charismatic kinda guy to a companion who is very quiet and introverted. during the first few days together i worked really hard to serve and get to know him, but he wasnt really opening up. So i decided to play on the things that he likes! hes really into Japanese cartoons, so i asked him a lot about it, but it was hard to relate. i had a hard time relating to anything that hes into, so there was a bit of a barrier between us untill i figured out his taste of music, but its hard to talk about our favorite bands because it´ll turn the best missionary trunky real quick!

i guess we have a better relationship now because of the work we´ve been doing. he´s not super outgoing so ive taken the reins in almost every aspect of the work, which is strange to me since he has almost doulbe the time out here in the field. Ive grown a ton though! untill now ive always been the follower, but this week ive been applying all the lessons ive learned into the work and i have faith that we´ll have sucess.

Our ward activity however was less than sucessful. ´´Coração para Coração`` was an activity in which all of brazil participated in their own wards. it was supposed to animate the members about missionary work, but no one showed up! i went home and that night i wrote on the most powerful talks ive ever written. perhaps it was the spirit, perhaps it was my own indignant spirit, or maybe just my fluency in portuguese, but the talk was power! I explained exactly what is the gospel, why we preach it, and how. this sunday i presented the talk to the ward. i cant descibe what happened! i was so filled with the spirit that the very words i spoke were guided by him. the shockwave of my conviction hit the members like a hurricane. i dont say these things to boast in my own strength, i say them because through the hand of god ive turned sinner to saint, follower to leader , and doubter to believer! All credit to our creator. the ward looks to me now as a source of strength, im so grateful for the opportunity i have to be an instrument of the Lord!"

-Elder Kelland Hansen