March 3, 2014
"I LOVE CARNAVAL.... just kidding. defintion of carnaval in Hansen´s ditctionary- Brazil´s excuse to pilliage, rape, murder, sin, and committ all other atrocities available to the sons of men. This special week includes never ending traffic, high prices and a conveient "repentance day."
here in Nova Iguaçu it isnt too bad, ive only seen a couple naked people and some men dressed like women... most people go down to the center to "celebrate." the only problem is that since carnaval is a national holiday, no one works, since no one works, almost everyone travels. that has caused our work to slow down a bit since our most prepared investigators wont be back untill next week... ive learned a ton about patience!!
but we managed to baptise this week! his name is Paulo Henrique, the son of a less active who lives with a non member. on the day of the baptism, his father entered the chapel for the first time! i think they had a good experience, we´re planning on inviting them to marry so the father may be baptised as well! im soo happy with our sucess, but we need more families! familis will help one another withstand the tides of life and the winds of trial... we´re turning over every stone to find the eleites!
my companion is gradually getting up to speed. im focusing on first being the BEST example i can be. like moroni explains this well to pahoran, that we must clean the inner vessel before attempting to clean the outter. the work is still pretty unbalanced, but im more than happy to help my companion and friend adapt his work and atittude to the Lord's will. it all starts with me!!
this week was rather delicious, this week a recent convert invited us to eat some brazilian delicacies with him and his family. this normally means cow feet, tail, tongue, and other innards, but i was surpised to find a table full of sea food! i favorite was probably the shark...... sooooo GOOD :D
with the coming of the world cup, brazil has braught in some american food into their supermarkets, including LAYS and OREOSSSSSSS. im a happy little boy!
after this email we´re gonna grab a SUBWAY that just opened up... count your many blessings, count hem one by one!!!
i made a personal goal to give all that i meet at least one compliment this week. every contact in the street. every member. every missionary. and you guys are included! thank you sooooo much for reading my emails and for the prayers! i compliment you for your patience with me and for your love of Christ. i want to be more like him, i hope to spread his light! thank you for supporting in this persuit, i have a along way to go but im where im at because of loving family and friends!
February 26, 2014
"Soooooo ive recieved a lot of blessings!
we had two more baptisms this week... this area has so much potential! Gracinha was a miralce contact(sweetest lady ive ever met), and Isaura is a person whose dealt with much suffering, but has progressed so much in the gospel! we´re seting a goal to baptise weekly here, is possible if we have faith!
i think the key word that has helped us here is WORK. Moses 1 :39 helped me a lot. God has all power, what does he do with his time? HE WORKS! so why sohuldnt we??? forget the excuses(im opening up a new area, im tired, my comp doesnt want to work, etc), they deteriorate a man´s character. forget about yourself and WORK!!!
after all that has been said, it is the Lord who grants us our sucesses, we must be forever grateful to him and for his helping hand! i feel closer to the Lord this week!
one worry that i have is the support of the members. we could baptise everyone in the neighborhood, but what will happen when we´re transferred?? we had several progressing families and other investigators at church, but the ward reception was luke wam..... what do we do? we´re really working hard to open up the ward´s eyes. this is salvation we´re talking about, and they´re a part of it!! its at moments like these that i am grateful for the incredible exmple of my parents, me showed me how members should be missionaries!
thank you all for the prayers, miralces are happening here in Nova Iguaçu!!!"
February 22, 2014
"This week was better!! we´re beginning to crawl out out of the hole we were thrown in, the work here is appearing more and more possible!
to help the work kickstart here with the members, we had to provide some inspiration... and what inspires more than a baptism??? Talia is a 16 year old girl who has been going to church for over two years, but had not yet made covenants with our Lord. With some support from her friends, we helped her use her testimony to act!! we´re hoping that the baptism sparks the missionary spirit within the ward, because we´re the only ones thrusting our sickles at the moment!
in sacrament meeting the first councillor informed the congregation(including myself) that i would be giving a talk... thank goodness for the spirit!! i flipped to some key scriptures that speak of accelerating the work and invited the members to take part, i hope that it makes a difference here!!
RAIN!!! it rained for the first time this year!! in december we had all of those floods, then the rain stopped!! for a month and a half we tolerated the hottest summer since the 1940´s, every day over 110 with a heat effect of well over 120.... now my skin is looking pretty brazilian :D
this week i had the chance to work with the missionaries in Nilópolis.... what Deja vu!! its incredible to see how much cleaner it is here, i didnt see a single automatic rifle the entire day!!! theres a new train station and a lot of nice apartments now.... i guess the world cup is making a difference! haha to make things even better, Élder Nutt(my CTM companion) is currently working there as well, its incredible to see how much we´ve grown since São Paulo! we were able to visit a couple of recent converts that i had worked with over a year ago, its a privilage to finally return to where i started off. before i was transfered to Resende, i gave a blessing to a young man who was going though a spiritual storm(which i had no knowledge of). It was probably the most inspried blessing that i have had the privelage to give. well i met up the the boys family to see him, and turns out he´s already been on a mission for 8 months! apparently the family has been wanting ot thank me for the blessing since then, i gently reminded them that blessings come from the Lord, not form me!! im glad too see that i "left my mark" here in Niló. i blamed myself for my entire mission so far for not doing more here, but the Lord has been merciful unto me by showing me these blossomed fruits!
Speaking of fruits, i saw another one this week..... John Lennon, a convert i worked with in Resende, moved to Nova Iguaçu!! he has almost a year as a member, and he´s preparing his paprs for a mission!! he´s alos dating a sweet girl in the ward, i couldnt be more proud of him!! i feel like the Lord has been revealing all of this to me to pump me up for the road ahead. theres sooooo much to do here in the ward. but i know that with the lord, we can do it!! the are sons and daughters of God to save here in Nova Iguaçu!
PS our Chapel here In Nova Iguaçu is on Rua Luis de Matos, it should be easy to find on the church site. we live on the same street!(which is such a blessing, in all my other areas we lived at least a half hour on foot from the church)"
and my new comp. Élder Leal!!!
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