oi,
Life is going pretty good here in Brazil, the work is picking up and I’m loving it. It was sort of interesting, after last weeks struggle to find people to teach, the days following my email, we found and taught some really good people. It was the end of the transfer here and we got some new missionaries and such but Elder Augusto and me will stay here in Campo Limpo. We met a ton of people to teach this week. All of our investigators didn’t go to church but a guy named Fabio showed up out of nowhere! His son was just recently baptized in the Sao Paulo south mission and then they moved here. He is one of the most sincere people I’ve ever met, he never lies to us, and treats us like family. It’s hard sometimes, because we get along so well as friends, that we have to make sure we set the time to teach him. But, this last time, he was actually the one to ask us about what we were going to teach or talk about that day. He’s great! I had a really cool experience this last time; we left a message after church with him. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the things we need to do in our lives to receive the blessings of Christ’s Atonement. At one point, I felt a deep concern and love for him- and a desire for him to accept baptism. It was crazy, I desired more than anything for him to have a testimony of the BOM and to be baptized. That’s never really happened for me before, a real desire for somebody to make that covenant with Heavenly Father. Anyway, I’m excited and hopeful for him and his progress. The problem we’re seeing is he has a problem with the word of wisdom. I’m praying and fasting that he’ll be able to find a way to change that, and we’ll see! We set him with the 27th as a baptismal goal.
Life is going pretty good here in Brazil, the work is picking up and I’m loving it. It was sort of interesting, after last weeks struggle to find people to teach, the days following my email, we found and taught some really good people. It was the end of the transfer here and we got some new missionaries and such but Elder Augusto and me will stay here in Campo Limpo. We met a ton of people to teach this week. All of our investigators didn’t go to church but a guy named Fabio showed up out of nowhere! His son was just recently baptized in the Sao Paulo south mission and then they moved here. He is one of the most sincere people I’ve ever met, he never lies to us, and treats us like family. It’s hard sometimes, because we get along so well as friends, that we have to make sure we set the time to teach him. But, this last time, he was actually the one to ask us about what we were going to teach or talk about that day. He’s great! I had a really cool experience this last time; we left a message after church with him. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the things we need to do in our lives to receive the blessings of Christ’s Atonement. At one point, I felt a deep concern and love for him- and a desire for him to accept baptism. It was crazy, I desired more than anything for him to have a testimony of the BOM and to be baptized. That’s never really happened for me before, a real desire for somebody to make that covenant with Heavenly Father. Anyway, I’m excited and hopeful for him and his progress. The problem we’re seeing is he has a problem with the word of wisdom. I’m praying and fasting that he’ll be able to find a way to change that, and we’ll see! We set him with the 27th as a baptismal goal.
Yesterday was pretty spiritual. We made a contact on the street with this guy named Samuel, got his address and such. Then yesterday we headed to his house, he wasnt home but his mother and little sister were there. We starting teaching them the first lesson and as we were at the first vision part, the sun came out and shone through the window and the birds were singing and they were crying. It was crazy cool especially because when we teach people, the most spiritual parts generally a dog starts to bark or a car with loud rap drives by. Oh plus it was raining all day and that was the only time the sun came out. Anyway they are coming to church and commited to baptism on the 27th. Pretty neat.
President Tanner gave an AWESOME lesson on goals- making and setting goals. He went really in depth and I really enjoyed it, and have been trying to work on it for myself. When you really learn how to set and work to achieve goals, it’s such a good tool for a mission but also for the rest of your life for sure. Anyway, I’ve been working on goals, like learning the language. I have a specific schedule of what I’ll study and when, with at least 5 questions to my companion about slang or other words, and learn at least 5 words on the street. Along with other things and reading the whole Book of Mormon in Portuguese, at the end of the day, I account to see how well I did. It really helps, and I think that as I put forth the work to improve, I can continue to receive blessings from the Lord. I really have been blessed here on a mission, my ears have been opened and I know that the Spirit has loosened my tongue to be able to testify of the gospel. Just two days ago, as we were doing contacts, one lady accepted to hear our message, but just wanted a quick 3 minute clip. It was really lucky that we had had a zone meeting where we practiced giving the 1st lesson in 3 to 5 minutes that day huh? haha funny how we can be prepared in random ways! Anyway, I gave the message and testified. It was smooth fluent and I felt good about it. She didn’t want to continue anymore with us but really respected the work we do.
Anyway, working hard and loving the people. Goodness though, I love reading General Conference talks. Just this morning I was studying a talk by Elder Oaks about Desires- Here’s just two quotes from it that I really liked:
´´Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions´´
´´It is our actions and our desires that cause us to become something, whether a true friend, a gifted teacher, or one who has qualified for eternal life. ´´
There’s a special spirit about the general conference talks, I can’t wait for this next conference. It’s like these leaders are inspired or called of God or something... haha
Oh this will help if you want to help the missionaries at home.
"For everyone who wants to become a better member missionary and who wants to know how to support the missionaries, Preach My Gospel is full of powerful ideas and insights. We learn how we can help the missionaries find people to teach and how we as members can work hand in hand with the missionaries to help those who are investigating the Church. We learn to understand why strong invitations to act are helpful to increase faith in Jesus Christ and how we can stand with our nonmember friends who are moving through this wonderful, life-changing process of conversion.
"Along with studying the scriptures, missionaries study Preach My Gospel every day. They learn principles and skills, and they apply them. They especially learn how to use the guidance of the Spirit in their work. If we want to learn as missionaries do, we too must carefully study Preach My Gospel and observe the missionaries in their daily work."
oh and they always like Food as well.
Well gtg, loves.
Love, Elder Merrick Reynolds
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