Week 14
Monday: Today, after our P-day ended at 6:00 and the work continued, we were out and about trying to visit some people we had been teaching, yet no one was home. While walking down a street full of houses in the light rain, I felt an impression to knock a certain door, but since we were not necessarily doing finding, and my companion wasn't stopping, I decided to ignore it, thinking it wasn't a big deal. As we continued on, however, it continued to gnaw at me that I should have stopped at that door. As if he was reading my mind, my companion out of nowhere says to me "If you feel prompted to stop and return to any door or person, just let me know and we can go back". Minutes later, we passed another door that caught my eye, and I felt prompted to stop there, yet I still didn't follow through immediately. About 10 seconds later, just before crossing a street, I stopped in my tracks and said "ummm, vamos voltar" or "let us return" or go back. We walked back a short distance and rang the doorbell of that house, and a middle-aged lady came out and talked with us. In that moment, I felt confidence from the Lord to just speak. Even though I haven't talked with a lot of people yet in Portuguese about the Book of Mormon, or about our church, I just went for it and talked, bearing my testimony to her that I felt prompted to stop at her door specifically to share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with her, and let me just tell you, even with my broken Portuguese, the spirit was strong. We left her with a Book of Mormon and our phone number and church address, and went on our merry way, lifted in the spirit, happy as could be. Monday night was a huge testimony builder to me, that I truly have been called to this wonderful work from my Heavenly Father, to preach the restored gospel, even in another language. It also gave me confidence that the Holy Ghost will always prompt us and guide us to those that need to hear our message.
Tuesday: So we have been teaching a man who is from the religion "Espiritismo", which is a somewhat common religion in Brazil, from what I've heard. We had another lesson with him today that was very interesting, where he talked about some of the beliefs of his faith, like reincarnation, for example. But I really felt strongly that all he needs is a testimony of the Book of Mormon, which will start with a spiritual experience and action on his part. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, but perhaps not taking to heart yet our words to truly pray to know if it is true.
It's also very interesting to see how close we are here with all the members. Every Sunday especially, we go around talking with and shaking the hands of just about every member, laughing and joking with them, wishing them well and such, and on Tuesday night when we had planned to go to the church to do some language study, we actually ended up talking with some members for about an hour. It was fun though, and in a way it was just more of real language study, listening to the members speak, and talking with them about myself and about our day (although lets be honest, still, Elder Steere does most of the talking).
Wednesday: Today we had interviews with our Mission President! We went down to the mission office, and waited a bit for our turn, and then went in one by one to have said interview. Going in, I expected to have to speak as best I could in Portuguese, but to my surprise, the President talked solely in English. Turns out he does so with all the American missionaries, even if they have been on the mission for a while. But the interview went great, and we talked a bit about the First Vision and how we could prepare ourselves for the special General Conference that is coming up.
After interviews we left with one of the secretary Elders to go to a place to get a form signed, so that I could go to the Policia Federal to be able to legally live in São Paulo for 2 years. When we got there, a man at the counter asked me a question which I didn't even hear, and assumed I couldn't speak Portuguese, and said I couldn't get the form signed without a translator. Elder Tanner, the secretary elder asked if he could just translate since he is Bi-lingual, but they said it had to be a public translator. It was really dumb to be honest, but we eventually got it figured out!
Thursday: Thursday was very strange. In the morning we had district council, in which we had to take a few buses up to another chapel to meet the other 4 missionaries in our district. After a fairly short meeting, we searched for the right bus to get back to our area, close to our lunch appointment. When he thought we found the right bus we quickly got on and paid, asking the man if it would take us close to where we needed to go, and yeah, it was not the right bus at all. So immediately after getting on and paying, we had to get off. Then we asked around, and waited about an hour for the right bus, finally making it to our lunch appointment.
Lunch was very good. However, the elderly brother feeding us, much like the other Brazilians I have eaten with, insisted constantly for me to eat more. Unlike the others, however, before I had finished my plate, after saying "come mais, come mais Elder", he took the liberty to scoop more beans onto my plate himself. And I mean a TON of beans. Later that day we also had the wonderful opportunity to attend the São Paulo temple with our recent convert, Tiago. We ended up doing several baptisms and hundreds of confirmations with another family that was in our session, and then returned home late, but happy!
Friday: Today we got up at around 5:00 to go to the church and then to the Policia Federal ,so I could finalize everything allowing me to live in Brazil for 2 years. I had to stand for a couple of hours at the station, waiting to get my fingerprints done, picture taken, and paperwork filled out, but ultimately it wasn't too bad! Overall, Friday was pretty normal, in which we had some great lessons, and found 3 new investigators! Friday night as well we were able to go to a restaurant called "Ragazzo!" and I got to try coxinhas, which are these delicious little fried balls with meat, veggies and cheese inside. Man, they were heavenly, especially after a very long day.
Saturday: Saturday we had to bus up to the area of another companionship in our district to do a baptismal interview with one of their investigators, Luis. It was a long night in which we we were walking a ton, and waiting a while as well, for the interview to go through, and then to return home. That same night Elder Steere, after returning home, started throwing up... Turns out he got food poisoning from some eggs he had eaten that morning, and I felt so so bad for him. But all was well the next morning!
Sunday: Today, due to Elder Steere being sick and understandably sleeping in a little, we were still able to go to church, only we arrived a little late. It was a great service, and then we had an amazing lunch with a member who made Pastels for us, which are basically big fried squares filled with meat, veggies and cheese. They were very good, and I was left very satisfied! At the end of the night, after planning for a couple of hours for our week, we decided to stop by our friend Elizabeth's house, and discovered that she had lots of company. We ended up having a really good lesson with 4 members of her extended family, and gave a Book of Mormon to one such couple. It was a very special experience, and the spirit was strong that night!
But anyway, that was my week! Thank you all for your love and support, and have a wonderful, blessed week yourselves! Until next week!
-Elder Lightheart
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