Elder Kasey Lightheart

  Donuts! Hey everybody! Yet another amazing week full of miracles here in São Paulo, Brazil! I hope you are doing well, and had yourself a blessed week like we did! Earlier this week we had some small changes throughout the mission, but little to no change in our district. Although, one sister did receive a new Brazilian missionary to train! This was also our last full week with our mission president and his wife, President and Sister Miller. It was so sad to have our last Sunday devotional with them, but we also presented a video we all created together thanking President and Sister Miller for everything they did for us. It was super sweet! On Thursday though, we will be receiving our new presidency, President and Sister Kofford.  We also had an awesome lesson this week with one of our new friends in Vila Lavina, Mayara. She had already come to church the past few weeks before we started taking care of the ward, and wow is she so prepared! We just had a simple lesson with he...

  Walking the streets of Mogi das Cruzes! "For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee... Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands" (1 Nephi 21:15-16).  Such an amazing scripture, isn't it? The Lord truly will never forget us, nor abandon us, even when we turn our back on him. I've been studying the Book of Mormon these last few weeks, looking specifically for scriptures about the atonement of Jesus Christ, and I was amazed once again by these words I've heard before, that Christ has engraven each of us upon the palms of his hands. What does this mean? That the atonement is personal, and truly infinite. If my name were truly engraven on the palms of His hands, how could he forget me, or desert me? Therefore, the Lord will not forget you, I promise you that much. If any of you out there have any doubt if the atonement of Jesus Christ applies for y...

  At the temple of the Lord! "Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith." (Ether 12:9). I just love the Book of Mormon. It is filled with so many good scriptures and principles that I am constantly finding new awesome verses like this one. I found that this scripture really rang true for me this week. The first few months I was here, things were really hard, and I feel as if my faith was really tested, to see if I would really continue to work and do the things the Lord asked me to. But now, I feel as if we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors here in Brás Cubas.  Earlier this week, a few Elders working up in Lorena (a part very far distant in our mission) sent us a message, saying they had 5 referrals for us, 3 from the same family, living in our area. After a Bible study over the phone, we scheduled a meeting in person, and the next day we had a wonderful lesson with our new friends Patricia and Dirce, as well ...

  Me and my companion :). Hey everybody! Man, what a week! I would say only a few days this week were really eventful, and then the rest a little slow, but overall, it was a wonderful week! On Wednesday we had our last zone conference with our mission president and his wife, President and Sister Miller. The conference was super fun, but man was it sad to hear the Millers' testimonies, and then to hug them both. I remember the short time I spent in this mission last year, saying goodbye as well at the São Paulo airport to the two, but this time they are the ones leaving. It was also my companion, Elder Costa's first zone conference, so his first and last with the Millers. We also traveled there and back on the metro with a bunch of other missionaries, which was fun, except that we were super squished in the train. But that's bound to happen at the hour we were returning home... rush hour.  Zone Conference!! Hugging President Miller goodbye. Elder Costa's first zone confe...

  Walking the roads of Brás Cubas! "Stand still and see the salvation of God" (Ex. 14:13). I have always loved this scripture, but man, it really came to my mind this week! I can't say my companion and I stood still per say, but we did work really hard and certainly saw the hand of God! Earlier this week we were thinking of a way we could have great conversation with all of the people in our records that we have talked to in the past, and we decided to ask an inspired question. I came up with the following question, "if you could stand face to face with God and ask him a single question, what would you ask?", and man, we got so many responses!! It was so cool to talk with all these people about their various questions and concerns, and many ended up having the very same questions. Then, the next day we had 9 lessons scheduled, of which 4 happened, and a fifth simply consisted of offering a prayer over the phone. In fact, this week we had many of those phone call...

  My new trainee, Elder Costa, and I Wow what a week it has been! Starting last P-day I stayed the remainder of the night at the mission office, with the office elders and missionaries going home, and then saw them off at 5 in the morning the next day. Then, after a long while of waiting, my  new companion, Elder Costa, arrived along with 2 other elders and one sister. We had a little meeting, and then ate some pizza, which was actually super good! Most of the pizza I've had here so far hasn't been near as good as the pizza I've had back home, but this place was very good. But after lunch we took an Uber all the way back to Bras Cubas, which was about an hour drive.  Elder Costa is from Santarém, Pará, a city in Brazil, way up in the north, where it is much hotter! He's actually a pretty quiet guy like me, which is interesting, and he loves to play video games. He's very prepared though for a mission! He has a strong testimony, and a big desire to serve.  My new...

  The wonderful Suelen family Hello everyone! Yet another amazing week in the service of the Lord has gone by, and boy am I grateful to be out here! This week, I spent my last few days with Elder Souza, who will be flying home tomorrow morning. I'm definitely gonna miss this hilarious and awesome Elder. It's been a lot of fun serving with him, and learning from him, as he is an amazing missionary, and will certainly be a wonderful member missionary as well. I also found out yesterday that I will be staying in my area, Bras Cubas, and will be training a brand new missionary! I have no idea who he is, or if he will be a Brazilian or not, but nonetheless I am so excited!  This week we also had another lesson with our friend Ana, and invited her to be baptized this next Sunday in which she accepted! Elder Souza is sad to miss the baptism, but happy for her nonetheless. She really has been prepared to receive the gospel, I can tell you that much. There are a few things still left t...