A Ride Home from Lunch with Elder Cabrera
Oi! Geez is it already September?! And I hit the 5 month mark this week! Isnt that crazy?!
Again thanks for the updates and prayers. I definently received a lot of emails today from people. I love that! You rock Mom for telling people to do that. I just hope people realize I cant respond all the time or Ill be super slow.
First thing that happened was we have this member and youth named Franzi Helder. Hes super cool and he knows like every teenager in the neighborhood so we try to get new investigators with him. Well his mom is a nonmember but LOVES the missionaries. She asked us to help paint their new home so we did. Well it was good because we got all the youth to help us too. And the best part? They love it when a certain American beatboxes :) Hey I got to do something music when Im gone on my mission, right?! I have some new beats I can do and Ive been practicing. Yeah thats mission fun right there.
Exchange with Elder Peirce
I also had my second exchange in Brasil! I went back to Bayeux CTR (the other area in the city) with Elder Peirce. I love this guy... we are almost the same person. We had some good experiences too. We had lunch with this recent convert. She was telling us that she joined the Church because of her daughter. Her daughter was a convert in her teenage years and went on a mission. And eventually her mom decided that she wanted to hear the message. Its just another testimony builder that being an EXAMPLE is so critical. You NEVER know when someone is watching you.
But then an even cooler thing happened. There was a bunch of younger kids around. Two were baptized already but I didnt realize this other one wasnt, Elder Peirce did though. He said hey man you want to hear a message? Well he listened about baptism and the recent convert lady bore a super powerful testimony that brought this 12 year old to tears. And guess what? He had already visited the Church before so he got baptized yesterday! That was a miracle! :) The rest of the exchange it rained like crazy...but thats what makes this mission fun. Its rainy season right now!
It was about 7 oclock and I noticed the neighborhood was pitch black. I told Elder Peirce, Man your place is super ghetto looking and dark. He said, Look. Bayeux CTR is actually on top of this huge, steep hill over my area. We can see downtown Joao Pessoa from there. Well we looked over the view and all of Bayeux and Joao Pessoa had this blackout. It was crazy!!!
Another good experience was teaching Nene, a sister of a member. We went just to see what we could do. Well sadly shes having terrible family issues and she refuses to go back to Church, even her Catholic Church, because all her children are having drinking issues. Well I couldnt understand a lot in this lesson but I had the prompting to ask her if we could have a kneel down prayer for her family. So we did and I literally felt a swarm of angels come in. It was super powerful! I have only felt that a few other times in my life. Thats a testimony builder of how much homes need to have the Spirit. Sadly the next day she basically said no to being baptized in this lifetime... but Ill never forget that.
As far as investigators we had about 10 people that said for sure they would come to Church. The only two that came were Herbery and Luanna, and they cant be baptized yet. So that was super disappointing. So again down to step 1, finding people. Just keeeeping the faith! :) But I think we will have a baptism with Gustavo in a couple of weeks. Depends on the mom.
Yesterday, Bayeux had this huge parade. It was so big that our ward cancelled and decided to combine with the other ward later in the afternoon. But on the way to lunch we walked past it. I really miss marching band after seeing all of those bands. I cant wait to pick up that trumpet when I get home. That will be my best friend for quite a while.
We have a new Ward Mission Leader and he is incredible! His name is Junior and he just moved to the ward. He is so concerned about the missionaries and its going to help us a lot. We again didnt have a lot going our way again this week but in the end the Lord blessed us with this. Im excited to see the work done through him.
The scripture this week: Moroni 10:3-5 and the last two paragraphs of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon.
Its amazing because on the field you know a person is serious when they follow the steps in these scriptures. I know these things are true because of the bearing of these things from the Holy Ghost. There isnt any better feeling!
Love,
Elder Steven Untch
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