Hello hello hello, and welcome back to another email from yours truly. Yes, another week has gone by, yes I am still here, and yes you are still there. Wherever there is for you. I hope you had a great week. A great time to reflect on the words of our modern day prophets and apostles. I hope that you can feel the love of our Savior and can feel his blessings because they are all around us. Like always, what a week it has been.
Monday (October 8, 2018)
Wow!
Another P-Day. It is like it comes every week or something. We had such
an incredible experience today. After we got everything prepared for
the week we were walking to an investigators house and a group of six or
seven kids ran up to us and started talking to us. So we talked then
taught a few of them. As we were teaching, another kid ran up to us and
said "When can I be baptised?" I was like, well there is a river over
there and I am ready if you are ready. But Elder Lira thought that maybe
we should teach the family. Apparently they have ten kids and the dad
is less active. Now that is a miracle if I have ever heard of one. We
are going to teach them on Friday.
Tuesday (October 9, 2018)
Today
was Tuesday in America and Terca em Brasil. We have been working with a
woman (daughter of God) for a really long time now. She is the mother
of a recent convert. Her name is Gleci and she is great. She has a
stronger testimony than some members and we asked her to be baptised one
time and she said she wasnt ready. But today we asked her because we
felt inspired to and she said "Well, if you are asking, you must think
that I am ready". I am super excited! She is going to be baptised this
Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.
Wednesday (October 10, 2018)
The
Lord is way too kind. We had 2 more people ask us when they can be
baptised. It was a mother and daughter. The mom told us to our faces
that usually she hides when the missionaries walk by but this time she
wanted to hear what we had to say. So we taught them and they asked what
they had to do to be baptised. Also we confirmed another baptism for
this Saturday with the granddaughter of Zilda who is also getting
baptised on Saturday. The Lord is incredibly, even perfectly kind.
Thursday (October 11, 2018)
This
cannot be real and if this isnt the biggest miracle of my life, I dont
have any idea what is. Two more people asked us when they can be
baptised and when and where the church is. The name of the kid who asked
us to be baptised on Monday is Derick and we taught his family one day
earlier than expected. So we were kind of right. They have 10 kids, but
only 5 live at home (that is still a lot) and the dad isnt less active.
He is non active. As in he hasnt been in 30 years. But he absolutely
loves the The Church of Jesus Christ, but he works literally every day of
the week so rip, but also miracle that he loves the church and encouraged
his kids to be baptised. Then two girls who are 13 and 8 years old
asked to be baptised. We are going to visit them on Saturday again.
Friday (October 12, 2018)
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY ANNIE!!!! I love you so much and prayed for you all day.
Today, as a present to me, it rained the hardest that it has ever
rained. The dirt roads literally turned into lakes and rivers. And in an extremely unfortunate turn of events, and in the spirit of preparing for
baptism, I too ended up In The Water as I fell waist deep into a river.
When I fell, a woman walking by screamed, then kept walking down the
road normally and didnt actually seem all that bothered. I think she
just wanted to scream. Also, we asked the LZs (Zone Leaders) to do the
interviews for Diego, Gleci and Samira (granddaughter of Zilda). Diego
and Gleci were home and everything was great, but Samira and Zilda were
apparently on vacation. So we will see about their baptisms.
Saturday (October 13, 2018)
Today
was a really happy and a really hard day. We did all of our normal
stuff then at 6:30 we went to Diegos house to take him to the church for
his baptism. We got there and started talking to him and he said that
he didnt want to be baptised and wasnt prepared. So, we brought the
Spirit and convinced him to be baptised but his mom wouldnt have it. She
was yelling and screaming at us and Diego telling him that he couldnt
leave the house. We tried so hard and Diego even pleaded to be baptised
but she wasnt budging. It is incredible how hard the adversary works to
make sure we dont take that first step in the right direction. He did
the same with Joseph Smith before the First Vision. That just shows you
the potential that this young man has. But the amazing part was that I
had the incredible opportunity to get In The Water and baptise Gleci.
The Spirit that I felt before, and during and after was amazing. She is
going to be such a strong and firm member and will be such an example to
her family. And the amazing tender mercy that the Lord gave me was that
today marks 11 years exactly since my own baptism. I was baptised on
October 13th, 2007 and 11 years later I had the incredibly blessing of
helping someone make that same covenant.
Sunday (October 14, 2018)
Today
is the last day of this transferência and we found out that Elder Lira
has been transferred . He is going to Eldorado do Sul to be the Líder de
Zona in that zone. He will probably finish his mission there because he
returns in January. So, I am staying here in Obelisco for at least
another 6 weeks, which I am actually really excited about because there
is a great work to do. In place of Elder Lira will be Elder Newman. I
have no idea who he is but I hear he is great. I am sad that Elder Lira
is leaving but excited to continue the work with Elder Newman!
Random Thoughts:
- The only English words that people here know are swear words.
- I forgot the English word for "chapel" the other day.
- We have to plug the baptismal font with a grocery sack because we have no plug.
- People always ask me what their name is in English so I just say what they told me in an American accent and they think it is the coolest thing ever.
- I cant do a British accent while speaking Portuguese. I tried.
Love
you all! Hope you have the best week! Serve each other and always
listen to the Spirit. Pray for someone else this week and say a prayer
only of gratitude. It is a great experience.
Love,
Elder Allen
