Week 95

This week we broke a few of our records in lessons and contacts. President Campos told us to work so hard that every area in the mission catches fire. We gained a lot of respect and trust from the members here in showing them how we work in their ward. Many times as we were talking with them or doing splits with them we dashed off to talk with someone that had just passed by. We were talking with so many people that we didn't have more space in our planners to write their addresses down!

Elias was our focus of the week. He'd already accepted a date to be baptized this Sunday so during this week we visited him daily teaching him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He began delving into the Book of Mormon and got to chapter 12 on Saturday. We challenged him to read 9 chapters a day to finish the book in 4 weeks. As we taught him the commandments we saw how prepared he is, he understood tithing and fasting perfectly. When we taught him about the Plan of Salvation he had many questions and told us the next day how he'd prayed to know if the Plan was really true. We saw how the Gospel was making a difference in his life already. He began taking the initiative and went to Porto Alegre to look for a better job. He began shaving as well. On Sunday he was baptized! Right after his baptism I took him to the bishop and we set up an interview during the week so Elias can be ordained a Priest this coming Sunday. Elias was awe struck when we taught him about the Priesthood and told him how he'll be able to bless the sacrament and baptize.

During the week we also found a few others that the Lord has been preparing. Joseli is a married man with 2 kids. We'd already taught his daughter Amanda and when we returned we met him and taught him about the Restoration. We were feeling aprehensive but the Spirit guiding us we challenged him to be baptized in a few weeks and he paused before saying, "Why not?" and nodding his head with a smile.

Jorge is an inactive member for 10 years. We met his non-member wife the other day and returned on a set day to get to know everyone and teach them. They have one daughter, Dielley (it is pronounced as 'jelly'), who is 17 and very interested. As we taught them and talked we saw that Jorge remembers everything about the church and had previously held callings such as Elders Quorum presidente, stake YM president, and others. His first wife had divorced him and due to embarrassment he fell into inactivity, and re-married. When we taught about the Book of Mormon Dielley dived right into the book reading as much as she could. She motivated her step-dad Jorge to go to church with her this Sunday.

Eneida is a single grandmother and 8 of her grandchildren live with her currently. We got to know them and they all accepted a date including Eneida! They are a special family we love a lot.

During a division with the elders in a neighboring area I got to know the church where they meet. It looks almost like a temple! The churches here in Brazil are very aesthetic and well made.

Gravataí is catching fire!!