Endure

Hello! Sometimes I wonder just how many people actually read my letters. With the state my English is in, they probably need a lot of patience with me. I'm kind of worried how it's going to be when I return home and start using English again, because the only English I use here is with a heavy Portuguese accent and grammar. In fact, it's actually pretty funny when I try teaching a Brazilian some English when I don't even remember straight for myself.

Anyway, this week was interesting. On Friday we had a division with the district leader.  The area they cover is the other half of the city of Montonegro.  It is completely different from our area. When I was there with his companion, almost everyone we talked to accepted us, and we ended up teaching about as many lessons in one day than I'd normally teach in one week in our area. Our district leader was equally surprised by the fact that it was so difficult to find investigators in our area. In the end we both learned from the experience and we move forward. As for the rest of the time, Elder Dickson and I are "putting our shoulders to the wheel." We found a few good families, and had some great experiences. With one family, we had shared our first message together with a Book of Mormon to read. On our return, she said that she had forgotten to read and pray that night and she had nightmares the whole night where the devil was slowly dragging her and her family into the fire. She felt horrible and couldn't sleep straight. But, she decided to read a little of the Book of Mormon, and she said that the moment she began to read, that horrible feeling disappeared and her dreams were peaceful and sweet. Once more, my testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened, for through no other power could she be so readily delivered from that power unless it be the power of God.

There were a lot of other great families that began to show progress, but by the time Sunday arrived, they all "gave up" and returned to their regular life. I'm truly thankful for my family and all the efforts they made to take my stubborn self to church each Sunday, because now I know how important it was in my life, and I can see how difficult it was, and is, for even the best of people to make this simple but so important decision to go to church.   An act. so simple, that God used to change the lives of even the mightiest.

Well, I hope there's more to say next week, for my time is up. Four weeks until I see everyone once more, so there's a lot of work to do before that happens. Until next time!

Elder Angus

wotw:

acabando (ah-kah-bahn-doo) Ending. Like my time is ending, and so is my mission. I better get as much done as possible before it's too late.

Beginning of the End

Were the people there very sad when they lost the chance to win the World Cup?

More or less. Here, the population is really German, so there were a lot of people rooting for Germany. :/ But I'm sure that in other states, they were devastated. 

 Has anything great happened yet?

I guess so. Let's see if there's more to come.

Are you still teaching Carlos?

Yes, and he went to church! Finally !!!!

How big is the ward that meets there?

On record-500, Active-80 There are a lot of missing or inactive members. :(

It's weird to think that I've already been here for almost two years. Beginning tomorrow, it will be my last transfer of the mission, and I don't know if I'm excited or sad that I won't be staying for much longer. What will be interesting, however, is that President has decided I should finish the mission in another area. Today I'll be running from house to house to say goodbye before transfers tomorrow. Who knows where I'll go? If one thing is for sure, I'm going to miss out on a really good baptism. 

This week was good. In fact, I began to see a little more about the culture of southern Brazil.  When Brazil went against Germany in the semi-final, more than half of the people here were rooting for Germany. :P I guess tradition sinks a little deeper than patriotism. However, rather than go off talking about the World Cup, I'll get to the good stuff.

Now more than ever, I can see that I'm what Paul called "a planter" because it seems like whenever someone truly elect is found and ready for baptism, I don't get to stick around to see it. This week, Carlos went to church for the first time, together with his 8-year-old son. While they were there, he said he felt something really special, and he felt truly at peace going from class to class. His son seems to be even more excited despite the fact that we never taught him.  He began asking tons of questions, and before the end of Sunday School, he was already telling his dad that he wanted to get baptized. If everything goes well, he's going to be baptized on the 26th.

 

Other than that, we found a really special family about three days ago. When we were going house to house, we clapped hands at one of the gates and a woman came with the strangest look on her face. When we asked if we could enter and share a message, she simply responded, "I'd rather not let you in." So, we decided to sit on the porch and share it there. Apparently, she thought we were thieves or robbers 'disguised in sheep's clothing' but as we began to teach, the spirit touched her and she opened up completely. Her daughter, who'd recently been in a car accident, limped out front to see what was going on, and so ended up as part of the conversation. After tons of wonderful questions, we finally left them with a Book of Mormon and a desire to search for the truth.

How wonderful is this calling! I'm excited to see where I will go until the end. But until next week,

Elder Angus

Word of the week:

Alemanha (ah-leh-mahn-yuh) Meaning Germany. Congratulations on a game well played. :P

Children of God

I guess I'll start off by saying that I'm excited, maybe even without purpose. In fact, I can't really explain why it is that I'm excited, other than I know great things are about to happen. Once more, none of our investigators went to church this week, but something just feels different this week than others, because something inside me is ready to burst out. Like a horse that senses the storm before it comes, so do I feel something marvelous is about to happen. When or where, I cannot say, but that it will happen, I'm certain. 

Anyway, now that y'all know that, I'll get to the good stuff. This week we were able to find some wonderful families and help some great people take great leaps on the path of salvation. Carlos, a young man in his thirties, has passed through some great difficulties. He is a father of two, but has been divorced for about three years and lives alone. After these three years, he has come to feel a huge hole in his life, a hole that he didn't completely understand, or know how to fill, so a friend of his suggested to look for God and go to a church. Carlos had never gone to church, and he didn't know anything about God other than that he existed, so he didn't know what to do. One day, as he began working on a new construction project, he saw someone leave the project for a few hours and return in a suit and tie. He asked him why and the man responded that he went to church. Inquiring further as to which church, the man responded simply "I go to a church well known as the 'Mormons.'" When he said this, some great interest sparked up inside him, and they began to converse about the church and marked for them to visit together and discuss the subject more thoroughly. 

A week later, we had the privilege to visit Carlos by reference of this member. As we spoke to him, we can see that although he knows very little, or as he says "never even took a look at a bible," he has a great desire to learn, and even after one lesson, I can already see that his faith in Christ has increased over tenfold. Even with the few lessons we have been able to teach him until now, he has already accepted to dive in head first and prepare to be baptized just as Christ was. 

Carlos isn't alone among some elect children of God that we've been priviledged to find and to teach this week, but for lack of time, his story will suffice. Truly, a marvelous work and a wonder is happening among the children of men. If we but open our eyes, we'll be ready to see that we are never alone in our efforts to help our fellow man, fer God is on our side, making up the space for everything we cannot do. Although our efforts may seem little, and our head way minimal, the future is brighter than ever. I know that God lives and this is his work. How grateful I am to be part of it!

Hooray for Israel!

Elder Angus

word of the week:

taça (tah-suh) Basically meaning the trophy, the trophy that although the US didn't quite get to it, Brazil still has a chance to win! Go Brazil!

photo:

-the chapel in Vista Alegre, Cachoerinha

-Us with some of the best recent converts (the young man goes every week with us to do visits)