Britten gave his homecoming talk? Oh man that would have been incredible to have been there! He's such a stud! I love that kid. I know that what he said is true. Sometimes the things we have to do are so hard. And even if we don't cry on the outside, we cry inside. But I also know, that as we just keep believing, keep trusting in Heavenly Father, even if we don't know exactly what it is He expects from us, we just keep on going, and He's there to guide us. It's like walking around in the dark mist, but holding on to the Iron Rod. Sometimes we don't know where it is exactly that we're being led, because we can't see where we're going, or what exactly it is that's around us or tempting us. But as we trust that the Lord's path leads to a great big shining tree with delicious fruit, we can keep going! 2 Nephi 22:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation." As we trust, 100% in the Lord, He leads us to salvation. I just want to say mom, that the Lord is my strength and my song. I know Jesus Christ leads us to salvation. And I'm so excited for Him to come again!
Man everyone's home! That’s so weird!! It does NOT feel like JJ, Britten, or Shawn should be home yet. It weirds me out a little bit. I bet that sacrament meeting was INCREDIBLE! I would have loved to be there! I'm gonna be 100% honest, even after almost 7 months in the mission, sometimes I have a hard time understanding everything in Portuguese in Sacrament meeting. Pathetic, huh. BUT, the things I heard were really good. One sister talked about the basics of the Gospel, and how we can't move on until we have the basics. And she compared it to a key. The Key of the Gospel are the basics, faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, and how without this basics, we'll never ever get into the house of the Lord. The door is locked and without the basics of the gospel (Key) we can never get inside to the other amazing stuff inside. Cool thought huh? This talk was given by the 1st member of the church on the Island of Madeira. 29 years of being a member. That’s cool huh?
We had a really cool experience just last night. There is an investigator that was almost baptized about 6 or 7, maybe 8 months ago, but she felt super pressured by the Elders right there towards the end so she decided not to, and then the elders didn't come back. So when Elder Faias and I got here, we looked her up, and also pressured her really bad. She was a little nervous to talk to us in the first place, and then as she did, we pressured her again because we felt really good about her and so we just tried and tried and tried and tried that whole week, especially when she told us not to come back.......but......we did. So then she didn't want to talk to us and was avoiding us. So we stopped. But lately I've been feeling like we should try again to help her. So Elder Bond and I went back. She wasn't there. We went back one more time a few days later. Not there. Then Elder Wolman got here, (my new comp) and last night we were knocking doors right towards the end of the night, and Elder Wolman was like, let's go through here. It was her street. So we went through there and then we got to her door, and we knocked. Turns out she was home. She opened the door and got really nervous and closed up immediately. But then as we just talked to her, showed interest in her life, she opened up. Little by little she left the door way and came closer to the gate. And by the end we were talking openly and it was really an awesome visit! We didn't get a chance to mark another appointment because she is super busy, but she said in September, when she finishes school, we can come back. And she said in the meantime, we can pass by every once in a while and to see how she's doing!! What HUGE progress! And why?? Cuz we were focusing on her and showing our love. Did we get to go into her house? no. Did we help her be baptized last night? no. Did we do missionary work? yes.
Moral of the story mom......as you continue to show your love for people, and as you sincerely just want to get to know them and their lives, they will little by little, take one step closer to you. and at the end of the day, you may not have another firm appointment, or they may not come to church with you that week, but have you done your job? absolutely.
HAHAHA sam almost got to see an execution!!! i'm not gonna lie, that sounds like sam would have LOVED it! haha that made me laugh really hard :) a little sketch, but ya know whateva :) when I was in Lisbon, I did a little work with some of the elders there, and it was sketch central! we're just running down these little tiny streets called becos. It was basically like a cement tunnel with houses everywhere and these tiny little cement ally ways and whatnot. we talked to a guy who turned out to be the biggest drug lord in that part of Lisbon. that was cool. it was super sketch but super rad! I really enjoyed it! super poor there, but the people were super humble. But yeah I like Madeira. not near as sketchy as Lisbon or Peru! haha :) Katie wants to go on a mission? that's super cool! I think she'd really do a great job.
Thanks for praying to Claudia and Armando and Orlanda. We can still use all the prayers we can get. This week has been a little rough. But we've still seen the hand of the Lord with Claudia and Armando. I don't know exactly what's going on, but we're just relying on the Lord to guide them and us. They are having financial problems, and it's been hard that way. They've been busy and haven't had a ton of time to talk to us and have been avoiding us a little because of the "decisions that have to be made" we're just praying and relying on the Lord to bless them and guide them through this time and that they will recognize the hand of the Lord.
Ok, questions now :) I go to Lisbon once a transfer for mission council, which was super cool with Elder Texeira! it's about an hour and a half flight to Lisbon from the Madeira airport. did I miss Madeira? yes. Was it cool to get away for a bit? yes. :) Elder Bond is not here anymore. He got moved to a different area on Madeira to finish his training and Elder Homer Wolman is my new companion. He's half Samoan. cool eh? He's from Colorado and this is his last transfer. He's super cool! We get along really well. We’ve decided we're like Shrek and Donkey. I'll let you figure out who's who :)
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