February 7, 2013

Oi Mãe! Como vai?? 

So I'm sorry about the whole waiting until Thursday to write thing. We had an INCREDIBLE training with President! All of the missionary leaders went. Usually it's just the zone leaders that go to leadership council, but this week all of the district leaders went as well. We left Sunday night, rode the train for 3 hours, and then had training had a 2 day training. It was absolutely amazing!! it really blew my mind how cool it was. The spirit was so strong we could almost see it! And President Fluckiger is such an amazing man. I love him so much. I have never met a man that was more inspired than President. And his love for the Lord and his work ethic and desire for us to do what is right is so inspiring. I want to become like him. He's so cool. So we got back SUPER late on Tuesday night because half of our district leaders missed the train and so we were waiting for the other half and then we almost missed the last one.....confusions....but it was super funny to see 4 missionaries hauling tail to get onto the train! made me chuckle. But anyways, we got home Tuesday night, then we had our zone meeting with the rest of the zone that didn't go to Lisbon, and then we did a division yesterday with some elders that work 4 hours away. so long story short, we didn't have time to write yesterday. Sorry about that :) But you'll be happy to know, it has stopped raining for the time being, and the sun is shining and life is good! :) 

That scripture in Isaiah 40 is super cool mom. I really like that a lot. Especially that part about waiting. That's really true. It makes me think of a quote in Preach My Gospel by Ezra Taft Benson

~-"I have often said one of the greatest

secrets of missionary work is work!

If a missionary works, he will get the

Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will

teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches

by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts

of the people and he will be happy.

There will be no homesickness, no

worrying about families, for all time

and talents and interests are

centered on the work of the ministry.

Work, work, work—there is no

satisfactory substitute, especially in

missionary work.”--

I've found that honestly to be one of the truest statements of my life. and I believe it applies to every aspect of the gospel. As we work, and as we serve the Lord with ALL of our heart and just work. Just buckle down and do it, the Spirit of the Lord is with us. We are happier, we are guided and we have the promise of Isaiah, that our energies will be renewed. I've met some of the most devoted and converted people here in Portugal. Brother Reginaldo Cruz, and President Paulo Ribeiro are some of the most devoted men I've ever met. They work so hard, but are so happy. I think that scripture applies to both lives. ;) You're studies are rocking it huh? One thing that I was pondering the other day, was really cool. I was thinking a little about our family and our undesirable tendencies to fret. I do it unfortunately on a regular basis. dad does it. we all do it once in a while. but something that was really cool that the spirit taught me was that there is only 1 difference between "fretting" and "pondering" and that's our faith. When we fret, we think, "Oh man! what does this mean? What if this? What if that? do you think that this?" And we worry about it frantically and we get gray hairs and ulcers! :) . But pondering is basically asking the same questions, with our faith. "What does this mean? Why is this happening right know? What does the Lord want me to learn?" That thought hit me really hard. Because I had been trying to ponder the things that had been going on in the work and in life and all this stuff, but I had been fretting. I was a little bit nervous and wasn't fully relying and trusting in the Lord. And when I realized that, and tried to change it, and tried to really ponder. with faith. I have felt the spirit guiding my thoughts and have found a lot of really cool lessons that the Lord has planned out and laid out for me. it was really cool. :)

But MIRACLE ALERT!!! our baptism fell through last weekend. It was SO sad! we had Joaquim Silva and his daughter ready and preparing for baptism, but then from Tuesday on, we just couldn't get a hold of them! We passed by we called we did everything we could. We coudlnt' understand it. We were trying to see what we had done wrong, but we just didn't know what happened. So we just decided that the Lord knows better. he was the one that set up everything last week. He provided the miracles last week that we needed and that He was in charge. So we just kept going. Then yesterday during the zone meeting, HE CALLED US!!!!!! he had gone to his sisters house and just hadn't told us! and he wanted us to come talk to him tonight!!! we were SOOO grateful! and still are! It really strengthened my faith in the Lord. Because really, He had done all of the work. All of it. We just needed to trust in Him. :)

and just one last thing. There are some really cool mini preach my gospels in Portuguese that are perfect small sized. I was wondering if there was anyway you could like order it online and maybe just have it shipped to the Mission office? IDK just a thought. 

Well mom, I gotta run, but I love you SO much! thank you for everything! I miss you tons! Keep trucking up there in the snow!!! :)

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Love,

Elder Jordan Brady