Hello again!
This week flew by pretty darn fast, and we had a lot of interruptions,
but we still had a productive week.
We started the week off with a family night with a family
that moved from Baturité and it was a pretty good time. Hilder gave a message
about Jesus turning water into wine, but not just any wine... the BEST wine.
That made me think a little about why that miracle was included in the Gospels.
After all, it is simply Jesus converting simple water into something much more
satisfying. My thoughts returned to the sacrament and I was able to understand
more about that. Christ gave the sacrament so that he could provide a clean
spirit for us to always be happy.
The rest of the week was kind of slow. We had to do a few
divisions for our companions to resolve their IDs.
Most of our highlights came at the end of the week. We
taught Pedro, Luiza and Angela about every day of the week to help them
progress. WE taught the word of wisdom first off and Angela, the mother, said
afterwards ´´I know this is true... I weighed 50 kg before I started smoking
and drinking coffee... now look at me!´´ We bought cevada for them to drink in
the morning instead of coffee. They were all very excited for Sunday, and when
we would say the prayer, it was always a fight of who would offer. We did a
baptism service with the Elders of Jardim America, so it was a full room, and a
very good night.
This Sunday, a recent convert that we work with a lot was
sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and we were all VERY happy. We
are going to talk to him about the responsibilities and duties he will have as
an Elder.
On Saturday, we visited a man named Waldecy who lives on our
street. He has a hair salon, so sometimes it’s rough talking to him, but this
time, there came three people who had a lot of curiosity about the church and
our beliefs. We spent maybe 40 minutes just answering their questions. One of
the last questions they asked was about Mary (Brazil is a VERY Catholic country
if you didn’t already know). We responded that Mary is an exemplary person and
is praiseworthy, but she cannot promise salvation, nor help our prayers.
Because only Christ paid for our sins, only he is capable of
mediating for us, for only He is in perfect standing with God. The man who
asked the question said that my response was the first positive thing he had
heard of Mary coming from a non-catholic, and that he wants to attend a meeting
to get to know more. That was one of the first things I learned in the mission,
that we should never answer a question negatively, but testify of the Gospel
truths highlighted in the question. Elder Holland taught that if we just
listen, we will ALWAYS be able to bear our testimony of a principle of the
Gospel. In turn our testimony will bring the spirit and reflect positively for
the other person.
I liked the thought that Mom had that we must work to not
obey wickedness. The Gospel of Christ is based on the principle of action.
Faith is acting, Repentance is acting, Baptism is acting, receiving the Holy
Ghost, we are to act upon that, and continue in such manner until we have
finished our time on the earth. We must always look to do the right thing. WE
cannot serve if we do not stop what we are doing and serve. It certainly isn´t
easy, but we are better off afterwards.
Well, I don´t have much, but that was my week!
Love you all, Elder Cornwell
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| Pedro and Luiza and family |
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| Pedro and Luiza and friends. |
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| Baptism of Luiza - pictured with the Young Women of the ward. |
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| Baptism of Pedro (and Luiza). |
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