So this week passed by WAY fast. I guess that’s what happens
when you only stop to eat and sleep haha.
So, Monday night, I went to a FHE in Conjunto Esperança with
Elder Mosca, Schmidt and Lisboa. Afterwards, we slept at their house, and then headed
off to district meeting in the morning.
Tuesday when we got back, it was already pretty late. We got
to lunch at about 2:30, then we ate, went home and took a shower (The DL´s
house was without water except for a tiny spigot out in front). Then we went
and visited Edilene and Alexandre and that was the day.
Wednesday was the normal. We headed out to the eastern part
of town to teach less actives in the afternoon, and then at night we went to
the center and taught investigators. We talked quickly with Daiana and marked
another appointment, and then we taught a short lesson with Marcos and Raquel
(they are doing a lot better now). We also marked an áppointment´with a man
named Valdir. His son is preparing to leave for a mission (from another ward) and
he wanted to ask some questions (and boy is he going to get some answers!)
Thursday was more of the same. This time we talked with
Angelica and Juruna as well as Evilania. Angelica said that she was ready to be
baptized a year ago, but something happened with the missionaries and they
stopped going. But she told us she was ready to go forward with this. With
Juruna, I took a different approach. I didn´t think in terms of how I was going
to baptize him, but how I was going to help him comprehend and accept the
gospel. This made a huge difference. We explained a little about the word of
wisdom, and talked a lot about how things would change for the better. I don´t
remember a lot of details, just that we asked him to say the final prayer, and
he did with a little help. Afterwards he kept quiet and said ´I guess I´m going
to give this a try´. Golden! Evilania was baptized a while ago, but is afraid
to go to church because she knows NO ONE. The thing is, she hasn´t stopped
doing anything else. She doesn´t drink coffee, she always reads the BoM, she is
just embarrassed to go to church. She also is busy doing something for a June
festival or whatnot, so she can´t go to church this month, but we ´convinced´
to go again.
Friday, the only thing different was we gave an English
class. There weren´t many people there, but a man named Antonildo was
interested in the BoM, so we gave him one as well as an appointment the next
morning. Afterwards we talked with Edilene and Alexandre. She read Alma 40 in
the Book of Mormon and understood little of it, so we explained it and
explained about what we need to be doing here on earth. She really liked it,
but the problem she works every Sunday, so it’s hard to get her to church.
Saturday, we got out early to get a head start on the work.
Nobody was home in the places we went, so we headed off to lunch, and then we
went and taught Antonildo about the Book of Mormon. He was still pretty
interested (he knows plenty of the bible, so I think that sparked his
interest.) Afterwards, we went to visit Daiana again, and she was painting her
house, so we told her we would be right back, we went home and changed clothes
and went and painted with them (service is the best way to help in this work...
I learned that home teaching with Dad). when we finished we changed, and then headed
out to a few more people to round up plenty of people for church.
Sunday, two high councilors came and spoke, and they gave awesome
talks. One talked about how we have tons of responsibilities in the church, and
only us and God knows if we do them all or not, but still, we will be held
accountable for the things we didn´t do. Pretty much the ward got grilled for
not doing any visits or anything like that. Afterwards they came to us and said
´´It's up to you two to visit the less actives, because it just isn’t happening
here.´´ Good thing we were already doing them.
So that was our week, but a cool thing I noticed in my study
this week. I read a chapter in the BoM every day, and then afterwards, I would
read a conference talk and something in Preach my Gospel... every day this week
these materials were very interrelated. I didn´t consciously seek to study a
topic, but it ended up like that because of the principles of the gospel. I
learned a lot that I can apply to this area. One thing I remember was Alma 36
or 37, and President Packer´s talk. We need to be selfless, but not self
hating, meaning, you don´t think about yourself or your reputation when you do
things, but you don´t seek to ruin yourself. This is what charity is, doing the
right thing no matter what. Moral of the story, we have living prophets today,
that with the influence of the spirit, proclaim the gospel just like in the
bible.
So that´s all for this week. Love you all!
Elder Cornwell
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