Rapidinho!

Hello everybody!

So, I´m really crunched for time now since the LZ´s came to play around a little bit today in our area. We went up to the monastery again and did some sight see-ing.

So this week passed by really really fast as well, so this letter will be pretty well boiled down.

Tuesday, we went to District Meeting and President came to do our interviews for the Elders who work far away from Fortaleza. Our interview went by real fast because we were crunched for time as well. President told me that we are missionaries and our duty is to teach. We can teach investigators the gospel, or members principles of the gospel, so we went with that a lot this week. We came back and had lunch with Lena and visitors of hers from their old ward. Afterwards, we gave another pep-talk to Anglecia to help her come back to church. The rest of the day, just about everything fell through that we had planned, and we ended up visiting a good number of less-actives coming back to church.

Wednesday, we had lunch at the Jesuitas with Renata, and afterwards we tried to find the house of a kid we played football with in the Centro, but we just couldn´t find his house. Not even his street! I honestly don´t think the street exists. It’s not that he gave us a false address, but no one knows the street name! Anyways, afterwards we visited with Deivid, a young man in a family returning to the church. We´re helping him feel welcome back as well. Afterwards, we went by Luciano´s house because he is going through a rough time. We just sat and talked with him, and then taught about the Priesthood and Blessings. We gave him a blessing of comfort to help him overcome the interruptions in his life. Afterwards we went by a bunch of members and told them to stop by as much as possible. Afterwards we had a lesson with a new investigator that came into our Institute class. He is a professor at the local college. He is very intelligent, so I didn´t have to mince words with him. He even passed through the Catholic Seminary, so we only had to present the message of the restoration to him. It was a very good discussion.

Thursday, we started off the day visiting Valdir and Robelia. Valdir left a little bit before we got there to visit his mom, but we talked with Robelia and her kids about going to church. Afterwards, we visited more less-actives. At night, we visited with Edivã to get some member lists to help put the fire in the Home Teaching program. We gave Edivã a pep talk as well, and he is getting excited about the church once more. Then we went and were surprised by the members who gave us pizza and cake for Elder Leal´s 6 months as a missionary. His fiancée set everything up, and we just enjoyed the free food.

Friday, the highlight was the English Lesson. We had a member, a less active and 3 investigators. Few people, but a good group for our real intent. I taught just like I was taught in the MTC. 

Saturday, we had lunch with Irmã Paula way out there. Afterwards, we came back and helped with the church cleaning a little bit. Then we visited a few more people, and then went to institute that didn´t happen and we ended up helping Branco with making Home Teaching Assignments.

Sunday, the High Councilors came and gave a good kick in the pants for the members. They talked a lot about sacrifice and helping other people. Afterwards we had lunch with the Branch President and we taught him what we needed to put another companionship here in Baturité. We taught about the three things that every new convert needs, 1 A friend, 2 A Calling and 3 To be  fed with the good word of God. We explained clearly what they could do to make these things work. I told the president about the size of our region, and the size of the church. I told him that our city was not that much bigger than Baturité, and has a stake, a bunch of wards and even a temple (it might as well be in our city!). Everything is very possible wherever we are in the church. As long as everything the prophet and apostles ask is being done, the church will grow, without fault.

The thing I learned this week that I will share with you all has to do with the parable of the good Samaritan. This week a good amount of members saw other new converts and less actives with problems and said to themselves ´´I will just let them solve their problems first, then I will stop by and help´´. This is NOT the attitude we have in the church! We think other people will be embarrassed because that person screwed up and we know, but that is NOT the case! We have the atonement for a reason! We need to understand that people can move on from these errors. The feeling of embarrassment they feel when someone knows they did something wrong is much less then the feeling of being stuck without help. These people can´t help themselves, and it is everyone´s responsibility to help make things right!

So this is my letter for you all this week. Love you all!

Elder Cornwell