So today I am WAY cramped for time... so I´ll have to crank
this one out real quick.
So the highlights this week were being able to talk to some people who had a lot of questions about life and churches, whose answers they found in the Gospel. One is Saboya, and we sat just answering his questions the whole time... about every question related back to the message of the restoration, which was AWESOME. Another was Izaque... a friend of Verlanya and Gabriella, but he doesn´t have a church that he goes to because he has ideas much different than others... such as that Prophets and Apostles SHOULD exist, but in the early church were taken out for the sake of gaining money. Needless to say, we were way excited to answer his questions.
Also during the week, we were able to pass by a few times with Liomar and Julianna. Julianna had a lot of questions about church... her first kind of made me giggle inside. She asked ´´It was different... like everybody got up and said the same thing... I mean, how is The Book of Mormon true???´´. At that point, I realized even though she had been to church MANY times in the past, she knew nothing about the church. We started talking about the Book of Mormon and ended up talking about our eternal progression. When we talked about sealing, she immediately said ´´I want that!!!´´. We stopped by the next day as well, and there was something much different in them. It felt like they had changed from being a less-active and non member to being a member family. There was just a different spirit about them. Julianna had studied a lot in the intro of the Book of Mormon and Liomar had as well. They wanted to understand EVERYTHING, and so we spent a good time answering questions. It is a neat experience, because I related a lot to Liomar. He talked about being in the church since he was little, and his difficulty in getting answers to his prayers. I had a lot of personal experiences that helped give a perspective from the other side of his situation.
Sunday, I gave a talk, which I LOVE doing now. I was asked to speak on Mission Preparation. There was a sister in the front with her son getting ready to go on a mission, and the whole time she nodded her head and was saying ´´Exactly!´´ and ´´Son, pay attention to this!´´. But I related our preparation to our intellectual side. The spiritual preparation is obvious. I explained the necessity to begin daily study, prayer and frequent fasting. In Alma, Alma, Amon and the sons of Mosiah all attribute their success to these things. I focused on preparing ourselves to be instruments in the Lord´s hand. I stated that the Spirit can´t teach something that we personally don´t know. I also emphasized the importance of preparing to preach the gospel in ALL situations. Isn´t, after all, giving a lesson or a message preaching the gospel? I felt the need to emphasize Preach My Gospel to the ward, and that it contained everything necessary to be an effective messenger of the Gospel. If I had my notebook with me, I would give all the references I had, but maybe next week. As I finished (it was the last talk) the Bishop thanked me in the front, and many members expressed their gratitude as well. I have started to not only seek to teach investigators with the Spirit, using what they need... but in all times I work with members... I try to leave something that will leave a good spirit with them that will help their needs. To us, everyone is just dandy, but the Lord knows his sheep, so I decided to do as Elder Bednar said and ´´Get out of the way, and let the Spirit do his job.´´
Today, we had transfers and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Gonçalves from the Interior of São Paulo. Also, Elder Leal and Rodrigues are going to train this transfer... they grow up so fast! Also... advise Elder Clements that there is a member here from my ward going to São Paulo Sul. He is heading out December 13th.
Well, that is my letter this week... sorry if it is lacking any content. Love you all!
Elder Cornwell
So the highlights this week were being able to talk to some people who had a lot of questions about life and churches, whose answers they found in the Gospel. One is Saboya, and we sat just answering his questions the whole time... about every question related back to the message of the restoration, which was AWESOME. Another was Izaque... a friend of Verlanya and Gabriella, but he doesn´t have a church that he goes to because he has ideas much different than others... such as that Prophets and Apostles SHOULD exist, but in the early church were taken out for the sake of gaining money. Needless to say, we were way excited to answer his questions.
Also during the week, we were able to pass by a few times with Liomar and Julianna. Julianna had a lot of questions about church... her first kind of made me giggle inside. She asked ´´It was different... like everybody got up and said the same thing... I mean, how is The Book of Mormon true???´´. At that point, I realized even though she had been to church MANY times in the past, she knew nothing about the church. We started talking about the Book of Mormon and ended up talking about our eternal progression. When we talked about sealing, she immediately said ´´I want that!!!´´. We stopped by the next day as well, and there was something much different in them. It felt like they had changed from being a less-active and non member to being a member family. There was just a different spirit about them. Julianna had studied a lot in the intro of the Book of Mormon and Liomar had as well. They wanted to understand EVERYTHING, and so we spent a good time answering questions. It is a neat experience, because I related a lot to Liomar. He talked about being in the church since he was little, and his difficulty in getting answers to his prayers. I had a lot of personal experiences that helped give a perspective from the other side of his situation.
Sunday, I gave a talk, which I LOVE doing now. I was asked to speak on Mission Preparation. There was a sister in the front with her son getting ready to go on a mission, and the whole time she nodded her head and was saying ´´Exactly!´´ and ´´Son, pay attention to this!´´. But I related our preparation to our intellectual side. The spiritual preparation is obvious. I explained the necessity to begin daily study, prayer and frequent fasting. In Alma, Alma, Amon and the sons of Mosiah all attribute their success to these things. I focused on preparing ourselves to be instruments in the Lord´s hand. I stated that the Spirit can´t teach something that we personally don´t know. I also emphasized the importance of preparing to preach the gospel in ALL situations. Isn´t, after all, giving a lesson or a message preaching the gospel? I felt the need to emphasize Preach My Gospel to the ward, and that it contained everything necessary to be an effective messenger of the Gospel. If I had my notebook with me, I would give all the references I had, but maybe next week. As I finished (it was the last talk) the Bishop thanked me in the front, and many members expressed their gratitude as well. I have started to not only seek to teach investigators with the Spirit, using what they need... but in all times I work with members... I try to leave something that will leave a good spirit with them that will help their needs. To us, everyone is just dandy, but the Lord knows his sheep, so I decided to do as Elder Bednar said and ´´Get out of the way, and let the Spirit do his job.´´
Today, we had transfers and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Gonçalves from the Interior of São Paulo. Also, Elder Leal and Rodrigues are going to train this transfer... they grow up so fast! Also... advise Elder Clements that there is a member here from my ward going to São Paulo Sul. He is heading out December 13th.
Well, that is my letter this week... sorry if it is lacking any content. Love you all!
Elder Cornwell
No comments:
Post a Comment