An amazing week, so many miracles!!! 03/5/18
Hey guys! This week was
awesome, i would like to start by sharing a cool story of the power of the book
of mormon. One of our dear investigators, Romldo, is having a ton of progress.
He went to church last week and is reading the Book of Mormon. He did not go to
church yesterday because he had to take care of his elderly mother. We went by
his house a little after church to see how he was doing. He had a huge maigrain
but still let us in to drink some water. He said that because of his head pain
and his sick mother, he had not yet read the chapter in the Book of Mormon that
we had left (2 Ne 31 *he asked questions about baptism in the previous visit).
So then we invited him to read and to go to a member´s Family home evening
tonight at 7. He said that he probably would not go because he would have to
take care of his mother. Then we marked our next visit for wednesday and we
left to the road to visit some other people. About 3 and a half hours later he
gave us a call out of the blue as we were leaving another appt, it was
like 8:40 at night. He started by saying that he was reading the Book
of Mormon and really wanted to know what time the family home evening would be
on monday! He said that he would talk to his mom and do everything that he can
to try and make it to the famiy home evening! We are so happy for him! I know
that the Book of Mormon has the power to change our hearts and will to God!! It
worked for such a simple invitation to go to a family home evening! We will
teach and mark him for baptism tonight with that member family that offered
there home to have the activity!
My companion is
awesome!! I will miss being a missionary, there are so many opportunities to
shine the light of Christ here! There is so much potential in the Lord´s
precious children. We have another investigator who is struggling with alcohal.
He has been addicted for more than 35 years. He came 3 days from being baptized
in December and then had a slip, wasnt baptized, felt shame and stopped going
to church. We had to amazing opportunity to explain to him how our Savior Jesus
Christ doesnt give up on him. His appearance changed from discouraged and self
loathing, to confident and joyful in that visit. He started reading the book of
mormon again and will return to church with full force. We have already
recruited the Ward´s Priesthood Quorums to give him the support he needs until
he will be able to be baptized and recieve the help of the Holy Spirit!
I feel so much love
for the people that when we they cut us, and dont want to recieve the lessons
anymore (even when they are reading the scriptures and praying like we ask them
too) it breaks my heart. I feel like we lost that battle. We had found an
amazing couple this week, It was a miracle that this women who was walking her
dog alone at night stopped to hear us and even invited us to go to her home the
next day. Her husband felt the spirit strongly as he said the closing prayer
after the lesson of the restauration. She read the introduction, the
testimonies, and the invitation of Moroni to read and pray about the Book of
Mormon and yet they made it clear that our visits (which are less than 30
minutes) were a burden to their daily routines and they did not want us to set
up another appointment. I was sad that day, like i said before, i felt that we
had lost that battle against the natural man in them. Being cut by
investigators is more normal than not, but the more miraculous and spiritual
the experiences we have with our investigators are, then the harder it is to
watch them stray and reject the path of righteousness. We did find an awesome
investigator after that. He was from a referal list on the computer, we spent
an afternoon just calling a bunch of numbers that we had recieved and we were
able to set up a few appts this way. Paulo was one of these and he read the
book of mormon already, went to church and set up our next visit for tomorrow
night. He said that he has had a question during the majority of his life (he
did not share this question with us) but he said that nobody or no religion has
ever answered his question. He will try our religion to see if his question is
answered! I am confident in the power of the Holy Spirit responding his
question through the book of mormon or testimonies of church members!! It was
awesome meeting him, he said that he felt that he was at more of a cooperate
meeting than a church meeting when we asked him what he thought after sacrament
meeting. He is really a great guy and we love him!
I dont have pic this
week, sorry. I am not remembering ot take pictures now that i am working in the
field again. I am excited for the trip too. I will sit down with Elder Melo
today an plan our trip. He will be back in são paulo the same time that we will
be here. He was my companion in Caucaia and i live with him again now. He would
like to spend some time with us to visit the temple in Campinas (1.5 hrs
driving away) and to visit Caucaia as well. He lived in this area of sao paulo
before his mission for a year and so he will know how to help me plan our days
here. I dont think that going to a beach close to sao paulo is worth it. The
beaches are not that pretty. It will also be closer to winter time and so
probably wont be nice to swim. I will talk to Elder Melo today as we make our
plans to see in which area we should stay at a hotel. The places you said are
nice and are close to the temple, after planning today, i will try to find a
place that will be easiest for our transportation time to and from places.
I loved the picture of
dad sleeping! Its great. I was thinking about staying at home and going to the
gym with you guys and working a little bit in TN before going out to Utah. Idk
if that is a good idea or not. Will i be able to find work in TN? Will it be
better to find work in Utah already before the semester starts? What are your
opinions? Does david already have a place? Who else lives there?
Love you guys, have a
wonderful week.
Elder Sanchez