Picture-The sunsets here are amazing!
Dear Family,
Another awesome week here
in Brazil! The work is going awesome; like last week, and we are very close to
having many baptisms. The ward here is doing awesome and I feel a little closer
with them now, after having a little more time to talk with them. I was also
able to give a talk in sacrament meeting about Missionary Work, which went
well! Like every week we had some surprises. Found some new people to teach,
had moments very spiritual, and of course those funny moments.
It is crazy how awesome the Mission
has been to me. When I look back at my trials that I had they seem very small
to me compared to the success that we have here. I am so grateful for the
trials I have had and that I will continue to have. I know they will make me
the man I need to be. The gospel is true brothers and sisters!
Alright, so this week we had some
great stuff happen! We had 7 investigators at church and we have 3 baptisms
this Saturday! We taught like crazy and if you didn´t know, this is what passes
the time faster than you can believe.
The 3 people that have a baptism date
are José, Sara and Filipé.
José is 90 years old and doesn´t look
a day older! Ha-ha. He is elect and loves us and the church. He was mad with us
on Tuesday because he thought we had church again and he was waiting in front
of his house from 8:30 until 9:30AM all dressed and ready to go. We apologized
for the misunderstanding and he forgave us. Ha-ha! The lessons with him are
usually difficult because his 33 year-old wife is sitting in with us now. She
likes our message a lot and visited the church Sunday, but when they are together
they fight like a married couple! They almost act like little kids arguing
about the smallest things... ha-ha! At times it is very annoying and very funny
at the same time. José is very excited for his baptism this week and we will work
with his wife and kids to baptize them the next week!
Sara is very special. She has meet
with the missionaries for a long time and actually knows Elder Jones, who is
Stephanie Abraham´s husband. If you could talk with The Abrahams or Steph it
would be cool to let Elder Jones know that Sara will be baptized this week.
This week we taught her a lot and she loves our visits. She is about 50, but
acts a lot younger and has a very humble spirit. She has had very many
problems in her life but is still staying positive and faithful! She explained
to us of an experience where a man almost killed her and she was left very
hurt. She actually received the backside of an axe to the back of the head.
Well after she recovered a bit she prayed to know if God really existed. She
explained of the overwhelming feelings of love and peace that she felt. The
spirit testified to me that this truly happened and I felt of the love that God
has for her and I began to cry. It is amazing the love that Heavenly Father has
for every one of his children.
Filipé is 11 and is super solid! He
has visited the church quite a bit and likes everything about it. His family
likes the church a lot. His parents need to get married and will be baptized
after and his brother and sister are struggling on attending church on Sundays.
But we will help them out and they will be baptized here in a few weeks.
This week we had an experience that
taught me a great lesson. Alright, so here in South of Brazil the people
usually like to talk a lot. When we ask them a simple question they will talk
for 5 -10 minutes until they get to the response. Well, we were following-up
with a couple we are teaching and we asked the husband if he prayed and
received an answer about Joseph Smith. He started off his “answer” talking
about his prayers in his other church and some story about how he stopped
praying for a time but then returned to God and a bunch of other stuff. I was
having a very hard time paying attention and I missed the end when he said he had
received the answer that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph
Smith was a prophet. Luckily Elder Pontes was paying attention and after that
we were able to have a great lesson with them. There is a story very similar to
this in Preach My Gospel.
I learned from this that we always
need to pay attention. Yes, even when they are talking about things that don’t
matter too much…we still need to listen! I felt a little guilty after for not
listening closely like I should, but it actually strengthened my testimony to
listen always!
The week ended great with an awesome
Sunday and now I will have a great week! :) I will let you know how the week
goes and the baptisms! :) Transfers are this next week, so I will find out if I
will stay here or be moved. I think I will be here still.
Mom, I love the pictures of Emme! She
is so cute! I am glad to hear that everyone is doing great. Let everyone know I
love them!:) Dad, the sports update went awesome.
Thank you. I love you guys!
Elder Hauck
No comments:
Post a Comment