Hey,
This week wasn´t too bad. Good to hear that Erica was funny on drugs. Sorry I wasn´t.
Anyways. This week was not too bad. We have this family in our ward that takes care of us like none other, Jilmar and Rose. Jilmar is the second counselor in the bishopric and Rose is in the Primary presidency and they both team up to be the missionary family. It really started when Elder Holmes and I became a companionship. They give us lunch basically every other day, instead of us having to go out to eat (waste of money here). So they always find ways to make us laugh. Their family is the family that Holmes and I traded American goods for Brazilian "equivalents" I hope that all of you are this family for the missionaries back home. Because it´s priceless. The funniest part of the week was definitely Elder França learning how to distinguish the difference between "man" and "men". It was hilarious. Because he says it and moves his head really elaborately (is that the word?) when he speaks english. When he finally got it down, he was so happy. I´ve literally never seen someone that happy before. It was so funny.
On another note we had another baptism this week, Ana Maria, that was a reference from Salt Lake. She was there in the beginnning of the year and visited all the church history sites, and talked a lot to the sisters there. So when she came back she was interested in the church but didn´t know how to get in contact with the missionaries. So she waited until one day one of the sisters from Salt Lake emailed her and passed her address to us here. When we got the call at like 830 at night, the initial reaction was oh we´ll just visit her tomorrow, it´s been a long day, blahblahblah. But when we were walking back we thought, maybe we´ll just pop in and introduce ourselves really quick. That turned out to be a great decision because when she got there she said she had been praying for us to show up that night because she was extremely depressed and needed help. We ended up teaching her about the Restoration and inviting her to baptism this sunday (this all happened two weeks ago). She ccepted and was baptized yesterday. I was thinking yesterday when we went by to talk more to her after her baptism about how strange it is that we walk by her apartment building every day, like every single day for seven months in this area and she was there the whole time, just waiting and praying for us to show up. And in her moment of greatest need, we received a prompting to stop by when in reality, we had no inention of doing so earlier. It´s really something. Because lately, I´ve been wondering if my prayers have been being heard. I´ve felt sometimes like they haven´t been and that it just won´t happen. I realize this is exactly how Ana Maria was feeling since she got back from Salt Lake, and God waited until her weakest moment to answer her prayers. It goes to show that sometimes, our answers are delayed so that we can strengthen our weaknesses and grow our faith before things get worked out. Sometimes it´s necessary for us to suffer. True, everyone has a breaking point, but what we THINK is our breaking point is often not. I don´t know, it was just a really cool experience and I´m glad we were able to help her not only find the true church but to find hope, and a way to hole onto true happiness forever, no matter happens. The atonement of Christ really is a miraculous force that has the power to save us not only from our sins but also from our burdens. As we can read in the scriptures that Christ not only suffered for the sins we commit but he also suffered every pain and temptation as well. If it had not been so, the atonement would have been incomplete and would not have total effect. It´s a really interesting concept to me, how perfect the whole plan is. Especially out here on the misison being able to see the Atonement take effect in the lives of others, as well as in my life, really reminded me as to why I came out here. I came out here to preach this gospel, yes, but ultimately to help other people, because that´s exactly what the gospel does. Anyways, that´s all this week. Have a great week everyone.
This week wasn´t too bad. Good to hear that Erica was funny on drugs. Sorry I wasn´t.
Anyways. This week was not too bad. We have this family in our ward that takes care of us like none other, Jilmar and Rose. Jilmar is the second counselor in the bishopric and Rose is in the Primary presidency and they both team up to be the missionary family. It really started when Elder Holmes and I became a companionship. They give us lunch basically every other day, instead of us having to go out to eat (waste of money here). So they always find ways to make us laugh. Their family is the family that Holmes and I traded American goods for Brazilian "equivalents" I hope that all of you are this family for the missionaries back home. Because it´s priceless. The funniest part of the week was definitely Elder França learning how to distinguish the difference between "man" and "men". It was hilarious. Because he says it and moves his head really elaborately (is that the word?) when he speaks english. When he finally got it down, he was so happy. I´ve literally never seen someone that happy before. It was so funny.
On another note we had another baptism this week, Ana Maria, that was a reference from Salt Lake. She was there in the beginnning of the year and visited all the church history sites, and talked a lot to the sisters there. So when she came back she was interested in the church but didn´t know how to get in contact with the missionaries. So she waited until one day one of the sisters from Salt Lake emailed her and passed her address to us here. When we got the call at like 830 at night, the initial reaction was oh we´ll just visit her tomorrow, it´s been a long day, blahblahblah. But when we were walking back we thought, maybe we´ll just pop in and introduce ourselves really quick. That turned out to be a great decision because when she got there she said she had been praying for us to show up that night because she was extremely depressed and needed help. We ended up teaching her about the Restoration and inviting her to baptism this sunday (this all happened two weeks ago). She ccepted and was baptized yesterday. I was thinking yesterday when we went by to talk more to her after her baptism about how strange it is that we walk by her apartment building every day, like every single day for seven months in this area and she was there the whole time, just waiting and praying for us to show up. And in her moment of greatest need, we received a prompting to stop by when in reality, we had no inention of doing so earlier. It´s really something. Because lately, I´ve been wondering if my prayers have been being heard. I´ve felt sometimes like they haven´t been and that it just won´t happen. I realize this is exactly how Ana Maria was feeling since she got back from Salt Lake, and God waited until her weakest moment to answer her prayers. It goes to show that sometimes, our answers are delayed so that we can strengthen our weaknesses and grow our faith before things get worked out. Sometimes it´s necessary for us to suffer. True, everyone has a breaking point, but what we THINK is our breaking point is often not. I don´t know, it was just a really cool experience and I´m glad we were able to help her not only find the true church but to find hope, and a way to hole onto true happiness forever, no matter happens. The atonement of Christ really is a miraculous force that has the power to save us not only from our sins but also from our burdens. As we can read in the scriptures that Christ not only suffered for the sins we commit but he also suffered every pain and temptation as well. If it had not been so, the atonement would have been incomplete and would not have total effect. It´s a really interesting concept to me, how perfect the whole plan is. Especially out here on the misison being able to see the Atonement take effect in the lives of others, as well as in my life, really reminded me as to why I came out here. I came out here to preach this gospel, yes, but ultimately to help other people, because that´s exactly what the gospel does. Anyways, that´s all this week. Have a great week everyone.
Elder Marley
