Anyway, first story: We had lots of people at church this Sunday. We´re teaching this family of 6 whose parents are the only members. They came back to church with us for the first time in about 9 years. Their kids enjoyed it too and were trying harder than their parents to sing the hymns which are not easy in Português because they have to smash a bunch of big words together in order to keep the same melodies. They´re the family that made the cake in the photos I´ll send.
Sunday for lunch we went to a rich member´s home. He´s been to the US a bunch of times and really likes BBQ ribs. He made some for us that were better than a lot of Americans. With real BBQ sauce purchased on home soil. It was divine.
There´s this lady, Lenne, that we´re teaching. She´s really interested and humble and accepts everything we say as 100% true (which is good when utterance is put into our mouths). The other day we passed by to see how she´s doing with her cigarette and coffee addictions. Her entire family was there and she assembled everyone in the family room to hear about the bible and Jesus. To start off the message she mentioned that her niece is under 24-hour observation in the hospital because she hit her head on the concrete floor. Then she opened up randomly in the bible and read the first thing she found Lamentations 3:18-19:
18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:
...
okay, that´s good I suppose. At least you´re trying. Then she got down on her
knees, handed us the bible, and practically begged us to explain these verses
to her. I don´t really actually know much about the book of Lamentations since
it´s just full of Jeremiah lamenting. It´s not really full of poweful scripture
and doctrine. Then she opened up the Book of Mormon (Okay, this could be good)
and read to us everything that she managed to read the night before. It happened
to be in Alma 32 which is full of lots of really good stuff, but she only read
the 1st four verses:
1 And it came to pass that they did go forth, and began
to preach the word of God unto the people, entering into their synagogues, and
into their houses; yea, and even they did preach the word in their streets.
2 And it came to pass that after
much labor among them, they began to have success among the apoor
class of people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues because of
the coarseness of their apparel—
3 Therefore they were not
permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as
filthiness; therefore they were poor; yea, they were esteemed by their brethren
as adross; therefore they were bpoor
as to things of the world; and also they were poor in heart.
4 Now, as Alma was teaching and speaking unto
the people upon the hill aOnidah,
there came a great bmultitude
unto him, who were those of whom we have been speaking, of whom were cpoor
in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world.
So we took this as an opportunity to explain that it´s
exactly what we do and explained our message briefly.
Anyway, as for missionary work and reactivation I say the following:
There´s a quote in PMG in chapter 9 in the section members. It´s Gordon B. Hinckly and starts off talking about knocking on doors and such, but that there´s a better way to find new investigators and it´s through members. Last Sunday, we had invited about 12 people to church; one came because she has a friend in the ward, and someone else came who also has a friend in the ward. Of the 12 we, as missionaries tried to get to church, only one we actually invited came, and someone we didn´t even know came because of a friend. The members are very important in the work and growth of the ward.
Reactivation as well. Sometimes the Lord won´t send the Elders His prepared and elect children because the ward is still weak and He doesn´t want those precious children to be baptized, then fall back into their previous lives. Our center needs to be strong before we can manage to grow outward; or we need a rock for a foundation and not a sandy shore that comes and goes with the tide.
Anyway, as for missionary work and reactivation I say the following:
There´s a quote in PMG in chapter 9 in the section members. It´s Gordon B. Hinckly and starts off talking about knocking on doors and such, but that there´s a better way to find new investigators and it´s through members. Last Sunday, we had invited about 12 people to church; one came because she has a friend in the ward, and someone else came who also has a friend in the ward. Of the 12 we, as missionaries tried to get to church, only one we actually invited came, and someone we didn´t even know came because of a friend. The members are very important in the work and growth of the ward.
Reactivation as well. Sometimes the Lord won´t send the Elders His prepared and elect children because the ward is still weak and He doesn´t want those precious children to be baptized, then fall back into their previous lives. Our center needs to be strong before we can manage to grow outward; or we need a rock for a foundation and not a sandy shore that comes and goes with the tide.
Puppies are for cool
people in Brasil.
This is a long banana vine thing that looks like an alien from Metroid.
Here´s an old Sega console. I don´t even remember the name.
And this is a delicious chocolate cake the family of the Sega made for us one night.
Okay, that´s it. We´re late for our appointment now. Until next week.
--
-Elder Candland
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