Monday, February 10, 2014

BATISMO!!! (that´s Portuguese for Baptism)

Oi família!

Well, I´ve got good news, and I´ve got good news.  Guess who got baptized?  ALUIZIO!!!!!  Practically two months and now he glady entered the waters of baptism and covenanted with our Father in Heaven to take upon him the name of Jesus Christ for the rest of his life.  It was absolutely amazing to see how everything came together and the Spirit that was felt.  I truly learned in a very powerful way about the promise of the Lord in Doctrine & Covenants 18:15 that if we sould labor all our days and bring but one soul, how great shall be our joy.  Sure, I´ve had the opportunity of baptizing about 10 people, but still, Aluizio was something special.  To be able to see a family united under the gospel as they prepare one day to become an eternal family is something I will never forget.  I´ll try to send pictures soon.  Our initial plans for computer usage today kind of fell through so I don´t actually have my camera with me right now.  But, I have pictures, and they´re marvelous.

Truly the Lord has blessed us a ton this week.  In general, I´m learning a lot about positivity and being able to laugh and not take things so seriously.  We had a decent week.  It was one of those weeks on the mission where you have things happen that you´ll never forget and when things happen that you can´t wait to forget.  We had a number of appointments fall through and a number of plans drop as well.  But I´ve learned well to take council from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin in a talk he gave a number of years ago called "Come What May and Love It".  In this particular talk Elder Wirthlin gives suggestions for the things we can do to face adversity and difficulties in life while still remaining happy and upbeat.  He gives four suggestions in particular:
1) Learn to Laugh
2) Seek for the Eternal
3) The Principle of Compensation
4) Trust in the Father and the Son
Although this week has had it´s ups and downs, I really focused on the firt suggestion this week, Learn to Laugh.  I´m pretty sure that in the course of my doing this, Elder Tribino thinks I´m crazy, but it´s been amazing at the results.  I don´t come home at the end of the day mad thinking "Ah what a waste of a day" instead my thoughts have become "Well, we did everything we could."  Sure, our days aren´t perfect but I´m truly learning the power of positivity.  Missionary work sure isn´t easy (shocker) but Trev once wrote me and finished the e-mail with "Be happy because Jesus would´ve been" and that´s the truth.  When we´re truly engaged in the cause of the Lord, with certainty we will face challenges, but just smile and laugh.  Things work out in the end.

Até mais!  Eu vos amo!


Elder Evans

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