Oi família!
Well, this week was nuts.
I´m currently writing from my new area Ala Floresta. The funny thing is that Ala Floresta makes a
boarder with the ward where I was just serving.
I litterally just passed to the other side of the train. I wish they would have told me this sooner
and I could have just walked here. But
in general things are good. My
companion, Elder Bradley, is from Pensylvania and just finished training
yesterday. I actually had a feeling I
would get put with another American and if nothing accelerates my language
learning, this certainlly will. I feel
very overwhelmed with everything that´s happened in the past few days but I
will try to put the most important here.
Well, remember that family?
GUESS WHO GOT BAPTIZED?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Yes! We baptized an awesome
family of 5 people yesterday and the service was awesome. I was able to baptize the Mom and one of the
sons. The father and mother cried a
decent amount but I held it together.
It´s so wonderful to see these amazing people all being united under the
gospel banner and preparing to one day enter the temple and be sealed as a
family. I now have two families for
which I am waiting to receive letters and pictures that say "this was when
we were sealed for eternity" and what a blessing that will be. Aluizio and Regylani are firm and steadfast and
definitely always abounding in good works.
To see the changes that happened over the past few weeks with Joaquim,
Eliane, and their family has been so amazing and truly one of those experiences
that I will never forget.
And that brings us to yesterday. Here, transfers are different. We pass our numbers Sunday night and then
wait for our leaders to pass them all upwards.
Once the secretaries have recieved everything they give the OK to the
Assistants and they call all the Zone Leaders.
The Zone Leaders then call all the District Leaders with the names of
everyone in their District that will pack up.
Yesterday, Elder Savaryn called and said "well, you both need to
pack up. They´re whitewashing your
area." So, I´m thinking
"lovely, now I have to pack"
But Elder Tribino said "we need to visit Joaquim and Eliane one
last time. 5 minutes" so we went.
We showed up and we explained our lack of time and that we were being
transfered. They were a little shocked
and began to cry a little. We cried
together and we gave hugs and left. As
we were leaving Joaquim said "there aren´t words to describe the feelings
right now. Just thanks" and we
headed out. We said a quick goodbye to
Aluizio and Regylani and we returned home to pack. After a crazy hour and a half, everything was
in suitcase and I stopped for just a little.
With the lights off I stared out the window and thought "this was
the first thing I really knew of Brazil."
It was hard to leave. I knelt in
prayer and instead of the expected "why on earth am I being
transfered?" I instead petitioned the Lord for grand blessings over the
whole ward. It was interesting as I
reviewed with the Lord the members, investigators, and others in the ward. I reflected on the grand experience that I
had to arrive there, be trained in the language, train another missionary, and
develop lasting and meaningful relationships.
Words, truly, cannot describe the experiences I´ve had as I consider the
ups, the downs, and in-betweens. To be a
servant of the Lord is the world´s greatest blessing, but also one of the greatest
difficulties. I dearly love the Ala
Parquelândia and it was so hard to leave.
But as I learned when I left Kansas, I can look back and live in the
past and lose today. Or, I can put my
trust in the Lord and know that he has put me here specifically for a
purpose. I have no real way to describe
my feelings for the Ala Parquelândia other than that it was a blessing beyond
price. But now, I will serve faithfully
looking towards the future here in the Ala Floresta. Because it really doesn´t matter where we´re
called to serve or how we´re asked to serve, it just matters that we
serve. As Dad told me in his letter this
morning, "faith is a future word".
So, we look forward with faith.
We press forward with happiness.
We serve with dilligence. And
with Him, all things are possible. I´m
without words to describe my feelings for the past, but certainly, I´m without
adequate words to describe my hopes for the future as well.
Até o próximo,
Élder Evans
No comments:
Post a Comment