Oi família!
So, taking it all into consideration, I think it will be a
lot easier for you all to learn Portuguese for our Mother´s day call than it
will be for me to speak in English. We
taught an English class last week and for the life of me, I couldn´t speak
English. Well, I could, but when I would
start to speak English, I would stop thinking and Portuguese would slip
out. It´s kind of funny because all of
the little kids around here coming running up to us and start saying little
phrases they learned in school like "What´s your name?" and I always
respond "I can´t speak English"
The best part is, it´s really not a lie.
Long story short, I´m probably going to speak in more Portuguese this
mothers day than I did during Christmas.
Also, Mom beamed me the big news, PHELPS IS COMING
BACK!!!! My boy, Michael Phelps is
heading to Rio. But enough of Babylon.
But this week was awesome.
I learned bucketloads about myself, and my companion, and more importantly,
how we can work together. There was one
experience in particular that I would love to share with each of you that began
as we were in our district meeting for the week. Our Zone Leaders were telling us that we
needed to work harder and that the reason we weren´t having enough baptisms is
because we need to give our 100% to the Lord.
As I was sitting in the meeting, I felt a little lost. I´ve been trying to give my 100% to the Lord
ever since I got here. I sat and I
ponderd about what more I could do and the Spirit whispered to me that I needed
to pray more. Though I felt a little
confused, I decided to go for it.
We had an exchange later that day and our Zone Leader, Élder
Santos, came here to work with me. As we
knelt in prayer to begin our day I prayed specifically that the Spirit would
magnify our words. WE headed to lunch,
and our lunch appointment fell through.
This has never happened in my time here and I was worried. I thought "great, this is a sign. Everything is going to fall through
today." Well, the Lord blessed us
and it all worked out. We headed to our
first apointment with a man named Francisco.
We made contact with his mother a few days earlier and scheduled our
visit. She wasn´t available, but he
was. So we began teaching about the
Resoration. It was one of the most
marvelous lessons I´ve ever been in in my life.
Élder Santos and I were 100% in sync the whole time, even though we´ve
never taught together before. The lesson
flowed so smooth and Francisco understood perfectly what was happening. Then, we got to my favorite part. I explained about Joseph Smith and his grand
question of which of all the churches was right. As I began to explain the First Vision, I
felt the Spirit a little, but not anything grand. As I began "I saw two Personages whose
brighness and glory defy all description" I suddenly became filled with
the most inexplainable joy. The Spirit
was working through me to testify to this man that these things are true. As I taught, my own personal testimony was
renewed. As we finished the lesson we
invited him to pray and seek and answer.
And then invited to baptism.
Without much hesitation he said "Yes. I will be baptized" It was amazing. The rest of the day was much the same. We taught, we testified, and the Spirit
confirmed our words. I began to see that
the experience of Brigham Young applies.
He explains his conversion by saying that if all the tact in the world
had tried to convince him of the truthfulness of this work, he wouldn´t have
believed it. But a simple tesitmony,
confirmed by the Spirit changed his life.
I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called by God and
Jesus Christ to restore the proper church of Jesus Christ to the earth. I love the opportunity I have each and every
day to testify of the divinity of his work to the world, and the dear people of
Ceará. I know that the Lord has blessed
me beyond measure as I know He has blessed you.
So, go out and share those blessings.
There are millions in this world who don´t have the blessings of the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Get out
there and share it. They need it.
Élder Evans
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