Oi família!
Well, I´ve been transfered!
President Souza made a huge transfer and put people in all sorts of
different and new areas. I´m now serving
in the Sumaré Ward on the other side of the city and my new companion is named
Élder Tamanho. He´s a Brazilian from Curitiba
and he´s pretty cool. He makes
missionary work look very natural and I´m very excited to be working with
him. He has one more transfer than I do
and I´m sure he has lots of things to teach me.
I´m thrilled to get started.
Elder Bradley and I had a cool few things happen this past
week. One of the investigators that we
baptized received the Priesthood yesterday and that was cool to see. In general it´s been amazing to see the
awesome things that have happened to us during this whole time. But this all focuses on the family here. Hence, Generations of Faith.
We had the confirmation of an investigator, Joel, who was
the child of a member, Socorro. He had
reached 9 years old but hadn´t yet been baptized. We headed over there one day to talk with
them and the only people home were Socorro (the mom) and Mateus (her son). She told us that she hadn´t been to church in
about two months because she was feeling lazy and didn´t want to get up and
leave the house on Sundays. We invited
her back to church and marked a day to return.
A few weeks later we´re here after the confirmation of her son, and she
is once again active and happy in the church.
She said "I don´t really know why I ever went inactive. I know this is the true church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I need to follow what I know to be true. i will not go inactive again." It just showed to me how perfect the timing
of the Lord is. If we had arrived just a
little bit later, it may have been to late to help her. But because we arrived,
she´s back, and her son is too. All we
need now is her husband.
But one of the really touching moments of the week was Regis
and Maria. We found Maria after we found
her mother, Elizabeth, who initially accepted a baptismal invite, but later declined. During our conversations with Elizabeth, we
met Regis, her son-in-law, who, as it turns out, is a member of the church,
though inactive for many years. Then we
found Maria, Regis´ girlfriend. Long
story short, through a big series of ups and downs, maybe´s, no´s, and yes´s,
they decided to get married and she decided to get baptized here before they
returned to Minas Gerais, which is another state. One way or another, through a series of
miracles they were married, she was baptized, and later confirmed. But this, once again was a testimony to me of
the Lord´s timing. It we had met
Elizabeth before, she may not have been open to hearing the message from us,
thus opening the door to find, teach, and baptize Maria. If we had met her later, it would have been
too late to complete the teaching and marriage process before they had to
return. The Lord truly calls us to a
specific calling for a specific time to do a specific work. But this applies in much more than just in
the mission field. I know He is looking
out for each and every one of you in this moment. Your tests are perfectly tailored so that you
can grow, develop, and become His instrument.
His plan, though sometimes unknown, is always perfectly timed to bring
blessings and learning experiences. I
know that as each of you search for the hand of the Lord in your life, He will
guide you to see His desires for you and will guide you to have spiritually
inspiring experiences. I know each of
you have special talents and gifts that are designed to touch the lives of
others. You are a child of God.
Amo vocês! Até o próximo!
Élder Evans
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