Oi família!
Well, it was good to talk with you guys on Christmas. Sorry that I don´t speak english very well now. I tried, I really did, but it was a little harder than I had anticipated. But fortunetely, I won´t have to speak english again until May. Que alívio!
I had a wonderful realization today. Cleaning bathrooms in Brazil is fun. Everything is made of ceramic or stone so there´s no fear of causing damage to wooden cabinets and stuff. I was cleaning our bathrooms today and after I scrubed everything down I just threw water on everything to clean off the chemicals! Easy clean!
But the story of the week comes from Maia, our new elect that we´re teaching. In english everyone says "golden investigator" for that one person that is really prepared for the gospel. Here we say that they´re "eleito" or "elect". Maia is definitely one of them. The version of the Bible Dictionary we have in Portuguese says that the elect "Are those who love God with all their meart and live in a way pleasing to His sight." Maia is truly one who lives as such. After our miracle with her coming to church last week we headed over on Tuesday morning. We began just seeing what she thougt about church, and especially the Restoration of the gospel in these the latter-days. She kept presenting doubts about teachings from different religions and what she should think and do. As we were teaching about the Book of Mormon it was amazing to see how her countenance changed. As she evaluated our words and felt the Spirit of the Lord, she began resolving her own doubts and problems without our saying anything.
We went by Christmas morning and began teaching the Plan of Salvation. We explained about the pre-earth life and she said "Well, that explains why so many of us have those feelings of homesickness for God. We lived with him before we came here." As we were nearing the end of the lesson she said, "Élders, I´m feeling a change inside of me. I feel like all of this desire that I had to do bad is being washed away. Could this be the answer I´m looking for to my prayers?" and we showed her Alma 32:28:
Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten myunderstanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
She said, "Wow! That´s exactly how I feel!"
Then, Maia came to church yesterday. She realy enjoyed the Relief Society class and then as we were waiting for Gospel Principles to start she said, "Élder Evans, I think the Lord has responded to my prayer."
Me: "And what was His response?"
Maia: "He I think He said 'yes'! When can I be baptized?"
Me: "As soon as possible!"
It is such a blessing to be able to teach Maia at this time. She is so prepared to recieve the Restored Gospel. We ran into her yesterday as she was returning from work and said that her manager said "Wow Maia, is there something different about you?" She is so thrilled to be learning about Jesus Christ and how He has restored His church to the earth today. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior. I know that He has restored His church to the earth in by means of the Prophet Joseph Smith and that Thomas S. Monson is His prophet in our day. The Book of Mormon is the proof of this great latter-day work and I know that it is true by the power of God. He responded to my prayer and question they same way that He responds to all of us. The same way he responded to Maia.
Até o próximo! Amo vocês!
Élder Evans
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