Oi família!
Well, it´s official, 2014 has come and gone. I cannot believe how fast it passed. I remember at the end of 2013 I was thinking, "Well, 2014. The only complete year I will spend as a missionary. It will be hard, but also super rewarding" and it has been in all respects. I don´t think I´ve had a year in which I have learned and grown so much. I remember at the beginning of 2014 when we had interviews with President Souza. I was looking at my Zone Leaders and the Assistants and thinking about how little I was compared to them. I remember that the Lord gave me a feeling of my potential as a missionary, lider, and person. As I´ve worked, studied, and prayed, I´ve felt my "potential meter" (it´s a hard feeling to describe) filling more and more. I´m amazed to see the person I am now compared to who I was when I entered the MTC. But, I still have 4 more months, so I still have plenty of growing to do.
This week was a good week. We were able to teach a lot of lessons and we had some amazing things happen. Maia is dedicated and super excited for her baptism on Saturday. Her ex-father-in-law (Jusé) will be baptized this Saturday as well and it´s awesome. We had a lesson with Maia yesterday and a recent-convert (Raquel) asked if she could come with us to teach. It was an awesome lesson. Raquel testified of how the gospel has truly changed her life and how her decision to have greater compromise with our Father in Heaven has brought both trials and blessings. Raquel has been through a lot in her life, much in the way Maia also has. They related one with another really well and it was awesome to see how much the two of them grew during our little lesson. We taught about the Law of Chastity and a the Spirit World. It was cool because at the end of everything Raquel bore testimony about how baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has not just brought blessings in her life, but has been a blessing in her life. She talked about the security and the guidance that the Lord has given her through the gospel. Her testimony was so powerful and I felt how proud the Lord was of her for the sacrifices that she made. Maia loved the Spirit that she felt and everything was just confirming the descision that she made to be baptized.
Beyond that, we had an exchange this week and after 3 weeks in my new area I asked Élder Borges if I could try to take command of the area instead of go to the other area. He concented, and I was scared out of my mind. So, I prayed a lot for guidance and the day was awesome. I was with Élder R. Oliveira, who has about 7 months on the mission. Even though we had a few things fall through, I felt guided by the Lord to such a point that we didn´t ever have a time when we were stuck thinking, "Now what?" We had something effective to do from 10 AM until 9 PM because the Lord answered my prayer.
Feliz 2015 família! Será um ano de bênçãos!
Élder Evans
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