Bringing the Gospel to Brazil: A Week of Craziness

This week I have decided that I will give you a more detailed account of my week because it was absolutely nuts with transfers. The last 4 days have been crazy preppin all the materials for the group leaving, the group arriving, training of the new missionaries, and for all the people switching areas. This transfer had a ton of changes in the mission... It was super cool to see how it all went down and how all the changes seemed so perfect. I really gained a testimony this week that Presidente Campos receives revelation for our mission. But now that I have done a slight recap, let’s get into the details.

First off, we had an amazing lesson with an investigator this week. His name is Roniel, and he loves football. He is so good that his parents sent him down to live with his aunt/uncle, so he could play for a club in Rio Grande do Sul. His aunt/uncle are members, and the missionaries have been preppin him for a while to be baptized. When Elder Castle and I arrived to get to know Roniel, we learned that he has been acting a little rebellious and that his aunt wants to kick him out of the house. We have been trying to help the family reunite and show their love for one another. Last Tuesday, we showed up to their house and all chaos broke loose. Everybody started to judge one another and the spirit was leaving the lesson. Finally, we explained how our purpose was not to hear all of the problems they have had between themselves, but to help them grow closer to one another and Christ. In one particular moment, a scripture popped into my head... Alma 39:12-13, where Alma is giving some advice to Corianton. The language is pretty strong, but it applied to the situation so well. We were able to calm them down and help them establish goals on how they all could improve themselves and their relationships. The spirit was super strong, and I pray that Roniel can continue to prep for baptism.

This week we had an amazing p-day with Presidente. Everyone in the mission office woke up and went to Parque Germania to play basketball and tennis with Presidente. Haha it was amazing. I never thought I would see Presidente Campos in normal clothes. It was super fun playing tennis with him because he´s actually pretty good. After playing tennis in the extreme heat, we headed out to presidente´s house where we got an authentic nordeste meal from natal made by Sister Campos herself. Lunch was amazing.... After we played some crazy board and dice games with Presidente and his family. And to finish things off, I made brownies for the whole crew, which turned out delish. Overall, an awesome p-day with Presidente, his family, and the office crew.

The next couple of days were crazy in the office. I had a bunch of policia federal errands to run, my comp had to buy a bunch of passagens and pay bills, we prepped transfers by calling everyone in the mish and telling them which bus they would take to which areas, and we got some more crazy info. The sisters in our district left, so we will now be working in two areas with two wards... I have never gotten the chance to work with two wards, so I´m excited for the new challenge. I have got a feeling that Castle and I have started to get a hang of things in the office so we should be able to get out more... plus it wont be quite as crazy cause Presidente got some more staff to help us out. Also, I´m stoked cause our new area is awesome to find people to teach and bring to church.

Monday was absolutely insane cause Elder Castle and I were at the rodovaria in Porto Alegre helping everyone catch their bus. It was a major struggle with a bunch of people showing up late or getting on the wrong busses... but in the end everything worked out as planned and everyone got to their areas. Monday night I had to finish printing all the materials that missionaries take home from the mish. It was super weird seeing some great friends leave. One of the Aps, Elder Sousa, left yesterday, and it has been super weird without him. But I’m excited for this next transfer in the office and can tell you that time is passing by so fast. I’m losing track of the days. I was reading in 4 Nephi the other day and really liked verse 12 which says, "But they did walk after the commandments.” I love the wording of this statement. What does it mean to walk after the commandments?? The rest of the verse list actions of what the people of the church of Christ did to walk after his commandments. They fasted, they prayed, and they heard the word of the Lord. We all need to walk after the commandments of the Lord. Without a doubt in my mind, you´ll be happy when you walk after the commandments of our Heavenly Father. Thanks for all your love and support... I hope you all have an amazing week.

Dave