Weeks to Days to Hours to Minutes

I’m hoping as the weeks count down to days and days to hours and hours to minutes, that I can fully take advantage of my time as a representative of Christ. Maybe you wonder, “How does he take advantage as his time as a missionary?” Over the last 90 some odd weeks, I’ve learned that through forgetting myself and serving others, I fully take advantage of every missionary day. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been perfecting this “serve others” mentality. I’ve seen that through the small actions, I have become a more Christ like missionary. Through smiling more, complimenting others, talking with everyone about Christ, serving my companion, loving to learn through the scriptures, listening to my leaders, striving to be more diligent, improving my Portuguese, and inviting all to come unto Christ through baptism. Of course, I’m not perfect, but I have seen major improvement. That is why it’s so heart breaking for it to come to an end. We strive to be perfect, but only in the next life we will arrive to this point.

The week was fantastic. Many miracles were witnessed, and I was able to serve my Savior. Life doesn’t get much better than that. On Tuesday, we went to an area of Sisters, who had an emergency, to follow up 2 of their investigators preparing to be baptized. We successfully taught and marked their baptisms for Sunday. They were both Baptized! The rest of the day we tried teaching other investigators but didn’t have too much success. We spent the whole day in a car because we didn’t know the area. Irmao Paulo, the mission leader in Campo Bom, chauffeured us around the city. The guy is crazy. He wanted everyone to have a chance to get to know the Gospel. Let’ s just say the day was full of laughs. The weirdest part of the trip is that we slept in Irmao Paulo’s house. We had dinner, fam scripture study/prayer, watched some General Conference, and I slept on the couch. Honestly, it was super strange. Woke up to an amazing b-fast, and I was like, “Is this real life?” Irmao Paulo gave us each a tie and drove us back to Porto Alegre. We spent the day in leadership meetings. For all of you that didn’t know, the general authorities of Brasil have challenged all the missions to double the number of baptisms in the next 3 months. So there have been a ton of meetings and plannings on how we are gonna accomplish that goal in Porto Alegre Norte. The next day we made a 5 hour bus ride to Passo Fundo, the first zone of my mish. Once again, it was like taking a trip down memory lane. We divided with Elder Pariente from Uruguay and Elder Wessman from Palm Springs, California. Elder Pariente and I saw many miracles. One of my favorite was a man named Adao. Adao was super humble and explained he started working when he was 6 in the fields harvesting wheat. Despite his lack of knowledge, the message of the restoration made so much sense to him. The spirit was so strong as he accepted to be baptized! We also taught an in-active pastor of a Protestant church. Usually these types of people love to Bible-Bash. As we taught doctrine using the Bible, he quietly listened and agreed with our message. When we invited him to pray, he promised us that that very night he would kneel and receive an answer from God! Man the mission is amazing! Everyday, I see miracles, feel the spirit, and see the lives of others change! How could I not be happy?! Two years of constant Christ like service has helped me in innumerable ways. The only thing I have to offer him is gratitude and my humble service. I’d like to end this post with a poem about my maker and I:

            Everyday I ponder on his name

            Lowly and meekly, he felt my pain

            Determined to liken myself unto him

            Except I find myself shrouded in sin

            Running and Running from the dark that never ends

            But now I find safety in the light he sends

            Opting for the light, my world’s horizons expand,

            Doubting before and believing again

            In his waking light, I choose to forget me

            Now with eyes opened, I let out my only plea:

            “Each day I have left on this humble ground, let me make my maker proud!

Love you all,

Elder Bodine

Transformation

almost two years after... crazy how time flies

Pajama party at Irmão Paulos... so weird

This little girl decided to sit with us in sacrament meeting. We tried convincing her to bear her testimony but she said she was too nervous. When Elder Shell and I went up, she quickly followed and bore her small testimony. It was awesome

My comp is from texas so naturally he wants to be a boot model

Elder Pariente and I in the streets

Passo Fundo sunsets

Elder Southwick

The house crew at Passo Fundo

Talent show in Passo Fundo