Happy Easter!!!

This week I learned a lot about faith. I’ve learned on the mish of the importance of putting our faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and trusting them. They know what’s best for us so we really can’t lose when we believe and follow them. This week, I witnessed countless blessings come from demonstrating faith. As I have been studying this principle, my eyes have been spiritually opened. I love the section, Pray with Faith, in Preach my Gospel. I love Gordon B. Hinckley’s words as he invites missionaries to fervently pray to bless the families/people we teach. And if we do so a view of light will be brought into their eyes, they will see we are Heavenly Father’s servants, and respond under the influence of the sprit. I took up Gordon’s challenge and saw marvelous results. My comp and I found numerous people to teach and several families who really seemed interested. We found a family of 5 who had received the missionaries 14 years ago and showed us their old Book of Mormon. I asked if they had completed the invitation to pray about the things the missionaries had taught. They replied, “No,” but we invited them to pray again and be baptized like our Savior. They all accepted. As we left, their youngest boy, Pedro, asked if he could give a prayer. As he started, his words stumbled but then his mom began to whisper words into his ears. When he finished the prayer, I opened my eyes to see the two parents and three boys with huge smiles. It was a sweet experience. The other experience that has built my faith happened yesterday. Here in Rio Grande do Sul, Sundays aren’t the most effective days to work, cause everybody is with visitors, sleeping, or partying. Holidays don’t help either. With Easter in full swing in the 7^th Day Adventist community, nobody was letting us teach. At about 7:00 pm, I felt guided to say a prayer with my comp. I prayed for the Lord to guide us and I knew he would put us in the right place. After the prayer, I felt that I needed to let my comp find who we needed to teach. I remained in silence as I let him guide us through the spirit. We finally got to a house after many twists and turns, and my comp clapped at the door. An old man came out and willingly let us in. My comp, who has two weeks on the mish and is American, gave a powerful lesson on the gospel of Christ. As we taught the old man and his family, the spirit filled the room. They accepted all our invitations and asked us to come back ASAP. As I left the house I thanked my Heavenly Father for increasing my faith. I encourage you all to read Hebrews 11 and Ether 12. Both chapters have helped me comprehend and understand a little more the deep power of faith. Trust in the Lord. He knows and loves each and every one of you. Thanks for all the love, support and prayers.

Dave

Church

First day together

Return to Gramado

Taquara Week 1

Well, I wrote a huge email with tons of sweet details, but it got deleted, and I am too lazy to write it again... so here goes a simplified version of my week. The first half of the week I passed the keys on to Elder Emerick and finished my training with him to be the next secretary. Then i got my new greenie.... Elder Pena from Brigham City, Utah. He is 18, Filipino and knows nothing about Portuguese... but he is trying which is what counts. Fun fact, he speaks Arabic and Tagalog and lived in Saudi Arabia for 12 years.... Also he was baptized in the Red Sea... so that is pretty dope. Overall Taquara is super cool. The members are sweet. They want to help us. The people are pretty receptive, and our first week we had 4 people at church which was awesome. Overall, I'm super happy to get back to the normal missionary life and can't wait for another busy week of knocking doors and finding the Lord's elect. I love you all and thank you for all your support. 

Dave

Transfers, Conference and Baptism

This week was crazy. As I mentioned last week, there were a ton of meetings. Literally all the meetings that are in a mission has happened this past week. So we were busy beyond belief. The biggest surprise for me came Saturday morning. President suprisingly passed by the office and said we need to talk... Which is completly normal in the mission office. He then sat me down face to face (not normal), so I knew something was up. We said a prayer, we talked a little, and then he said I was being transferred... I was like this must be April Fool's or something, but I guess it doesnt exsist here in Brasil. Well with only two transfers in the mission office, I'm on to a new chapter. President told us at the begining of our adventure in Porto Alegre that we wouldn't stay long... so I guess he lived up to the promise that I had totally forgotton. I have come to cherish this wonderful experience getting to know President and Sister Campos and their family, all of the missionaries in the mission, and the ward members here in Porto Alegre. That's what really got me bumbed out about leaving... I won't see president as much, and we have some awesome ward members and investigators that I was looking forward to work with. But all in all I'm excited for the new challenge of training an American and working in the marvelous area of Taquara (a small district close to my last area). 

Conference was absolutely amazing. I loved all of the talks and how they focused on Jesus Christ our Savior. I loved Elder Holland's thoughts on staying permanently and faithfully in the eternal choir singing and savoring the precious chorus of eternal blessings. God is really determined to make us more than we think we can be. I loved Elder Hales' thoughts on being a genuine disciple of Christ and how it is a state of being. Neil L Anderson´s remarks on how we need to overcome the world by turning ourselves outward opened my eyes and answered one of the questions I brought to conference. I loved Elder Bednar's priesthood talk about how we were not called to an area but called to serve. Thomas S. Monson, our beloved prophet bore powerful testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon and having our own testimonies rooted in this gospel. D Todd Christofferson´s thoughts on warning because of love changed the way I will teach investagators, and treat those I am with. Jesus always warned so we must warn as well. Joaquim E Costa gave the perfect talk for all of our investagators so shout out to him. I also loved S Mark Palmer's final thoughts of, "think of the Beholding, Let it go and follow home". Gary E Stevenson gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost and how through staying close to the spirit he will stay close to you. My fave talk was given by Elder M Russell Ballard. I felt the spirit so powerfully as he testified of creating plans and goals in our lives. If we create these goals, we will be more successful. Simple goals can be more powerful. But what struck home for me was the two words he used to describe our eternal plans and goals. RETURN and RECEIVE. We must do everything in our power to return to our Heavenly Father's presence, and when we do we will receive his eternal blessings. I challenge you all to make goals and plans to return and recieve.

The icing on the cake this week was having the awesome and spiritual baptism of Henrique. He was truly a super miracle. It was awesome getting to know him and his family. Watching him quite drinking and smoking in a matter of weeks so that he could follow his Savior and be baptized. He is now prepping to receive the priesthood, and we hope we can baptize his awesome mother Michelle. Thanks for all the love support and prayers. General Conference really stregthened and fortified my testimony of living prophets and apostles. Have an awesome week and do your best to study the marvelous lessons that our prophets, seers and revelators left with us this weekend...

Love 

Elder Bodine

I love to see the temple

Burger King District run

Office Grind

Our church

Enrique's baptism

Uneventful Week

YOOOOO fam. This week was pretty dang uneventful. Hah. Let me think about what went down. We had some great lessons with Enrique and Michelle, Ilomar and Joel, and some other teenagers including my best bud Vanderson. In one of our lessons with Enirque, we watched the Joseph Smith film (in english oddly), and then after we just reflected. It was awesome hearing my comp's and Enrique's insights about our beloved prophet Joseph Smith. What really stood out to me in the film was how everyone doubted Joseph and his first vision, but he knew that God knew it so he couldn't deny it. I´m so excited for this general conference. I encourage you all to take a profound question that you have been pondering about to conference. I know that you will recieve an answer. This week is going to be quite crazy with transfers, tons of meetings, and foreigners to take to the Policia Federal, but the mission is amazing cause every week I have unforgettable spiritual and learning experiences. I'm beyond excited to head for the temple this week and like I said before hear from our beloved prophet and other leaders of this true church. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who restored the church of Christ on the earth. Today, we are wonderfully blessed to be lead by a prophet of God and 12 apostles  All of which are worthy and able to recieve revelation for this church. I love the opportunity to serve others here in Brazil and can´t wait for another amazing transfer. Thanks for all the love and support.

Dave

Highlight of the week was when our investigator Enrique saw that he made the apostles facebook page. Haha love this photo cause you can really see the light of Christ in his eyes

Curve Ball

This week was quite the opposite of last week... Haha it’s funny how you always get into a flow with your comp, area, language, members, and investigators, but you always get thrown a curveball that shakes you up. This week, the curve ball was a second companion, Elder Nogeira, who can´t walk. So, yes, he is stuck in a wheel chair, and yes, that made teaching and proselyting extremely difficult, but we still saw the Lord´s hand in our work and several miracles. 

First off, last Sunday, I got a call from an investigator in Canela. It was Orildo, and he excitedly told me that he had been baptized and confirmed. I was so pumped for him because I had come to love his dear family. Now, Orildo and his wife will prepare to be sealed in the temple with their daughter and son. It was so great hearing this news and getting to chat with him about his wonderful testimony of this gospel. This week was also awesome because we had the amazing opportunity to hear from a member of the 70, Elder Aidukaitis, a member of the presidency of the 70, Elder Robbins, and apostle Elder D. Todd Christofferson. I loved the messages that they shared with us, and the spirit that our mission felt as they testified of Christ. Some of the teachings that really touched me were:

·         The Mission is a privilege not a sacrifice. (Elder Aidukaitis)

·         Studying the Book of Mormon will always make us more converted in this gospel (Elder Aidukaitis)

·         Mission = Blessing (for yourself, family, friends, and the people you serve) (Sister Robbins)

·         Prophets/Apostles are seers, they look around the corners to help prepare the church for the future and what God has planned for us  (Elder Robbins)

·         Diligence is continuing in failure without losing enthusiasm (Elder Robbins)

·         Christ lets us take the test over and over again always giving forgiveness when repent with real intent. (Elder Robbins)

·         Personal study/study of the scriptures is the most important part of our missionary day – brings the spirit into our lives and prepares us for miracles (Sister Christofferson)

·         We were called to our missions to learn with our mission president and his wife

o   Always observe how they act and treat others (Elder Christofferson)

·         The Lord loves everyone, but he doesn´t trust everyone (Elder Christofferson)

·         Rely on Christ´s infinite atonement mercy and grace (Elder Christofferson)

·         We are offering the celestial kingdom to the people we teach (Elder Christofferson)

To say the least I learned a lot in this special meeting, and many doubts that I had were responded to. Also, he left some super cool promises and blessing with our mission. The next day we had a stake meeting with Elder Christofferson again. This meeting was amazing. The spirit was powerful and all the speakers gave awesome talks. I´ll be brief here cause this email is already huge. Elder Christofferson did a quick recap of all the talks and told us that every Sunday is a sacred experience (sacrament), this church is a unity of loving service, we have to forgive everyone and Heavenly Father will do the judging. He ended his talk with explaining why we need apostles in these modern days… He gave three reasons:

1.       Feed his sheep with the teachings of our Savior, renewing the testimonies of all, and bringing the spirit into their lives.

2.       Preach the gospel to all of this world (all missionaries)

3.       Be a witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ

After that last point, he bore the most powerful testimony of the importance of Christ´s resurrection. He told us that without the resurrection of Christ, Christ would have been just a normal man. But because of his resurrection, we can know that we will all be resurrected, that Christ´s atonement is infinite and all can partake in the joy of true repentance, and that Satan can have no power over us. He told us that the resurrection of Christ makes all the difference in God´s eternal and perfect plan. He then blessed Brazil and said that many good things are to come here. Overall, an amazing talk and huge testimony builder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the meeting, he let the congregation of over a thousand people come and shake his hand. Our four investigators at the meeting all had the chance to shake the hand of Elder Christofferson… We watched as Enrique went up and took his turn to shake his hand. 

He then proceeded to have a conversation for a good minute with Elder Christofferson in English… Well, turns out Enrique is pretty dang smart. Haha. Overall, an amazing week. I wish I could write about my adventures at the policia federal and how two Mexican missionaries here almost got sent to São Paulo, but we resolved everything in the last second.  Crazy times here in Porto Alegre. Thanks for all the prayers and support and know that I know that this is the true church of Christ restored on this earth lead by prophets, seers and revelators. Have an amazing week

Dave

With Orildo before I left Canela

Orildo's Baptism in Canela

Mormon 9

This week was awesome.... We didn´t have a ton of stuff to do in the escritorio, and we had lessons planned for every day. All I got to say is that the Lord is looking out for us. This week I´ll start out with a pretty depressing but funny story. In the escritorio, president has these giant white boards in his office where he has a giant map of the mission with all the missionaries. Each missionary has a refrigerator magnet with name, birthday, and hometown. As secretary, I get to create these magnets. I was pretty stocked cause I was thinking about how I have the power to change the photo on my magnet. So I went and took some pictures, and I was like alright, ok, this pic is WAY better. Then I plugged it into the system, and it ended up looking almost identical to the photo I took over a year ago… Haha good times.

Now let’s move on to the miracle of the week. Last Tuesday, I got a call from a sister in our mission (completely normal). She explained she had a referral to pass to me. Referrals are another one of my responsibilities. But as she started to talk about this person, strangely, something felt different. I felt like I knew that he was going to be our investigator. Sure enough she told us his name, Enrique, number, and address, and when I went to put it into the computer his apartment popped up in our area. I was stoked cause she told us he was the nephew of one of the counselors of the mission, and that we needed to teach him ASAP. So I called him up, and we scheduled a palestra the very next day. We got to his apartment, and when he opened the front door, I was greeted with a surprise. Haha let’s just say I didn’t expect him to be the way he is. We went up to his house to find his mom who was also very interested to hear a message. We chatted with him to get to know him and why he wanted to hear our message. We then dived in to teaching the restoration. As we taught, I could feel the spirit enter the room. By the end of the lesson, we invited him to pray/read the Book of Mormon, and he was like… I already know what your saying is 100 percent true. We invited him to be baptized and he said, “Seria bacana” or in my English translation, “that´d be dope”. It was pretty funny. After the prayer, we got up to leave and he was like.. wait where are you guys going. Turns out he wanted us to teach all the lessons for him in the same night, but it was already 9 so we had to leave. He showed up at church on Sunday, walking 20 minutes in the pouring rain. He said he felt at peace at church and that he was excited to be baptized and continue returning to church each Sunday. He also said he felt as though he needed to serve a mission. Pretty sweet if you ask me. There were many other miracles this week as we saw Ezequiel progress and claim that he was committed to being baptized. Elomar, his wife, and their son Joel, all loved our messages and said that they had found the church they are going to stay with. We also found and taught other people that I hope and pray will progress.

This week I was studying in Mormon 9, and I noticed a couple things that I really like. First off, I love the last chapters of prophets in the Book of Mormon. Whether it be 2 Nephi 32-33 or Mormon 9, the final testimonies of prophets in the Book of Mormon or in these latter days are an amazing study tool. They testify so boldly of Christ and the things that we truly need to hear. I love in chapter nine how Moroni tells us how God has not stopped to be a God of miracles. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the same God that talked with Abraham and other prophets of the Old Testament (11). The chapter teaches us of the plan of happiness that God created for us and how God desires to show us miracles in our lives. On the mish I have seen many small miracles happen that have built my testimony of this gospel. I have tried to take and apply Moroni´s advice in verse 21, which says to believe in Christ without doubt. If we can do this, the Lord will grant unto us what we need. I also love verse 29 and how we can learn that we need to always be worthy to partake of the sacrament and be worthy in all aspects of our life. But the part of this chapter, which hit me the hardest, was verse 31. I read it, and my jaw kinda dropped. Moroni tells us that instead of being critical of his and his father’s weakness and shortcomings, which were few, we should observe them and use them to become better than they once were. After I read that, I thought how can I be wiser or more righteous than a prophet of God?? Then after pondering and prayer, I realized that I don´t need to be better than they once were, but really I need to improve myself. This verse helped me see that even prophets of god have shortcomings. And how Moroni was willing to humbly admit to these shortcomings for the better sake of himself and all those who would read this amazing book. I know I have shortcomings and weaknesses, but as I observe them, believe in Christ, and use his divine atonement, I can be more prepared to see miracles in my life and prepare myself to return to their presence. I know this gospel is true. I know miracles happen. I know I am in the best place I can possibly be right now to come unto Christ. Thank you for your love and prayers and have an awesome week

dave

Exact same thing after a year.

Had no idea blockbuster still exists...

Hiatus

First off let me say, I broke the streak of weekly emails... but it’s all good cause the last two weeks have been pretty awesome. I have been noticing that time management is key when you are working in the mission office. It has really taught me that every second of proselyting is precious. I´ve also noticed that I go out to preach the gospel ever more focused and dedicated to find the Lord´s children. Despite the lack of time to proselyte, Elder Castle and I have seen many miracles these last couple weeks. On Sunday, we had 3 surprise investigators at church. One was a friend of a member, and the other was a father/son combo, who had heard about the church from a family member. We were able to meet with them after church and learn that all three are super prepared and willing to be members of this church. Ezequiel has already read all of the Book of Mormon and been to church numerous times. The Father / son combo loved the church meeting and can’t wait to have us back in their house to share a message. Overall, I am super grateful that Heavenly Father presented these three wonderfully prepared people to us with very little work. We also got the chance to work in our area a couple times this week. I got to leave with Elder Maciel, who was once executive secretary of the mish, to visit his recent converts. We went to this sweet area where we found a 16 year old kid named Vanderson, a convert of Elder Maciel. We shared an awesome message with him and invited him back to church and after he was like... so we gonna go visit my friends... So then he proceeded to take us to all his friends in the neighborhood... Haha it was classic. This Vanderson is a clown. We would show up at his friends’ house, and he would be like, "yo these caras are here to share a message about god" This dude came all the way from California just to talk to you. He was surprisingly super good at making contacts, and it was super fun interacting with his friends. haha we found 10 or 12 of his friends to teach. Overall, awesome divisão. I was studying in Ether 12 when I came across verses 3 and 4. It helped me realize my purpose and my potential on the mish. Preaching repentance from sun up to sun down to all people. I also love how Ether describes hope in verse 4. He tells us that hope comes through faith and is the anchor for our souls. We all need to hope for the best. But not just hope but act, and God will provide. I know this gospel is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and another testament of Jesus Christ. I love you all and thank you for your wonderful love, prayers, and support.

Dave