Happy May!!!!!

Another great week in the books. It wasn’t quite as eventful as last week, but it was still awesome. Some of the highlights included heading back to Porto Alegre, teaching tons of people, and the baptisms of Dener e Rainer.

Dener and Rainer are awesome. Let me tell you the story of them. Dener and Rainier are the 2 sons of Alini, on of our investigators. When we first taught Alini, Dener barely talked and Rainer hid in his room. Alini told us how Dener was an atheist and Rainer had little or no interest in church. We slowly started to talk to them about music, soccer, work and build an amizade (friendship). Then we started to throw in small messages. Eventually, Dener went to a stake dance, and everything changed. He started to have a desire to hear our message and pray. His example helped Rainer see the importance of God’s plan for us. This week was awesome because we met with them everyday and conversed and clarified questions. Then, Dener told me he was ready to get baptized leaving his old habits, coffee addiction, and beliefs in the past. Rainer quickly followed his decision. Their baptism was awesome. Super spiritual, and they were smiling the whole time. Also, they set an awesome example for their mom who has been having problems with the law of chastity. But I know she received an answer at the baptism and has a new desire to keep the commandments. Overall, highlight of the week was Dener and Rainer’s baptism!!

One other cool experience was when we returned to Josue’s house to reteach the lessons. Before his whole family hid from us when we arrived and even his 85-year-old dad cussed us out and told us we were going to hell because of our malicious actions. We got there, and mean pops was waiting for us at the doorstep.  He started off by saying a few rude things and to leave, but I just told him that we were at the house to share a message about God and his love for you, your family and me. He immediately calmed down, and we entered the front gate. Immediately after, I felt a new spirit in their house. The whole atmosphere had transformed only a week after his baptism. We got to share an awesome lesson with several members of the family including his crazy dad.

This week had so many other highlights, but overall, I learned a lot about gratitude. The mish is great because I can see my progression.  I love 1 Peter 2:21. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, the ye should follow his steps.”  Christ suffered for me and left his eternal example. How can I become more like him everyday? Be grateful for his sacrifice, apply His atonement in my life, and help others come to know the saving power of His suffering in Gethsemane. I would say that’s my mission in a nutshell. Through accomplishing or a least giving my absolute power to achieve this purpose, I can slowly progress to become like Him. It is never easy but it is always worth it. In verse 23 – 25, we are taught to live unto righteousness. What does it mean to live unto righteousness? (rhetorical question) I think for every person the answer could be different, but I know Christ is our pastor, and we are his sheep. In any high or low, struggle or triumph, He will be watching over us, showing his perfect love, and giving his eternal example. He truly is the author and the finisher of our faith, and through Him, it is so possible to sit beside his side (Hebrew 12:2). This knowledge is why I’m grateful. How blessed am I to share this knowledge with others. Thanks for all of your love, care and support.

Elder Bodine

With my good bud Elder Maciel whos now in his house..

My new bff in taquara

Alini is next 

Dener and Rainer baptism extravaganza

Baptizing Basics 101

Week of Miracles

Brazilian holidays and district meetings has got me writing this email on a Wednesday.

This week was sweet!!!! hahaha. My comp and I saw so many miracles. It was awesome. Of late I have been praying a lot to find people who are really prepared to receive our message. This week we found so many great new investigators. My testimony of diligence and hard work has grown immensely over the last couple of weeks. I know that we have to focus on our purpose to see miracles both small and large. Focus = Progression.

First miracle was Josue. Josue is the son of a member in the church who started visiting a couple weeks ago. The other week he came up to us and asked us if he could be baptized... so we said of course. The last week we spent visiting him and his mom prepping him for baptism. His life story is pretty tragic. He got in an accident when he was about 13 years old and his mental state has stayed the same since then. Or in other words he is 50 years old but has the thoughts, ideas, and energy of a teenager. Overall he is an awesome guy. And his baptism turned out stellar. I said he was beyond happy the day of his baptism. His dad tried to stop his baptism, but he pressed forward firmly and said that there was no way that he wasn’t going to be baptized in the true church. His mom was unbelievably happy on the day of his baptism. 

One of the young women in our ward in our branch invited two friends to church last week. They are amazing. They have so many questions want to know what church is true, and have been attending seminary, church and ward activities.

This week while doing contacts in the street, we found a middle aged man who had little interest in our message. He told his wife about it and she went online to mormon.org to search about our church. She ended up chatting with a woman in Sao Paulo who sent us her address. We showed up at the house and found the same guy who we had mad the contact with... it was kind of trippy finding the same dude that denied us in the street, but we ended up having one of the most powerful lessons of my mish preaching about the power of the Book of Mormon. Everybody was feeling the spirit in that lesson. 

One investigator we have been teaching forever has a son who in the beginning had no interest in our lessons or god. He was actually atheist.  But he started to listen and his perspective changed. Last week he went to a stake dance and when he got back, he told me that everyone there was so happy and that he wanted to feel that same warmth. He will get baptized this week. Denner is such a stud haha. I never thought I would be so grateful for a  stake dance... just kidding stake dances are awesome. 

I can’t even begin to explain the countless miracles that happened this week. Thank you so much for your much needed prayers.... I love you all and hope you guys have an amazing week. 

Love 

Dave

Baptism of Josue.... I´m a giant here. 

P-day hike to the top of Monte da Fé

Everyone on the top of the mountain enjoyed our headstands... 

Monte da Fé 

It was freezing at zone conference with presidente... hoody and suit

Another Week in the Books!

This week I learned a ton about diligence and hope. In my last letter, I wrote a lot about faith, and after studying Moroni 7, I have noticed the importance of having hope along with your faith in Christ. On the mish if you don’t hope to witness to people to come unto Christ then you clearly aren’t fulfilling your purpose and won’t see results. Because in hope we have desire to work and achieve what we hope. Verse 41 of Moroni 7 is excellent. “And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.” Having this faith, hope, and desire allows us to see daily progress in ourselves and others or what I like to call mini miracles. I was reading in John 2 this week when I was struck by Christ’s first miracle, turning water to wine. Yes, I have always been baffled by Christ’s extraordinary miracles, but sometimes forget to look at the symbolism of his many miracles. In that very moment, Christ changes water to wine he showed us that he truly has divine power to change us through hope and faith in his infinite atonement we can truly be perfected in him. The atoning sacrifice of Christ is marvelous because we all can be purified even as he is pure. I love teaching about Christ and his pure love for us to the people in Brazil.

As I mentioned in the start of the letter, I also learned a lot about diligence. This Saturday, my comp and I ran around Taquara personally inviting 25 of our investigators to church the following day. It was awesome cause I was completely dialed into my purpose.  I had faith and hope and we were seeing many mini miracles happen. I went to bed dead tired. Haha. I was stoked for Sunday to reap in the rewards of our work. We got to church after trying to wake up a couple investigators, and we found no one who had promised us a church appearance. At first, I was bummed, but then I started to notice people who I had never seen at church before. Four families in the ward brought friends to church. It was truly awesome! I can’t wait to get out and teach these awesome people. I know faith, hope and diligence are all Christlike attributes that we need to develop to return to his presence. I love this work and how it changes who I am and who I am becoming. Have an awesome week! Pray for miracles! And know that I love you all!!!

Dave

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