Trust in the Lord

Fam

Was up!!!! This week was awesome. We had a lot of work and had a bunch of investigators at church! So overall, awesome because we can start preppin’ our investigators for baptism.

We started the week off with an awesome interview with Presidente Campos in our apartment. He reminded me of some of our stories back in the staff in the start of the year, and we laughed a lot. I learned that I really need to have more faith and and confidence in those I am teaching. So, of course, I studied about confidence. Some of my favorite scripture finds were Job 13:15 and Daniel 3:17. I love the stories of Job and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Their trust and confidence is so great in the Lord that they would lose their own lives before losing trust in the Lord. These scriptures and Presidente’s counsel helped me see that if I can continually trust in the Lord, then I will trust in my investigators as well to say prayers, read the Book of Mormon, go to church, and be baptized. My gramps helped me realize the importance of trust and being trustful. I remember a quote that he told me of Prophet David O. McKay, “to be trusted is higher than to be loved.” I know our Heavenly Father loves all of his children, but trusts in his children who are always seeking to keep His commandments, improve, and serve others. I want to be trusted by the Lord because with His trust, miracles will happen. The second counsel of Pres. Campos was to visit inactive members. He promised us if we tried our best to edify this branch through serving inactive members, many blessing would come.

So we focused our week on finding new investigators and teaching inactives. Man this week was awesome. So much work. We found tons of people who were wanting to go to church, know if our message was true, and inviting to come back to their houses. We also had the wonderful pleasure of seeing inactive members feel the spirit and remember the blessing of having a trustful relationship with God and Jesus Christ. I’m not gonna lie, this week was kind of ridiculous with members and inactives. Let me give you some examples. We were walking on the street, and a man working construction left the sight and presented himself as Jogo. He said he had been inactive for 8 years but had been praying to go back to the only true church. We gave him a Book of Mormon and marked a day to teach his family. Another day two teenagers passed us, and one said, “Hey, my friend wants to go to your church.” Of course I thought he was joking, but he was serious and explained how he was an inactive member and his friend was looking to get out of the bad life (drugs).  And the stories go on and on. Haha. Real blessings. At church, we had 2 families and a member inativo with his daughter who isn’t a member. Overall, awesome week, and my faith and confidence and testimony have been fortified. Thanks for the prayers and support.

Love, Dave

Week of the Selfy

This week was funny. As you may have guessed, more rain. This week, I studied and learned a lot about faith. Because I finished the Book of Mormon of late, I decided to start studying the New Testament more. It’s always good to study the New Testament here in Brazil because the majority of people know their Bible scriptures. So you always got to provide evidence. Haha. For example, I had a nice Bible bash with a Jehovah’s Witness discussing whether Jesus was crucified on the cross or on the wood (with his hands above him). Eventually, it got heated so I just bore my testimony and told him that the answer to the question wouldn’t help us achieve salvation. It’s more important to recognize His atoning sacrifice and apply his sacrifice to become perfected in Him. These debates happen on the daily so you always got to watch out for the people who are just looking to argue. Anyways, in my New Testament studies, I was trying to learn about and comprehend faith. I loved reading chapter 10 of Romans. This chapter gives great insight into salvation, righteousness, and faith. As missionaries, we need to desire, pray and help others be righteous and develop faith. We also have to be examples of these principles as well. Verses 8 and 9 show us what is faith in Christ. We learn that faith in our Christ is a surety that Christ has risen from the dead, and through his sacrifice and resurrection, we have the surety that we will be saved as well. As I pondered these verses, I could reflect on how I personally felt about my own faith. Am I bold or am I ashamed in my knowledge of Christ? (verse 11) In verse 14, we learn that we need preachers and missionaries to help everyone develop faith in Christ. Verse 15 lets us know that we are called of God to preach and announce to the world of Christ’s saving grace. We are also shown the great blessings of missionary work and how God delights in those who share this gospel. Overall, Romans Chapter 10 helped me see the importance of an unbreakable, bold faith in Christ and using this faith to bless others through sharing the gospel. I encourage you all to share this gospel with anyone, stranger, family and friends. And through sharing the gospel, I know your faith in Christ will always be strengthened. At times it’s scary, or we don’t want to break out of our comfort zone, but through all the rejection and success I have seen on the mish, there is nothing to lose. It really is our job as members of the church to bring the good news of this gospel to every corner of the earth. So get out there and share, and blessings will be seen in your life and others.

My week was funny as I said in the start. We got the chance to discontinue a lot of the people we are teaching. Please pray for Christian and Raphael/Adriano, and that we can find new investigators prepared to be baptized. Thanks for all the love, support and prayers.

Dave

Challenges bring growth

Well, this week overall was challenging. But challenge means growth, which is always good. Let me tell you some of the challenges of this week:

First off, huge respect to missionaries who served or are serving or will serve in parts of the world with rain. It rained 6 out of 7 days this week. I’m not complaining, but I can officially say that knocking doors in the pouring rain isn’t my fav activity. One of our investigators, Yara, is awesome. She’s 19, super smart, and reads super fast. She is already in Alma. We marked her baptism date and had her ready to be at church for the first time, but…she got in a fight with her mom and ran away to Porto Alegre. We haven’t heard anything from her. Another one of our investigators was psyched for her baptism this last Sunday. We had taught her and her family all the lessons, she has friends in the church, and she already was living all of the standards of the church. We called her Thursday to mark her baptism interview, and she told us that she doesn’t want to be baptized, and that she has no reason for her to join the church cause she never received an answer. As I pleaded with her to think about her decision and help her think about the answers she had really received, but she told me there was nothing that I could do to change her mind. As she hung up, I felt a lot of things…heartbroken, shocked, confused, broken, spiritless, and tricked. I had put everything into teaching her and her family, yet there was nothing that I could do to change her decision or agency. It took me a while to accept what had happened. But when I eventually did, I could say that I had put everything on the line, and there was nothing more I could do. I was reading in Philippians this week and several scriptures helped me feel at peace and regain focus. Verses 5-11 helped me see how Christ’s life wasn’t fair, but he still did everything for us because of his love. And like Paul, I can say that I can rejoice in Christ because I have not labored or run in vain. Through the mission, I can help others rejoice with me through preaching the good news of Christ. Overall, I see this week of challenges as inspired growth. We need the hard times, rough patches, and grind it through moments to become better in all things. It’s funny because I feel like pre-mission Elder Bodine would just be frustrated, impatient, and angry with a week like this. But after a year of a mission, I can happily take positives our of the negatives. Learn with this moment and move onto the next day with a positive attitude on everything. Thanks for all the love and prayers.

Dave

Brazilians fam who is moving to boston baptism... i made banana cake it was divine

My collection of coins over the last year.

Taquara sunsets

The beginnings of a french fry tower.....

The cooks

The fam with the final project... national monument

it was worth three hours of frying/cutting potatoes

Shout out to RIO..

Christ-like Love

This week was a solid missionary week, but not anything super memorable happened. Here are some of the main highlights.

            One of our investigators has been waiting to be baptized because her mom won’t give her permission. This week her mom came to church and really enjoyed it.  I’m hoping and praying that they can both be baptized.

            We got poured on 4 times this week, which made proselyting a little tricky, but we still managed to find some good investigators.

            I went on a division with Elder Soares, my companion in Canela, and we relived the glory days. We taught one of the families he is teaching, and I was amazed by how prepared they are to become members of the Church. They are also moving to Massachusetts in a month, so I was able to psych them up about the US. I was also able to tell them how hard it is when you go to a country where you don’t know the language (none of them speak English). They were an amazing family and will make awesome members in the US!!

            Made cheeseburgers with my comp, which brought me back to American food.

            Fixed the water system in our house so that we have hot water for the first time in 8 weeks.

            And learned a lot about seeing those I teach through the eyes of Christ.

Overall, this week was pretty forgettable, but I look back at it, and there are some pretty sweet highlights. This week I focused on the Christ-like attribute of love and tried to get out of my comfort zone and serve/love others. I loved reading in 1 Thessalonians chapters 1-3. Paul was an awesome, exemplary missionary. I honestly wish I could give you an in depth thesis of what I learned and discovered, but I do not have the time for that, so here is my take away. First off, be bold in what you preach. This gospel is true, and the work of God has power and brings the spirit so be bold in testifying, promising and inviting (1 Thess. 1:5, 2:2). Teach your students with love, gently, cherishingly, and affectionately, so that they can see God’s love for all his children (1 Thess. 2:7-11). Thank God when those you teach make progress, whether it be big or small (1 Thess. 2:13). In helping others become followers of Christ, we will find joy (1 Thess. 2:14, 19-20). As we love others, they well love us, and therefore, more will follow Christ, and we to can feel more joy. This week my desire to work was so great because of my focus on trying to love all.  I was happier than ever and could feel great joy when those I taught took one step closer to being a follower of Christ. I invite you all to be bold and be an example of Christ’s never ending love. Really think of how you can treat and love all those around you. Thanks for the prayers and love and have an awesome week!

Love, Dave