Another week in Nanuque

 

Bom Dia! This week was another week in Nanuque! Haha thanks for everyone’s prayers on my behalf! Know that it is working and I have been given the strength of the Lord to keep going everyday! My knees and ankles are getting better so thank you all so much!!! But this week again flew by and it is hard to talk about everything that has happened but I will try my best!:)

I can’t remember if I have talked about Fátima or not but she is the mom of 4 members that we have in our ward here and she is almost ready for baptism! She has a testimony and everything and is keeping most of the commandments. But we are really working with her and I am sure she will be baptized this transfer!!! It is great to watch people as they progress in the Gospel! When we first met her she didn’t want to pray and she was very shy, but now she is praying and has a very strong testimony. She tells us that every time she reads about Joseph Smith and when we watched the video of the restoration with her she says "I get goose bumps all over my body!" She has now recognized that she is receiving these answers from our Heavenly Father. It is such an amazing feeling when you sit in a lesson and you and the investigator recognizes and can feel the Holy Ghost. The very best is when they say that they want to feel this all the time and you are right there to help them with the answer!

We have also been working with a young woman whose name is Ester. She is 21 and has really wanted to know why we are doing what we are doing! We have talked to her and have tried to help her and now it is just up to her to let the Spirit talk and answer her questions!! She feels good when she reads and prays but it is a little hard for her to commit because she wants to visit ALL of the churches here in Nanuque (there are more than 100 churches here) before she wants to make a decision. But we are teaching her and hopefully helping her. She really likes what we are teaching and feels that the doctrine is basic and easy for her to understand.

We also have a family who has had their children baptized and now just waiting for them to be baptized and the parents will be as well! They are a great family and I love all of them! We visit them daily if possible and are trying to help strengthen their family.

This week I have really been taking to heart and studying a letter that I received from one of my cousins that talks about a spiritual impression that he had to talk to me about serving a mission. In the letter he talks

about 2 things 1) The importance of being strictly obedient and 2) Just completely giving it your all for those whom you are serving. He told me how he studied the life of Christ and that is what I have been doing as well. I have been looking for those things that made Christ happy when he was serving people who did not accept his teachings. I feel like working with the people here in Brazil has been a challenge, one of the hardest things that I have ever done.  I feel like Brazilians and Americans are completely different in many ways. Even though this may be, I have to

take the example of the Lord who didn’t look at anyone and think less of them. He loved the Rabbis, Pharacies, Priests, Samaritans, lepers, whoever came into his path! In the book of 2 Nephi we learn that if He would have come at any other time to any other people they would have accepted him and His work as the Savior of the world but knowing this he came anyway. He wore himself out by serving those he lived with, never thinking a bad thought, never submitting to the devil. He was the Savior and they didn’t believe him. So at times when we feel as though we are lost and no one knows what we are going through, we need to remember that He has gone through it. He knows how it feels! He suffered in the Garden and on the Cross to know what we have to deal with. I am so grateful for all of the people in my life, like Kam who are willing to talk to me and are always there for me! I love my family and friends so much! You mean the world to me and I don’t know where I would be without you guys!!! THANKS!!!!:D:D:D

Love,

Elder Stilson