Barra Mansa

Well this semana foi ótimo! I am currently in a trio with Elder Conceção and Elder Dias, which is pretty awesome because it makes it easy to do daily divisions. I have worked several times with members in the ward, and other times with one or two Elders. 

Yesterday we were knocking doors in a neighborhood called Villa Coringa, and we started teaching a man who seriously appeared interested, but we weren't able to finish the lesson because his uncle came over (who is a deacon in a nearby church) and talked to us for an hour plus about how our church is wrong. We simply bore testimony at the end, and invited him to humble himself in prayer and ask God which church is His. It was really hard to see a man with such potential have to hear someone talk in such a manner and not be able to hear the message of the Restoration.

This week we spent a lot of time knocking doors, as we have had several investigators tell us that they don't want to get baptized, so we need to start finding a lot more people to make up for the lack that we have right now. It's really interesting to know that you are in the area that God wants you to be and some days you can knock every door on a street and not have anyone accept the messages. and other days you knock four doors and have four lessons with four people who become new investigators.

The other day we had a lot of commitments in different parts of the city, so we went to centro before lunch (not too far) then to Colonia (far away) then to Sinderlandia (really far) then to Villa Coringa (again really far) then to Cutiara (not too far) before returning home (again not too far) and we totaled it at nearly 30 km) 

This week I went on a division with a recent convert, and since he doesn't know too much about the church, during the lessons he only says that he knows the church is true, so I had to give the entire lesson the whole day, and we had lots of lessons that day. It helped me feel more confident that I know enough that I can speak and not have to rely on the other missionaries.

Well I love you all

and yall are in my prayers

Remember, the first four principles and ordinances of the gospel are Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Daily strive to increase your faith, repent, and better listen to the Holy Ghost

Weird weather and Zone Conference. Prayers Needed.

Zone Conference! We woke up at 04h00 and got ready, and we all had to shower really fast because there was 8 of us in the house and we had to leave by 05h00. We got into a van, then went and picked up 4 sisters (making 13 in the van (with the driver) and drove to Petropolis. We were supposed to arrive there by 8, but because a truck turned over on a 2 lane mountain highway, we were stopped for over an hour, and the next hour was stop and go. We didn't arrive to conference until 09h30.

We had a little bit of extra time at the end and president talked for about 10 minutes about how awesome the sisters in our mission are (our mission is 1/3 sisters) and about 30 seconds saying that the Elders aren't too bad.

Yesterday I had the misfortune of being on the streets during a rainstorm, and the wind was so powerful, it was almost closing my umbrella. After about 2 min the streets were flooding, and the sun was shining????

 It then dried up then started raining again. The weather here in Brasil is weird.

It's weird thinking that this transfer is already almost over. I feel like I've been here in Barra Mansa for almost two weeks, even though it's been 5. I guess I got lost in the work.

This week we worked a lot in Vista Alegre, because all of our baptismal dates for this last week and this week were there. James and Caroline (names have been changed) did really well, and were baptized this week. After the baptism, their 3 year old son was taking off his shoes and socks because he wanted to get baptized too. 

Oh and the bishop brought cake.

The brother of James was sick this week so we are pushing his baptism forward another week, and we have started talking with basically the entire family of Caroline (several cousins, a brother, her mom)

We also have been working with an elderly lady who is the mother of a member. She got really sick this week, and we were really concerned, because the other Elders in our ward have a similar experience, and for them, they may not be able to baptize her. Anyway we gave our investigator a blessing and the next day she was better!

This week we also had two investigators tell us that they know that the church is true, but that they won't be baptized. It is really hard for us to see them take truth and reject it.

We also had troubles finding new investigators this week, and because we have been baptizing or cutting many of our old investigators, the number of people we are teaching has dropped, so if y'all could pray for us to be able to find people to teach this week that would be great.

I love you all.

Remember that the Lord often has his hands in small things, that we may not understand, but some day they may bring forth great fruits.

Ate mais

Elder Lindsey

God Blesses us Through Our Efforts

It's true! As we do our best, God will help us. 

Last week we had some time where everything fell through. (8 appointments in 1 day) so we resorted to knocking doors. We ended up teaching one lesson to an elderly man who wasn't all that interested.  He did give us a referral, and when we went to go visit that referral we found the elderly mans son who was an extreme alcoholic and smoker, but stopped just a little while ago. His wife (a less active member who was baptized 22 years ago) and their daughter were also there. We went in and taught the Restoration and marked a baptismal date with him, and before we could ask their daughter she said she also wanted to be baptized!

 We should be having 3 baptisms this week, they are referrals from the family we baptized a little over a week ago who are legally married. They have two sons, one of them is 8 months old and is really chubby.  Since we started teaching them they have read a large part of the Book of Mormon, stopped drinking coffee, and are ready to get baptized!!

Our other investigator who has a baptismal date this week is an 85 year old woman who has trouble hearing and can't read, so it has taken a lot of time to help her come to a knowledge of the truth. It got to the point where we were about to stop visiting her, but we invited her to pray and at the end of the prayer she decided she wanted to be baptized.

Right now the vast majority of our investigators live in Vista Alegre we have been grabbing plenty of buses to get there quickly and to get home quickly.

Also this week was the first time I did a division with a member, which was kind of cool! I now feel confident that I could train a new missionary, after having to carry the majority of the lessons and contacts with a member there to be a second witness.

I want to express my thanks for all of the prayers that y'all have been giving on my behalf, and want you to know that the Lord is watching over me.

I love you all.

I testify that this is the true church, guided by prophets. I know that we may be saved by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that by living his commandments we might have peace in this life and joy in the world to come.

Work hard my friends for salvation is not easy, and there are many needing to know the truth!