11 February 2013

Got a letter from Elder Sabin :) That was fun, hahaha.
  Last week we played volleyball and basketball as a Zone. Yes mom I used sunscreen... But still I got cooked! My poor nose was peeling all week and everyone was like Woah What happened to You!? haha but it felt so good to do something active :)
  Saturday night we got a lovely call from the secretary of the bishopric asking my companion and I and another Elder to give talks in church the next day. Yippppe! Now everyone will know how horrible my Portuguese is! Fabulous. We were asked to speak on missionary work as usual, so rather than looking up a topic in Preach My Gospel I decided to look through the Ensign. I found a first presidency message that talked about sharing the gospel. It gave an example of a man who was inspired to bring a Book of Mormon with him on a plane and ended up sharing it with one of his coworkers that he sat next to. I talked about how God prepares people to hear the gospel of Christ, he prepares them in many different ways, and he will place them in our path when we are prepared to receive them. I talked about how we as members of the true church of God need to prepare ourselves to share the gospel. That we need to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually, learning the doctrines of the gospel and having a firm testimony of its truthfulness. But as usually with me I got super, super nervous! And the microphone was having issues so I'm not 100% percent sure if anyone heard me, but still, I liked my talk :)
  Part of this past week and this next week is Carnival here in Aracaju so almost all the stores are closed, nobody is home, and nobody wants to hear us because of the long nights without sleep. We've been walking the streets always looking behind us to see if anyone was sneaking up to throw Flour or Rotten eggs at us. Fortunately we haven't gotten hit, but we've had a few close calls. And unfortunately because of Carnival, many of our investigators that were making progress overcoming addictions fell into temptation. But still we have one lady who is in her mid 50´s who is progressing really fast. She's stopped drinking coffee and is trying her best to stop smoking. She went from smoking 40 cigarettes a day to only 5. PROGRESS! She has gone to church by herself the past 3 Sundays! And hopefully this week, if she doesn't smoke she can be baptized. I personally think she can do it:) She really was prepared by the Lord to find the gospel, everything from her past, the people that she knows, her financial situation, EVERYTHING has prepared her to find and accept the gospel, to find Christ. She´s like a little Grandma to me and my companion, it's funny, But every time we meet with her she uses at least! Two hours! :)
  I'm learning a lot, about the gospel, about Christ, about myself, about others, and how all of it can improve! I love it! 
  Love you Bunches! Everyone of you:) Have a great Week!
    Love Elder Ralph