I can't believe that my own sisters getting married and she didn't invite me... Where's my wedding invitation?! Haha if they have one..... So I got a letter from Sacramento California and Soudnkusuisaf Korea, From Greg and Chayce this past week :) Its was cool to hear how they're doing. Oh and from Brother Carter... That was cool.
Mother darling the weather is fair, our house at 6:30 in the morning is a refreshing 85´F, yesterday it dumped for about ten minutes which was awesome but then the rest of the day was blinkin humid! But I'm getting use to it :) Working on my Tan ;P
This Week started off with an interview with my President. It went really well and I really enjoyed it. He always starts off with a little bit of social talk, he asked about what I planned to do when I finish my mission. I talked about BYU about dance and the daunting decision of choosing a major. He calls me his little dancer bahaha. He asked me what I like to do, hobbies things I've done in the past, he told me about how he found his career and all the loops that he had to jump through. In the end we both agreed that during the mission it isn't a time to think about it, that this time that I have now is precious and its separate from the ways of the world. It was funny that we talked about that cause the week before I found myself thinking about the future a lot. I think its because one Elder that I live with, who's become a good friend of mine is finishing his mission, so we've been talking a lot! But I know that this time that I have to serve the Lord is precious and I'm going to stay focused on the work and leave the future behind for a little while. I know that if I work hard and stay focused and try my best the Lord will continue to help me in the future. The other part of advice that he gave me was to do acts of service without being asked for my companion and see the reaction. "Shine his shoes or something like that". Alright I can do that... So Yesterday I shined my companions shoes! Even if his reaction wasn't exactly what I expected, I really felt different, it was a feeling that's hard to describe but I really enjoyed it. I learned, thanks to my president, that when things are hard its more important and more gratifying than when things are easy, just like when Abenádi ( MOM I FORGOT HOW TO SPELL HIS NAME IN ENGLISH) was in front of King Noah, facing his death, that was when he showed true faith, true courage. Its the same for us, when we have situations that are hard, that is when we have a chance to show how strong we truly are. Going out of the way and doing something Christ-like. At times its not always easier but its always better.
This past week we were able to find a man named Rodriguese, he's 59 and is married to this cute little old lady that remind me of Grandma Ralph. An interesting thing about Rod is that he doesn't believe in any religion, he believes in just God and Jesus Christ. He has attended his far share of churches and has come to the conclusion that all churches THAT HE HAS ATTENDED have corrupted the teachings in the Bible, that all of them teach doctrines against the Bible. Ding Ding Ding! :) Right You Are Rod. Using his belief in the Bible and the fact that all the Churches THAT HE HAS ATTENDED are false, we were able to teach him about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon as proof that today we have a Prophet. YES! Because of the reputation that CHURCH has left on him, we had to drag him by his white hair to Church.... Joking but we did have to persuade him. He's said " I'm not going to bring any more so don't you ask for nothing". Haha Yeah he really liked it, and I'm pretty sure he´ll come next week too:) He only has two problems, one is that he has a lot of problems, and the second problem is that he likes to talk about all of his problems hahaha, man even when we try to leave his house within the planned time its impossible, that man has talent to talk to people haha. :) I LIKE HIM!
We've had a lot of success finding people this past week, members brought a number of visitors to church and in through our own effort. This actually has happened these past two weeks! But as you find a lot of people that are interested, there are also a number of people that we find that really don't want anything to do with the church. One lady for example liked me and my companion ( Duh haha ) and really liked hearing our messages. But she wasn't progressing, wasn't going to church and so we had decided to be straight with her and planned to tell her that she had to go to church or there's nothing we can really do for her. So we went to her house and started talking to the family ya know kinda getting settled in. Then out of no where her father-in-law, who we had never talked to, came in and said that we had to leave and never come back, because his son who was the husband of the lady we were teaching, who is in prison right now for murder, who will be released soon, will hear about us and will more than likely kill us for getting close to his wife...... I personally think he's a little over protective haha.. But he didn't have to tell us twice.
So yeah we're finding a lot of people but only a few chosen are progressing towards baptism :)
ELDER RALPH
Maceio Brazil Mission Assignment
Serving in God's Army
