This Sunday I spent the whole time in the sacrament meeting running after kids and trying to keep them quite so there parents who were visiting the church for the first time could pay attention to the testimonies. There was a space of about ten minute that I had five of the kid-sitting down “criss-cross applesauce” in the backside of the chapel as I passed out little stickers to them that were behind my name tag. And I asked them to touch and identify their nose, face, eyes, ears and other parts of their body to keep them occupied. Needless to say I didn’t hear a single testimony beside my own, when I finally decided to run up and bear my testimony on families. The branch president got a kick out of it as he watched me trying to quiet down the kids. :)
Something really special happened this week. One of our recent converts has been planning on going to São Paulo to work for his brother where he would earn a lot more money and would be able to pay off some debts and would be able to move into his own house. BUT where he would move to doesn’t have the church AND he would have to leave his family here in Sergipe, FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR! I was shocked that he has been considering it. We have been really worried about him going to São Paulo because he is recently baptized and needs to learn a lot more before he is strong enough to be alone in the world, and he and his wife were married just a few weeks ago and it’s crucial that they learn and grow together, because they really do push one another. It’s kind of funny. So last night we passed by their house to go over a few matters and right when we came in they handed me an Ensign and asked me to read it out loud. I started off reading and came to a scripture that said something like this, Fear God more than man, and before ye seek riches, seek first the kingdom of God. Boooom and the man explained to us that that scripture and that Ensign was written for him and he has decided to not go to São Paulo and will stay and be with his wife and nurture his testimony of the church. He felt within him that God will prepare something better for him than what São Paulo has to offer! YES! That was an answer to many prayers, including my own.
I am enjoying reading Jesus the Christ during our trips to other areas in our zone. I’m learning a great deal about the life of our Savior Jesus Christ and his magnificent teachings. They really are amazing and have helped me to understand more fully my purpose as a missionary, specifically about planting a seed of testimony in the hearts of those that I am teaching. But the seed is the same but it really depends on the soil. Many times I’ve asked myself why people don’t accept our message. It’s because they are not prepared for it yet, and it’s my job to offer that seed to them and testify about how that seed can grow to be an enormous tree and give fruit. LOVED IT :)
I’m so happy that I’m on my mission, serving and learning more of my Savior :)
LOVE YOU GUYS,
ELDER RALPH
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| Dad, it's a REAL truck.... |
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| Every Sunday we have to kill all the crickets and sweep them up prior to the meetings. |
