Thursday, April 3, 2014

29/03/14

There was just no creative title coming to me for the subject line, haha and now I am writing down so many dates and being so organized that today´s date just seemed like a great subject line. 

I am really enjoying it here in Tucuruvi! This week was just absolutely crazy, it flew by so incredibly fast!! So to start off after p-day ended on Saturday I went on a crazy splits! We needed a baptismal interview for Allan, so one of the Assistants came and did that for us (they usually don't do interviews but President said they could do it for the Secretaries since it is easier with us living in the same house) but they also had investigators needing an interview that same night so I went with one of them to their area on a split, there we met up with our District Leader and he went with the AP and I went on a split with the District Leader´s companion! Haha it was a crazy little switch off game! But it was really good, I went with an Elder who already has almost 1 year and 6 months on the mission. he is really cool, his name is Elder Amorim, he is from Southern Brasil. He unfortunately doesn't really have a lot of experience with leading, we were kind of walking around lost, but we were able to teach and mark a baptismal date and then do some great street contacts. I liked working with him and it was really reemphasized to me the importance of planning. We need to put forth our effort and plan. When we do that we receive greater inspiration, we are in areas where we are guided to people, and God blesses us for our obedience. I am so grateful for planning, it seriously is something that I feel I have worked really hard on in the mission and I have been very blessed in striving to always plan well.
So then Allan passed his baptismal interview!!! And was baptized Sunday after church!!!!!!!!! It was so great, Sunday in general was just really really good. We got there and Emanoel and Reuza (haha sorry I accidentally wrote Heuza last week, but the R is pronounced like an H so it might have been better to write it like that for you all!) came with their two sons again, but this time they invited Reuza´s brother and their other nephew from another brother of hers!! And they both loved church! It was incredible! In total we had 8 investigators at church. And the other set had 3 at church. In all we had 11 at church, it was just such a great feeling!!! Even then we also were expecting some investigators to come who didn't show up, so hopefully we can have more in the future. I really felt so blessed, it was a great church meeting and Elder Mussin spoke in Sacrament about the Doctrine of Christ, or the Missionary Purpose, which is perfect for investigators. Then almost all of them stayed after to watch the baptism, it was really cool to see that, it answered a lot of questions they had.

So yeah, Sunday was great, we were so pumped and excited to see that these people are taking these steps of faith and seeing the blessings that are promised to them as they obey the commandments. For example, Reuza really really loves coffee. Like is addicted to it. It´s not good, but she was struggling with the Word of Wisdom because of that. Well we told them about this drink that the church advises people to use here that is a good substitute but isn't against the word of wisdom. So we told them about it and then when we came to teach them this week they were there preparing it already! And she loved it! And I was so grateful, it was an answer to prayer. Haha but then they offered some to me. Well this drink is called cevada, it is really similar in smell and appearance to coffee, but isn't coffee, it is actually a lot healthier for you. Well I gag at the smell of coffee at times. I was seriously worried, haha how can I expect them to drink this if I cant!?! So I went to drink, everyone looking at me, and I was just hoping I wouldn't make a nasty face or something like that, and I actually liked it! haha another answer to prayer. I mean, I am not going to go buy it anytime soon, but it wasn't all that bad!

This week we also had mini-transfers!! What does that mean?? Well the brasilian area presidency decided that all missionaries who have been out in the field more than two transfers will go to the MTC here in Brasil when they get their visas for two weeks to relearn Portuguese! So unfortunately the schedule is not he same as  our transfers, which means that basically from now on two weeks after transfers we will have new missionaries arriving as well, meaning another mini transfer! This was the first one we had and two missionaries from my district in the MTC got their visas! Sister Hauet and Sister Mills arrived on Tuesday morning along with another elder i know from BYU, Elder Jacobs, and another elder and sister that I just met when they got here! It was a little crazy, having to organize everything for them to come, but they got here, we were able to train them quickly on how everything works here, I had to tell them all about the money and banks and security and things like that here, it was fun to be with them! Then they were off into their new areas, it was a really fast ordeal!
Then this week we also had the last Multi Zone Conference that we will have with President and Sister Martins. It was crazy!! We will have another meeting with them to say goodbye right before they leave, but we wont be getting instruction like usual so this was the last one. It was just crazy. It was so incredibly good and I am so grateful for them, they are truly inspired. President used the bible videos that the Church has been making and used them to instruct us and teach us how to teach like the Savior did. it is incredible that these situations are things that happen in our lives here. We see people who are blind spiritually. We meet people who are already content with their religion and reject anything new or foreign to what they are used to. The rich and the poor talk to us, we are here to teach all of them. We meet people from all circumstances, people entrenched in sin, people who are genuinely striving to follow Christ but don't know how, and people who reject us. We can use the Savior´s life to help and inspire us in our teaching. I was so grateful for the instruction that we received. It was cool.

Here is a video about when Christ suffered in Gethsemane that is incredible:

I am grateful to be here in this mission! I am grateful to work with President Martins and Sister Martins. I love this Gospel. I am grateful that I have the chance and the opportunity to serve my Savior. The Atonement is real. We can change, we can become like our Heavenly Father and one day return and live with him, with our families forever. I love this church. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, restored here on the earth. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father.
Elder Carney.

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