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| --The baptism... Marcyjane and Edinalva |
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| --the family of Domingos and Edinalva came to the baptism. |
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| --Domingos and his family at the baptism |
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| --a sweet bike parked at our apartment building |
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| -the Buenos aires ward building.. we are gonna start going there next week.. brand new chapel |
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| --me and elder lima in front of a catholic church |
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| -cajuína..but they bottled it in a beer bottle... hmmm |
Companion: Elder Lima
the place we went was horrible for internet! it took 30 or so minutes
to send that message with that one picture... so ill send more this
week. Sounds like you had a fun week. Im glad to hear that jade is
playin good ball... we´ll have to see if i can keep up with him when i
get back. Im glad to hear tayton is doin good as well... keep workin
hard dude, ive learned that if you really focus and practice hard, you
can get good at about anything, so keep workin hard and you´ll keep
improving. I did see that video of jenna´s choir... pretty sweet i
might say. Thanks for the updates.. i love to hear from you and see
the videos and pictures.
my week was a lot better this week.. we still had a few days that were
tough, and a couple of downpoints, but for the most part it was pretty
good. I did get a letter from tal and austin.. loved the family pics!
but i dont understand that ´seasons greeting´ frase anymore... i just
dont get it cause it doesnt make sense to me. Anyway as you know, last
monday was the worst internet ever... but that night i did see elder
stewart and got to catch up with him which was cool. he is in parnaiba
and was here for a leadership training.. so that was cool.
Tuesday was a day of walking the streets and making a lot of
contacts.. i gotta say that it is pretty boring, and more here because
this area has had missionaries for over 20 or so years, but every once
in a while we get some good people to talk to. That night we had
interviews with President Dias.. My interview was last of the day and
we talked a lot about how we need to involve and strengthen the
members in missionary work.. this because i will leave the area and
the things we leave with them will only benefit them.. so if they want
the blessings, we need to help them do it their selves.. it was
interesting but a really good interview. President said he is seeing a
change in me and that ive grown up a bit i guess... i think he has a
little more trust in me which is good.
Wednesday.. happy february. We visited leonardo and larisse this
day... we taught them about how there can only be one true church, but
it was kind of a messy lesson. i do feel like it was alright though...
but they are kinda loosing intrest i think... its gonna be tough. we
spent the day again just making contacts... nothin too exciting.
Thursday we had lunch at a members house... and in the middle of lunch
she pulls out a laptop and turns the screen to us... it was a news
article on the internet of a recent convert in the ward that was put
in jail because they were being accused for working for a company and
directing money into their own account or something... my stomach
dropped because it was someone that has been helping us quite a bit...
anyway, i guess they are still in jail and im not sure if they are
innocent or what, but it has been tough. We visited a couple of
people, like mateus who came to church last sunday, spent the day
making contacts with people again, then taught another recent convert
named felizbella. She said that she has been having a tough time and
had a dream that it was because she hadnt gone to church in a few
weeks... pretty cool how people receive their answers... but she wasnt
home when we passed by to take her to church.. hopefully next week.
Friday we had lunch again at the house that had the guy visiting that
served in Utah.. we had a good time talking again about the mission
and about Utah and what was different there. We then had a good lesson
with leonardo and larisse about the Book of Mormon and how that is the
way they will know if this is the true church or not.. just the
feelings in the room were strange.. i think because they know the
person that went to jail and it just is hard now for them.. We then
had a long conversation with some guy that was becoming a catholic
father or something.. the type of guys that cant get married. He was
super friendly... ya know a little too friendly to me that kinda made
him appear gay... but im not to judge. Anyway he knows the scriptures
really well and talked well of our church and said that he will visit
next sunday... it was an interesting conversation. We were on our way
home that night and a member from parnaiba stopped us and gave us a
ride home. he was there visiting his parents so that was cool to see
him.
Saturday i hit 1year and 6 months! We had a good day too. We had the
baptismal interviews in the morning for Marcyjane and Edinalva.
Marcyjane came here on vacation and visited the church. We started
teaching her and everything just went super smoothly... I dont know if
i have felt so guided by the spirit before because every lesson we had
with her was very smooth and the spirit was always there.... I gained
a stronger testimony that the spirit really can guide our words when
we open our mouth... if we are in tune with him and just trust that he
will do his part if we do ours. Marcyjane was elect and actually
helped Edinalva i think make the decision to get baptized. Edinalva is
Domingos´s sister. Domingos is a member for 6 months and has the
preisthood and all and is an awesome guy and helps us a lot. His
sister already talked with the missionaries, but never wanted to get
baptized. Anyway we had a great lunch after the interviews, cleaned
the font, got everything ready for that night, then we had a great
baptism with all of Domingos´s family. Domingos and his mom were the
only ones baptized until now... he has two brothers still that havent
been baptized, but his family is making a lot of progress... he is a
happy man.
Sunday we brought mateus´s family to church... except him. he stayed
to watch a soccer game, but we got his mom and his 3 brothers and 1
sister to church, though they left after the first meeting. But we had
marcyjane and edinalva confirmed and it was our last sunday here...
the ward is dividing and we are going to the new chapel of buenos
aires while this old chapel is being reformed.
Anyway, it was a decent week... i always hope for better though.
Hopefully me and elder lima can keep improving and doing better every
day... thats kinda what this gospel is all about. If you can do better
today than you did yesterday, then you are doing what you should be
doing. That is trying to become more like christ. I know that in
trying your best to become like Him, you will be a whole lot happier
and feel more satisfied in your life.... Gotta love it.
Love you guys! cant wait to hear from ya next week.
Elder Smoot
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