So I think it´s been awhile since I last wrote in my blog. I´ve been in a city called Esteio. The Lord has a lot of work to be done in this city, and He has been showing my companion and I a lot of His children that have been waiting to be baptized. Over the past 2 months my companion and I have had the privlege of baptizing 10 people. Each one has been a very special experience and a lot of work. We had to pray and fast a lot because the Lord really played the biggest part in bringing these people repentance. We as missionaries just took advanteges to follow the spirit and invite them to come unto Christ. I really think that the hardest part of the mission is not following the spirit, but being worthy of the spirit. When we´re worthy to teach by the power of the Holy Ghost every thing else goes well and becomes a lot easier. So miracles happened this week like they always do every week. One of them was pretty intense. Good thing it was intense because I was kind of needing to wake up a bit because I was tired. Anyway we were walking back home after the baptism going to lunch at a house that was pretty far from our house. I was carrying my back pack on my back, a violin, and a black trash bag with all of my companion´s wet baptism clothes. We then approached an area that had a pile of trash( or a pile of reusable materials as some people call it) and on the other side were 3 big dogs eating left over fod from the trash. When I passed by the dogs they immediately got super angry and started barking and showing their teeth. One of the dogs was a pitbull. I don´t know why they were mad but it all just happened super fast. I used the bag of clothes I had and dangled it in front of me and the 3 dogs came up and bit the bag. I kind of played tug of war with one of them. Keeping my front to them I backed away and luckily before another one came after me the owner came outside and called them into her yard behind the gate. I walked away with just a hole in the bag of clothes. I apologized to my companion about the whole. I´m glad he forgave me.
After lucnh one day my companion got a call from a member asking us to go to a Pizzaria with him. He said that we could go in a group and get a discount and each one of us would only have to pay 15 reais to get in. A pizzaria the most expensive place you could go to eat at in this city. You sit down and they bring all kinds of pizza to your table and you can eat as much as you want. No limits. They even bring you dessert pizza. And all the pizza comes fresh out of the oven. Normally it´s 30 reais. We went to the pizzaria with him and in the end he ended up paying for everything and didn´t let us help pay for the admission. He is the best! Food had been really rough for the first part of the week because we didn´t have a fridge. I was eating lots of ramen and noodles and crackers. Pizza was so good!
Lately I have decided to be more focused on the mission than I already had been. Learning to direct all of your passions, interests, and thoughts to the Lord and His work really does make a differene. I can´t have one foot on the mission and one foot at home. The mission has helped me so much to find happiness in the simple things. something I like to ask myself is: When you´re alone and tired and stressed what do you think about or do? If we can do what´s right when know one´s looking or no one really expects it then we can change our nature, the way we live. As children of God we can really achieve a lot more than we think. Don´t let yourself get weighed down by anything of the world. Have a purpose, have a goal, and do everything you can to work towards it. I really do believe that we can trust in the Lord. If we do His will He will bless us. Many times want to do things our way but we´ll really only be shorting ourselves. We have to do things the Lord´s way, there is no other option. Do not look for rest because the Lord will give it to you if you only do what He asks. I´m so grateful for the Lord´s mercy and love, I feel it every day. I know that this Church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It has an incredible power of converting people unto Christ. Apesar das dificuldades, sou muito grato por estar na missão por que sei que tudo valerá apena no fim. ( even though there´s difficulties, I´m grateful to be here on the mission because I know it will all be worth it in the end.) Tchau.
