Week 55
11/28/16
This week was pretty good.
As I saw some huge ups and downs with investigators this week,
learned that as we do our part, Satan unfortunately also does his. We had some
really great investigators that showed huge interest and curiosity in The Book
of Mormon, but one woman´s husband prevented her from seeing us (if you think
that culture here can be a bit chauvinistic I more than agree!) and another
investigator that was really interested and gentle seemed to get scared by the
baptismal invitation-he asked to if he could go to church with us, but
retracted a little bit after we challenged him with baptism. So we´re praying
for those two to have angels intervene for them.
On a huge plus side, Alex went to stake conference with us and loved
it! The Recife temple president and his wife (from Sao Paulo I think, his wife
looked like an American woman but is Brazilian, I was expecting an English
accent from her mouth haha) spoke during the conference and did a little
´quiemacao`. He talked about how he went to Cabo Verde, and how they have
to save up 800 dollars to come to Recife by plane to go to the temple for
probably once in their lifetime, which is a huge expense most people there can
only afford once in their life. He then references the members in the state of
Para that travel over 30 hours to get to the temple. Then he proceeded, you
live 2 kilometers from the temple and many people here I have not seen dressed
in white. Translation: REPENT Recifenses!
We also had a great experience with some new investigators who
really love scripture study with people. One lady asked about our missions and
after we explained she replied excitedly Úma boa causa!`
When Elder Lucero responded a question that she was going to answer
with the same response she replied Éu amo esse bicho!`
Leonardo and family, I forget all their names, but there was one guy
there that initially didn´t want to come but he was dragged in, and when we
explained our beliefs on the Godhead, he went to say, I´m sorry, but I really
thought that what, and then Leonardo went all in, you thought what, say it, say
it, he said, I thought you guys worshipped Joseph Smith, etc. but was impressed
with our explanation with the Godhead and at least now respects the church.
Leonardo and family are neighbors with a member family and went on to talk
about them and how a son served a mission in Santa Caterina, and when people
talked bad about the church they said, È conversa rapaz!` So it was nice to see
people defending the church, mainly through the example of Christlike members.
We´ll see if they want more than Bible study, but they were all crazy about
getting The Book of Mormon. It´s interesting, we had a newsletter all about the
Book of Mormon, and really this week people have been abnormally interested in
the book. President and Sister Bigelow are inspired!
Temple President continued: Voces sao privilegiadissimos! He also
noted, this stake doesn´t have many young people. Youth are the future of the
veil. When I pass through the veil, someone will replace me. When each of you
pass through the veil, what youth will be there to replace you? Translation:
You are all going to die-where are the youth?! He then looked at our
investigator and said Seja bem vindo meu jovem`Me: should I say something, uh
gonna let that pass, maybe Alex thinks that´s normal haha. Also when going to
the conference, we passed by the Assembleia de Deus and said, church is
actually here, he replied, if it´s here I´m going home right now hahaThere were
some other great talks in the stake conference. His wife spoke about the importance
of eternal families and five things we must do in order to preserve them
1. Family Home Evening
2. Daily Prayer
3. Family Prayer
4. Temple Attendance
5. Tithing
She left a promise and her testimony that this tools would be
defenses to ensure an eternal family. They both also spoke about attitudes
towards the church and the gospel being an essential part in determining the
faithfulness of us and our posterity.
Another woman gave a beautiful talk and basically told all of
Pernambuco to repent,
She spoke about a young woman, 30 years ago on a sandy, desert like
road going to a chapel in a beautiful white dress. She said she felt the purity
from the teachings of the of chastity, word of wisdom, and other commandments, she
was touched by the spirit and was baptized. She told various other stories
about commandments and commitment, and when necessary, of even leaving behind
cherished traditions of our families our culture when God expects it. Then she
said, that young woman (her) decided that she would be faithful, and would
never again use that beautiful white dress-because it didn´t have sleeves. She
decided to be an example of the believers. Considering the kind of clothes
people here wear in this hot. tropical, climate, I thought the reminder most appropriate,
but also wondered what some of the people in attendance were thinking, ya know.
Elder Talentino
Elder Talentino
