OPPOSITION IN ALL THINGS

5/28/12

What a week!  I cannot tell you how much it helps me to hear from you all!  I LOVE your e-mails and letters!!!  They mean the world to me!!!  So Thursday we had a zone conference and I GOT THE PACKAGE!!!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!  I had to guard it from the elders- everyone knows there is chocolate in packages and I knew there would be GALAXY!  haha.  Thank you so much for the pictures!!!  What a BEAUTIFUL family I have. :)  Everyone looked especially beautiful and happy- especially the bride and groom!  Very classy.  Thank you so much for the hair clips, the Lindt, FRUIT SNACKS!!! :) Thanks Gram!, and the SHIRTS!!!!  They fit perfectly and me and Irmã dos Santos LOVE them!!!  Thank you so much for the bridesmaid bracelet- it means so much to me.  I cried.  I seem to cry a lot lately.  My wits are always on end. :)  And the letters!!!! Thank you to all my friends and of course family that wrote me letters!  Congrats to Pono and her mission call!!!  SOOO exciting!!!!  I don’t think I know of anyone that has been looking forward to a mission more than Pono Santos.

This week has been full of miracles, awesomeness and of course opposition- sempre.  Oh before I forget!  One of my recent converts- Titi, will be visiting London for a class!!  I think she is going to go to the Portuguese speaking ward that meets in your building!!!  AH!!!  I will give her the London number, but unfortunately you don’t speak Portuguese and she doesn’t speak English, but maybe someone in the ward can help.  I hope you guys can get together at church or sometime, that would be CRAZY AWESOME!!!  Yesterday we had a BAPTISMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Telmo- the most golden person I have ever met.  We contacted him on the street last week on Friday I believe, he came to church for the first time last Sunday, and the whole week we taught him and he was baptized after church yesterday!!!!  The great thing is we didn’t do anything.  It was all him and the spirit.  But boy he was so prepared.  We marked him for baptism the first lesson.  We gave him a Livro do Mormon on Sunday at church, by our first lesson on Tuesday he had been reading and MARKING it- starting with introduction and testimony of Joseph Smith.  With all the lessons we gave him pamphlets to read and he read them all and MARKED them.  He came with questions and made sure he understood everything he could.  He just drank everything in.  By Thursday he was REALLY sure about his baptism.  Friday he was a little worried, but still strong and Saturday with his interview with Elder Wiseman he was SOOO pumped!!!  We talked to him about inviting friends, what food he wanted, who he wanted to baptized him etc, and he kept saying it didn’t matter as long as he is baptized.  After the baptism and meeting yesterday i talked to him over cookies (which i made! haha) and i asked him how he was feeling.  He said He feels ´saved´. HAHAHA.  I LOVE HIM!!!! He is so awesome!!!!  I will send pics next week!

Unfortunately we were supposed to have more than one baptism, but he chose not to.  We have been teaching Hertz for forever and he KNOWS the church is true.  This week was FULL of extremely spiritual lessons and fire!!!  But he will get there.  Bruno is the name of the 17 year old we met on the bus- we haven’t been able to teach him yet.  

Revelados.  I can´t remember what I have explained about them before, but I have learned more about it.  I will try to explain.  On Friday we have our weekly planning.  We pray who is ready and can be baptized for the next Sunday- these are our revelados.  We actually pray for the number first, and then the name.  We make a plan of how to contact or teach everyday to prepare these people for baptism.  Revelados do not change.  The number does not change.  If your Revelados aren´t baptized that week, it was your fault.  Sometimes it is because of their choices, but mostly it is on us as missionaries.  We repent all the time.  Throughout the week Revelados take priority over other pesquisadores.  To have the Revelados be baptized the missionary must have FAITH.  Pure FAITH.  Whatever opposition comes, you work through it and just know that this person is supposed to be baptized this week.  Sometimes it is easy to say Óh, they won´t stop drinking before Sunday, or they wont move out of the house with their boyfriend, etc.  You must have complete faith and trust in the Lord to carry on.  I am really learning how to use the Atonement- all the time.  And I am learning so much about having Faith in the Lord.  I wonder all the time why revelados when some people aren´t baptized- and Irmã dos Santos thinks  it is because we need to see what could have happened if we worked harder and did more if we really brought the spirit and did everything we could (which actually we never can because we are weak and not perfect, but that is where Grace comes in) people will be baptized.  If we are exactly obedient, have faith, love, pray and fast.  We really need to give our all for miracles to occur- to help save souls.  We need to give ALL of ourselves.  Sorry, I think I am writing thoughts from our zone conference and it might not make sense.  Revelados have given me lots of stress and anxiety, and it has been hard for me to find joy in the journey sometimes, but I am learning.  President Torgan said Moroni 1:1 says (it is actually HIS scripture because his first name is Moroni! haha) Missionarios existem para tinham alegria. (don´t know if that is correctly spelled) in English:  Missionaries exist to have joy.  This IS joyful work!  And President Torgan says to repent for 10 seconds hard core and then move on and keep smiling and working hard.  I am still learning- about everything- about how to be a good missionary, a better person and sometimes it is frustrating because I can never be perfect.  But I know that Heavenly Father loves me.  I want to be my best for him.  One of my zone leaders said that a leader of the church said that there should be a point in the mission when you don´t recognize yourself- because you have changed for the better.  The Lord will take you and mold you to become who He wants you to be- if you let Him.  I am working on changing for the better every day.  Everything I learn I am trying to Apply IMMEDIATELY.  I repent immediately.  Changing for better, becoming who we need to become is all about our choices.  Choose to change every day.  Change means not going back- just like repentance.  I am also working on my thoughts- changing my thoughts to complete faith. 

Lots of thoughts in my head from this meeting and from my experiences on the mission, sorry. haha.  Hopefully they help in some way.  I love being a missionary.  I love being here.  I am happy.  I love the Lord.  I love His church.  I love my family, the Book of Mormon, chocolate, bread and butter, chapstick, palm trees, my Brazilian companion, hot showers, toothpaste, and YOU!!!!!  LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!  Jesus Christ LIVES!!!!  I am so excited for Him to come AGAIN!!!  Hurrah for Israel!!!

Irmã Tingey (wont be Irmã for long :( will change to Sister- to match the other Portuguese missions)