Olá, Bom Dia!
So first things first: the activity ("blitz") with all of the missionaries coming to our area this week, didn´t happen. We had spent five hours straight looking up the addresses of all the less-actives in the branch, dividing up our area into six, creating maps, inviting the few members that were available,etc.
But at 9:30 the night before the activity, the zone leaders called and told us that no one was going to be able to make it after all, because they didn´t think the money and the time wasted on the bus would be worth it. So that was dissapointing.
But on the bright side, we at least know where all of the less-actives live, and have maps with their homes on it. So now we will be able to visit them more easily. Even though it was kind of annoying to have to rush and prepare everything, just to have the activity not happen, we now have good resources for us and the future missionaries here in Castelo Branco.
Everything happens for a reason :)
We had a few more lessons with our investigator, Antonio, this week! (he´s the 18-year-old). He really is such a great, solid, person! He has been trying to read the Book of Mormon every day, and when we meet with him, he has prepared questions for us. Usually his questions are just simple, like "who is Lehi?" or "what does it mean when they say ´seed´ here?" and then we try to lead his questions into a short lesson about faith, prophets, etc.
He is recognizing the blessings of the gospel already, even if he doesn´t quite understand. For example, he remembered that one time I prayed that his dad would be blessed, and then the next week his dad found a higher paying job. Antonio realized that this was an answer to our prayers, and he was very grateful for that.
Something that I´m learning, (and something that my Mission Presidente mentioned), is that it is better to truly move at the pace of the investigator, instead of pressuring them to be baptized in two weeks. So that´s what we are doing. It is so important to have patience and to focus on their needs and wants.
It is also important to focus on their futures, and I can really picture Antonio accepting the gospel and becoming a strong member of the church in the future.
We also met with Manuel and São this week. They are the ones that insist on giving us dinner whenever we visit them. I love them so much, they are so funny, haha. Manuel has a hard time focusing, but we´ve discovered that when we read from the scriptures with him, he pays more attention. He has told us several times that he doesn´t believe in God, but from the way he talks and responds, we know that he does, at least deep down.
São on the other hand is the more religious of the two, and has told us that she believes in what we have taught her. She is willing to come to church one day, but something always comes up that impedes her. They also love us, and invited us to visit their family with them in Lisboa, haha.
I have yet another story about running in my church clothes:
We went to a small town to visit a investigator, and the last bus would leave at 6:10. The investigator said that he would give us a ride home, but when we arrived at his house, he wasn´t there. We then called him, and discovered that today actually wouldn´t work.
This was at 6:05. We then started to run for the bus; missed it by twenty secongs at one of the stops; and then we sprinted for the next stop, and barely caught it in time. It took me at least half and hour to catch my breath again, haha. I was sitting on the bus coughing and coughing and super sweaty--it was so embarrassing, haha.
Fun fact: they eat snails here!
This past week it has cooled down a little bit, and it has even rained a little bit! It sounds like they have started getting the fires under control, which is good.
I hope you all have a great week, and know that I love you all! I´m grateful that I can serve the Lord as one of His missionaries here in Portugal!
Love,
Elder Barker
No comments:
Post a Comment