Throwing a frisbee around with Elder WilcoxIt sounds like it was a pretty crazy week for everybody.
I have some quick stuff to get out of the way:
So this P-Day is a celebration of my 14 months on the mission (Mar 16), Elder Corbett's 15 months on the mission (Feb 5), my year in the country (Mar 19), my half birthday (Feb 27), and basically anything else we can think of. We're going to Parque da Paz like we did last week and are going to have a pretty sweet picnic with some other missionaries and members. Should be cool.
Last night I thought I had so much stuff to write about like they were big things that happened, but now that I think about it, it was just a lot of great little things.
I don't think I'll be able to write about everything in chronological order.
On Thursday we went to say goodbye to Edilson, who is going back to Angola. We've been working with him to help him strengthen his testimony and conversion, and during this visit, we still had no idea what we were going to teach him when we walked into the door. We talked to him about everything, he played some hilarious songs for us on the guitar that I want to learn eventually, and then I opened the Book of Mormon and looked down on the page to see Mosiah 2:17, and I realized at that moment that that was exactly what he needed. We talked about the importance of service, and it occurred to me how important it really is.
One question I've started asking investigators when introducing the Book of Mormon is “How do you know somebody loves you?” The bottom line that we always arrive at is that they do things for you to try to help you get what will make you happy, whether you realize it or not. It's been incredible to see how the love of Christ is exactly that, the Spirit of Revelation is exactly that, and that the Plan of Salvation is exactly that. God loves us so much that he brought forth the Book of Mormon.
The greatest commandment: Love God. The second: Love thy neighbor as thyself. Are they really different at all? “If ye have done it unto the least of these thy brethren ye have done it unto me” right? A great measure of our love for God is our service for our neighbor.
Friday we went with João Pedro, who lives with his grandmother who just got an emergency kidney transplant after waiting for 13 years. It was his first time going with the missionaries, and after our lesson with Ricardo (António's son) about the Book of Mormon, he asked us, “This is incredible! I feel so good!” “Imagine feeling like this every day, João.” This kid has been a big influence on the others in the ward, and we've been having problems with the young men in the ward (who are all 10-14, basically), and hopefully we can help João Pedro see the value of living the Gospel and influence the others in the ward. We went to a family night with Josiane (she lives alone) and João Pedro came with us. We did a scripture chase from scripture mastery scriptures from the Book of Mormon, and wow. Scripture mastery scriptures are awesome.
On Sunday, I confirmed Josiane in church, and it was an amazing experience. There have been so many times that I have just gone and done things that I had no idea I could do. Sometimes when we're at home, I wonder how in the world I'm going to do everything I know I have to do, but I leave all that stuff at home and watched myself do amazing things. I opened my mouth to do the confirmation and it was completely different. We've done contacts and said completely different things for each person. I've given blessings and had completely different things happen. The Spirit is absolutely amazing, and I am absolutely sure that the Comforter can make it possible for us to get far outside of our comfort zone. We just have to go and do.
So you remember the program that I mentioned last week? We've continued doing it for each member that wanted to listen, and it's been an absolutely incredible experience. We got a call Monday night from Rozendo saying that he went and did what we had planned to do and that his friend Eva wanted to have the lessons. We're going tonight. My whole mission, I've thought that the only way you can actually get references are when they come in the mail from the office (from contacts on the street made by other missionaries). Members didn't want to just “give names” of people, and this has helped them so much to love their friends enough to extend an invitation.
It's also been very revealing about a few members who seemed ultra active but who have been very against trying anything. “They're all communists and Jehovah's Witnesses.” “We've already talked to our neighbors. They don't want anything.” It's been really sad for me, and some members don't even listen when we tell them it's possible for God to place somebody in the grocery line for them or anything. But people just didn't want to act. There's a big difference between testimony and conversion.
While walking down the street a couple nights ago, I was talking to Elder Corbett about how sick I was of the old way of doing contacts, “Hi, we're missionaries... blahblah... we have a message we want to share with you... blah blah... have you ever heard of the book of mormon... blah blah blah.” You don't need to tell them that you have a message – tell them the message! There was nobody on the street, until we rounded a corner and there was a guy sitting on a bench. I started talking to him and somehow right away he said basically, “man I've really distanced myself from God and everything is going wrong. I don't know where a good church is around here and I really want to come back.” Seconds later somebody yelled from a car for him to come inside, and he wanted to meet with us the next yesterday at the bench. We exchanged numbers. Yesterday, I was on division with Elder Wilcox, and he called us (!!!!) to say that he wouldn't be able to make it that night but wanted to try for Thursday. If you are working by the Spirit, it doesn't matter where you are – you will find people.
It's been a great week, basically.
We talked with António Fragoso again last night (inactive ex-missionary) and it was amazing how a conversation Elder Wilcox and I were having just on the way was perfect for him. I asked Elder Wilcox what our purpose statement would be after the mission if our purpose on the mission that all our actions are tied to is “invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel... etc”. It's going to be the same!!! This life is too short to focus on anything besides that. It was a great realization to me, confirming some of my questioning of what in the world I'm going to do with the rest of my life, but why stop being a missionary ever?? There's nothing more important than coming unto Christ and helping others, whether it's at home, at work, or anywhere. It's really helped me discover and reconcile my true desires with the desires I think I have and the desires I think I'm supposed to have. Everything we do should be connected to our purpose.
I think if we all had an extra 5 minutes in the 24 hours of every day where we contemplated our current location in the Plan of Salvation, I think we would understand so much better our true desires and what we need to do here before time runs out so that we can get where we truly want to go.
Somebody told me to “love your mission no matter what” and I'm learning now that that's not a retrospective kind of love or some kind of perceived level of satisfaction at which to arrive. It's active and I have a lot to do.
I miss you guys a lot, but it's no big deal. We all have our work to do.
ELDERLOBO
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