Service Brings Love and Eternal Happiness

                                                                                                                    July 25, 2016

Hi Family!! 

 

So, I wanted to save more time to write you all in general this week!! 

 

My new companion, Sis. Hall

Sister Hall is an answer to my prayers!!

 

I had been praying that I could receive a companion this transfer who would really work well with me, and would be really obedient, and would really help strengthen me spiritually here in a difficult area.

 

Heavenly Father does more than just answer prayers because he not only gives us what we need, but teaches us why we need certain things in our lives. 

 

Enjoying pizza with Sister Hall

We have, as a companionship, decided to focus on serving more in this area. We are going around asking a lot of the Irmãs in the ward if we can serve them by helping around the house or any other service project they would like us to do for them. (except taking care of children haha)

 

They have actually been taken by surprise when we´ve asked them. Some of them I think were a bit offended because they generally take care of everything in their lives as moms and home-makers, but we decided to invite them to think of something that we can do for them to help them progress in their lives. Something that they don´t have time to take care of in their lives that they have been pushing off to the side.

 

We are in the middle of creating a calendar of service for the month of August, and we are going to show it to all of the Irmãs in Relief Society this Sunday. 

What I love about Sister Hall is that she talks with EVERYONE about the Gospel. She´s always finding an opportunity to teach about our Savior or the miracle of the restoration of the Church in a contact, and we made it a goal to really teach people on the streets (to slow down a little bit more in our contacts on the streets) and try to understand what their needs are. We have actually been able to find more people who live in our area, and we have been able to mark more commitments with them during the week because of that. This is pretty huge because we normally don´t have a lot of commitments planned during the week in this area. Everyone is generally in a rush, but they stop to listen to us when we stop to talk with them about the pure love of Jesus Christ, and they generally stop to talk to us when they recognize that we are servants of the Lord.

 

We have been a lot happier and a lot more successful this week as we have focused on serving more people. Simply just asking someone if they need help carrying groceries on the street helps someone gain more trust in us. Just hand-washing someone´s dishes during the day really makes the world of a difference in someone´s perspective of us as representatives of Jesus Christ. It´s amazing how Jesus Christ came to this Earth to serve. There really wasn´t any other motive to come, but to serve each one of us, and serve our Father in Heaven. 

Yesterday, a young man who has been less inactive for a long time named Cawei came to Church. We haven´t been able to find him in his house, but one Saturday night when we worked with a young man named Nicholas (a member of the ward), a miracle occurred, and we entered into his home, and found his uncle (who isn´t a member) and him in his house. Cawei really didn´t want to let us in because I think he was tired of the Church, but his Uncle named Marcos shouted out to us from inside of his house, ´´Vocês gostariam de fazer uma oração para a minha família? Estamos precisando de oração´´ He wanted us to pray in his house, so we walked in, and found his parents (who live in another area of the mission) and Marcos, and we taught them about the Atonement of Jesus Christ that night. Cawei participated, and he said that to him, the Atonement of Jesus Christ represented a ressurrection for each one of us.

 

We testified of the Atonement, and closed our message, inviting them to learn of the Restoration of the Gospel in another visit, and Nicholas offered to walk to church with Cawei the next morning. Marcos had to work yesterday, but this next Sunday he gets the day off, so hopefully everything works out alright. 

We have been having a lot more success in this area just from focusing on serving others. When we serve, we find love. When we find love, we find an eternal happiness.

Yesterday in Church I learned from another mission president that true conversion comes from living the Gospel, and not just talking about it. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 

Have a wonderful week!!!