What an amazing
week in Aldeota! First off, we welcomed in the new missionaries on Tuesday from
the Missionary Training Center in São Paulo. There were 11 total, 6 Elders and
5 Sisters. This group was really great and it was fun to eat lunch at the
Mission Home and get to know them a little better and then go through the
training with them. The week has been busy in the Mission Office and I have
been training Elder Zwick how to do everything as Executive Secretary. I also
forgot to mention last week that Elder Zwick only has 6 weeks on his mission so
I am finishing up doing the 12 week training program for new missionaries with
him. It is a great program and I have enjoyed doing it again with him. Things
are going well and he will do great here!
What was
really great about this week was the work we were able to do outside the
Mission Office. We had some awesome experiences visiting people and teaching
people. Thursday, we went and visited some less active members in our ward with
a member. We visited some people on the church records that are in our ward
that the church has not had contact with in a long time. After visiting the
addresses and either the person didn´t live there anymore or they weren´t home,
we had one last name on the list, Flavio. We walked to the address and clapped
our hands and yelled his name. After awhile he came to the window and we asked
if he was a member of the church. He said he was but was baptized more than 30
years ago. We asked him if we could come in and share a message with him. He
came down and let us in. We sat down at his table and he explained to us that
he was baptized 32 years ago when he was in his teens and that this was the
first visit he had ever received since then. He told us that this has been the
hardest month of his life and he has been going through some major family
difficulties. He informed us that he had been praying all day and asking his
Heavenly Father to show him the way and to show him what to do. He was resting
and he woke up to someone calling his name. It was us. He told us that he was
pretty shocked when he looked out the window and saw us there after so much time
of not having contact with the church. It was an amazing experience for us and
we talked with him about how we didn´t know that he was going through a hard
time but that his Heavenly Father knew and that we were there to show him the
way. We had a great discussion about why we have to go through difficulties and
how we can find strength in our faith in Jesus Christ during challenges. We
read some parts from the Book of Mormon and had a great time helping him build
his faith in his Savior. It really reminded me that this work really is the
Lord´s work and that he will guide us to people that are in need of our help.
We also
started teaching a new investigator, Luan. He stopped Elder Allen on the road
here in Aldeota and asked to know more about the church. Elder Allen gave me
his address and his phone number and we visited him on Friday. We arrived at
his house, where he lives with his aunt and cousin, and he was very excited to
have us there. He is 20 years old and he immediately started asking us
questions and we started answering them. He had very, very good questions and
it was clear right away that he had a thirst for the knowledge of the truth. He
has a lot of knowledge of the Bible and we talked about the Book of Mormon with
him and how we have both as testimonies of Jesus Christ. He was very excited
and asked if he could have one. We of course gave him one and taught him about
the Restoration. We returned the next morning with a member in our ward who was
baptized about a year ago. They really got a long well and we had a great
discussion about how we can come to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He said
he had started reading and said he had plans to finish it this week. We taught
about the Gospel of Jesus Chirst: faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy
Ghost, and enduring to the end. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted.
He is very excited about it all and he came to church yesterday. During
testimony meeting he leaned over to me and asked if he could say something. I
of course told him he could and after a while he leaned over again and said he
would if I did, so of course I did. He explained how happy he was to be there
and how awesome the things were that he had learned already. He also said he
felt like family when he arrived at the church and he said he is excited to be
part of this great group of people soon. We are super excited about him and we
have plans to visit him every day this week, including today, and prepare him
to be baptized on Sunday!
The work is
moving forward full force here in Aldeota and I feel very blessed to be a part
of it. I hope all continues to go well with each one of you. We are also
getting more and more excited about Elder Anderson coming May 19th, which will
be awesome. Have a great week!
Until next
week.
Love,
Elder Helvey
Luan, Elder
Zwick, André (member) and me on Saturday morning.
Elder Zwick,
Ismael (member) and me with Flavio on Sunday afternoon.
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