Wasssssuuuppppp?

Eu acho que O Senhor queria que eu estivesse em Palmeira para que eu pudesse aprender cozinhar.

 

My week was quite dandy. Full of the normal/awesome stuff of missionary work. But first, I would like to give a shout out to Elder Austin Barrus, for being an AWESOME friend and sending me a Book of Mormon in German and a super inspirational letter that helped me out a whole lot. If anybody wants só um pedaço de felicidade, just have Elder Barrus write you a letter.

 

So we had 29 people in sacrament meeting this week. It was a lot better than 9 from last week. It was fast Sunday, and normally nobody bears their testimony here, so it's just the missionary and the branch president. But this week, almost all the members got up and bore their testimony, incluiding a non-member that was there! It was super cool to see how the Spirit was brought into the room by one powerful testimony, and it left everyody else wanting to bear one too! I wanted so badly, but I thought it better that the members strengthen one another, especially since this stuff never happens. And I get to bear my testimony everyday, so it just wouldn't be fair. But it was so cool and I'm so grateful for this little tender moments that we know that Heavenly Father really does love us.

 

Last Monday, we has a family night at a members house. We watched "Joseph Smith: O Profeta da Restauração" and I made crepes for everybody. And yes, we found Nutella, so it was fantastic. 

 

We passed by Beatriz and Luisa everyday this week, and we could not find them at home. It was super weird, considering that Beatriz had that amazing experience that she needed to hear our lessons. But then, one day, as we were trying to find her again, we ran into her on the street. But she was holding hands with a guy that had to have been 35 years, and Beatriz is 50 years old, more or less. It was super weird, but it goes to show that the adversary knows what will happen if she hears our message, so he's working, too. It only means that we have to work 10x harder. Challenge accepted.

 

This week, we found a guy named Rafael. He's a student at the college here in Palmeira, and he's studying Theology. He is super cool, super open, and super smart. I felt like I was in Georgia again when he was talking about the Bible. We taught him about the Restoration and about Priesthood Authority. He then started to pull out random scriptures just to proof us wrong (not in a rude way, but in a civil/gentlemen-who-sip-tea kind of way). I don't know what happened, but let's just say the Spirit is the best Bible Basher. So many explainations, answers to his questions, biblical information, and much more that I didn't even know I knew left my mouth and responded to every doubt that he had in that moment. It was super cool to see how the Spirit was working. But then, to stop the useless "civilized bible bashing" (which I never really liked to do), we left him with an extremely powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. We explained that the only thing that will ever respond truthfully to whichever question he has, will be the Spirit. And that if he ponders in the Book of Mormon and searches humbly to know the truths of God, that God, through to power of the Holy Ghost, will reveal truths to him. It was a super amazing experience and it really goes to show that, regardless of worldy knowledge of the bible or anything, the only thing that really matters is if you humbly and sincerely seek answers from God. Forget about you own personal knowledge, but search the knowledge of the Lord. In Him, you will find all your answers.

 

I was study in Helaman 12, and I began to think. Here, Nephi, the son of Helaman, is preaching repentance to the people of Zarahemla. In verse 8 until verse 21, Nephi starts talking about the power of God, and if God wants something to happen, it will happen. It says stuff like, "If the Lord shall say - Move - the mountains shall move...and if the Lord shall say...then it will happen" It was super cool, but it was showing the power of God in comparison to the nothingness of man. Then Nephi begans to teach about repentance. I started to think and a phrase appeared in my mind. "If the Lord shall say -- Thy sins are forgiven thee-- then thy sins will be forgiven." It really hit me. Really, the Lord has the power to take away anything bad that we've done. Whether it be something horrible, or even just a bad thought, he has the power to heal us. Men offer a million ways to be happy and "be free of sadness" but it is only through the atoning power of Jesus Christ that we can be healed from the sadness of the natural man, and experience the endless happiness promised to us by Mosiah in Mosiah 2. My challenge to you all would be to pray every night and sincerely seek the forgiveness of the Lord, whether you did something horrible, or something simple, you can and will be forgiven. But first, you need to seek forgiveness. 

Really, the Church is true. God loves each and every one of us! I know it's true!

Choose the right!

 

I love you all! I hope your week is better than waking up to the smell of bacon on Saturday morning. 

Rock on 

Elder Hintze