Miracle on Padre Anchieta

Wow...this week was a miracle...

We've cut a lot of our investigators and we've been searching for more families this past week. We've been having a lot of success, and we've marked a lot of appointments with families for this upcoming week. But I want to share with ya'll a miracle that happened with Thiago and Patricia:

We were preparing to go to their house to make Hawaiian Haystacks and do a family night. We ran home to get the pineapples and other stuff, and while we were at home, I started having thoughts about what we needed to teach them. I thought a lot about the iron rod and that they need to be prepared to hold on to the iron rod as they begin this new journey in the gospel. I found an article in a church magazine about the iron rod, and I wrote down a few situations on some paper that could possibly be oppositions for them after their baptism...for example. "Wow. Today I'm tired and I don't feel like going to church. There's always church next week." or "Your friend talks bad about the church". Or other situations like that. We were going to talk about how they need to hold on to the iron rod, and that, especially now as they are preparing to start their journey, they need to hold on as tight as possible and avoid the opposition and temptations that will come their way. We were running a little late at home and I was having all these ideas of what we needed to teach them. I ran around gathering all the materials I could to have an effective lesson, and then we started heading to Thiago and Patricia's house. We got there and it felt weird in their house, and they were acting a little different. We talked a bit and then Thiago told us "So we have some new. I lost my job. And we think this is a sign that we shouldn't get married."....Well, imagine how I felt at that moment...my heart was broken! But I thought in my head "they are getting married if I have anything to do about it" and then I realized...this was the 1st big opposition that was trying to take them off of the iron rod. They were a little sad, so I decided to make the food first, do a fun activity to cheer them up, and when they were a little more animated, we would leave the message. And we did just that. We made Hawaiian Haystacks and they loved it. We did an activity with them blind folded, following a string which represented the iron rod, and they all laughed and like it. Then we left this powerful message and it was so perfect! I know that the Spirit was inspiring me before hand to leave that message. We were able to explain about opposition and how the adversary always tempts us when something good is about to happen. We explained that Thiago losing his job was just one opposition to keep them from getting married. We told them, boldly, and powerfully, that they need to get married and that Satan knows their potential and wants them to be miserable and he doesn't desire their eternal happiness and that he'll do anything to take them off the iron rod. I told them that they needed to hang on to the iron rod by getting married and by being baptized, and by making the goal of getting sealed in the temple. The Spirit was so strong and they agreed to getting married. It was such an amazing miracle and I'm so grateful that the Lord cares so much about a little family in Uruguaiana. I love the Lord so much and I love this work. This week, after General Conference, Thiago and Patricia are going to be married. Please pray for them. I love them so much and want them to experience the blessings of an eternal family.

I love this work so much, and I love the opportunities that the Lord gives me to be his servant here in Brazil.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEK

LOVE

Elder Hintze

Die on Monday, if you die on Friday, you'll ruin everyone's weekend!

HELLLLLOOOOOOO!!!!! I am just the happiest camper today! This last week was busy but we are doing a crazy awesome work here in Uruguaiana. It's cooled off...the beginning of this week was hoootttttt but now, the weathers cooled down and I had to put a sweater on when I woke up! Winter is coming people!!!

In an elevator on our way to teach

Elder Carlos de Souza and I are working hard, talking to everyone we see. We have a goal to talk to every family that passes us on the road, or every family that we see in their house, and to follow the Spirit to know which houses have families so that we can knock on those doors. When we talk to these families, we carry one of the churches special magazines that talks about the temple. We show them pictures of the temple and explain that the temple is the House of the Lord, and that it is a very sacred place. We explain that is the only place that is authorized to seal families for eternity.It's been very effective and I've been able to learn so much about the importance of the temple. I see families on the street and in their homes and I just can't imagine them without the amazing blessings of the temple. I am so grateful to bee sealed to my family for all eternity! i know with assurance that God loves his children, and because of this love, he gave us families, the source of our happiness. And when we have an eternal family through temple ordinances, we can have that happiness for all eternity. I love the Lord and I'm so grateful for the Temple!

. 

Speaking of eternal families, we've been working with an amazing family, Thiago and Patricia. They're a young, amazing couple with 2 beautiful children. We've been working with them since I got here, and we've also been emphasizing the importance of the temple and eternal families. They've been going to church every week, praying as a family, reading the scriptures together, and everything! Last Sunday, we went to their house with the Bishop. We had left the pamphlet "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" with them. With had written the day 28th of April at the bottom of the pamphlet, and we told them to pray, read the pamphlet, and then, if they felt the Spirit when the read the Date at the end, that they would be married and baptized that day. When we got there with the Bishop, they looked at us and told us "Well, we thought about it, and we think we're gonna get married in the middle of the year" I freaked out, because I knew they hadn't understood that marriage for them is not just a way to be more happy, but a way to repent of what they had been doing wrong and to obey the commandments of the Lord. Luckily, the Bishop jumped in and bore his testimony of the importance of obeying the commandments, and that marriage is a commandment to be fulfilled. We all bore our testimonies of the family, and the temple and told them to kneel, and pray as a couple if they needed to be married and baptized on the 28th. We were going to go back on Tuesday, but Thiago called us and told us that he had to work. So we remarked for Wednesday...and then the same thing happened and we remarked for Thursday...and then Friday...we got really worried that they were just trying to avoid us. So when he remarked for Saturday, we prayed that it would all go well. When we arrived on Saturday that looked at us and told us "Well...we received an answer....it doesn't look like the 28th will work out"....My heart dropped...but then they continued..."so we'll just get married that week after, on the 4th of April"....WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I was so happy! We've been working with them so much and I've soon the changes that they've made...so new we're working to marry them in the chapel after the last session of General Conference and then on the 11th, them and their children will be baptized!!! And they're already planning their sealing, too. (They told me that they want to get sealed in the Washington DC temple!). Patricia is an English Teacher, and Thiago works in the office of an agricultural engineering place. They are pretty well off, and such a happy family. I'm so excited for them to be able to experience the happiness of an eternal family in a little over a year!!!!!

My week was great, and I just wanted to share these experiences that I had. I love the Gospel and the perfect plan of Salvation that God has prepared for all his children. The church is true!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL

ELDER HINTZE

Kit Kat and H2OHHHH

Hello People!

So this week was pretty simple. Last P-day I traveled to Santa Maria for the Mission Counsel. It was great at the Zone Leaders were able to discuss what we can do better as a mission. Afterwards, I had the rest of the day to just wait. And my bus would leave after lunch on the next day, so I just spend the afternoon visiting members in the city that I love. I went with another Elder from Washington, DC and we ate the best flippin' cake ever at a members house. It was pretty darn sweet. It was so great to see all the great members and recent-converts that were there.

We got back to Uruguaiana on Wednesday night. We went to the store and bought some stuff to make dinner. And then we slept!

We had a really cool experience this week with the Area Book. We found the name of a couple that were being taught a couple years ago but weren't baptized because they weren't married. We decided to visit them. We got there and started to talk to him. His name is Rodrigo and he said that he's known the church since 2006 but it's been 3 years since the missionaries hadn't passed at their house. He explained that the only reason that he wasn't baptized was because he wasn't married, but in the past 3 years, him and his wife had gotten married. We challenged them that night to baptized on the 11th of April. He accepted!. The next day, we went and started to explain about the Restoration of the Church, and he already knew everything! We watched the Restoration Film with him and we testified that God has called a prophet again. We left him with a talk from Thomas S. Monson, and left the challenge for him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true. It was a great experience and now the Ward will have one more family!

We've been working a lot with another family, Tiago and Patricia. They go to church, read the scriptures, and pray together! They're great! They're going to get married on the 28th and their baptism will be a little bit after. Pray for them that everything will go right!

I love being here on a mission! I love the opportunity to serve the Lord, and show my love for him through this great service. I love you all, and just want you to know that I know that the Church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is a proof of the truthfulness of this Church. Please read from the Book of Mormon daily and gain a testimony of it, so that you can also feel the same joy that I feel from knowing that this book is true.

I love y'all!

Elder Hintze

I'm selling my lunch to buy my dinner

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING COUSIN, LUCIA MONTAGNOLI, WHO ENTERED THE MTC LAST WEEK TO GO TO THE ITALY MILAN MISSION! GOOD LUCK, LU!!!!

TRANSFERS!!!!!

So I'll be staying here in Uruguaiana. I'll be training a new Zone Leader. His name is Elder Carlos de Souza. I have no clue who he is. But I'm excited. Today, I'll head to Santa Maria for the mission council and I'll be heading back here on Wednesday night.

So my week was pretty awesome. We baptized João Paulo this last week. He's the nephew of a member family and they've been taking him to church, and he wanted to be baptized. We've been working with him, and wow, he's amazing. He's only 9 but he's super smart and knows everything about the church. It was a really cool experience to work with him.

We had marked another 2 baptisms this last week for 2 young women, Vitoria and Mariana. Vitoria is 13 and her older sister and little brother are members. Mariana is Vitorias aunt but she's 16. So we had been working with this family, and they were supposed to baptized. We went to Vitoria's house to confirm her baptismal interview, and when we got there, the first thing that she told us was "I don't think I want to get baptized anymore". We freaked out a little bit. (Actually, a lot). She was so prepared to be baptized and had been ready for weeks! Then she got a little more sincere and told us "Look. You're always saying that I need to pray and ask God if the church is true, and I still haven't done that yet!" She started expressing to us that she wasn't prepared spiritually and that she hadn't been keeping the commitments we were leaving. She told us that she wants to be a good member of the church when she's baptized, and that she didn't think she could if she didn't have a testimony. We explained to her that she was prepared and that she was already a great member of the church, but she still wanted to wait a little. So we're going to work with her more, and help her recognize the testimony that she already has. It made me a little happy to see that she actually has desire to be baptized. She's great and we'll definitely keep working with her.

We had a cool experience this week. We were walking to a plan after lunch, and an old man sitting on a chair called us over to talk with him. We were a little hesitant because he looked drunk. My companion looked at me and said "Here we go...". We went over and he asked us if we were "preachers of the Word". We said that we were missionaries sent by Jesus Christ. He looked at us and said. "Perfect." He started crying and telling us about his crazy health problems and how nobody knew what he has and how his wife and son had passed away. He asked for a prayer, so we went into his house and gave him a blessing. We talked a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and marked an appointment to pass at his house the next day to explain more. He accepted. We've gone to his house every day this week, and he went to church with us on Sunday, and he wants to come to church every Sunday! It was amazing to see how humble and willing he was to follow Jesus Christ. When I get back from Santa Maria, we're going to visit him and mark a baptismal date. He is a really great guy with great desires. Please pray for him. His name is João.

I love being here on a mission! It's such an amazing and incredible opportunity! I'm so grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve him! I know that this is His true Church!

This week, I want you all to think about the blessing you have from serving others. Find 3 scriptures about service and then read a conference talk about service. Right me a short email about what you learned and how you can search to serve people daily.

I love you all so much! You all rock!

Have an incredible week.

Elder Hintze

TACO BELL

"Quem quer, faz. Quem não quer, manda" -Bispo Coutinho

"Whoever wants it, does it. Who doesn't want it, commands"

HELLO PEOPLE!

This week was crazy slow. And I have no time. So here's what happened.

On Tuesday, District Meeting was awesome. We talked a lot about work with the members, and what we need to do to have the members trust us. It was really interesting. And I learned a lot.

On Wednesday, I found out that I would travel to Santa Maria and go on a division with the Assistants.

On Thursday, we canceled lunch and made potato cakes filled with pepperoni, and then I got on a bus and travelled 8 1/2 hours to get to Santa Maria. I got there late at night and then went to sleep.

On Friday, I woke up, studied, and then did 1 visit with the Assistants before heading back to the bus station and riding the bus another 8 1/2 hours back to Uruguaiana. I got there late, went home, and slept.

On Saturday, we were going to baptize 2 girls who are relatives of a member, but some problems went down and we had to move it to next week with our other baptism.

On Sunday, it rained as if Noah was still building his ark.

And that was my week! The division made no sense, and I travel 17 hours alone in 2 days just to make 1 visit, but I'm not complaining. It was actually a really edifying division and I learned a lot. It was actually fun to ride the bus through the giant field in Rio Grande do Sul. This is such a beautiful state in Brazil, holy moly..

I love being on a mission! It is the best thing ever!!!!1 I am seriously learning so much and changing so much. I'm grateful that the Lord loves me enough to give me the opportunity to be here on a mission.



I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!

Have a fantastic week.

ELDER HINTZE

TASK OF THE MONTH:
Read all the talks from General Conference in October to prepare for this coming General Conference