This week has been great! Those three baptisms/confirmations this week were such a wonderful experience to have. I´m excited to see the future for these three children - Bruno, Nayellen and Emily - because I know how much having the gospel in their lives will help them. The children here are so receptive to the gospel - it really is amazing. We went out with one of the members (who was only 12, I might add) and we ran into her friend, Talita. She is the perfect investigator. Perfect. We gave her the first lesson, gave her a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon, and when we came back two days later, she had read the whole thing and she had questions because she didn't understand a few of the verses. In case you didn't know, having investigators with questions is AMAZING, because it means that they really want to understand what we are teaching. We taught her another time, and she had more question again, and she invited her cousin to join the lesson and they were both in church this past Sunday, which is SO exciting. One of the most difficult things, I think in any mission, is helping people understand the importance of coming to church. I think we had... almost 10 people that we invited and were pretty sure were going to come, but only Talita and Scarlette showed up. It is a little disappointing, but having people there - and having the confirmations as well - made up for it.
We also met so many new people this week, and there are a few I have really good feelings about. One is the father of a teenager that we already taught the first lesson to and we came by to see how she was and she wasn't there, but her dad was, so we talked to him for a minute, invited him to hear the lessons, and he accepted. We planned to come the next day or so, but something came up and we weren't able to. But we came by a few days later and he and his wife listened to to first lesson. I think he was excited about it - I know he was happy for us, as missionaries, he kept saying something about how great it was that we were sharing the gospel - but its still a little difficult for me to understand. I understand the basic idea of what people are saying, but not many specifics. But the Spirit during the lesson - and while he was talking - was so strong... it makes me really want to figure out how to present the next lesson so that hes just as excited.
Sister Freitas and I have set some more goals so that we can use our time a bit better and be more effective as missionaries - such as planning to visit people who live close to each other right after the other and not constantly having to walk across the city for each appointment. Personally, I´m trying to work on saying things I feel like I need to say. That has always been something that has been a little bit difficult for me, but I know I have been called by the Lord, He has a work for me to do and I need to be doing it, and one way to fulfill that purpose is to follow the inspiration I receive. I guess that is part of faith.
Also, I have been trying to incorporate our goals into our planning. I think too often we make goals, flip the page over and fill out our plan for the day, which completely defeats the purpose of setting goals.
I'm also excited because we set a Zone goal that each companionship in the Zone will baptize a man this month. This is something I have also tried to focus on - talking to men. Its a little harder than talking to children or women, but I know the Lord has men prepared in this area for us to teach.
I am so happy to be here in Itabuna - it truly is a city of promise, and I feel privilege to be a part of bringing that promise to pass.
I'll have to send you a picture of the apartment. So much is white! Its mostly normal. The water for the shower is heated by electricity, so Ive had a few cold showers when the power wasnt working right, but its a good way to wake up in the morning!
People love seeing pictures of you all. 6 kids is kind of a lot, so I love seeing the look on peoples faces when I say I have 5 irmãos =]
Love you much!!
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Sister Petersen
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