Monday, January 16, 2012

A Conquista da Conquista: Vol. 2 Chpt. 6: In which the Lord decides to put a roadblock in our paths so that we turn and get on the right track

The title of this email is more true than you probably think.  Tuesday and then again on Thursday, Sister Cornwall and I had to completely stop what we were doing so that we could sit down, think, pray, and try to figure out what the Lord wanted us to do.  He has a way with people...  It is such a testemony to me that this is the Lords work, because without His Spirit, I can teach and I literally can not speak.  I get so lost for words, I cant think of words in português that I need (which rarely happens now) and I just feel completely and utterly empty.  And sometimes, He takes His Spirit away from us not because we did anything that was wrong, but because He needs to get our attention - He needs us to focus on something else because there is something else more important to Him.

On Tuesday, after sitting down and praying, pulling out the map of our area and looking at it I decided to look up the scripture that was written on the map, which was Moroni 6:4. So I read it, didnt get anything out of it, so I read it to Sister Cornwall and finally I understood that the Lord wanted us to work with less active members of the ward here.  So we have been working with them a lot this week.  Its really sad at times to see people with complete lack of enthusiasm for anything and know that they have the gift of the Holy Ghost.  But we were really blessed, because one family came to church who hasnt been in years!  We are excited to work with them - they have a desire to come back, but I think they are a little lost about how to do it and where they fit in now.

The second time the Lord had to turn us around, we had a very, very unproductive day.  At the end of the day, we went with a member to teach his friend.  This friend of his didnt seem too interested, but we asked him to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, and he started reading while we were there and just kept going and going until he finished.  The Spirit that filled the room while he was reading was incredible; there is no other way to describe it.  Here in Brasil, the missionaries have a tendency at times to just keep on going and going and going, and do everything really fast and just keep goin and going and going because there are so many people we can talk to and so many people that will let us in to talk to them.  But this needs to be balanced with actually teaching a person, and not just teaching a lesson, and Sister Cornwall and I discovered, after this lesson, that that was something that we had been neglecting to do a bit.  So we are now focused (once again!) on teaching people, and not just teaching lessons.

In other news... Zone Conference will be tomorrow and Sister Cornwall and I will sing!  Um... today is my 10 month mark (weird) and I finally had the chance to try água de coco and I almost threw it up.  Sometimes, the fact that Brazilians are so nice and like to keep giving you things to eat and drink is a little annoying, just because at times I am not hungry at all and sometimes (very rarely) I dont really like what I have been given.  But normally its a really good thing - we are taken care of here by everyone!

Amo vocês! Têm uma ólitma se

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