April 24, 2017 letter - Amaralina

Hello to all my fans!!!

this week was awesome! the first thing i wanna mention is our new recent convert Rebeca! her baptism yesterday was super spiritual and awesome, we got to sing I am a Child of God in 3 different languages it was so so sweet. She has been so prepared to be baptised and changed her life so much but she keeps having things come up! When she got home from church yesterday after the baptism she was kicked out of her home and is living with some members for the moment so please keep her in your prayers!! She is already asking to go out and visit people with us and talking about serving a mission.

Elder Cruz, Rebeca, Elder Prince

One huge thing that was highlighted for me this week was the plan of salvation. WE had three of the greatest lessons teaching the plan this week and our investigators love it. Paulo and Grazyele were really touched by the perfection of the plan and the knowledge we have about our purpose in life and how we can improve so much. Both of them really opened up about their lives and how they want to change so much. its amazing to see how fast a person can find this happiness and change their lives. Testifying about the plan of salvation and the opportunity that we have to life with our families again is alway so special for me. I can truly feel the spirit so strongly and the truth of these things. The spirit always rings a familiar bell for me and for investigators too.

We had an awesome mission tour this week from President Costa of the 70 and he/his wife gave such awesome training and talks. It was all in portuguese but i really was able to understand a lot of it. My language is getting better, I've started to get complimented by investigators and ward members. His wifes talk was my favorite part i think. She talked about the power of the priesthood and how everyone has a different role and benefits so much from the priesthood. WE need to be worthy and prepared to use our priesthood at any moment to better the lives of those around us and fufill the will of our Heavenly Father. The priesthood really is the power to allow us to return to heaven thru our saving ordinances. She and elder costa also talked about having more charity in our work and the importance of developing lots of love for everyone. 

Love thy neighbor as thyself!! i love you guys so much

Elder Prince

Sam and his district went bike riding today for P-day

Sam and his district: Elder Prince, Elder Silva, Elder Gifford, Sister Maia , Sister Humani and Elder Cruz

April 17, 2017 letter - Amaralina

This week was prettty awesome. Tueday we started off with a really good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Crhist with Fernando. He really loved the principle of the Holy Ghost being the cleansing by fire after a remission of our sins. The spirit really was there to testify of the redemptive power of the atonement!! Everytime we start our day with Fernando the rest of the day seems to go perfectly (knock on wood). We found a new investigator Paulo! He is a reference from another investigator and he has a ton of interest/questions! He lost his job recently and he´s been going thru some tough times so he´s really looking for some spiritual guidance. The restoration lesson was going really well until I forgot the first vision hahahaha. We sat there for like 20 seconds of pure silence which is extremely rare to find in Brazil, while I was trying to remember the first line. hahaha. It was pretty embrassing but the lesson ended really well and he was really interested in our message. 

We were finally able to meet with Fabiana again this week, it had been awhile since we had seen her. She's super close to getting married to a less active in our ward and pretty much all they need to do is pick a date for the wedding (probably in May). She and the boyfriend were both in church yesterday and participating a ton so I was super hyped about that!! 

Our baptism with Rebecca is pretty much set for this weekend so please keep her in your prayers! She has come a long way with a ton of opposition from her family but its been so awesome to see how much the gospel has changed her life and brought that light to her eyes. 

One thing i want to share with everyone: Never be afraid to share the gospel or think that you can't because you don't have the right authority or calling! Our recent convert Eduardo was telling us this week that he wants to share the gospel with his family but he has been waiting to get permission from someone at church. We then explained that he doesn't need to get permission and he just needs to spread his wings and share it!! Every member a missionary. 

Spiritual note: Because of Him. Mosiah 16:8-9 is an awesome scripture. 

"But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world, yea a light that is endless, that can never be darkened. yes, and also a life which is endless that there can be no more death."

With Easter yesterday, I have been thinking a lot this week about the Resurrection of Christ. There is always hope for us and our loved ones, the gift of the Savior makes it possible for us to all be together again. 

love elder prince 

April 10, 2017 letter - Amaralina

We had a good week this week! On Monday night we had a really awesome FHE all about a conference talk "it works wonderfully" by Elder Uctdorf and about having eternal perspective for ourselves and for others. The theme of really seeing others through the Lord´s eyes and showing them the love that He would has really been on my mind this week.

Tuesday I did a division with Elder Silva because of mission council and I really enjoyed it! I think it was the day where I did the most walking in all of my mission so far because we were trying to work in two areas! We had two awesome lessons about the Book of Mormon and 1 Nephi 8. 

Wednesday we had a really spiritual lesson with our investigator Cristhina about the vision of the tree of life and where we see ourselves in that vision. She has really poor eye sight and struggles to read on her own so we read thru the chapter and drew a little picture for her. She is showing so much progress and just needs a little push over the top for baptism so keep her in your prayers!! 

Thursday Friday and Saturday were pretty normal days, either soaking wet from sweat or from the rain!

Sunday we gave a date to our investigator Rebeca and she is super excited and wont stop talking about it! its so awesome to see the Gospel give people hope and change their lives!! 

Invitation for everyone this week is to strenthen your testimony of the Book of Mormon! In chapter 10 of Moroni he gives an awesome challenge for everyone that reads the book to pray with real intent about the book. if we pray with true desire to recieve an answer we will receive! Our Heavenly Father loves us and wants to give us answers. A little prayer never hurt anyone and everyone can use a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon and a little chat with their HF. I know the book is true and that God hears our prayers! He lives and loves every single one of us individually. IF you are ever having a bad day don't be afraid to call on them for help and peace and HE will lift you up!! 

love 

elder prince

April 2, 2017 letter - Amaralina

This week was pretty good! A high point was when we were able to get a baptismal date with one of our investigators Cristhina! She's awesome and has been really progressing as we challenge her to read the Book of Mormon! She's really excited when we get the chance to visit her! She is pretty busy and has to take care of her mom so its hard to get her to church or find free time! She was able to make it to conference and really enjoyed what she heard!

Kleidson is our other investigator who is really progressing! He lives with his uncle a less active. We are only really able to meet with him on the weekends because he is busy all week. His mom doesn't really want him to go to church so he hasn't yet but he has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy. For some reason parents here in Brazil don't want their kids learning about Christ idk haha.

The rain was super crazy this week filling the streets up. But the work goes on!

Spiritual thought: Mosiah 2:41 "I would desire that you could consider on the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of god" We have been given so much to guide us to happiness in our lives. All we need to do is the small and simple things to keep ourselves safe and happy. Also Luke 16:29 " They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them" We just had an awesome General Conference everyone get out and read the talks! They are truly inspired words from our modern day revelators. I've been studying the parables in Luke and King Benjamin's talk and I really like them.

Elder Prince

March 26, 2017 letter - Amaralina

[Sorry for the late post, we were on vacation last week.]

This week was awesome! We had some awesome progress with some of our investigators accepting dates and showing desire to learn more and more! We did some reactivation visits with members of the priesthood and we got some really good support and turn out! Our ward is pretty strong and its so nice to receive help from the members! They truly play such huge roles in conversion processes. We shared with them an awesome message from Christoffel Golden about being valiant! 

Our baptism on Saturday was super awesome! Our ward got super-involved in intergrating her and even had a special song presented by the Relief Society! it is so nice to have the help of the members because missionaries are always changing and its scary to be a new member! Bringing people to see the light of the gospel and the blessing that membership in the church is is so incredible. Its been so awesome to see how Vitalina has changed her life and how happy she is now! 

We stayed pretty busy because Elder Cruz is a zone leader so we had to do some interviews and different meetings but it was a good week. Yesterday was exciting because we were able to bring some investigators to church and had some members bring new ones too that we will begin teaching this week! 

You should all read the story of the 2000 stripling warriors and trust in your mother. mom and dad bear some sweet testimony. 

I love you guys.

Elder Prince