Sam Prince's Mission Blog: August 11, 2018 -- Salvador (Ondina)

our week was a little bit more eventful this week! monday we had preparation in the office and the mission home for the mission leadership council, consisting of reearanging furniture and cleaning and lots of organizing materials. #secretarylife

tuesday we had an awesome mission council President Biddulphs 1st. we had some real nice discussions that are really going to help our mission out. Sister Biddulph talked about a part of the misisonary manual (i dont think she even knows its in the missionary manual) "Walk quickly and with purpose". she shared an experience from when she was visiting her son's misison and was in a dangerous neighborhood and t really made me think aobut how much we need to find the purpose behind the things we do and not waste our time walking around without purpose, in the mission or in life at home! after the council almost everything went perfectly until some elders missed their bus because of poorly timed visit to the bathroom.

wednesday we worked in the office and did splits with a member Valmir who is quite a good friend of ours here. our night was a little rough and him and I had pretty much all of our lessons fall through but we were able to visit Haziel and talk to him about his responsibilities in church and how his passing of the sacrament blessed the lives of all those in the congregation. He has been passing thru some difficulties with his family and it was nice ot visit him and get to talk a little bit.

Thursday we did splits again with a different member (being in a trio has its benefits) and again Elder Gray and I went to check out some alleyways and stair cases i hadnt even been to. Our area is pretty much just one big hill. We met a really cool lady named Luciana and her family at the very bottom of the stair case we were going down in the end of a dead end alley way. I kinda felt like the missionaries who found Elder Utchdorfs family. hahah. We had an awesome lesson and everything is marked for them to come to church with us on sunday.

Friday we had a pretty busy day and contacted some references that fell thru but we finished off the night helping Romilda prepare her first talk in church about Baptism! shes pretty nervous but im sure she will do great on sunday! she also made us hot dogs so its safe to say it was a good way to top off the night.

this week i was reading in Alma 5 and 7 where Alma the Younger speaks about the change in heart that we can have when we live the gospel. "..have ye been spiritually bord of God?... have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

Im happy to say that I have felt the change in my heart since i have been here in Bahia. I love this people and their great faith in God. We might not always agree on some doctrinal points but im extremely impressed by the faithful people in Brazil and the effort they put in to preach the gospel and love the people around them. it has inspired me to be better and more accepting of everyone around me. but being spiritually born of God is a change that never ends and we can always become better so even though it might get rough, just keep swimming!

have a good week

Elder Prince