October 15, 2018 - Morada dos Passaros -- Vitoria da Conquista

our week was pretty good! 

tuesday we had lunch SUUUPER far away but the bus doesnt pass there so we walked and it was at like 10:30 in the morning i felt like i was in high school again hahah. we had some good lessons. my favorite was teaching this old lady about the church. she has a niece who is a member and was full of fun questions and comments about the church that other people have made to her (you baptize dead people?? you have dances in the church??? you listen to music other than the hymns??) just imagine trying to tell an extremely religious little old lady about it. we also worked with luceni about her goal to try and stop smoking so her children will move back in with her and when we got to her house we couldnt smell any smoke at all! i was so happy and she is starting to look so much more healthy. 

wednesday was a nice district meeting and we ate lunch at a members house that we are pretty good friends with. right when we got there he sprayed some pepper gas (hes a military police) so we walked in the door and just about died from coughing so much hahahah he got a kick out of it. we taught a new investigator Gustavo, a firm agnostic, and had a way cool discussion about the creation of the world and all that God and his plan have provided for us! by the time we finished he seemed really happy and like he had been touched by our visit and was starting to open up his heart. it was so cool to be able to read the scriptures with him and have him ask questions and really think and open up his mind about what we explained to him. we also followed up with maria in preparation for her baptism and her trip to her parents farm went well. we were a little worried her family might say something because they are all very firm in another church but nothing was said and her mom actually pleaded for a book of mormon for her to study! where they live doesnt have church so it was so cool to be able to give a book of mormon! the gospel is spreading!! we ended up readin alma 32 in the dark becasue the electricty was out! it was fun. 

thursday our lunch fell thru at the last minute and left us out to dry. so we made food at home. we had a few good lessons and invited some people to our integration night at the church. when we got there we were surprised that none of the Relief Society presidency was there (they were in charge) and our message plan got thrown off because the dvd player broke so we had an impromptu debate about some parables haha i love the parables of Christ. then we had a super fun game. i forgot what its called [Charades] but we were acting out scenes from the scriptures and trying to guess what they were. sadly my team lost because they weren't able to understand me pretending to be samuel the lamanite. I was up on a table with the scriptures i almost lost it hahahha but its just a game right??

friday we filled up the font and had some interviews. it was a rather bland day with some bright spóts! we had to go to the other side of the city to do one interview and hurry back so the DL could do our interview. we also had a bunch of members telling us they probably wouldnt be able to come to the baptism saturday (apparently saturday morning isnt good??) 

when we rolled in with maria saturday morning the church was filled with members! it was such a pleasant surprise. the meeting went very well. we had a few nice lessons over the weekend and found some sweet part-member families to teach and reactivate! i have really been loving this area.

Elder Prince, Maria, Elder Machado, and ?

we watched Elder Rasbands talk a few times with some less active members and investigators and it brought such an amazing spirit. The way he talks about banishing our fears is awesome! truly faith in Christ and love for everyone can help us understand and take away our fears! everyone should give it another listen, I am so grateful for our living prophets and apostles, called to guide us in these latter days! They are truly guided by our Eternal Head, Jesus Christ. this is His Church!

Elder Prince