Semana 61
Olá todo mundo!!!
Yet another week in the "sertão" (wilderness) as they call it here. I don´t know how to feel when Dad sent me the current temperatures of Caicó.. "Feels like 112 degrees" makes the missionary work all the more exciting. :) Believe it or not, I felt super cold this week! We went to Currais Novos (a city 2 hours away from Caicó but in our zone) to spend some time with the sisters there who are opening the area and training. We gave them a little extra emotional boost and tried to rub off our happy vibes.
This week was normal missionary work routine - our converts from last week´s baptism are doing so well. Carla is sharing the gospel with EVERYONE and just glows. Luciano told us, definitively, that he has absolutely overcome smoking! His eyes shine when he talks about the changes that came into his life because of the gospel and repentance.
Last night, President and Sister Soares came to Caicó to speak at a stake devotional about missionary work. I was so touched by the Spirit in that meeting that I wanted to share with you some things that I learned. Everyone who spoke bore their testimony of the gospel and how they converted to the church. A recent convert couple bore the most beautiful testimony. The husband profoundly stated, "for every person that comes to know the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is invited to go deeper". He also shared, "I feel more fulfilled and realized because of the gospel". I think these are invitations to ALL of us who know a little bit of Christ´s love for us. The pathway is strait - and He has invited us to "go deeper" and become sanctified and perfected through His atoning blood. Sister Soares shared her father´s conversion story, that I´d like to share with you as well. Her father was a person who, after a lot of unhappiness, finally one day fell to his knees and asked God, in the way that he knew how, to guide his life. The next day he decided to buy a Bible. Upon return home, he started to read and realized that he didn´t understand anything (as he had no previous religious knowledge about God). So he returned to the store and asked the cashier if there was anyone she knew that could help him learn about what was contained in the Bible. She thought for a moment and said, "I know a family that gets together every week to study the scriptures." She gave him their address, and he set out to find this house. It was pouring rain, and he searched and searched for the house but couldn´t seem to find it anywhere. Desperately, he gave up and started to walk home. In that moment, appeared two young men in white shirts and ties (the missionaries! wohoo!), soaked as well, asked him for information. Turns out they were looking for the same address. Sister Soares´ dad asked them if they could help him answer his religious questions, and from that moment on he was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and changed his life and the life of his family forever. Sister Soares shared other beautiful details, like how he progressed in the gospel to have served a mission together with his wife, and today he is a sealer in the Recife temple.
What touched me most about this conversion story is how one small act of sharing the gospel left a legacy behind - generations of this family influenced because one man asked God for help and sent the missionaries to his life. Not just the family of Sister Soares, but the influence they have been in the lives of so many other people. Temple work. Missionary work. Community service. The Spirit touched me so strongly in that moment to realize that we are merely tools in the Lord´s hands. This is HIS work. This is HIS vineyard. We have a potencial and RESPONSABILITY to touch the lives of others and share what we know is true - that everyone on this earth can find true happiness and peace in the Savior, His teachings, and His life.
Every sacrifice is worth it. Every soul is of great worth to our God. One thing that our zone leaders shared with us this week is this - "every single person in this city, in your area, can´t return to the Celestial Kingdom to be saved without having passed by YOU." We should feel the urgency in helping our brothers and sisters make saving covenants with God! I feel even more the pressure of this responsability that ALL of us have (not just missionaries), and I can´t believe that I only have 3 months left to do this 24 hours a day as an official representative of the Savior. Now, more than ever, I will do my best to leave a legacy behind everyone that I share the gospel with. I hope we can all do that to the best we can, whether we have a nametag on our chest or not.
Have a great week!
Sister Brown
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