Highlanders

Monday, July 7, 2008

Brian's email, July 7

I'm sorry if my email last week didn't go through, I wrote one I know but sometimes emails don't go through. Well it's been another week in Africa, and we finished another transfer so my companion goes home in 5 weeks and he tells me everyday. Ha... Well life here is still good I suppose. We have been doing a lot of service lately, on Thursday we spent four hours tearing out the grass of a less active family. They don't have any men in the family so we opted to help out and they were very grateful. And then on Sunday both less active daughters came to church. And another less active lady we have been visiting came to church again and talked with the Bishop! yay, When we were with her she started telling us a lot of stuff and she was looking for counciling which as missionaries we aren't supposed to do so we asked her to talk to the bishop about that stuff and she did. Hopefully it helped and she'll continue to come to church. Her husband and a daughter aren't members so it might lead to some new investigators. Time will tell.lets see, what else has happened. Oh in my email last week I mentioned that we have a new mission president now. His name is President Poulsen, I still haven't met him personally but I have met several that have and everyone says he is really cool. So I'm excited, oh and there is a rumor that our mission might split... three years ago there were 120 missionaries here and now there are 180 and this is the largest mission or one of the largest missions in the world. So, I think it might split soon, maybe not this year but my guess is sometime within two years. I dunno, well Thats about all I have for today, I hope you are all doing well, I apologize for any bad grammer or spelling. Love you all
Elder Brian Spencer

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Missionary update

Well, I was encouraged by Robyn (G.) to post the emails we receive from Brian and Nathan on the blog. I will be doing that from now on since not everyone receives the email forwards. I will also be posting more photos as we get them. I have received three cd's full of photos and videos from Brian, I just don't know which ones to post here. Nathan has been too busy to get us much in the way of photos.

Nathan's latest email

ola Gente! oh the wonderful world of the mission is still in full force. alright everyone take a breath and think, 6 months already! holy smokes, but im just getting into things here, thats a fourth of my mission. but its been a 6 months of some of the best memories of my life, (not that the ones before the mission were bad or anything lol) what a wonderful opportunity it is to be here. this last week elder assis and i have been able to work with the fruits of our labors. our recent converts are almost running the ward and missionary efforts here in serraria, its so cool to see. and especially since weve been having a lot of success with teenagers, its that time of life kids are searching for direction in life and such. well now that erick is with us weve been going with him almost every day to teach the gospel. hes an amazing kid and hes helping his friends find the gospel as well, for example. last wednesday we took 3 of our recent converts with us, Mirele 15, veronica 11, and erick 18, i was a little nervous cause mirele and veronica are... how might i say unique lol awesome but like Mirele has dyed jet black hair and doesnt smile much haha. well our first stop was at this house with bianca and her mom, well they are kinda like this proper family and i was worried about clash and well a miracle occured and they split from us for a half hour to find a friend of theirs that isnt a member while elder assis and i went to teach, so that worked out just great and as soon as we got done and left their house (good lesson, the daughter will be baptized!) around the corner comes our recent converts with their friend Marlou! well we headed back to Marlou's house to teach him the first lesson and it was great, all of us on the roof, pretty much like 6 teenagers talking about the gospel in a serious manner ya know. well we invited Marlou to Read the Book of Mormon and he agreed hesitantly and then we asked him if he would pray after and he said i cant "eu sou catolica" meaning "i am catholic, in an eternal sense) and nonchalantly Mirele replied "i was too" and after veronica said the same, then erick said the same and then elder assis said the same! wow im in brazil teaching the gospel to a group of ex catholics! but they were all testifying of the personal witness they had received to change and come into the fold of christ and his restored gospel. well after everyone testified that they had been catholic and when they read and prayed they gained a testimony he was still hestitant, he said his dad was catholic and wouldnt want him to change his religion. but he saw the light of the gospel and was afraid to try, to ask, because he was afraid of receiving an answer. well we left him with that and we went to teach one more lesson, then return to take him to our english class. well while we were walking back he nervously said he'd read the parts we'd marked for him. haha we gave him a great big smile and said did you pray?! he said "quase elder eu Quase orou" ,almost elder i almost prayed, he said he was afraid of an answer. one more time we testified that the gospel will bring joy into his life and the direction hes been looking for. then the next day we took him again to the church to do a job search (the church has a lot of services for anyone and its free, its really nice) and while we were there he stopped while we were alone (the three of us) and said elders, i prayed, its true. wow. i love the gospel. so elder assis was inspired, he walked over and showed Marlou the baptismal font and testified about baptism being the entrance to our journey here. he accepted a date to be baptized and now we are teaching him everything we can about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. well better yet, though his dad is not for us his mom would love to hear our message as well (they are seperated) so im excited to see how that goes as well. thank you everyone for your love and support, the church is true, the truth is coming forth in these latter days and we've all been blessed to take part. miracles happen everyday, but they work according to the faith of men (moroni 10:7) have faith and we will all see the miracle of a world filled with the wonderful message of our savior Jesus Christ!
Elder Nathan Spencer