7.29.14

 

Elder Neilson and I are staying here for another change. This week went well. We have been doing well in working with members and we’re really enjoying the lessons that we're having with people. We got a young man named “S” activated but, no one wants to make commitments… like baptism or even to attend church. “S” has always loved it when we come visit him in his house, bring him to the soccer activities and he just loves our presence. He lives in the Hna's area so we're not over there much but then, our Elders’ Quorum leader assigned us as their home teachers. When we went over there this last week, we had a long conversation about the Plan of Salvation (I'll be talking about that later on). We talked a lot about what happens after this life and how the covenants and ordinances that we make with God can only be performed on the earth. If we want to live with our family for forever, we have to renew our covenants and endure to the end. I asked the dad of the family if he had a testimony of the Plan of Salvation and he started getting teared up and said he wishes he had the kind of faith and testimony that his youngest son “S” has. He said that “S” is the best example of the house and he can see the difference between him and the rest of the family that hasn't been going to church. The father testified that the Plan of Salvation was the reason the family was baptized and that he was ready to follow his son’s example and go back to church. Last Sunday, the mom went to church and Hno Azevedo (dad) will be going next week because they work every other
Sunday. It was a really good lesson and I love seeing when people notice the difference between people who take the sacrament and those who don't. 

We received a call from the Hna's asking if we could give one of the Hno's in their area a blessing of comfort. We showed up to the hospital and saw a man that looked like a skeleton. I gave him a blessing and he was grunting like he was in a bunch of pain the entire time. Everyone in the room was crying for him while I was giving him the blessing. It just scared my companion and me a bit. Two days later, he died. 

Our bishop's dad had a heart attack and died also. It has really affected things here because everyone knows everyone so the entire ward is sad. We weren't really able to work with the bishop and that really hurts us. His family was super devastated and we went to the open casket and it was hard watching the bishop's family break down in tears. I don't think I have been surrounded by so much death in my whole life. We tried to use all this death as an opportunity to testify to people about how grateful we are for the Plan of Salvation and we were able to share our testimonies about our Savior and the healing power of the atonement.

The Plan of Salvation means EVERYTHING, and because of our Savior, we can live with our Father in Heaven again.

Love you!