June 21, 2016

Oi Famila

     So this week was great. Once again the week flew by. We are almost done with all the interviews. We are going to grab a plane on Thursday and go to Palmas.(glad were going by plane because last time we went by bus which takes 14 hours!) Also i´m glad to see my second area on the mission where I stayed 6 months. It will be great to see the ward and all the members!

   Last week we sent a group of missionaries home who finish their missions. It was weird to send them off because they are my friends that seemed to start the mission with me. I was a little scary to think that the next group is mine. Time is flying by so fast but the good news is that I will be able to see these missionaries who have become my friends in the future. 

   We had the baptism of Naiara! she was a reference from the family we baptized in the first few weeks in Guará. The baptism was really spiritual and I could tell that our other investigators loved every second of it. The ward is stating to get more and more excited, everyone is starting to offer help and see what they can do. I´m happy because when we got here we were alone in the missionary work. It is so much easier and enjoyable when you have the support of the members. Especially because they will live and take care of our recent converts.

  This past week I focused on using the power of prayer. I really believe that it is a divine power that God gives us. It is a tool that we should use at all times, whether we are thanking God for a blessings or an answer, asking for guidance, or simple talking about our desires. The Lord gave us this privilege to pray fervently as a way to invite to spirit into our lives. With this we can gain patience, lose fear, and cast our impure thoughts. I´m so grateful for the power of prayer and the difference it makes in my life. I know that my Father in Heaven is just one prayer away. When you are in need get on your knees and pray, I promise you that you will feel more peace in your life. 

   This week were are going to get transfers ready! Its going to be super crazy! last group of new missionaries that I will receive on the mission field. Hopefully we can train them up to be Elders 10 time better than me!

Thank you everyone for the support and prayers it makes the biggest difference in a missionaries life.

Com Amor,

Elder Seth

June 6, 2016

Hello everyone, 

  this week was great. I can´t believe I´m here again writing my weekly report. As time has flown by here on the mission I´ve learned about the importance of making every second count. I´ve learned to be more efficient with my time. Whether it is shaving or ironing my shirt fast; or how to teach someone more directly and not beat around the bush. Something I learned is to go all in, put all my mind into that thing I am doing. For example if I´m going to go to church, I´m going to listen to every word and try to learn something new to apply in my life. I know that our time here on earth is precious and super valuable. Especially because this isn´t my time it is the Lords time. I´m excited to apply this and cut the things that I use to do that had no return. 

  Well Elder Patterson is one of the new Secretaries! He was my comp in the CTM. We made a prophecy that we would end our missions together and now it has came to pass. I´m proud of him and excited to work close to him to keep this mission running.

Other news was that Giovanna was baptized! She is a 12 year old girl who is a friend of our recent convert. She was really really excited for her baptism. The sad part is that she doesn´t receive a  lot of support from her family. She doesn´t know her Dad and her Mom has an alcohol addiction. Her Mother went to church at 8:30 and loved it. Then when the baptism came around she didn´t go because she was drinking. Very sad to say the least, well keep working with her.

  One of the greatest experiences that I have had on my mission was participating in a baptism of a 92 year old woman. We had to have 3 missionaries enter in the water to baptize her. She was going to get baptized next week but she was scared she would´n´t live until next week and wanted to be baptized that Saturday. It was a tender moment for me because the gospel is for everyone. Doesn´t matter where your from or your age the gospel moves the lives of people who accept it. We are so proud that she made this major choice!

This week is going to be crazy! we are going to visit all the zones and do interviews. Its going to be tiring but without a doubt will help motivate the missionaries to work harder. Interviews always made a big difference for me and gave me exactly what I needed.

Keep up everyone! Love and miss everyone!

Com Amor, 

Elder Seth

P.S our english class is growing so fast! We have 33 students in 3 weeks! We are already teach half of them!

May 31, 2016

Hello everyone!

So this week we had mission counsel. We were able to give a training with President to all the zone leaders. It was really spiritual and really productive. We covered a bunch of subjects that our mission is really needing to improve even more. we talked about a powerful invite, reactivating, using the Book of Mormon, obedience, how to find elects and a few other things. I know that it will help out out mission if everyone gets on board and applies these things. I felt the spirit really strong and can testify the Holy Ghost was present.

On Monday we had the special lunch at Presidents house for the best pair of missionaries in each zone! It was great and everyone is getting super excited to work harder.

So Maxwell was confirmed this Sunday! also we are teaching his family and all of this friends on the street! Hopefully we can get some more young men in the ward quickly.

I would like to talk a little bout Cida, The mother of our first baptism in Guará. Throughout this month we have been teaching Cida and trying to help her quit smoking. She has been smoking since she was 7 years old! She has been smoking for over 30 years as well! Smoking as always been a way that she calmed down. When we starting teach her she was already down from 3 packs to 1 pack of cigarettes a day. But she couldn´t find a way to get any lower than that. So we taught her the importance of the word of wisdom and the blessings that she would receive.

 We made a plan of action to help her quit 3 weeks ago. We told her we would return the next day at 9 in the morning and that she couldn´t eat breakfast. We got there and brewed up some cigarette tea. Which is when your boil what and you put the tobacco part of the cigarette in the water to make tea.(one of the worst tasting and worst smelling things known to man). We poured her a cup and told her she had to drink it all down at one time. She did that and looked around as if nothing happened, but within 30 second she went running to the bathroom.

After she had finish throwing up she couldn´t even look at a cigarette. we gave her a blessing of comfort and told her when she was tempted to smoke that she need to pray and ask the Lord for help, if she still had desire, call us. After three weeks she final has stopped smoking!!! This was a special experience for me because it really showed me how if someone has desire to do what's right and looks for the help of the Lord we can conquer what kind of challenges we have. So grateful for the chance I had to see the faith of Irmã Cida winning over her addiction. Now we are going to get her married and baptized!

Anyways were working hard and super busy! Next week we are going to travel around the mission to do interviews with all the missionaries!!

Com Amor,
Elder Seth