21 July 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Yay, I got the e-mail and some more pictures! So here you go. And please don't ask about the comment at the end of Elder Frogley's e-mail about the sad story involving a baby--I don't do sad stories involving children and infants.

Well i have some sad news this week family. But first off! Hello! It was overall a happy week! But neither Jessica nor Juliana were baptised. But the experience of fighting to help them feel the spirit really helped me grow. Lets start from the beginning of the week.

Tuesday we visited our usual investigators. Jessica, Juliana, and Jorge, and weve been focusing a lot on finding new investigators to teach, because weve been having a rough time with that. Jessica was pretty down on herself because she smoked again. She had fallen spiritually and she told us that she felt like she was letting God down, making promises and goals then just smoking again. She was having a rough time. We Did our best to teach her and we tried to mark some new goals with her to stop smoking. More on her later. Juliana was awesome. She appologized for not being able to be baptised last week but affirmed that she was 100% ready. Jorge was fast. He was working so we just stopped by, talked really fast, confirmed that he would go to church Sunday and left. 

We visited Juliana durring the whole week, we visited her with members, we talked about almost all the lessons again, we helped her with questions every day, and she said that she was really excited to be baptised. We even read Lehis vision and she understhood all of it and was even able to explain it to us after. She was doing sooo well, even Friday before her baptisim, she was ready to go. Saturday at around three o clock we went to go visit her to see if she was ready for the baptisim. We got there and she said that she couldnt be baptised. Do you guys remember that pastor that kicked the other missionaries out of their converts house a few weeks ago? Julianas mom is part of that church. When she found out that Juliana was going to be baptised, she started saying a ton of stuff agains the church, and told Juliana that she couldnt be baptised. Julianas 28! I was a little annoyed by that. Juliana told us that she wouldnt be able to be baptised because of her mom. We talked about Lehis vision again and how Lehi had to taste the fruit first before he could call his family. Then we talked about the people making fun of the people holding to the rod from the great and spacious building. She started off not wanting to be baptised, and she even said that she felt sad about her decision, because she new that God wanted her to do it. After an hour, she finally agreed to ask her Moms permission again. Her Mom got home right about that time. Juliana went back and talked to her for about thirty seconds and came back ready to be baptised again! We were so happy and she said that she felt happier too. She recognised it as the Holy Ghost testifying to her that she was doing the right thing. By then it was almost 5 o clock. She promised to be at the church by 6 for the baptisim. We ran to the church to fill up the font and get clothes for the Harris and everything. At about 5:40we got a call again from Juliana. She said that she wouldnt be baptised again!! What!? We ran to her house to find out what happened. We got there and she told us that we had wasted a trip and that there was no way she was getting baptised. She said that while she was getting ready, doubts apeared in her head about Joseph Smith and a modern day profet. She said that she believed in it all yesterday but suddenly she didnt believe anymore. She said all these random things about how men cant see God and these random doubts that usually new investigators have. we tried to teach her paciently but she was verry against baptism at that point. Harris decided we should have a prayer at that moment to see if She should be baptised. Through the whole prayer i was feeling as though she shouldnt be baptised yet, but i was so set on baptising her i ignored it. After a while on our knees, i finally did my best to humble my self and accept that she wasnt ready. The moment that i accepted that and we all sat back down, the spirit came back to the room, and it was much easier for me to help her and teach her, because honestly before we were just burning her. But we started making goals with her for the future. She thought it would be over right there and that we were going to leave, but when we said we were going to try to keep helping her, she accepted. We asked her if she had any more doubts, and she said that if she had an answer about Joseph Smith and a modern prophet, shed be baptised. A Little frustrating especially since shed already recieved soooo many. But we promised to keep working with her on prophets. Shes got her baptisim next week now.

Jessica like i said was having a tough time all week. She didnt even go to church yesterday because she got home saturdayfrom work at 2 in the morning. On Thursday she had a real spiritual boost. We had a family night at her house with half the branch. It was great! We talked about eternal families and the couples in the ward helped a lot. The spirit was awesome there and Jessica and her husband Tiago were really touched. you could tell she want to be a better wife and Mom and she wanted an eternal marage. She was crying after and she said that she was so happy. After the tough week shed had, it was good to see her back with her old spirit. She said she didnt smoke at all thursday and only 1 Friday. But Firday night she was all sad again. We kept talking to her about the atonement and about how God loves her and every time we pass by shes happier after, but then she smokes and gets sad again. Sunday she told us that she even drank a little alchohole again. Sunday night we sat her down and decided to have a real talk. Almost an ultamatom. We talked about how she was feeling, how much shes changed, where she was spiritually one week ago, and how she is now. We talked about her happiness, and everything. She didnt think that she could stop smoking and she didnt want to make more goals to stop again. But then we had a hard talk about how we progress in our lives. And the difference between making a goal not making a decision at all. If youre making goals, even if youre not achieving them, youre still progressing because youre showing your faith in making them. We asked her if she honestly has given 100% in trying to stop smoking. She said that she could do better reading the scriptures and praying when she felt the desire to smoke. So she promised to read a scripture we marked (Alma32) and to make her own goals again to stop smoking. I hope she did what she promised.

Apart from that, this week was pretty chill! Weve gotten some nice references that were going to visit this week, and we worked alot visiting less actives in the city. We visited a bunch of people who can definatly come back to church! 

Thanks for all of your prayers family, i just want you all to know that i see the effects everyday. 

Thats soo sad about that baby Dad. Send them a hug for me. 

I love yall! Oh by the way Dad! My flight got changed to the 11th instead of the 4th. is that a problem? They can change it again if it is. Let me know!

Elder Ian

some pics i forgot to send of the hike

some pics i forgot to send of the hike

coconut and machete