Week--who really knows?

October 21, 2013 

Awesome awesome week!  

This week was pretty great. So on Sunday I heard that we would be doing exchanges this past Tuesday with the district leader, Elder Carnauba, and his companion, Elder Oaks, who is also American and has been in Brazil less time than I have.  I just kind of assumed that I would be on the exchange with Elder Carnauba so I wasn’t too worried. I found out on Monday that that was not the case and that I would be in the other area with Elder Oaks.  I was pretty stressed and was praying like crazy. 

When I got to their area, Elder Carnauba gave me the phone and told me some things (all in Portuguese) about the lessons they had planned and then left me with Elder Oaks.  It´s a little scarier being in Brazil without a native by your side.  Two Americans in white shirts and ties really stand out.  The day went pretty great though.  We ended up teaching ELEVEN lessons!  We taught 10 lessons to investigators and 1 to a less active member. We also got 6 new investigators, which means they said they’d read the pamphlet of the restoration, pray about it, and be baptized if they got an answer. So sick! It was probably the best day yet of my mission.  There were two lessons that were particularly good. 

We were looking for a girl that Elders Oaks and Carnauba had contacted in the street a few days earlier and ended up finding her dad, José.  He is pretty old and had a hard time understanding our Portuguese, so we just slowed things down and taught as simply as we could.  The spirit was super strong and we promised him that with the principals of the gospel, his home could be a place of peace where his family could feel true happiness.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and said a closing prayer.  After the prayer, he was holding the book against his chest and told us that we were like angels.  Super cool! We left that house smiling.

The other lesson was with Rachael.  She is less active and hasn’t been to church in years.  She lives alone so we just taught her outside the house.  Elder Oaks gave an awesome short message about persevering to the end and to Christ.  That was a little miracle because his Portuguese is kind of awful right now and she totally understood everything he said.  After, I asked her what she needed to do to persevere to the end.  She said, “Probably go to church and read the scriptures, but I feel shameful returning to church after not going for so long.” We promised her she would feel the spirit there and no one would judge her....She was totally at church yesterday!  With her son!  I was so excited.

Another cool thing.  We taught Magno and his family this week twice. It was really fun because I got to teach in English.  It’s so nice to be able to just say what you need to without thinking of words in Portuguese.  He is a great guy and has been reading.

Marcelo, the man who has a member friend at work, quit smoking this week and was baptized on Saturday.  He was so pumped.  He’s going to be a great member.   

I love you guys,

Elder Marsh