Picture of Winston

First of all, Happy Birthday Dad!

Baptism of Winston

I think I should tell you the end of the story of Winston. So, we actually got to meet him personally on Saturday night.  We met up with him in the church a couple hours before his baptism to make sure that everything was just good to go.  He is a businessman who travels a lot and lives in many cities depending on the time of year. His house is here in BH but he has another home near Espirito Santo, which is about 9 hours away where he usually goes to church when he isn’t here or travelling. His wife is a member for 13 years, and he had been investigating the church for that whole time. Look how crazy this miracle is: He had received all of the institute manuals from the church and decided that he would be baptized after reading all of them (those books are huge and that would take like 5 more years), but then someone told him, "If you get baptized, you'll receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and you'll understand those books better." That's when he called our bishop and asked if he could be baptized HERE in BH. Why? He didn’t really know why he felt he wanted to be baptized here, but he traveled 9 hours from where he was and was baptized and confirmed and then gave us a hug, thanked us, and went back to where he came from. It was like a dream come true.

Sunday was another miracle. We had 7 investigators at church! One is an awesome family who is so excited about the gospel and love the church...one problem though.  Their 13 year old son who went to church too has been missing since Tuesday.  Obviously, they are very worried about the situation. Please pray for Christian to come home soon. 

On Wednesday we had the leadership counsel meeting.  I gave a training on how to do splits with other missionaries. I compared the leaders to lifeguards. One of their responsibilities is to watch the missionaries that they take care of and if they show signs of trouble or start to struggle, the leader has to dive in and rescue that missionary and their area before they go all the way under. But to be a lifeguard, you have to know swim first!

I love you guys,

Elder Marsh

Killer Week

Dear Mom,

We had a killer week! 

It started off well on sunday. We had an appointment with just one less active member, but when we got to her house, we saw that she had invited about 10 friends over to hear the message! A few of them will go to church with us tomorrow.

We went on three splits, one of them to Lagoa. It was so fun to be back in my old area and it just felt like I was coming home! I got to see a few recent converts but most of the day we just worked to find new investigators to teach. That area is just so blessed and the people in the neighborhood are seriously so awesome.  One person that we taught was Guilerme. Elder Dunford and I baptized his brother, Moises, the first week that we were companions. Guilerme accepted a baptismal date for this next saturday so we'll see if he's ready now after about 6 months. A lot can change in that time!

We had a miracle in our own area this week too. Elder Juergens and I planned out and worked this whole week just to find someone to be baptized today. It's fun working this way because we have a greater urgency and we end up finding lots of people who are being prepared for the upcoming weeks! It's a little bit more difficult though finding people that are already prepared for the same week(have been to church, know the book of mormon is true, live the comandments, etc.). On wednesday, we worked like crazy trying to find someone but hadnt had any success. We went to the church to teach an investigator and when we walked in, our bishop had just hung up the phone and asked, "Elders, do you want to baptize someone this week?" The father of two members of our ward who had been investigating the church for years decided that he wanted to be baptized and had just called our bishop! His name is Winston. We called him that night and he told us that he had made his decision and that he was ready to follow. So cool. 

I love miracles!

I love you,

Elder Marsh

New Companion!

Dear Mom,

This week was a great one. We were busy with transfers, but in the end, after 4 trips to the airport, we brought all the new missionaries to the field and all the oldest ones were taken to the airport to be shipped home! Elder Bruxel was one of them, and it was super sad to see him leave. He had some mixed feelings, but he seemed happy to be going home and starting some new things in his life.

I got a new companion! He's a Texan named Elder Juergens, and he's super cool. He was already the financial secretary for 9 months and has come back to the office for his last 4! He's going to spend more time in the office than in the field by the end of his mission. He's awesome and extremely excited about missionary work. The zone that he was taking care of before he came to the office was going really well, and the missionaries loved him.  For sure he's going to help the mission achieve its goals. I'm stoked to be his companion now!

A lot of things changed this week in the mission, but unfortunately we didn’t have much time to work in our area and teach a lot of people. We still do lots of street contacts wherever we go, and it’s fun to find people who are willing to listen all over the place whether it be in taxis, at the bus station, airport, restaurant, elevator, etc.! 

Try to stay warm in the sub zero temperatures there! It’s nice and warm in Brazil!

Love,

Elder Marsh

Elder Marsh and Elder Juergens

Happy Valentine's Day

Dear Mom,

Happy Valentines Day! Happy birthday to Mason and Anna too! Anna congratulations for swimming prs!

 

Elder Bruxel and Elder Marsh on Hike 

I'm super healthy now! We spent the whole week working and traveling in the mission, so I'm basically feeling awesome. After getting a little bit of sun, my yellowish color quickly turned to red burnt color which is a little more natural looking. You talked to Elder Bunch when you called the office. He was the perfect person to talk to, since he stayed in the hospital with me the whole time. They actually thought it was my gall bladder, but after doing an ultrasound (I thought that was just for pregnant ladies) and some other tests they assured me I was fine.

This week was super fun! We went on four splits. We're trying to finish up Elder Bruxel's mission with power!  He goes home next week but hasnt really said anything about what he's going to do next. Way focused.

We went to three areas outside of the center of the city Guarani, Floresta, and Nova Serrana.  Guarani and Floresta are neighborhoods in the suburbs of BH, but Nova Serrana is a city that’s about 2 and a half hours from here that has many shoe factories. The church was opened there last July and already has more that 60 people attending the sacrament meetings! We had a great time there! The Elders had been having a hard time teaching people in the afternoon before 5 o’clock because "all the men in the city were in the factories." President has been talking lately about the importance of referrals, so Elder Bruxel and I made some plans for the day.  We took some Liahona magazines and pamphlets so that Elder Bruxel with one of the other Elders could put up a table in front of the "chapel" (It’s a one room shop with chairs and a pulpit...so awesome) and do street contacts in the afternoon. They ended up setting baptismal dates for 2 people that stopped to listen to them and learn about the church! The other Elder and I went looking for people to teach. I didn’t buy it that literally NO ONE was at home so to find the men at home we asked everyone in the street to point us to the houses that had men at home that would want a message. We ended up finding three lessons to teach and 2 people accepted a baptismal date! One lady told us that she had already been to the church and loved it! Referrals are so important. I have no doubt that the Lord blesses us when we work the way that He asks us too!

I love you,

Elder Marsh

Hiking on Pday 

Late Email

So my email is coming two days late due to the fact that I turned yellow last week!  Yeah, so I found out that I have "Gilbert’s Syndrome" where I turn a yellowish color if I get sick or stressed.

Last week was a great one.  We had an awesome leadership council meeting about desire and focus, which was seriously powerful.  Here’s the summary: We get what we desire most!  I love how President Fortunato is so able to help us missionaries be better every time we meet with him.  He's super humble but understands the potential that we have to be the best we can.

The day after, Elder Bruxel and I went on splits with missionaries in Riberão das Neves. We were really blessed and found some new investigators there and also put a baptismal date on a very old investigator for this last Saturday!  It was an awesome time until that afternoon when I started getting a little sick. I ended up throwing up in the middle of the first lesson, right when I was explaining the importance of prophets! Luckily I made it to the investigator’s bathroom in time. I ended up spending Saturday and Sunday in the hospital because the doctors thought something was wrong with my liver, but there wasn’t, and I'm perfectly fine.  Missionaries are basically protected by the hand of God at all times!

I have just a little bit of time to write today, but I love you lots!

Elder Marsh