Well it was another wild week here! On Monday (our P-day), President Lanius came to our stake center in Paulista....he called a meeting with the entire zone...we weren't entirely sure what the meeting was about, but it turned out to be an excellent idea on his part to help unite the zone and get the mission back up on it's feet! (to give you an idea, the mission was more or less pulled apart piece by piece and reconstructed from scratch....President Lanius has the weight of the world on his shoulders here...) He sat everyone down together, said a prayer, and then asked, "ok...what do you guys want to know?" I thought it was a pretty interesting approach....he responded to a lot of doubts and "false beliefs" that exist in our mission....I wanted so much to jump um and give him a high five so many times....We had a zone conference (which ironically, is more like a mission conference....1/2 the mission was there) on thursday in which he did the same thing....He talked with the entire mission about having committment and dedication to fulfill the missions that we were sent here to complete. He completely cemented in the fact that it's not a "lifestyle choice" to choose to obey the commandments of God or the rules that we agree to as we become one of his authorized representatives. He smashed the idea that "tolerance" is something that we should have when it comes to obedience....we need to love those who are striving for obedience, but like Spencer W. Kimball said, true love is when you help people to be better. Needless to say, that meeting left me with a great, great sense of satisfaction. It's good to know when the mission president is on your side!
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| Everyone at the baptism! Almost everyone here is a member....and there's a few that will be members here shortly!!! |
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| Right before we entered the water....Cintia was pretty emotional....the spirit was superrrr strong....such a great moment |
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| Fillin up the washing machine....state of the art technology huh? |
Elder Bochio picked it up big time this week. I was blown away....he was really showing a change of heart and a willingness to make some of the sacrifices and attitude changes that come with being a dedicated missionary. That too left me very happy during the week, and we really got some great work done!! There's nothing better than that!
A fun note: in our English class which we have in the church every wednesday night, I taught the class how to sing "happy birthday to you!"....seeing that it was my Dad's birthday, I got them to all sing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR STEVE!" in their thick brazilian accents....Boy was it funny.
We had a HUGE miracle this week....Elder Bochio always talks about he has done just about everything there is to do as a missionary....the only thing that he lacked, was to teach and baptize a pastor of another church.....guess what we did this week??? One of our students in our English class is actually a professor himself....his name is Eliel...he heard there was an American giving english lessons, and he jumped at the opportunity. We got around to teaching him at his house....you will not believe his story! He has been a pastor at 8 different churches (at least 8 that he remembers!) during his lifetime....he said that he has always searched for the true church, and since he went to our english class in the chapel, he started to feel that there was something different about this church. We taught him the restoration and the coming forth of the book of Mormon in our days....Our lesson lasted about 4 hours....we taught him for about 20 minutes, and he just talked for the rest about how blessed he was to have true servants of Jesus Christ in his home showing him God's revealed truths....Yeah....I felt pretty humbled at that moment....It's funny how much we take for granted having the restored gospel in our lifes, while a man like Eliel is close to praising us for delivering this marvelous message to him in his own home. Is this work worth it? I don't think I even need to answer that question.
Well, in other news, Elder Bochio was transferred, and Elder Chapuis (sha-pweez) is here in his place....Elder Chapuiz is from Rio Grande do Sul...he's been on his mission about 17 months. He's a stud....super humble....I already like him....A LOT. It should be a real blessing having him here, but I'm wise enough to know now that the path that we walk is not a smooth one....there are obstacles, there are "rainy days", there are a lot of annoying "mosquitoes" that show up along the way....but with the Lord....we can overcome all of them! I am most earnestly looking forward to skyping with my family this Sunday!
Until next time,
Elder McKinley
p.s. a HUGE parabens to soon to be Elder Baeza!!!! that news made my day!
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