Boy do I love missionary work. We have been working better these last two weeks than any other time of my mission. Elder Chapuis and I are really taking advantage of this time together.
We did a companionship exchange in the beginning of the week. I was with Elder Bowden, who is from Orlando (shout out to Elder Baeza! he should be able to meet him when he returns home in 9 months!)....He is hilarious! He loves to imitate our mission president.....some times, it resembles a little bit of Jabba the Hut, which just makes it all the much better. We had some good fun together.
We had a district meeting on Tuesday....14 missionaries under one roof. There's an unfortunate tradition of tardiness at our meetings....it drives me nuts! Before our meeting, we had a chance to teach Henrique, one of our investigators who is really cool and sincere. He's 15, and really has been noticing the difference as he's been reading the Book of Mormon and attending church. When we taught him the Plan of Salvation, he asked Heavenly Father in the closing prayer that he would help him to do whatever it takes to get to the Celestial Kingdom! That's the kind of attitude that I love to see! His Mom, who is Catholic, is a little bit resistant with letting him be baptized. We are going to ask his cousin, who is also a member, to talk with his mom and try and talk her into it. If everything goes right, he will be baptized this Saturday!
When I was with Elder Bowden, we managed to teach a reference that we had received from some members named Zito (and no, his last name is not Barry). He was super Catholic and really wasn't very interested. However, there was a lady in the house, named Izabella, who sat down and was listening very intently. She's from Sao Paulo, but is here visiting. She said that she's been a member of several churches already, but feels that she's "missing" something. Bingo. I love how the Lord leads you to people like this. We explained that the same church that existed 2,000 years ago was re-established in our days. We explained the restoration of the Priesthood and invited her to follow the example of the Savior in His Latter-day church by being baptized. She was ecstatic! She thanked us for helping her to understand just exactly what it was that she was missing. We took her address and will send it to the Elders in Sao Paulo. I'll probably never find out what happened to her, but I trust that the Lord will guide her until that missing "whole" is filled.
You've probably noticed that I don't talk about all of our investigators every week....unfortunately, we usually end up losing contact or not being able to follow up with a good chunk of our investigators. A lot of them say they will go to church, or sometimes even promise that they will go, and unfortunately don't show up. That's one of the worst feelings in the world...sitting at church Sunday morning silently praying that the people that you love and care about will make the small sacrifice to come to church. We call everyone Saturday night, and pass by their houses Sunday morning...but it seems that there's always something that happens to prevent them from showing up. I've learned to not be sad for the people that don't show up, but to be grateful for the people that do! We have seen miracles here....I have faith that the Lord really does lead us to prepared people, and then prepares a way so that they can choose to accept and follow the path that leads to baptism in his true church, and eventually, the Celestial Kingdom. I'm so grateful for each and every blessing that I've seen here....the Lord has provided for us....when we're diligent in doing what he asks us, he always delivers. Always. The Work goes on! It's never too late to take a part in it!
Until next time,
-Elder McKinley
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