I've felt like a greeny again this week for the first time since leaving the MTC. Not because I was nervous or didn't know how to speak well, but because of that fire that you have when you show up in your first area ready to work. I'm not sure exactly why, but I've got "fogo nos ossos" (or "fire in the bones" as they like to say in Portuguese) here in Jardim São Paulo. I think it helps just a little bit that I'm working with a American companion. We share the same wavelength, and we cut out a lot of the "turbulence" that tends to slow down missionary work! I'm getting lost in the work here. It's great!
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| Helping some members move! |
Jardim São Paulo is a little neighborhood close to Recife. We are about 30 minutes away by bus. The church is really strong here. There are a ton of strong, life-long members here, something that really didn't exist is Abreu e Lima. We are kind of starting from scratch here....Elder Jubitz was companions with an Elder who just finished his mission, and so they didn't get too much done here. There are about 7 people that we have to work with, a majority of which are almost ready for baptism! There's a strong Baptist population here....I prefer Baptist to Assembleains. They are more open and receptive when we talk to them.
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| Some pictures of our new house... |
We live in an apartment with 2 other Brazilians. I like and don't like living with 4 Elders under roof. It's more fun, but less efficient. The house was kind a mess when I showed up too....anyone who knows me knows that the house isn't going to stay like that for long. By the way, an Elder Schmutz from Virginia just showed up in our zone. He was in the MTC with Elder Johansen! Small world huh?
We have been working a lot with contacts, especially close to the chapel. There's always an elect person close the chapel. It's been true in every area that I've served in. We found a lady named Silvana who lived next door to the church, and has visited a few times. When I asked her if she knew why the church was different that any other church on the face of the earth, she didn't know how to respond. When we explained to her that it is the same church that Jesus Christ established when he was here on the Earth, she lit up. We are going to follow up with her too.
We are teaching a lady named Dora with some mental problems. I'm not sure if it's depression or anxiety or what, but she is SUPER negative!!! She loves the church and the missionaries, but she complains about everything, especially her two daughters (who are great kids....they don't do hardly anything wrong). It's really sad. You can see how much the poison of negativity ruins your perspective of everything! We try to teach her, but she interrupts us to complain about something that happened during the day. I'm not really sure what we are going to do with her. It doesn't help that she doesn't want to take her medications either.
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| Our new district! |
We are teaching a man named Roberto, who probably has the most potential to become a bishop or stake president that any other man that I've seen on my mission. He is a sergeant in the federal police here. He married an inactive member of the church named Elza, who wanted to come back to church all of a sudden a few months ago. Roberto is eating up the Gospel. He wants to read the entire BoM before his baptism (we marked a date for October 20th!). We are also helping them to get married too (October 19th!) It should be fun to see things progress with them.
I've been studying a little more about faith recently. I realize that there are more or less 3 main ingredients for success as a missionary: obedience, work, and faith. I've got the first two down pretty well by now....it's my faith that I want to increase. I realize that I need to really sell myself completely to the work. I have to dedicate all of my thoughts and energies to believing that the Lord will open doors for us and put spiritually prepared people in our paths. I am really learning how the Lord is capable to do EVERYTHING that is necessary for us to have success. We have to believe it though. That is the hardest part. Sunday afternoon, we were knocking doors on a street without any success whatsoever (we had some pretty harsh, comical responses from the people). I mentally reminded myself to believe that the Lord would provide the way. We found a 20 year old kid named Kevin (no, not K-Mill unfortunately. Shout out to Elder Miller!) who understood everything perfectly and wants to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. We asked him if he knew someone else we could teach. He told us that there is an inactive kid who lived around the corner. On the way there, we ran into Francisco, who had met missionaries 3 years ago and had received a Book of Mormon from them. He told us that at the time, he wasn't very interested, but has since then began reading the Book of Mormon. He said that he feels more prepared to follow the teachings of the church now! The Lord really does give us what we need, but we need to ask for it! My faith is growing each and every day, and I can feel the power of my prayers becoming mightier by the day.
I love the things I am learning on my mission. The Lord is teaching me soo many valuable lessons, while at the same time, letting me have so many special experiences participating in His work. It's the best!
Until next time,
-Elder McKinley
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