27 February 2017 Lucky 7

Dear family and friends,

Lucky number seven because this week I´m entering my seventh transfer, aka seventh 6 week period. I´ve received news that I will be serving in Faro, a city just a bit south of Loulé with Elder Kampff, a brazilian with a lot of experience and time in the mission, in fact I will probably accompany him until the end of his mission. I´m pretty excited. It should be a good new adventure, and a great opportunity to learn from a seasoned missionary and in particular, a native speaker.

I´ve already visited Faro many times for meetings and divisions, so its actually a bit strange landing in an area that Ive already visited and worked... but should be great.

Also, luckily Elder Jan will stay in the area. This is a really good thing because he will continue the work with our investigators and friends very well.

But, Im short on time this week, I wanted to rattle off some cool experiences from these last few days.

Firsty, Álvaro is doing great. We heard him that he´s already started sharing the gospel with his wife, and will try to bring her to church with him one of these upcoming sundays. Because of his business, we didn´t get to meet up with him this week unfortunately, but Rui helped him come to the saturday night meeting of the district conference. He really enjoyed it. Didn´t make it to Sunday though, his wife didn´t like how he came home late... but we´ll certainly iron things out.

Barbosa and Estmeralda are also well. We met with them again, and this time, Estmeralda´s aunt, Salva was there. We taught the plan of Salvation, it ran great, and the spirit was strong. In spite of them not being married, we invited them to be baptized. Barbosa then said to us, "you guys oughtta look in your records for a Barbosa. I had a dream the other night something my son and I... I was at a tower with a lot of stairs, then in a font, in white... something about it reminded me of a very dim memory, that I was baptized, and I think it was in your church."

Eyebrows raised, and we asked him more. He clarified it a bit more, and we learned from him that he was baptized back in the 90´s in portugal, but he moved the week after baptism due to work and didn´t find the church afterwards, and like so became inactive. We jotted down his name, and yes, we will look for his records. Quite surprising.

Estmeralda grew up evangelical, but she accepted the invite to be baptized. We then talked about marriage, and they said that they would make plans to get it worked out.

We planned to come back later this week but had to cancel, so we called Barbosa. I told him that we couldn´t make it and had to replan, and he was really disappointed and replied "well when´s the next time you guys can come?!" and we made a new appointment. He likes our visits a lot. They didn´t make it to church, due to an already planned event, but said they will try to make it the next week.

Amadis is also doing just great.

We visited with him this week. We didn´t have a lesson plan that was very thorough, so we planned to do a revision of the 1st and 2nd with him, and then a plan to try and explain marriage. We brought Rui with us too. We ended up having a good conversation. Amadis began to talk seriously and said (summarizing) "You guys are doing a great thing for me.. The moment you guys knocked on my door and then entered my houses you guys brought a power with you, something like a third person... I don´t feel it when you guys arent here... I know you guys have something special, this book, your teachings... and I want to use that to better my spiritual life... I´ve been thinking about marrying with Macha so that way I can be baptized in your church... Do you guys think that that´s a good idea? Should I be baptized?"

Long pause.

Mind you, we hadn´t even talked about marriage with him until this point. We then responded "yes. Amadis, you have been feeling the spirit. By such you can know that what we have been teaching you is true."

It was a very sweet moment. Amadis will start to talk with his girlfriend Macha to make plans and will propose to her.

He made it to the district meeting, drove himself and brought a member too. He loved the meeting and the speakers spoke the exact things he needed to hear to help his conversion solidify.~

Emanuela.

Emanuela is honestly one of the biggest miracles of my mission. I can´t go into much detail, due to the personalness, sacredness, and due to time limitations... but I will say just a little, Ive already said a bit, but now we´ve got more details.

Emanuela lost contact with the church for 20 odd years, nearly died in a bad car accident, and a recovery that included 4 brain surgeries. She continued through many difficult times in her life and a few weeks ago knelt and prayed that she could find a way to worship God in his holy house, she missed the church a lot and didn´t know how to return to what she knew and discovered when she was just a teenager.

In that moment, during her prayer, my companion and I knocked on her door.

A goal, or maybe a desire I´ve had as I´ve been a missionary is to be a tool in the Lord´s hands... and I was privileged enough to be such in the life of Emanuela.

She too came to the district conference. It took a lot of courage on her part due to her shyness, but she came and enjoyed it.

Alice as well is doing phenomenal. We planned with her a baptism on March 11. She accepted firmly. She too came to the district conference, with Rui in fact, and loved it. She is progressing very well and we see a new gleam in her eyes due to the gospel. I will be able to attend her baptism in Faro, fortunately.

Elder Jan and his new companion will continue working with all of these great people. I hope to find more special people like this in Faro.

Anyways, time´s up.

Take care, the church is true, do your part,

Elder Ward