18 January 2018 Steady Climb

Dear family and friends,

We had some ups and downs this week. I think I´m going to keep this email a bit shorter, I´m awfully tired today.

We lost a few investigators this week... In attempts to call and mark appointments with them a few folks just said "yeah, I just dont have time for this church stuff, don´t get me wrong but we´ll be fine without more visits etc". Bummer, a few good people showed a lot of interest but it´s interesting how quick it can die off.

We we´re in the cha+el one afternoon, having finished teaching someone. I looked at our phone to see that the fiancé of one of our investigators (who was likely to be baptized this month) sent a message saying that "they" had decided that they didn´t want us to visit anymore... worst part is is that that person is a member... gosh. Our investigator was super excited, he was saying things like "I´m going to be the new young men´s leader, it´s gonna be great!" and all that jazz... shot down.

Logically, I was a bit annoyed... nothing annoys me much more that when people decide to reject us in someone else´s place. So, we left the chapel to continue with our plans, and as I was frustrated, I obviously didn´t feel like talking with anyone...

But we saw this guy in our path walking towards us and I thought "well, I can let him pass and continue with no problems, but to stop the next person will be even harder"... So, reluctantly I stopped the man to talk with him. We introduced ourselves and after a short introduction he accepted to come with us to the chapel (which was only around the corner) to visit and see.

His name was Manuel. He´s about 50, and he´s got some difficulties in life. A portuguese man, quite normal, grew up catholic, doesn´t practice. His kidneys don´t work, so he hooks himself up to a machine every other day to clean his blood. He´s got a lot of side problems because of this. We took him into the church, and we sat down and we had a great lesson.

We talked to him about Christ. We explained our life on earth and the Atonement. We shared Alma 7:11-12 and we explained to him how Christ could help him overcome his challenges, enfermities, and pains, whichever type they may be, if he decided to actively follow him. I was able to bear testimony about how much that support from christ was able to help me in my own life and challenges, and especially with my family in the challenges we faced with Marie, even the help that Marie herself got. It was one of the most powerful lessons I´ve ever taught.

We explained how Christ taught us to access such divine assistance. We talked about faith, repentance, and baptism. We invited him to come closer to Christ, preparing with us to be baptized and he accepted. He didn´t accept a day clearly, but he is certainly considering it. At the end of the lesson he asked if we could bless him with health. We obliged and explained a bit about he preisthood. He felt better right after the blessing.

We tried to meet up with him other times this last week before church but it didn´t work out, he was stuck in bed with treatments and such, and I think that when he´s not feeling well he doesn´t like to do anything... But fortunately Sunday night (he hadn´t come to church that morning) he called us and we happily heard that he was on his way to the church to visit with us again.

We gave a reveiw and we talked about some commandments that he can follow to begin the process of preparation with a good start. He fortunately is showing a lot more progress now, he thanked us numerous times for the blessing, he said that it was powerful to him. We have plans to meet up with him more this week. And, if all goes well, he can be baptized here in the near future.

It´s a good thing I got over my frustration for that small moment to meet Manuel.

Mayck is doing well. He´s as shy as ever, and he lost his phone recently. He´ll be moving soon too, lot´s of little changes. But he came to church punctually, came to our weekly activity, he´s doing good.

We taught Paula, Paulo´s x-wife. It´s a long and complicated backstory, but she´s very open to us and our message because she´s seen the difference that it´s made in Paulo´s life. She had us over with tea, cake, and everything, she´s awfully nice. She had a lot of thoughts and questions that related to the restoration, and she was intrigued after we taught it. However, she´s a "slow thinker" in her own words, and will only "think" about baptism after receiving her own testimony. She´ll progress, I think, and will do so well, but it could take a little while.

Paulo is doing good, he came to an activity this week and chatted very naturally with everyone. However he didn´t make it to church this sunday, we still don´t know why. I´m not too worried, he´s a good guy.

Unfortunately we´ve lost contact with Ângela. She doesn´t know how to use her phone very well, and if my math is right, she lost her house recently... so we´re keeping an eye out for her.

But that´s it I guess. I´m doing good, we´re working hard.

Ciao,

Elder Ward