Pure Gold

 Oro Puro  "Pure Gold"

I decided that once in a while I would do a post sharing one of the amazing stories of our converts experienced by our missionaries here. There are so many that I can't share them all with you so I will share just one today.


Elder Hollingsworth from Temecula, California shares this story.  Elder Hollingsworth is an incredible missionary.  He is so full of love for the Gospel and the people of Brazil.  Before his mission his passion was surfing. He is an excellent surfer.  Although his heart skips a beat when he sees people surfing at the beaches here he says there is no sacrifice too great to know the joys of serving a mission.  He shares this experience he had recently. I love how this experience illustrates the part that many people can play in the progress of one person.  Here you have three sets of missionaries - and some were even "online missionaries" in Salt Lake all playing an important part in the baptism of this woman.  You will also see in this story the "visionary" nature of the Brazilian people.  It is not unusual for them to dream dreams of a spiritual nature.

Elder Hollingsworth:

About a year ago I was starting my first transfer in Simoes Filho.

I was with Elder Rank and it was great to work with him. We were invited into an english school to help them out a little bit. So, we went and we gave a quick class and met a lot of great people and afterwards invited everyone to go to church.

I had just one Book of Mormon with me and there was a young woman that was just shining, and I felt very strongly that I should give the Book to her. She is 19 and lives with her parents and sister.

So I gave her the book and we left and for a long time I didn't ever hear back from her.  That transfer passed, and 2 more and I stayed in that same city. When I was with Elder Driscoll, we saw her walking in the street and she stopped us and asked if we remembered her and I said, "Of course!" She invited us to pass by her house and we did that same week and started teaching her.

She started to go to church and started progressing really fast. We marked her baptism and the day right before, we passed by to see if everything was good and she told us that she couldn't receive us in her house anymore. We asked her why and she just started crying and said, "I can't."  She bore testimony of the church, of the book of Mormon and said that she wants so much to be in the Celestial kingdom after this life, but she told us that we had to leave. 

Sad, and confused we left her house never to go back again that transfer, and then I was transfered.

Later I  told the Elders that were in her area that I left her information in the Area book and I asked them to pass by her house.  To their surprise when they were looking for her house Elder Panah felt impressed to do a contact with a girl in the street and it was her!! They started teaching her again and she started to go to church again.  They marked her baptism 2 times and she kept on backing out at the last second. Elder Panah thought that she wasnt progressing so he would just pass by once a week. 

When he passed by last Tuesday he said that she decided that she wanted to be baptized on that Saturday. Elder Panah had showed her the sisters from Salt Lake on Mormon.org and she had been talking to them a lot online. They would call her and they became really good friends. They invited her to pray for the last time if all of this was true. She said that if she didnt receive an answer then she would give up and never go back to our Church. 

She prayed on Monday night, and had a dream, and in the dream she said that the Savior told her that everything was alright and that this is the right place and that it was ok for her to follow this path. She called me last Tuesday and told me this and I couldnt believe it. She asked me to come back to her city to baptize her and I received permission to do so.  It was such a great day and the peace that I felt that day is something I've never felt before. Her Mom came to watch and we were able to talk to her and she said that now she will visit and investigate a little more about the church.

I know that this work is eternal. It wasn't me or Elder Panah or the sisters that found her, but it was the Lord, and He used all of us in the process.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be part of the most important work in the universe. Everyday I'm seeing why the mission is important for me. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. Seeing how happy she was right after the baptism, when she said "Thank you Elder, I did it!" makes any sacrifice worth it.

I know this is the only true gospel on the face of the earth and it changes anyone that truly lives it. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Hollingsworth

Here she is at her baptism pictured below.  The Online sister missionaries from Salt Lake were able to attend via Skype! 

We just had our second Transfer Day this past week. We received 17 new missionaries and lost 12.

Below you can click on this movie clip and see President Lisonbee singing with the new missionaries. So crank your volume up and enjoy!

And here you can see a clip of a 15 km bike ride we took through a park that winds through a jungle.  Very fun Pday! And  I can't seem to stop singing "Prontos sempre prontos." ( "Ready, ever ready" or "Onward, ever onward...")

                                                         

Until next week.  Até logo!