Week #41

Bazinga!

Random Thought: There was a lizard on my soap on Friday.

Well this week started off great! Then it ended ok...

I'll start with Wednesday! Wednesday was cool because I did divisions with the other dupla and it was super fun! I went with Elder Reed to appointments and to do contacts and just normal stuff! His dupla has an investigator who has been looking at the church for a while now named Kelly. She is very smart and really has read all the pamphlets and is reading the Book of Mormon. Well she believes that it all is true but has never accepted a baptismal date. So I went there with Elder Reed to interview her and too see if I could help her with her doubts. The interview was SO spiritual! I feel like I wasn't talking! It was all the Spirit! After the interview she said that she will think about when she would like to be baptized! I was SO happy!

After a family home evening that night with puppies we headed home! As we got closer we passed the bus station by our house and this lady motioned to me. I thought she was just waving so I waved to her! Then she shook her head and motioned for me to come over to her. So I called Elder Reed over and we said hi. She started talking and my first thought was,"Wow this lady is crazy, shes just talking jibberish." Then she said the word," Estoy" which is Spanish! So I started paying attention a little more and found that I could understand about 85% of what she was saying! People I understand THREE languages! that's nuts! So we talked for a little bit and found out that she is a member passing through and that sometimes she stops here on the weekends and wanted to know where the church is so she could attend on Sunday. We called Elder Paredes over because she didn't understand a lot of Portuguese and he speaks Spanish and he explained everything to her! Then she told us what happened. She arrived in Cáceres and was supposed to wait there for her friend who was coming from Cuiabá and wanted to know when her friends bus was supposed to arrive but didn't understand a lot of the language. So she started praying and Elder Reed and I walked by!! SO cool! So anyways we called President Reber to ask permission to stay with her until her friend arrived so that she could have someone to talk to and help her if she needed it and she wouldn't be left alone on the street at night. He gave us permission!

Thursday was the day we went super far to lunch over the torn apart bridge! After lunch we started over the bridge and I looked down into the little stream and saw a biggish snake! It was dead! So when we got to the other side we decided to fish it out with a stick to take pictures! Well it was really alive and I got BIT! ...KIDDING. We took pictures with it and then left it there! It was pretty cool. Then we tried to find the house of someone who asked for a visit and as we were walking a guy motioned us to come to his house. So we went over and started talking with him! Well after a little bit we found out that he is a recovering drug addict and that he just liked to talk religion. He was a little crazy because of how many drugs he has done but something that happened really hit me. We said we had to leave about 10 times but he kept asking us to stay and I couldn't help but come to this conclusion. This guy is in darkness and he knows it, and when he talks religion he can feel the light. So when we said we had to leave he tried to keep us, or the light, in his house as hard as he could. Sometimes those situations are uncomfortable but if you put yourself in their shoes you see why they are acting the way they are.

Friday I gained a stronger testimony about agency. We went to teach one of our investigators and she is a pretty big lady and has a bunch of problems in her life. So I used my life as an example! About how I was really overweight and sad and without thinking about it I said this,"...and then after years and years of this and asking 'why me' I had a sort of realization. This is ALL because of me. A lot of people ask why God would let their lives be bad or why he would have this plan for their lives when in fact it was never His plan. He has a perfect plan for each and everyone of us! BUT WE are the ones who ruin it. If we choose to do whats right we will fulfill the plan laid before us by Him. If we do wrong things we can't fulfill that plan and automatically we have a new one that isn't as good..." When I got done talking she was crying and said she understood. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

After that appointment we walked an hour home in the cool, pouring rain. And I loved every step!

Jacob 3:1

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws