Mission Slideshow

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Week #67

Bazinga!

Random Thought: Elder Maughan woke me up this morning by shoving a hard boiled egg in my mouth!

Well this week was fantastic! Let me tell you why.

Transfers: I will be staying in Ponta Porã with Elder Maughan for another 6 weeks!!!! We work very well together and we love our zone!

Last Monday we went to play catch (baseball) and basketball with a couple of the Elders in our zone! It was a bit hot but it was really fun! I almost died though because Elder Maughan throws the ball so hard. One time he threw it at my leg and I had a bruise for a week!

Wednesday was probably the most discouraging day of my entire mission! We did contacts almost the whole day and NOT ONE person said yes. Everyone was too busy or said no. BUT I tried to not let it get me down. I was just super tired when I got home. It was also very rainy that day. Some days are very hard.

Sexta (Friday) was great! We contacted some less active members that the Bishop gave us and they are really cool! One of them is Felix. We learned that he was the first person to be baptized in this city! He was the first branch president as well. It's very interesting that he is not very active now. He has this huge library with a ton of really old church books too. He is just a really interesting old guy. He is also hard of hearing so it's funny to teach him because we have to yell. Ha,"SO WILL YOU COME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!?!?" It was fun and then we left a message and he felt the spirit and cried. He went to church on Sunday! I think we we see more of him now.

Saturday and Sunday I had two really spiritual experiences. On Saturday we were at the house of some recent converts to leave a message I decided to tell them why I was on a mission! I told them that before the mission there were three main reasons. One, because my Dad and brother went and I wanted to be like them and do was they did for people. Two, because my patriarchal blessing said I would. Three, because my girlfriend told my at that time that she would not marry someone who wasn't a returned missionary. Everyone laughs when I get to that part. But I told them that that changed after a while and that now it's because I have tasted of the sweetness of Christ's atonement for us. I know what it feels like to be forgiven and I want EVERYONE else to feel that feeling! Very spiritual!

Sunday I bore my testimony, probably the shortest of my life, but by far the most spiritual! I got up in front of everyone and said,"Brothers and Sisters (cue crying)....................Christ's atonement is real,.................................. and it's the reason I'm here...................................................In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

So for all of you, Christ's atonement is real, and it's the reason I'm here.

Alma 5:14

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws

Week #66

Bazinga!

Random Thought: Whenever we get on the computer Elder Maughan is always on my left side.

Well it was a good week! We had a ton of lessons with the members and we are super happy about that! Our plan is to get the ward members excited to work with the missionaries when we ask. So far it's working and the stake president is very happy with our work.

This week some members asked if we could teach their kids and that there would also be two non member girls who wanted to take the lessons as well. So we started teaching them and all four of the kids we are teaching will be baptized together! We are super excited about it and we can't wait!

So this week it rained A LOT! During one day we were walking and there was a low point in the road we couldn't pass. So we tried to jump and ended up getting our shoes and feet all wet! So after that we didn't even care we just walked right through the ankle deep puddles no problem. At the end of the day we were only dry from mid thigh and up. When I took off my shoes and socks I found that my socks dyed my feet black! That was four days ago and my feet are still black! It kinda scared my companion when he saw it!

Other than that the best part of the week was DEFINITELY conference! There are a bunch of people in the ward who speak English so they had a room set up just to watch it in English! Ha even the Brazilians said it's way better in English because it's the speakers actual voices.

Favorite talks were by Elders Uchtdorf, Holland and L. Tom Perry!

If there is something I have learned this conference it is this. That the Lord is a lot more ready to forgive us than we are to repent. ESPECIALLY when we are willingly repentant! Sometimes repenting looks scary. We think,"What's going to happen? What will the bishop say? How will my family react? Will there be disciplinary action?" Well the answers to these questions really don't matter! The real question should be,"Do I have enough faith in Jesus Christ to trust in him and his atonement?" If the answer to this question is yes then nothing else should matter!

He is at the door. Will you open it?

D&C 19

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws

Week #65

Bazinga!

Random Thought: My companion likes to hurt me with baseballs.

So we had a kind of a hectic week this week! Monday was an awesome p-day but it was cut short because we volunteered to help some members move to another house. It was super fun but I didn't get to email with my family as much and I would have liked this week. ALSO HANNA I'm calling you out! You are writing my COMPANION more than me now. Unacceptable...unless you marry him...that would be freaking fantastic! He's the Maughan (man...inside joke).

Anyways, Tuesday was fun because we decided to visit our recent converts and menos ativos (less actives). These are amazing people who have gone through amazing things! There is a man who used to be one of the richest pessoas (people) here in the city but somehow he lost his farm so he is now one of the poorest. BUT he is great! He works his tail off collecting used things in the city to resell to support his family. It's a difficult life but he is doing just fine. I helped him take a lot of electronics apart to get the copper out to sell. He is always telling us about how his son WILL go on a mission so that he can learn what the world is like and so that he can help other people.

Wednesday we went to teach the girlfriend of one of the young men in the Ward, Aléxia. She is fantastic and we can tell that she isn't just doing this to please her boyfriend. She accepted all the lessons and has no problems with any of the commandants! She was baptized on Saturday and on Sunday she was confirmed! It was awesome! She was definitely ready and she is doing super well. I love it when we find people like that to teach, it really helps us to stay encouraged and happy.

Thursday was awesome! We had lunch with Bispo and the night before his wife said we could choose whatever we wanted to eat and my only request was Pavé! I LOVE IT! I ate half a pan by myself! I felt so fat afterward but we never get to have it so I decided to take advantage of the situation! Then we had to go and deal with the Realtor again so that we could start the contract on our new house. It will be a lot closer to the chapel and to our area. I am super excited about that. The contract should be done this week and we will move in! I feel like my parents right now (we are buying a new house).

Friday we had a zone conference in a city called Dourados. It only takes 2 hours to get there so we left in the morning! I love that because then we don't need to sleep at someone else's house. Anyways the conference was awesome. My companion and I spoke and we learned a lot from the others that spoke! THEN LUNCH. At lunch I grabbed a bunch of food and sat down and started to eat when my companion said,"Elder Laws! Stop eating, there's beans in that!" I looked at my plate at the farofa (ask Asa what that is) and it was full of beans! I didn't even notice because I was so hungry! So I said a quick prayer, took the rest of the beans off my plate, and kept eating. Well it didn't hit me until our bus arrived back here in Ponta Porã. I got off the bus, sat down and just sat there dying of nausea and pain until our ride got there to take us home. Then I just sat in the seat with my head down trying not to throw up! I told my companion that when we got home he was to open the door in ten seconds because I was just going to leave the car, take off my suit, get in the bathroom and throw up. And that's EXACTLY what happened. I felt SO much better afterward though! When I came out of the bathroom I said,"And that gentlemen is why I can't eat beans. Questions?" (everyone doubts that I am actually allergic to beans)

Saturday was our baptism and happily everything went well! We are super happy with Aléxia!

2 Nephi 4:16-22

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws