The Lord humbled me...

Playing Basketball on Pday makes for a good workout! 

Hey Everybody! 

How are you guys?! I hope you all had a good week. Our week was great! I'm excited for this week. Today (Monday) we played basketball with  a bunch of people from our zone. Since I am one of the few Americans in the zone, it felt good being one of the best in basketball! haha. It was a blast, but also really hot and now I am sunburned. 

So Wagner. He didn't get baptized this week but his date now is for this Saturday the 11th. We had gotten word Thursday night that Wagner was again changing his mind on the baptism thing. So Friday night me and Elder Bair headed over. It was just us and Wagner. His wife, who is a member, wasn't there. We decided to read 2 Nephi 31 with him. That chapter is great and talks a lot about baptism and salvation. We read and he said he understood but still wasn't sure he was ready. We then read him the baptsmal interview questions and found out he was still struggling with drinking coffee. But we all kneeled and prayed for a date he could be baptized. We all felt that the 11th should be the day so that is what we marked. Saturday we went back to give him a present. Here in Brasil there is this thing called "cevada." Cevada is like coffee in taste but not actual coffee, and members can drink it. It's not bad for you and is not breaking the word of wisdom. I don't know if the States have something like that but it is cool and helps. So we went to the market and bought some for him. Then to his house, taught the blessings of the Word of Wisdom again and gave him the present. He gave us his coffee in return and when we left we threw it away. Haha it was awesome! Now just got to praying he is ready for his Baptism on Saturday. Pray for Wagner this week! 

Tuesday we had an awesome experience. Ever since Elder Bair got here he has expressed his desire to knock all the doors on our street. After he said that I felt too that we needed to do it. Knocking doors on our mission is not a very recommended thing to do just out of the blue because there isn't a lot of success, but we did it since we both felt we should. On our 3rd house a woman answered. She was very nice and receptive but said that her husband was sleeping so later was better. I figured she meant another day and asked, " what day is good for you guys?" She responded, " oh no just come back in an hour!" We said okay and knocked almost all the rest on our street with no luck and returned. The woman, Marina, is around 3 and her husband, Hildo, is around 35. They are awesome. Way nice people and really willing to learn about the gospel. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and they liked it, They invited us back. So Thursday we returned and taught the Restoration. They also like it. During that lesson the Lord humbled me a little bit. Marina asked a question about something that I did not have an answer for. And as I was sitting there thinking Elder Bair stepped in and saved the day with an answer. It made me realize, 1- wow I need to study more and 2- I don't know everything so don't get prideful. It was a good reminder. But Marina and Hildo are awesome and the best part is that they live literally 1 minute away walking, from the church. 

This week we will meet with Daví. Daví is a 9 year old kid who is the son of a member. His mom, the member, was active when he was younger and then went less active. She now has returned fully and him too. They both want him to be baptized soon so we should baptize Daví this week or next wek. It'll be awesome! Daví is a cool kid and him getting baptized will help his mom stay active and hopefully help the rest of his non-member family become interested too. 

Last Monday night we went and visited Erick, Kaique's brother. He was hanging out with his buddies so we taught all 3 of them together. We taught about the Book of Mormon and they liked it a lot. One of the friends, Isaacá said as we were finishing, "can you guys come and teach my family about this?" Obviously we responded yes and said we'd come back the next night. When we did, it was sad. Isaacá wasn't there and so we were only teaching Erick and his other friend. Then he showed up. He gave me the Book of Mormon back and said, "Here is your book back, I won't need it anymore, I have my own scriptures already." I didn't realize what was happening and said, "No! Keep it! It is yours now." Elder Bair then asked, "your parents?" He nodded and said they got mad at him and he wasn't allowed anymore to meet with us. Then he left. It was really sad. The worst part is that his parents are now telling Erick all this untrue stuff about the church. We didn't know, so when we challenged him to baptism Saturday night he declined and told us about all what they had said. Ugh! We will do all we can to help resolve his concerns and feel that Erick is still progressing! 

One awesome thing this week is that Kaique got back from the youth camp! He went to a singles camp up next to Salvador with all of the members of this state, Bahia, ages 18 to 31. He LOVED it. He is dying to get one of those future missionary bracelets! He said he learned so much there and that it was incredible! It made me so happy to see. Then Sunday he got the Aaronic Priesthood! He was also happy and ready to learn a lot andI am getting very excited too! I love seeing him grow and improve. Marcos too is doing good! He got a job and it is great because before he didn't have one but the bad thing is that he has to work SO MUCH! But they are doing great! 

Anyways I love you guys! Have a great week and count your blessings!!

Elder Spencer Christofferson 

Beautiful Husky