Elder Spencer Christofferson: "Missionaries have such an AMAZING purpose"

Me and Eduardão. He is a member of our ward and HUGE!!!!!!
Like HUGEEEEEE!!! I really like him haha!!

Hey everybody!!

How are you all!!?? This week was good here but a little tough being the first week of a new transfer. With people traveling and a new companion this week was like a warm up week!! And this coming week is going to be great!

So I stayed here in Morada Real!! I was happy because now I will get to feel the cold that usually comes during winter here! This week was already pretty cold, like in the 60s!! Pretty amazing haha! My new companion is named Elder Souza. He is from Acre, Brasil. Acre is a really small state in Brasil that is right under the Amazon. It is like the state that other Brasilians joke about because it "doesn't exist." Haha but Elder Souza is AWESOME!! He is only in his 3rd transfer and had two amazing trainers so I have a lot to live up too! He is great and we are already working well together!

So Tuesday was a day of Elder Bitencourt saying goodbye to everyone. But right after lunch we had a lesson marked with Cristielen. We went and were planning on teaching the Plan of Salvation to her and her husband but when we got there her husband wasn't there so we decided to change up and teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson was GREAT!! Cristielen understood everything perfectly and felt the Spirit. We challenged her to baptism on the 13th and she accepted. It was a great lesson! She is progressing well!

Friday we went back to teach her and her husband Luis Paulo. This time they were both there!! At this point in the week I already had Elder Souza with me. So this time we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation. Have I mentioned how PERFECT and SPIRITUAL that lesson is!!!???!?! Like for real it has a power. Elder Souza being newish still is working on his teaching skills and everything. I think this was the first time I really realized how much I have improved in my teaching! As I was talking with the Spirit I realized how much I have already changed. The Lord takes us and little by little converts us into who we need to be. I am still changing. But man it was really cool to see. The lesson was great. The Spirit was so strong and Luis Paulo and Cristielen both got emotional during the lesson. I love those moments. They make this mission amazing!!!!

Thursday night we went to visit Ronaldo and Simone! It had been a while since we visited them so we decided to head over. I had the Restoration DVD in my bag so that is what we watched with them when we got there! It was incredibly spiritual and I loved it. Everytime I read or hear or teach about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel, I feel my testimoney strengthen. I wish you guys could be here with me experiencing all of this everyday. Because man it is incredible how amazing you feel after a hard day of work, helping people come closer to Christ. Us missionaries have such an amazing purpose.

So Andreza! Friday was the first day this week we actually got to teach her, after she didn't get baptized! We had a great lesson with her as we read Alma chapter 7 and talked about baptism again. She said that everytime she hears it she always pays more attention. She is primed and ready to be baptized but still wasn't this week. We found out that she is going to a different church still with her friends. But the only reason is because of her friends! We just are helping her try to understand the message of the Restoration. She will be baptized soon!

Saturday we had a really cool experience. We had planned to go visit Daniel, a Priest in our ward, at 6 o´clock. We had visited him earlier in the week and he said he had some references for us. Also the rest of his family is inactive so we are trying to reactivate them. We had a couple appointments fall through so at about 5:15 all of our stuff had fallen through. We just decided to make our way over to Daniel's, which was very close, and do some contacts on the way. As we were walking over, there was a soccer game happening on the field next to us. We stopped to watch for a second and talk to some other people watching. We stayed there about 15 minutes doing cool contacts and watching a bunch of Brasilian dudes get mad at each other playing soccer haha! Then we headed to Daniel's. As we approached there was a girl in the front of his house waiting too. We walked up and knocked too. Then started talking to her. She seemed pretty closed off but we found out she lived in the house above Daniel's with her mom. They have lived here for only about a month. So nobody turned out to be inside either of the houses. I asked her what she was going to do now and said, "wait for someone to show up because I forgot my key." So I said "Well then we will wait with you too. Can we?" She said yes so we went and sat on the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Her name is Elen and she is 15. I thought she was way older but she is only 15. The coolest part was how she totally opened up to us. We taught her the first lesson sitting on the sidewalk. The Spirit was so so so so so strong and she loved the lesson. By the end of the lesson she couldn't stop smiling. She literally became one of the most joyful people I have ever seen! It was contagious! We marked to go to back tonight! I am excited to teach her again!

It was just really cool for us to see how the Spirit was guiding us. Every thing that happened, happened for a reason. She told us how strange it was that no one was ever home, and how she NEVER forgets her keys but that day she did. We told her how we had stopped to watch the soccer for a sec and if we hadn't we would've showed up at that time to see her and we would have never met her! The Lord places people in our paths.

This gospel is perfect. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Through him every person can be healed. I know that this is true because I feel the Spirit as I testify about it. I love our Savior! I love all of you too!

Have a great week!!

-- Elder Spencer P. Christofferson