"The Lord knows you and is helping you"

First District Meeting in my new area

Hi everybody!!! 

How are you all doing! I hope fantastic!! I am doing great here! We had a normal week with a few highlights! Summer is in full swing back home and here "winter." I put winter in quotes because winter just means rain haha! It rains every day! Especially since I am close to the ocean, it rains even more. And the craziest part is that it comes out of nowhere. It took a few days for me to learn that even when we leave in the morning to perfect, blue skies without one cloud, it will still rain. I didn't take my umbrella for those days and I payed the price haha! But now I learned! I may look crazy taking an umbrella out when there isn't a cloud in the sky but I am not! But this week was also a little slow because it was a holiday on Friday and Saturday! So everyone was out of town! But we made the best of what we had! 

Tuesday we had a cool experience. Two sisters from our zone called us on Tuesday afternoon saying they had an AMAZING reference for us. I think what we call references here is called referills in the States? I can't remember. Anyway the sisters said that a member in there ward had a son who had recently moved back to Salvador and that he is a member, but has been inactive for years. He moved back into our area and it just so happens that his wife isn't a member. So it sounded promising and we headed over there Tuesday night. We found the address and found Daví and Michele!! They are really cool. We talked to them and found out that they moved here about a month ago. For now they are both out of a job and searching. So their life is tough right now. Then we started to talk to Davi and found out he was baptized a long time ago. He now is around 30 years old and he was baptized as a child. His mom and sister are members too and they are both active. He told us he was active in the church for a few years but then went to São Paulo and went inactive. He said his mom even had the dream that he would be a missionary. He remembers a good amount of stuff about the Gospel but not all. Then we started to talk to Michele. She is awesome. We discovered that they had already met with the sisters when they were living in São Paulo!! It was crazy! She remembers a bunch of stuff and even still has a Book of Mormon. She has read it a ton! We started to talk to her about her doubts and why she wasn't baptized back in São Paulo. She expressed her uncertainty about a couple things and we explained. We had a really spiritual visit. Davi expressed how their lives have been tough lately and how he believes that God is answering his prayers little by little. I got to testify that "God doesn't forget us. He helps us everyday of our lives if we are doing the right things." It was great and they are now part of our group of people we visit!! I will continue to update on them as the time goes! 

Wednesday was my first district meeting as District Leader!! It was scary because I had to give the training but in the end it all went well. I spent the entire week leading up to it praying and pondering over what I should talk about. In the end I focused on commitment invitations. I wanted to focus on helping those type of investigators who are a little flakey, or who are just missing one thing to be baptized! Anyways I think it was a good meeting! It is a little nerve-wracking for the first time, especially when my district is the Assistants to the President and their companions haha! 

So Thursday also had a cool little moment. I was having a particularly tough afternoon/night. Our lunch had fell through for the first time in this area and no one was home because of the holiday. We were spending the day searching for less active members. And it was raining haha. The luck just wasn't with us for that day. Out of nowhere our cell rang. I looked down and saw "Pres. Bangerter" on the caller ID. I thought, "why is President calling?" I answered and he just asked how I was doing. He said that he just wanted to check up on us and see that all was good. I told him that it was a tough day and he comforted me. It was seriously awesome. He said, "Elder Christofferson, you are the man for this job. You are the Elder that needs to be in the Imbuí area right now. The Lord knows you and is helping you! Don't get down! You are a fighter and will do great things there! I love you and the Lord loves you more! Keep fighting!" It was so cool. It gave me the power to finish the day and the week. I love that President Bangerter listened to the Holy Ghost to call me! God knows us folks!! 

Friday was... interesting haha! I got sick. :( It was the sickest I had been in a while but it all ended up good. We spent the day at home because I was struggling and I really don't like doing that. I tried to go out and work but it was not going well. I figured it was better to be well rested so maybe I could work the next day and that is what happened. 

Saturday I was better! Not 100% but well enough to work! We went out with Bishop and the High Priest Group Leader to visit some less-active members. One person we visited I remember more than the rest. We went and found this guy named Gustavo. He's about 21 and has been inactive for a few years. We were focusing on finding the men around mission age! We had a nice visit with him and then at the end Bishop invited him to church. The sad part was when he just straight up rejected the offer. He said he doesn't have the desire to come back to church. It was sad. I left thinking a lot about that guy because I was imagining how different his life would be if he was on a mission. He would be a strong member of the church learning how to be a better man. Like what I am learning. It just made me sad to think that this kid was so unaware of all the blessings that he was letting pass by! 

Anyways that was my week! I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do to make this world a better place! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and that knows you! 

Until July! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson