Elder Spencer Christofferson: "Heavenly Father is aware of our efforts..."

Hi Everybody!!

So this week was awesome! Most people came back from last week's holiday and we got to meet with a lot more people! We had some awesome experiences this week! I just love being a missionary. Amazing things happen every week. I am making memories for my life and even better is that I am getting my faith strengthened! I feel loved and blessed more than any other time in my life out here in Brasil. I love this country too! I know that God really called me to be here and I am EXACTLY where I need to be right now! Oh and it's July! Happy July!

Tuesday we had a cool little miracle. So we were looking for some less-active members. Earlier I had taken our list of members and picked a few streets that seemed to have a lot of people, and written them does. So we went searching/exploring our area. The funny part is that we didn't find ONE of those people on the list I made. But we did find another family who are members. We saw this girl and stopped to ask her about a street. But when we stopped her the first thing she said was, "Hi Elders." It caught us off guard and we asked her how she knew the Elders! Turns out she is the sister of this other young man, Davison, in our ward! Davison is active but the rest of his family isn't. So we talked to his sister, then him, then his mom and now we have a family night marked for tonight at their house! It was really cool. I felt like it was a small little miracle! I love those kind, haha!

Wednesday night as we were leaving this neighborhood of our area, this man sitting in the plaza called us over. He was in about his early 30s and he was sitting with his wife who was chasing their toddler around. He told us his name was Roberto and that he was a member of the Church. He explained that he and his family were in a tough situation. They had little time in the city and were struggling a lot financially. He had gotten in a motorcycle accident last month and broke his leg. Because of that he had been let go of his job. We could see quickly that his family needed help. Roberto told us that they had been looking for help from churches and received none and that he hadn't known where the "Mormon" church was. But he said that when he saw us he remembered the Elders who had baptized him. We got his address and marked to go visit them. Friday afternoon we did. We found their house and I was humbled. Their house was the size of my room back home. Roberto is sleeping on the floor because there is only room on the mattress for his wife and son. The situation overall is just tough. But we had a really cool, spiritual conversation with them. Roberto expressed his desire to come back to church and, "feel that peace and family atmosphere" as he put it. I testified of the Atonement and promised Roberto he can be forgiven of his sins. It was really awesome and we set up a time for him to meet with Bishop!

Thursday was I think my favorite day of the week. It just felt like Heavenly Father really showed me that he is aware of our efforts and work. We needed that confirmation too and it came at the perfect moment. Thursday afternoon we went to visit Daví and Michele for the second time. Since the first time we met with them we just got to know them, this time we went prepared to teach the Restoration. It was a fantastic lesson. The coolest part was towards the end when we talked about the Book of Mormon. Since Michele and Davi already had met the Sisters when they lived in São Paulo they had a Book of Mormon. Michele said how, "earlier today I was reading the Bible. I was reading in Isaiah 9 because I love Isaiah. After I finished I saw the Book of Mormon and picked it up to read. I just opened and started to rad. The part I read was almost exactly what I read in Isaiah 9! I thought it was so cool." Michele had opened to 2 Nephi chapter 19 where Nephi quotes Isaiah. It was sweet! She then went on to explain how when she first heard about the Book of Mormon she had immediately denied it. But then last Christmas her mother-in-law (who is a member in another ward here in our stake) gave her a Book of Mormon as a present with her testimony written and some scriptures marked. Michele said she was touched and read some of it and that now she loves the Book of Mormon. It was amazing! You guys may not be using a nametag but you still can be powerful missionaries!!

Thursday night we had another cool lesson with a man named Fernando. Fernando is the man we met last Sunday when we passed by the big group of people watching soccer! We saw him again earlier in the week and talked to him and his wife. We marked to go teach him. We had a very cool lesson with. We taught the Restoration. The interesting part was that Fernando was pretty quiet during the lesson. And he usually seems to be a talkative guy. But at the end he said he'd read what we left with him and that he needed to do a lot of thinking and praying. The Spirit touched him! It was really cool and I love to see the Spirit work on people in different ways!

Another really cool thing that happened on Thursday is that out of nowhere we got two media referral! The ones that Salt Lake sends. I've NEVER gotten any my entire mission so getting 2 in one day was awesome. And even better was the next day we got three!! A total of 5 in less than 24 hours. It was really cool and showed me that Heavenly Father is aware of our efforts and watching over us!

Saturday we taught Davi and Michele again. This time we taught the Plan of Salvation and focused on eternal families! There is always a special type of feeling that enters the room when we teach about eternal families. They loved it and I hope one day they too can become an eternal family! It is one of the best Gospel truths that exists! If we do our best here and obey the commandments we can live with our families FOREVER!! Death is not the end. We will see our families again one day. I love having that knowledge!

Anyways my beloved family and friends that is my week! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic and PATRIOTIC week!!

Love you guys #USA!USA!USA!

Elder Christofferson