"I sure do love this gospel"

NEW SHOES for the boy who walks everywhere! 

Hey Everyone!

How are you all?! I hope all is well with you guys! Things here were great this week! Just a normal, spirt-filled week as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ! I love being a missionary! It is truly the Lord's work! This week was a good one and the work here is progressing nicely! I hope that I can write well so that you all can feel the Spirit and joy of the experiences we had this week!

Tuesday we went to visit Reginaldo and Suely. I seriously can't say enough how amazing and in shock I still am about the transformation of Reginaldo. Out of nowhere he just started listening to us and now is transforming in to a disciple of Jesus Christ. Tuesday we taught in more detail about the Book of Mormon to him and Suely. It was great as I was able to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon. Suely also bore her testimony about the Book of Mormon. It was so special for me to see her expressing her love for the book that is helping her change her life. She shared how much she feels love coming from the pages of the Book of Mormon. That was something that stuck with me a little bit as I thought about it. All the authors of the Book of Mormon from Nephi to Moroni had such a love for the Savior and they really put their love and testimonies into the words. That is why we can feel such a power from the record. It bears testimony of Christ. It was a great lesson and we are excited with the progression of Reginaldo and Suely! Now we just need to help Suely's kids get back. All 3 of them are baptized and the oldest is 20 and youngest 10. We talked a lot about the example that Suely and Reginaldo could give and in time, the kids will start to have that desire to come back to church too! We are praying! 

Wednesday we had a really nice experience too! An older lady in our ward told us about a friend that she had and told us where this friend lived. The lady in our ward told us that her friend had lost her husband and one of her kids in the last 2 years or so in unrelated incidents and that she could need some help. So Wednesday we went by this referill and met Janet! (Shoutout to Nana). Janet is a wonderful woman! She invited us on the first contact and we proceeded to teach her the lesson of the Restoration! About halfway through the lesson one of her friends showed up and she invited her in to listen to the message too! Both Janet and her friend are Catholic and had a lot of questions about some of the things we were teaching but all in all it was a nice visit! We felt a nice Spirit as we taught her about the Restoration and I thought it was interesting to note that when I started to cite the First Vision she got really quiet and started to truly think for the first time about all that we were saying. It was a special moment and this week we are going to pass by again and talk about the Plan of Salvation to see if she really is interested in our Church! 

Wednesday night we had another fun experience! Our ward mission leader, Marival, set up a family night at his house and it was so awesome! There were about 30 people there in total. 8 of them were investigators and had a couple of less-actives there too! It was a great activity! One of the Irmãs in our ward gave a great message about the Holy Ghost and helping people. She told us during the lesson to think of one person that we love a lot and want the best for, and that when we thought of that person, to go and look in the small shoe box she had and not say anything to anyone. Just look and go back to your seat. So I did and when I looked in the box I saw myself! There was a mirror. She then explained about how we need to make sure that we have the Spirit and make sure we are spiritually okay first before we try to help others! I thought it was a great lesson! We also had a funny little game afterwards where everyone got to have fun and laugh and still feel the Spirit! 

Thursday we got to teach Reginaldo and Suely about the Plan of Salvation and it was a special lesson. I always feel so good and happy when we teach the Plan of Salvation. It makes sense that it is also referred to as the Plan of Happiness. Reginaldo enjoyed the lesson and thought it was different than anything he had ever heard before and said that it "answered a lot of my questions." So that was awesome! 

Thursday night we also got to teach Thailane! She is doing great too but this week we didn't get to see her much because she was busy with school and her birthday this weekend! But we did get to see her Thursday and talk a little bit about the Restoration again and see how she is feeling about baptism. She said she is still a little hesitant but praying a lot about it so we will see. She is a great young woman and really wants to follow God! She just needs to put one foot in front of the other and trust God! Her faith is being tested but we are confident she will pass the test! 

Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Brotas and do the interview of a little guy named Gabriel! He is 10 years old and so awesome! The interview was so easy because he knows it all! He has a testimony and wants to be baptized so bad! The problem is that his mom won't let him get baptized! After the interview me and Elder Gil and Elder Lima talked to her for 20 minutes trying to help her understand that Gabriel is ready! She is a tough one. But she said she would think about it this week. So he was planning on being baptized this last Saturday but wasn't. It was sad, especially after we left. He saw us leaving his house and ran up and said, "Did she sign it?!?!" We shook our heads and he got this sad look on his face and said, "ahh man!" It was tough but we have faith that the Lord will work on her and she will let Gabriel get baptized! 

Saturday we had another great experience! So there is this lady in our ward named Regina. Regina got to know the Church through a man in our ward named Jose Alesho. I have already written about him in preivious emails! But Regina has been going to church for TWO YEARS!!! And is NOT BAPTIZED!! It is crazy. She is what we call "membro seco" or "dry member" haha! But in all my time here I have wanted to and tried to visit her and she doesn't let us. These past few weeks she wasn't at church. She finally came back last week and it seemed like she realized she was missing the church not going for a few weeks. So Saturday we passed by her house and she was home. We went in and had a nice visit! We got to know her a little better and then to be direct I just straight up asked her why she hasn't been baptized yet. She gave an excuse and didn't really know what her answer was haha. Then we challenged her to baptism! She has already heard the discussions 3 times or more and is practically a member! So she could be baptized anyday! She accepted the invitation to read and pray to God to see if now was her time to be baptized. I have a feeling He will tell her it is! ;) We will go by this week again to see! 

Sunday was a great day and we did some visits with our High Priests group leader! It was awesome! 

So that was our week! I sure do love this gospel. Jesus is the Christ and the head of this church. I am so excited to be able to listen to our Latter Day Prophets and Apostles this week at General Conference! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

-- 

District Meeting

"I just love this work so much, it's crazy!"

Two Zone Zone Conference with only 5 missionaries (one not pictured) who are from the US! 

Hi Everybody, 

How are you all? I hope everyone had a fantastic week that was filled with adventures and happiness! Our week here in Salvador Brasil was another great one! We saw many miracles and felt the Spirit daily. You can ask for nothing more as a missionary. I just love this work so much, it's crazy! 

So last Monday night we went to visit Thailane! We taught her about the commandments and it was a great lesson! The coolest part was at the end when we asked her if she would commit to living the commandments we had taught her about. We got such a frank answer from her, I just loved it. She said, "Yes, of course! It's all easy stuff." I was a little shocked but then thought, "Wow what a great answer! haha." If we all could have that attitude I think everyone would be better off! Keeping the commandments IS easy! We just have to think like that and then it will be! Thailane is awesome. More on her later. 

Wednesday morning we had a fantastic Zone Conference with the two zones from Salvador again! It was a great conference and I always love them! A few people don't like them because we are seated doing a lot of listening and taking notes but I actually really love it! I feel like I learn so much and get so strengthened as a missionary! One of the things that I liked the most from the conference was what the Assistants talked about. The first thing they did when they got up was write this on the board: "V.I.P.T.O.D." Just to let you know that acronym doesn't mean anything in Portuguese so everyone was confused. The AP’s then said maybe it will make more sense in English and wrote this: "L.I.V.E." I had not idea what it stood for. They explained in English it means "LIttle Victories Everyday" and it Portuguese "VIctorias Pequenas Todos Os Dias." We went on to talk about how we can all have our little victories everyday and that after a whole day of little victories we will have won the battle! It was really cool and we talked about little victories with things as simple as getting up and making your bed. It was a really great conference and I got lots of pictures afterwards as well. 

Wednesday night we went to visit Thailane again and this was supposed to be a big lesson because we needed to really see if she was ready to be baptized Saturday! We went and found out she was still really nervous about baptism. After a long talk with her we figured out that she was worried she would go inactive after her baptism. What followed was a immensely spiritual conversation about repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was perfect as we got to testify of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ and she understood. But she still wanted to postpone the baptism and we decided that was for the best! So we are hoping this week goes well with her! 

Thursday we visited with Suely and had a great visit! She is still progressing like crazy and is a whole new person from when I met her! Thursday I asked her if I could talk about a specific topic. She asked, "What do you want to talk about?" I replied with another question. "What were the two things you said we couldn't talk about if we visited you?" "Coffee and getting married." "Exactly" I said, "and coffee already fixed itself without us saying a word so I think I have permission now to talk about marriage" Haha!! It was a great visit! She knows she needs to get married and she really wants to go to the temple, but that she has to get married to the man she is living with first. Suely said a lot depends on Reginaldo, the guy, and he doesn't really want anything to do with the church or getting married. It was a great lesson to be able to start the conversation with her and we are praying a ton for them! 

Friday night we had a great experience with Thailane and her family! She lives with Fransisco, her grandpa, who is a member and is coming back to church too! We read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with them then we taught them how to do family prayer! It was so cool! President Bangerter had talked about that at the zone conference so we got to put it into practice and the Spirit was so strong as we all kneeled in that living room with Fransisco, Thailane, and the rest of the family while Fransisco prayed! It was so cool! Families are essential to God's plan! Remembering that is key! 

Saturday was a GREAT day! In the morning we got to go visit Viviane and Anna Beatriz! They were way busy the whole week so it was the first time we saw them all week! They are doing great like usual! Viviane is almost done with 1 Nephi. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with them and it was great! They were both a little shocked how tough it was for the pioneers of the Church. But we all felt the Spirit so strong! 

Saturday afternoon a miracle happened! We went ot visit Suely again. When we showed up Reginaldo, Suely's boyfriend who she has lived with for about 5 years, was there. We see him all the time and try to teach him but he always makes an excuse and leaves. But as we started to teach Suely he didn't leave!! Suely had a sweet smile on her face the whole time so I think she talked to him and asked him to stay! So we changed our lesson to be about the Restoration of the Gospel and it was great! Reginaldo committed to praying and reading and going to Church! And Sunday HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! He has totally opened up to us out of nowhere! It was so amazing! Miracles are real! He loved church too! I hope he continues to progress!

Sunday afternoon was great as half of our ward showed up for a great activity! We all split into groups and went around a specific neighborhood in our area and looked for less active members! Our ward has about 1000 members on the records and our count on Sundays is usually around 130 so we’ve got A LOT of work to do! It was great to see the members get the missionary spirit more in their lives!

So I think that is my week! I love you guys! I love this gospel and it brings more happiness into lives than any other earthly thing! I KNOW that! We can and should live the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a joy that is contagious! I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

My New Zone Leader- Elder Estevam, one of our new Zone Leaders and one of my new best friends out here. 

Elder Brito, one of the new AP's

Sister German and I, She was in my first zone and in the same zone as me when I was in Conquista and now she is in our zone again. She goes home the next transfer. 

Elder Pereira and I together again-- at least for the moment! 

"Focus on the positive"

Elder Tavares

Hey everybody!!! 

How are you all doing? I hope all is going well! This week was a great one here in Salvador full of change. Well, not the most extreme change for me because I stayed in the same area, but it still was a change because I got a new companion! His name is Elder Tavares! We hit the ground running here and all is going well! We are both excited for the opportunities that this transfer will bring! Elder Tavares has around the same time on his mission as I do, so it is great being with a missionary who really knows what he is doing! He is from Pará, which is a state in the north of Brasil that is next to the Amazon. He is a chill, funny guy and a powerful teacher so we are having a great time and are excited to work here together! This week was a great one so I will try to explain all our adventures and miracles! 

Tuesday morning we left early because my new companion was getting into town. He was actually the Elder that took my place when I left Conquista! So he got to know all those amazing people too. After we met up at the mission office and I grabbed my package (thanks mama:)), we headed to our area! Elder Pereira just got transferred to a different area in our zone so he didn't have far to go. He stayed with us, had lunch at one of the Irma's houses and then headed off to his area with his new companion who came to get him! It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Pereira as we became good buds. I learned a lot from him and we had some great moments together! That kid is going to do great things!

Tuesday night we headed over to the chapel to be a part of ward council and to introduce Elder Tavares to all of the ward leaders! He loves them and they already love him too! I love the ward here so much. One thing that I love about serving a mission is just to see how many amazing people this world has. As much sadness and evil this world can have, genuine people save it. 

We also had an interesting experience with our house this week that started on Tuesday. I learned how to live without power. Like electricity haha. From Tuesday morning to Friday night we were without power. The secretary just hadn't paid our energy bill for 3 months and the company came and shut it down. When he finally paid it after I called and got angry it was the holiday here so we had to wait a day for the guy to come back and give us energy. It isn't the worst thing ever because we aren't home during the day, but getting home to darkness and taking cold showers was not very fun haha. We just got lucky it wasn't summer and not very hot right now. Because to sleep without a fan in the heat would be impossible! But it was for sure a very interesting experience

Anyway, Wednesday we had a great day too. We went to visit Suely and see how she was doing. She hadn't shown up at church the Sunday before and I was a little worried! But we found out that she had gotten really sick Saturday night which was such a bummer and the reason she wasn't able to come to church. Anyway, since we had left the challenge with her to start reading the Book of Mormon on her own, I wanted to see how she was doing. She has been reading and is doing great! I know I talk about this like every week but I LOVE to see how the Book of Mormon can change someone. I will get to that more later but it is just the best thing ever. 

Wednesday night we also went to visit Thailane! She was doing great! We took one of the sisters who is in the Young Women's Presidency to visit her with us and we had an amazing visit! We went in planning to teach about the Plan of Salvation but ended up teaching a different lesson! We talked a lot about the Gospel of Jeus Christ. I love how that happens. How even though we plan to teach one thing, the Spirit guides us to start teaching about a different thing, really focusing on the needs of the investigator! The coolest part is how we don't have to say to our companion, "hey let's switch and teach this lesson." It just happens! It is so cool! Like the scriptures say, if we didn't have the Spirit with us, our teaching would be useless! It would just be a bunch of information that the person wouldn't feel anything special about. But during our lesson we talked a lot about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thailane still said that she was all committed to the 16th for her baptism so that was a good sign! She is a great girl who really wants to do what is right! She is what we call here "os eleitos!" 

Thursday here in the great country of Brasil was Independence day! I don't think that is what they really call it but that is what it is haha! We had the awesome opportunity to help a lady in our ward build an extension to her house. Yes, we practically are building a house haha. Of course us missionaries are just invited to do the heavy lifting, and the other men in the ward who know how to build this kind of stuff organize everything. But when I say we did the heavy lifting, we really did! We had to shovel dirt and rocks into a wheel barrow and run them up this very steep hill. We did that about 50 times, me and Elder Tavares switching off. Then we went and helped her neighbor real quick take barrels of sand, rocks, and cement up to his house. He lived on the 3rd floor. And we each had to do that 7 times with every material. It was insane haha but a lot of fun. Needless to say, we got home that afternoon pretty tired. And the couple days afterwards we were VERY sore! But I loved it! It felt good to do some heavy lifting. We are going back tomorrow to help finish.

Friday we had an awesome visit with Viviane and Anna Beatriz! They are doing great and Viviane is reading the Book of Mormon a ton! She is already in chapter 19 of 1 Nephi as of Friday! It is crazy! She says she reads at work in between surgeries since she is a doctor. She also said how a ton of people have been asking her about it and she gets to be a missionary too! It is so cool. We had a fun, spiritual lesson as we read a chapter where Anna had stopped. It was cool because Viviane said after, "I read this part a few days ago, but just reading it again, I learned something totally different from what I thought when I read it a few days ago!" It was so cool and both me and Elder Tavares got to bear our testimonies about how the Book of Mormon is true! I loved it! We also talked about General Conference with them that is coming up and they are really excited! We challenged them to do pray about some questions going into to Conference and promised they will get answered! I am excited to do that too. I did it last GC and it was really cool to see how ALL my questions were answered! 

Friday night we had an AMAZING lesson with Thailane. This time we did teach the Plan of Salvation and it was so so so spiritual! We focused a lot on our purpose here on Earth and she loved it. The most spiritual part is always when we talk about Jesus Christ's sacrifice and suffering for us. It like you could physically feel the Spirit in that room. We all definitely learned and grew. At the end Thailane opened up a little and said she felt like she won't be ready for her baptism on the 16th and a whole bunch of her worries. We assured here that she is doing the right thing but to really pray about her baptism. So we are actually going there tonight to see if all will be good. We are hoping this Saturday she can get baptized but if not this week, the week after for sure! I love this work! 

So Saturday night we stopped by Suely's real quick. That thing I talked about with the Book of Mormon having power to change lives is so true. Suely stopped drinking coffee out of nowhere! She did this a couple weeks ago and went 3 days without coffee then went back to drinking and we didn't say anything. As of Saturday she was 6 days without coffee and it was so amazing. Then Sunday at church she asked me to find the Bishop for her. I asked why and she said, "well I have to pay the tithings!" Hahaha! It was a miracle! We have literally said not a WORD about tithing but she felt she needed to pay it. I loved it. 

So that was our week! I love you all so much! This world can be a little negative sometimes so focus on the positive and the world will change! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Monkey's we saw outside our apartment window. 

Our New Zone

Staying in Imbui

Last District Conference of the Transfer

Hi everybody! 

How are you all doing?! I hope everyone had a great week! This last week of the transfer here was great for us and now we are going to get some changes. So actually I am not being transferred! I am staying a third transfer here in Imbuí! Elder Pereira is being transferred! He was one and done here but is actually just being transferred to a different area in this zone so I will see him at zone meetings and stuff! I will be getting Elder Tavares (I think that is how it is spelt haha). I have never met him but he took my place in Conquista when I left there! I am excited for the change but sad Elder Pereira is leaving! We had a great transfer together that FLEW by! It was a memorable one! 

So our week was great! I will try to give a good run down! 

Tuesday morning we got a cool surprise call from Viviane! Last week she had told us that she wouldn't be able to meet with us at all this week because she was going to a work seminar thing. She got the date wrong and it didn't start til Wednesday! So Tuesday she asked us if we could visit with her, and of course we said we could! That afternoon we went over. It was a great visit! Both her and Anna Beatriz are starting to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning! Of course they both had already read like 7 chapters in less than 5 days! They had some questions and we were able to answer them which I felt was great! I love talking about the Book of Mormon with people! There is always such a strong feeling of love when we talk about the Book of Mormon! It makes me so happy and I hope the people we are talking to about it, feel that happiness too!

Wednesday was another sweet day! We had a great last District meeting! It was sad because our district has gotten pretty close and we all have a ton of fun together! I talked about bearing testimony for the training. It was great but the coolest part came later. I'll get there. Wednesday night we went to visit this man named Francisco. He is a member who was inactive for years but just started to come back to church! Our Ward mission leader told us that he had a granddaughter who lives with him who isn't a member! So we went to visit them and had a GREAT lesson. Brother Francisco's granddaughter is named Thailane. She is 13 and just the best! She had actually been to church once and we didn't even see her! But we had a great lesson. We talked about the Restoration. It was cool for me to see Elder Pereira teach with so much confidence and Spirit and it made me think how much he has grown this transfer! The best part of the lesson was at the end! We asked Thailane how she was feeling about everything we had been talking about. She said, "I have the same feeling I had the time I went to your church, it's a good feeling. It just feels right!" We testified that that was the Holy Ghost. Then we challenged her to baptism for the 16th of September and she accepted! Woo! We are excited and she was at church Sunday too! 

Thursday was a really cool day. I had a very cool experience Thursday night. We went on a split with our Elders' Quorum President and one of his counselors! I went with the counselor, who's name is Jose Alesho. We were going to visit some less-actives. Just to give a little backround on Alesho, he has had a tough life! But he has a AMAZING spirit with him. He learned how to read and write when he was already an adult, and the way he talks to people is a little different. But when he has the Spirit that doesn't matter. The cool experience happened when we were actually on the street walking to our next appointment! We were about to go up this street when Alesho saw another man standing next to a car. The man saw him and said "Alesho! He man!" Then they started to talk and I was confused. I found out they were friends from work years ago. Then Alesho did the coolest thing. He said, "So I have talked to you about my church before but never in detail. I want to bear my testimony to you that this church is the fountain of my joy..." He then proceeded to give one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard on that street to that friend! The reason I said I would come back to the subject of the training I gave Wednesday is because what Alesho did was exactly what I talked about at our district meeting. He had no idea that is what I talked about but he bore a simple, pure testimony that touched our hearts! It was truly amazing! We all felt the Spirit very strong in that moment! Testimonies are powerful tools! 

Friday night we had another lesson with Thailane! We went and explained better for her about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it! She accepted and was really happy to get her own Book of Mormon! She thought it was so cool that it was for her! Like her own book! It was really cool to see her happy. She even said the closing prayer and asked God to help her read and find the truth in what we are teaching. It was a really spiritual experience too! 

Saturday we went to visit with Suely! We issued her with the challenge to start to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning to the end! She is nervous but excited to start! It is crazy to me how much that that woman has changed spiritually and just all-around. It is easy to see. She just has a better feeling and is always happy now. And all that happened just because she has been reading the Book of Mormon. It is amazing. 

Sunday was great! It was raining like crazy and kind of cold! Well for here that is, haha! We had a smaller number of people at church because of the rain. It was funny because I was kind of saying bye to people becuase we thought I would get transferred! Then Sunday night we got the transfer and it wasn't me! Craziness! 

Well that was our week! I loved this transfer and am excited for this next one too! Can't wait to serve the Lord even harder! 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Last Zone conference before transfers- the numbers are how many months the missionary has been out.

Saying goodbye to Elder Santana

Saying goodbye to Sister Rodrigues

District Meeting Picture shenanigans