"Heartwarming Experience"

 Pic with parts of Salvador behind me

Hey everyone!!! 

How are you all doing?!?! I hope everyone is doing great! Wow what a week this has been here! So much change so it took some getting used to but all in all this week was fantastic! So I am here in my new area, São Cristovão! It is a great area but it has been a difficult area for a while so I am looking forward to the challenge that it will present! My companion is Elder Estevam and he is seriously the best person ever! He is from São Paulo and is in the last 12 weeks of his mission but is still on fire! He is so excited about the work and I have learned SO much from him in just one week with him! I am seriously so grateful and happy that I have this opportunity to be with such a great missionary and learn so much from him! I got here to the area on Tuesday afternoon since all I had to do was grab a taxi for half an hour and I was here! Earlier during my mission, I thought that I would never serve here in the capital, in Salvador, and that if I did I wouldn't like it. I was just so used to the interior of the mission. But now I have been here in Salvador almost 5 months and I love this place. Even if it is starting to get kind of hot, I still love it haha! We will see how I feel in December when summer is in full swing but for now I LOVE THIS CITY! 

This entire week we were doing a lot of contacts and we met a lot of really good potential investigators and one that we found is called Nil. We talked to him on Wednesday at his mechanic shop and he said we could come back Thursday. So we did. We had an awesome first lesson with him about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel. The coolest part was when he started to tell us about how he has had a rough past and recently had gotten married and started going to a church. He told us about how him and his wife went through a lot of hard times and then said that our message made him feel hope. It was really great! Later in the week we went back to talk with him and we met his wife and brother-in-law. We had another good lesson but we found out that they actually live in the sisters area, but the mechanic shop where he works is in our area. So we gave the sisters the info and hopefully Nil and his wife can become solid investigators.

Thursday we had a really heartwarming experience. At least I thought so. On Wednesday we had been on the street doing contacts and this old man stopped us and told us to visit him the next day. He said his wife was blind and needed help and stuff. He was a little drunk when he was talking to us though so we were a little hesitant. But we decided we should at least try to find the place where he lived. So Thursday we went searching and found his house! He wasn't home, but his wife who he had told us about was! We went in and sat down with this really old blind lady. Her name is Luiza. She was so sweet and even though she has a lot of physical disabilities, she is still very very smart. She understood everything that we talked about and it was so sweet. We know that she isn't going to be baptized as she lives really far away and can't walk, but just to see the joy on her face as we shared a scripture and said a prayer with her was priceless. We left feeling very grateful for the opportunity to have a nice, special moment with someone who was needing it. It was a cool experience! 

Wednesday we were leaving a particular part of our area to go to another part. We passed in front of a different street and heard behind us someone say, "Oi Elderes!" We turned around and two women were there. We asked the older one how she knew the missionaries and she told us that her 3 daughters are baptized! We were shocked and had a funny conversation with her and marked a visit with her and her daughters. She told us she isn't a member but that she always used to have the missionaries over and they called her "Mom" and that she loves missionaries. So we were pretty excited. Fast-forward to Friday night and we were trying to find the place where she lives! We were getting frustrated and got lost a couple times but finally found it! She was sitting out front with her daughter because she actually owns a pizzaria. We sat down them and started to learn the story. It hasn't been that long since her 3 daughters were baptized, 2 years max. Her daughters are all less-active now which is sad. But Rosalia, the mom, told us that she didn't get baptized at the time because she was living with her "husband" and they weren't married officially. So they couldn't be baptized. I said, "so theoretically, now since you and him split up, you could be baptized right?" She replied with a yes and we got excited. But then Rosalia started to send us some mixed messages about what she wanted to do. She first said that she could be baptized. But then said that she didn't want to and had a lot of doubts. Then she explained the story of how we met her on Wednesday. She had been at home and all of the sudden got a really strong feeling that she needed to go visit her friendt that lived a little far. She followed the feeling, called a different friend to go with her, and off they went. But then Rosalia said that after only about 10 minutes visiting with the person, she felt very strongly to get up and leave, she wanted to go right now! Again she followed the prompting and left the friend's house. Right after she left her friend's house, guess who she saw? That's right, US! Elder Estevam and I were pretty excited and shocked! So we left a message and left, but with the feeling that she will be baptized! It was the coolest experience. I hope that it makes sense! 

Now I have to tell you about another family! Wednesday night Elder Estevam took me to meet this family of 3. The mom, Marlene, and her two daughters, Nataly who's 19 and Evelyn who's 17. Elder Estevam warned me and said that they were kind of loud and crazy and that this was going to be kind of a test visit to see if they really wanted to still meet with the missionaries. We got there and sure enough it was hilarious and crazy. But after getting to know them, we started to teach the Plan of Salvation. And WOW what a spiritual  lesson!! We could tell they were feeling it too, because the two girls got quiet and serious for a minute. It was really cool and we left really excited. Elder Estevam said that something about them was different that night and that he was glad he followed the thought to still visit them. Friday night we went back to teach Nataly the first lesson because she wasn't there the time the other Elders taught it to her mom and sister. We had another really great lesson that was very spiritual and natural. When we got there they had made a little dinner for us so we sat down to eat and during dinner we taught the lesson. It was really, really cool because it was different. Saturday night we went back to teach all of them again. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and again it was a really spiritual lesson. At the end I asked them if they were ready to do those things that Jesus asked of them. Marlene (the mom) replied that they were, not 100%, but that the time was close. Then we learned some great news. Just for some backround, Marlene had always been like the best investigator, She prayed perfectly like a member, and responded all our questions on the spot. So Saturday night we found out that Marlene is a MEMBER!!! That's right she has been baptized. She was very brief about it and said that she would tell us more on Tuesday when we go back, but we found out that she is one of the first members here in Salvador. Like in the church's first years here, she was part of it! She has been inactive for years, but said that she feels like it's time to come back. Afterwards everything made much more sense as to how she knew everything already haha! But we will learn more about the whole story on Tuesday. Her daughters knew and are still our investigators and are progressing to be baptized! We are excited! 

Phew! So that was all the highlights! I hope I didn't forget anything! But I had the best week and am so happy here! I love you all and I love this work! And most importantly I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!

Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Elder Estevam and I


1- A little of my area in the background with Elder Estevam and a really cool Young man in the ward who like to go out with missionaries

Elder E and I out with one of the Young men in our ward.

The Book of Mormon Cover Ana Beatriz made and gave to Spencer for me. 

"So many special people here...!"

Us and Viviane and Anna Beatriz at our "goodbye party"!

Hi everybody! 

How is everyone doing? I hope all is going well and that you all had a great week! Our week here was great! It was the last one of the transfer and it was sad to see this transfer fly by so fast but all is well! Last night we got the transfer calls, and as expected I am being transferred! BUT, I am just being transferred to a different area in our same zone! I am not going far away at all and I am staying in the same stake! That means I will see everyone at Stake Conference in a couple weeks! The area I will be going to is called São Cristovão, but it is part of the Mussurunga ward! We have two sisters in our ward too! My new companion will be Elder Estevam!!!!! I am so excited as he was one of my Zone Leaders this last transfer so I got to know him a bit! It also means I will be serving with him as a Zone Leader. I am really nervous for the new challenges and adventures this transfer will bring in a new area and with new responsibilities, but I am excited too! I know that through a lot of prayer, fasting, and hard work the Lord will shape me into the missionary that I need to be to help my zone! Lots of changes! 

Our week was great and we had some awesome experiences! Wednesday night we went to visit a man named Edson! He is the brother of a member in our ward here in Imbuí. Edson showed up at church the week before with his sister, who is a member, and he had a great time! She just invited him out of nowhere, apparently, and after years of rejected invites, he finally accepted! So at church, of course, we marked to go visit him! Wednesday night was the time! Edson is about 45 and is married to a woman named Claudia! When we got there they let us in and we got to know them a little bit! Claudia seemed a little skeptical of us and just stood a little distance off in the kitchen listening at the beginning! We started to teach the first lesson about the Restoration, and it was so cool to see how Claudia started paying more attention. We found out that she goes to a different church every week and has heard a lot of bad things about our church so I think that is why she was a little skeptical at the beginning. I had the privilege of teaching the part of the lesson about the First Vision. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I recited the First Vision for the million-eth time and I absolutely love that I feel the Spirit so strongly every time! It has been a bunch of little spiritual experiences that I can remember and those have made my testimony stronger every time! It was so interesting to see Claudia get interested as the lesson went on! By the time I was reciting the First Vision both her and Edson we focused and wanted to know what happened next! The Spirit was so so strong and they both loved the message and committed to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about all of it! It was great and they look promising for the next Elders to come in and continue teaching them!

Thursday morning we had interviews with President Bangerter! It was great to see and learn from him and Sister Bangerter, who was also there! When my companion was being interviewed I went and talked with Sister Bangerter! We talked about General Conference and our favorite parts. It was great and I love to see how everyone got different personal revelations out of conference! Sister Bangerter also gave me some great advice on how to study the Book of Mormon! In my interview with President Bangerter we talked a lot about helping people thru the last step before baptism. I thought it was interesting that we talked a lot about the fundamentals and that having our investigators do the simple stuff is what will get them to baptism. We talked a lot about prayer and how they need to be praying correctly and specifically for things. It was a really great help and afterwards I was thinking about it and thought how it applies to us too, those of us who have already accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and been baptized. Just like the simple, fundamental things help our investigators get baptized, it is those same things that help grow our testimonies too so we can stay strong in the Church. Daily prayer and scripture study are the most common answers to our questions because they are the BEST answers! We all need to do that; new member or whole-life member! 

On Friday morning we had Elder and Sister Briggs come over to our house. They are the couple missionaries that are in charge of the houses in the mission! They are so awesome and I love them. They have already been here in the mission for almost a year. I remember the first time I met them because Sister Briggs was funny. Anyway, it was great to have them and they complimented us on our clean house! (mom that story was for you! ;-)

Saturday night we had a really cool lesson with Thailane! Usually teaching her is a little difficult because of the setting! She lives with a lot of family in her house and it is usually very noisy and busy there so these last few weeks we have had trouble feeling the spirit strongly in the lessons with her. We had been praying that we could have a lesson that was a bit more peaceful and easier to feel the spirit and the Lord answered our prayers! Saturday we went over and she was there, with her mom Michelle, who is an inactive member, and grandpa Fransisco who is a member and has returned to church recently. Just them! So we had an awesome lesson with them where the spirit was felt really strongly! We all read 1 Nephi chapter 8. We gave Thailane a piece of paper and told her to draw Lehi's dream as we went through the chapter! So we all read together and she drew. At the end we had a very spiritual conversation. We asked all 3 of them where they thought they were on the drawing. Fransisco put himself on the pathway getting to the tree of life! We agreed with that one as he has been coming back to church and is doing awesome! Then Michelle who is an inactive member put herself off the path but said she was coming back slowly! Then Thailane. She put herself on the path to the Tree of Life but a little further back and in the mist of darkness. After everyone drew themselves on the paper I asked, "Do you all want to feel the love of God? Do you want to taste the fruit?" They all responded yes and then I asked, "So then what do you need to do to get there?" Thailane said, "be baptized." It was so cool and sooo spiritual! We then testified of the things we had talked about and I was feeling the Spirit SO strong! Like a lot! I was speaking 100% from the Spirit. We ended the lesson with a prayer that Thailane gave and it was awesome! I hope that that lesson was the turning point for her! 

Suely and Reginaldo are doing great too! We had a tough time meeting up with them this week but they are really doing great! Excited about the progress that is happening and it makes me very happy to see how they have changed! They were at church on Sunday and they seemed so happy there together and it made me so happy and grateful for the opportunity that I had to be able to get to know those wonderful people and help them come closer to Christ. And I will still be able to accompany them a little because I will be staying close! 

Sunday was a little sad because I was going around saying goodbye to everyone here in the area. Even though we didn't get the real transfer news until Sunday night, I knew I was leaving as President Bangerter had told me in our interview on Thursday.

Anyway, as we went around so I could say goodbye to the members and investigators I think the hardest was saying bye to Anna Beatriz and Viviane! They threw a little “going away” party and we talked and played a few games with them and Anna Beatriz’s boyfriend.  When we left Anna goes, "wait stop don't leave yet!" She ran into her room and grabbed her Book of Mormon and came out with it. The week after they were baptized Anna made these really awesome book covers for her Book of Mormon and  one for Viviane's too! Everyone in the ward was so impressed and it was just awesome! So she came out of her room with her Book of Mormon cover and all. Then she takes off the cover she made and hands it to me. I was confused and said, "Umm what is this for?" Anna goes, "It is for your Mom! I want you to give it to her as a remembrance of us and as a thank you for sending you here!" Man it was so cool! Mom I forgot to take a picture of it but you now have a Portuguese Book of Mormon cover. You'll have to wait get it when I get home, haha. After we left I was sad but I know that I will see Viviane and Anna Beatriz again for sure, especially since I stayed in the Stake. 

I am so grateful for my time here in Imbuí! I remember how nervous I was to come to Salvador and serve here, but now I can't believe how fast my time in this area passed! I was here for almost 5 months! That is crazy! I grew to love this ward and the people that I met. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for putting me in the pathway of so many special people here in Imbuí! I will never forget my time in this wonderful place! 

So that was our week! Like I said earlier, a LOT is going to change this week but I am excited and know that if we trust in God, all will work out! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

The moon looked so cool this week! 

Helene. She is the cutest little thing and I may miss her more than anyone in this area! :-) 

"I know all these things to be true."

Suely and Reginaldo and their combined family at church on Sunday

Hello everyone!! 

How are you all doing? I hope all is well with you guys! Everything here is going great! These weeks are flying by and we are working hard and having fun! I love being a missionary! There isn't anything better. It just makes you so happy! 

So this week was good! It started with a great Tuesday! Tuesday night we went to visit Reginaldo and Suely! When we got there Reginaldo was a little confused. Last week we did splits/exchanges. If I haven’t explained this before this is when my companion and I have more than one appointment at the same time so we split and each take another ward member to our appointment with us and last week this happened so I didn’t visit them, my companion did. Anyway, last week my companion, Elder Tavares and our ward mission leader, visited Suely and Reginaldo and talked to them about marriage. Reginaldo asked me when I got there why I didn't come to the lesson about marriage. He seemed a little mad about it and I was worried and promised him that whether it was me there, or the member, we would have talked about marriage and that him and Suely need to get married. He seemed better after he and I talked and we then had a great lesson with them! We read Moroni 7 with them and wow, I forgot how AMAZING that chapter of the Book of Mormon is! We all were feeling the Spirit so strong and it was awesome! We then had a great discussion about the Book of Mormon and the things that we learned watching General Conference. It was great and Reginaldo is progressing well! And Suely… WOW!! It is amazing to see how much she has changed. She is going 100% back into the Church. It is just awesome! It really humbled me to see because I realized how little we do and how much God prepares people and places the Spirit in their lives so they are ready when we come. All we do is present the eternal truths of the Gospel and the rest is the Spirit. It is really cool and I was thinking a lot about that the rest of the week. 

Wednesday we had an interesting visit with Regina, the lady who has been going to church for about 2 years and still isn't baptized. According to her, she could be baptized at any time, so we challenged her to be baptized on the 7th. So earlier when we had talked about that she had accepted the challenge and said she wanted to pray about. Wednesday we got there and she was asking a lot of questions about the actual baptism. We talked a lot about it and got her pretty excited! She was ready and excited! Then I had the prompting to make sure she understands and is living all the commandments so we started to review them a little bit and we found a problem. We started talking about the Word of Wisdom and found out that she drinks coffee everyday! We explained about the blessings she would get by obeying this commandment! She kept saying that it will be easy for her to give it up and had a good attitude about it! Then we asked her to commit to stop drinking coffee. She said, "Wait! Like today?" We said yes and she realized that to be baptized you actually have to be living the commandments. I was hoping she would be completely on board and use her baptism as motivation to help her give up coffee so she could get baptized sooner. Sadly she ended up not taking the news so well and became angry and sad. So for now her baptism is postponed. We still have faith and know she will one day be baptized. The good news is that even after being disappointed that she couldn’t be baptized and continue to drink coffee, she still came came to church on Sunday and everything! We are hopeful! 

Friday we had an awesome night! We had scheduled a family night with Thailane! The Young Women's President was there with her daughter and it was awesome! Our main purpose was to help Thailane get more involved with the members by getting to know them better so she can feel more comfortable after she is baptized! She was so close to becoming a member at the beginning of this transfer but got a little scared off for some reason. We were really praying that this would help her feel better and get her to church again as it has been a while since she came! Our ward's YW president is the best! I have so much respect for her and she has such a nice spirit when she talks! She gave a message about faith using some Bible stories and it was awesome! She then shared her conversion story with Thailane, which was PERFECT!! She talked about how she had been the same age as Thailane when she joined the church. She explained that the thought she had when the missionaries challenged her to baptism was, "what is there to lose?" I liked that! With the Gospel we won't lose anything so we can give it our all and in the end instead of losing, we gain eternal life! It was fantastic and Thailane was at church on Sunday! We are going to visit her and her family tonight! 

Saturday we had another great lesson with Reginaldo and Suely! We read Mosiah 13 together and talked about the 10 commandments! We figured that we, with Reginaldo, since we have lots of time while we wait for their wedding day in December, can take things slower. We decided it will be best to finish teaching him the commandments, then just focus on the Book of Mormon and with time he will start to change without us asking him a ton. The same strategy we had with Suely! That seems to be the most effective way to teach and help some people I think. Teach them at a pace they understand, let them internalize when they learn and slowly, over time,  the spirit changes their hearts. We are really excited with the progress that they are both having and the ward is like really excited for the idea of having a wedding haha! It is funny and everyone is willing to pitch in! I love to see how with some people, timing is different than with others! It’s all in the Lord’s timing.

We also had a great visit with Viviane this week! She is doing great and LOVED Conference! Anna is doing great too! Viviane is already in 2 Nephi on her personal study of the Book of Mormon! We went to answer some questions that Viviane had about things she heard during conference! The best part of our visits with them now is that every time Viviane tells us of some missionary experience she had that week! It is so cool! So this week she was really worried about one of her patients and wanted to help her patient not be so sad all the time! So she has been helping this lady with her problems by using Gospel Principles! It is so amazing and it just makes me so happy to see them sharing the gospel now! I love those feelings! 

Sunday was a great day and I bore my testimony since I might be leaving this area soon, as the transfer is next week! I talked about how much I love the Lord, that I know the Book of Mormon is true and how as a missionary I get to bare my testimony everyday and from doing that my testimony has grown stronger. I talked about how I know we have church leaders who are called of God and the messages they shared with us at General Conference are the exact things that our Heavenly Father wants us to hear at this exact moment! I know all these things to be true! 

I love this work! I love my Savior! I love you all! 

Have a great week!

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

District Meeting this week 

Our Bishop and his wife. He's the BEST!!! I love them! 

"I love being a missionary!"

 Me and Elder Estevam

Hi Everyone! 

I hope you are all doing well! This week was great for us only to be capped off by General Conference, which was AMAZING! We got to watch all the sessions and I absolutely LOVED it all! I will talk a little more about it later but wanted to start off by expressing how amazing it was for us! 

Tuesday was a great day! We did a lot of contacts and we found some awesome people! I think it is so interesting that so many people will stop to talk to us! It makes me so grateful to our Heavenly Father that He created so many amazing people! It is fun doing contacts and getting to know new people.

Tuesday night we had Ward Council and it was fantastic too! It is just the best to see how happy a ward is when they focus on missionary work! At the meeting we went through all of our major investigators with the ward leaders and planned how we can help them be integrated! It was so great to see the leaders so ready and willing to help us with the work! I love the people in this ward here in Imbuí! They are the best! 

Wednesday we had a really cool experience at a lesson! So the Sunday before this lady named Andrea had come to church! We had never seen her before but she is the mom of a 12 year old girl who got baptized about 6 months ago! They are neighbors with some members and that is how the girl got to know the church! Anyway, on Sunday I went up to Andrea and got to know her a bit and marked to go visit her at her house during the week! So Wednesday afternoon we did and it was just the best! She is a single mom with 5 kids and when we got there her 14 year old son was there too. We got to know them a little better and learned about Andrea's story! She has had a really difficult life. But we learned that about 5 years ago she was really sick and that during that time her neighbors (the members of the ward) were in the process of joining the Church. Because of that she got to know the Elders who were teaching them a bit. These Elders would go over to her house multiple times a week to help her and clean her house and play with her kids since she couldn't as she was really sick! She is still so grateful for those Elders and even teared up a bit as she was telling us the story. It was really sweet. It made me reflect on my mission to see if I have been able to have an impact on someone like that? I really hope so! We ended up having a great first lesson with Andrea and she loved it! She really liked Church on Sunday too and is excited to learn more and go to church again! We were blessed to find her and we are looking forward to her future! 

Thursday I think I had one of the coolest moments of my whole mission so far. The Elders in Brotas, which is part of my district, needed me to do a baptismal interview so Thursday late afternoon we headed over to their area. The lady I was going to interview is named Percilia and is 87 years old. Yes you read that right 87!!! The elders had told me a ton about her and that she was amazing but I still wasn't ready for our meeting with her. Percilia is one of the sweetest people I have ever met! She was waiting for us at the front gate when we got there and when she saw us started saying, " Oh gloria!" and things like "thank you Lord."  She is I think not even 4 and a half feet tall but has a HUGE spirit! I got to do the interview and felt such joy the entire time! It was crazy! I left with my cheeks aching because I had been smiling so much! I felt the Spirit so strongly as she bore her testimony to me about the Church and it was just indescribable! Percilia was baptized on Saturday and is excited to go to the temple next year haha! It made my testimony grow once again that the Lord really prepares and preserves people to hear His gospel! 

Friday night we had a lot of important visits all at the same time so we did a split with some of the men in our ward. I went with our Elders Quorum President, Helio and Elder Tavares went with our Ward mission leader! First to report on what Elder Tavares and his companion experienced… So they went to visit Reginaldo and Suely and apparently it was amazing! They taught about eternal families and marriage and in the end set a wedding date! It is a little far away but it is still a goal! The date is actually my birthday, December 17th! So that was exciting news and we are really excited for them and hope that they can stay true in that goal! The only downside would be that I wouldn't be here for it but that is okay! 

Helio and I went to visit Regina! The lady who is an eternal investigator! So we went to see how she was doing and if she had been reading and praying to know if she needed to be baptized! She said she had been and that she had been feeling a good feeling during all of it but was still unsure. We decided to watch the Restoration video with her. Man it was so spiritual. I have watched that video more than 10 times I think but Friday night I felt the Spirit stronger than any other time. It was so so so strong. After the video ended we all sat there in silence for about 1 minute because no one wanted to talk and disturb the peace. We then had a great discussion with Regina about the Restoration and how she felt. It ended with her accepting our baptismal challenge for either this Saturday or the next, depending on her work schedule! It was so great! Now we just have to hope that she sticks with this desire and doesn't back out! 

So the rest of the week was Conference! Both Saturday and Sunday we got to watch conference! There was even an English classroom just for me! And I wasn't alone! My LZs (Zone Leaders) who are wanting to learn to speak English better, both stayed and watched with me! And at the last session on Sunday we had two young women from the LZs ward join us too since they speak english! I’ll definitely be listening to it again and this time in Portuguese but the first time thru I like to hear it in English. Anyway, I really loved conference! I had a lot of questions answered and felt the Spirit so strong throughout the sessions. I especially was touched by President Nelson's talk on Saturday. The Book of Mormon is the key to everything! He testified of that and so do I! We need to read it everyday! 

Anyways that was my week! I love you guys so much and I love being a missionary! There is nothing better! Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Me and Elder Barbosa 

Our zone at conference in between sessions!