Elder Spencer Christofferson: "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