Elder Spencer Christofferson: "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!