"Imagine how much our Heavenly Father loves us."

District Meeting

Hi everyone! 

How are you guys doing?! I am always so happy to read the emails every week and see that everyone is great! I love you guys! So this was the last week of the transfer and it was a great one! We had a lot of fun moments and I was so happy with my first transfer here in São Cristovão. And last night (Sunday) we got the transfer from the Assistents and I am staying here! That wasn't a big surprise but the cool part is that I will be staying with Elder Estevam!!! It will be the first time during my whole mission that I will be with a companion for more than one transfer! Crazy but I am so happy because Elder Estevam is the man and we have a blast together haha. This will be his last transfer so I will have the honor to be his last companion. That means that I will probably stay here in this area a third transfer. But thats is good because I love this area! 

So our week was great and I will hit on some highlights! 

Tuesday we went and taught Rosalvo! He is doing great and loved going to church the days before. I was a little worried because at church on Sunday he seemed bored haha! He just had this grumpy looking face and didn't talk a whole lot. He stayed the whole time but I was worried if he really liked it and felt the Spirit and understood everything that was said. Tuesday when we got there to teach him about the Book of Mormon he started out the visit by talking about how he loved church on Sunday! We didn't even ask him and he started to say that we didn't need to get worried because he loved church and understood everything even though he looked grumpy haha! He said that is just how he is so it was all good! It was an anwer to some prayers. Our lesson with him that day was about the Book of Mormon and it was a great lesson! I love teaching about the Book of Mormon and Rosalvo seemed to like it too! 

Wednesday night we had a cool experience with a family in our ward. There is a sister and her two sons who live in our area. They are members but the woman's husband isn't. I actually wrote about him a couple weeks ago I think. Anyway Leide (the name of the sister) and her two sons (Johnny-15 and Rodrigo-8) are just awesome. Lately both me and Elder Estevam have been feeling that they were struggling a litle bit so we decided to stop by and visit them. It was awesome! They were home and we just talked and had a great visit. We left a message at the end about Job. Elder Estevam talked about how Job was so trusted by the Lord and that because of that, he had trials. He made the point that sometimes when we have hard times and struggles we think "why me!?" But that we need to think that maybe it is because the Lord has confidence in us to stay strong! I loved that. He also quoted something his mom always says, in english it would be, "At the time of the test is when the teacher stays silent. But that doesn't mean he's not there." I thought that was so cool too and a great analogy for our lives and our trials! 

Thursday was an awesome day because I got to do a divison and be with Elder Tavares in Imbuí for the day! It was so great to go back to Imbuí and see some of the people that I love so much. Elder Tavares is doing great too and we had a fun day together. I got to interview a young woman that they baptized on Saturday! It was so great and I love doing baptismal interviews! I can feel the Spirit so strongly with all of the investigators that I have the opportunity to interview and it makes me so happy to see how the work of the Lord rolls forward and nothing can stop it! It was a quiet, but great Thanksgiving! Since Thanksgiving is a national holiday back in the States, here it was nothing haha. But they do have Black Friday here in Brasil. But Thursday I was extra grateful, but I'll get to that at the end of my email! 

Friday was great too as we went and taught Rosalvo again! He had a hard time understanding a few things in 3 Nephi 11 that we left with him to read, so we changed plans and decided to read it again with him. It was awesome! At the end we started to ask him about what he is thinking about all of this so far. It was amazing to see him talk about his desire to keep making his life better. He still hasn't drunk at all since we started to meet with him and we haven't even fully taught about the Word of Wisdom yet. We asked him what he thinks about baptism and he said that he still needs to know more and be better prepared. We agreed and HE made a goal of about 3-4 weeks to be baptized! It was great and we will see how he continues to progress. 

Saturday night we went to see Marlene and Evely! It was awesome and funny because on Thursday when I was in Imbuí, Elder Estevam stayed in our area and was with Elder Dos Santos. They went to visit Evely and Marlene that day too and played a joke on Evely and said that I got emergeny transferred. Apparently she actually believed and got sad! I thought it was funny so Saturday when we went to visit them she was happy to see it was a joke, but also a little mad at Elder Estevam hahaha! But we had a quick little visit with them and Marlene is doing a lot better than last week with respect to the stuff she was seeing on the internet about the church. So that was nice to hear! We had a great lesson and we are making goals to refocus even more with them and especially Evely so we can see if she is really going to be baptized. 

So Sunday was great! I loved church because it was the Primary Program. Now the Primary Program here is a lot different than at home because here there were about 15 kids. But it was so amazing! They all did so good! And this leads me into my final topic of the letter. The primary ended with singing "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" and the congregation joined in for the last two verses. Man the moment we stood up to sing I felt so much peace and love. I started to think about all the things I was grateful for in my life. The privilege I am having to be a full-time missionary, my testimony, the small building where we meet here, my friends, and especially my family. I thought of them and the love that I have for me parents and my siblings and all my family. It was an overwhelming feeling. Then I thought, "imagine how much our Heavenly Father loves us." I know that God loves us. Each and every one, and personally. I am so grateful to be here and so grateful that I know this Church is true. I am grateful for my family and the love that they have for me. And I am grateful that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Without him, we wouldn't have hope. 

I love this gospel and I love all you guys!

Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Sorry there aren't many pictures this week. I'll take more next week. 

"The Best feeling a missionary can get"

Hey everyone! 

How is everybody doing?! I am sure all are excited for Thanksgiving this week! Sadly there will not be Thanksgiving here because Thanksgiving is an American holiday and I am not in America! Haha! But I will be extra grateful this week for everything that I have in my life! Especially on Thursday! I am truly going to miss the food though! That is for sure! So this week was crazy because it was our “dedication week”! We left extra early everyday so we could have more time to work and it was awesome! I will try to show how great our week was! 

Tuesday morning we went to a lady in our ward and helped her with some service she needed at her house! She had an old bed all broken and a box spring and we tore it all up and threw it out on the curb. It was a small, quick thing, but it felt good to do service like that!! 

Tuesday we also taught this man named Rosalvo. Rosalvo has an interesting story! We met and talked to him on the street in our first week of this transfer! We always tried to go by his house and talk to him, but he was never home! So last week when we had that split with the Assistants, Elder Estevam and one of the AP's went by his house and he was home!!! They were able to talk to him and marked for us to go back! Last Tuesday we went back but when we arrived at the house and knocked on the door, a woman appeared at the window. She said Rosalvo was not home. We started talking to her and after a few minutes she said, "So I was lying. He's here, but he's sleeping because he drank too much." At that moment the man we were looking for, Rosalvo, appeared at the window and told us to come in. We went in and went to the top floor of his house. We started talking and he told us how difficult his life was. He had lost his family and many other things because he had a problem with addictions. But he said he wanted to change. Then, outt of nowhere, he said, "Let's pray and I'll do it." He knelt down, so we did too. The he began to pray and it was VERY good! He was talking to Heavenly Father as if he was standing in front of him! It was very spiritual. After the prayer we talked more and he said he worked at a bar but that that day he had given the key back to the owner so he wouldn’t have to go close the bar. He also said that he wanted to go to church Sunday. It was really cool and we got excited! 

Tuesday night, on the other hand, was a little rough! We had an appointment with Evely and Marlene! We showed up and could tell something was wrong. We were excited but anxious to see if Evely really would get baptized on Saturday. We got there and first, found out that Marlene had found some Anti-Mormon stuff online. It was so sad to see how confused she was. We helped her by answering her questions and me and Elder Estevam bore our testimonies about this church! I KNOW it is true! And even thought there are a lot of “anti Mormons” or people who are trying to prove that this church is wrong,  I know it’s true. The bottom line is that my beliefs are founded on what God tells me is true, not what man tells me isn’t true. And God can tell us all what is true by the feelings we get from the Holy Ghost. 

Anyway, after we talked to Evely. even though we were able to help her answer her questions she didn't feel ready to be baptized yet, We were really sad but we still feel that she will still progress and all will be okay!! 

Thursday we went back to visit Rosalvo! It was awesome and we taught the first lesson and he loved it! We challenged him to prepare to be baptized and he accepted!! It was so cool because he said at the end of the lesson, "Now I know that God still loves me. He sent you two here to teach me about Christ's true church!" It was amazing and Rosalvo is great! 

Thursday night we went and taught Evely and Marlene again and it went a lot better this time. We just read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon makes everything alright again. It calmed everything and we all felt better. Marlene started to read Church material about her doubts to help find her answers to questions and Evely, still not feeling ready to be baptized yet, seemed to feel the Spirit more that day. That is her biggest difficulty, to open up and let the Spirit touch her. I think she is scared because it is something new to her and she doesn't know how to react to it! But that is why we are here!

I also had the opportunity to do 2 baptismal interviews this week! It is something that I have grown to love! It is such a privilege to see how people change because of the Spirit and the love that they have for the gospel! I love this work! 

Saturday was really cool because there was a Stake activity! It was a cultural activity about Portugal! I loved it and will send pictures! The best part by far was to see Viviane and Anna Beatriz there! Anna is studying interior design and she did the booth for the Imbui ward and it was the best one! All the wards did dances from Portugal and it was awesome! My ward was the best though! I felt so grateful, almost to the point of tears, that I got to see Anna and Viviane at the activity. Not for the fact that I just saw them, but because I got to see them as MEMBERS! Like they were so mixed in, you could hardly tell they are recent converts! It was so cool. Seeing them talking and laughing with the other members made me so happy. I think it is the best feeling a missionary can get! To see someone who you got to help join the church, staying stong and growing in their testimony. Nothing gets better than that.

So Sunday was awesome too and Rosalvo came to church with us! He loved it! 

This email is short and was written quickly but I hope you can all feel how much I love being a missionary! It makes me sad that it is going by so quickly. All those preparing, or who are missionaries right now, make the most of your mission! It is the best opportunity that we have to grow and to show our love to our Lord!

I love you guys, I love this gospel, and I love my Savior! 

Have a great week, and a great Thanksgiving!! You are all in my prayers!! 

-- 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

"I am so grateful I am a Missionary"

Walking to an appointment

Hey Everyone!!! 

How are you all doing?! I hope that all is well! We had a wonderful week here in Salvador and the work is moving along great! Summer is coming up fast here and everyday it is getting hotter! I am getting used to it a little bit, even though I sweat a lot! HA!  But what's new right?! Anyway, we had a fun week, with lots of cool experiences so I will try to explain how awesome it all was! 

Tuesday night we had a great lesson with Marlene and Evely! We went and since Evely has already been taught all the main discussions we have been focusing on answering her questions. It has been great. Tuesday we read 3 Nephi 18 and talked about the sacrament and prayer! It was awesome. I got to share my thoughts on the sacrament and how important it is! The best part about the lesson was that the entire time we were focused on how the sacrament is important for followers of Christ, AFTER baptism. Evely was super into the lesson and excited and we are hoping that she can stay strong on her baptismal date! We will really see this week but I will talk more about her later! 

So Wednesday was AMAZING! It was my first time ever at the mission leadership council and man oh man it was so cool! I got to see so many old friends! My trainer, Elder Santana, was there and it was the last time I will see him because he goes home this transfer! I love that guy! I also got to see Elder Bair!!! Man I missed him! He is also going home this transfer so I was so happy to see him one more time before he heads back to the States! At the leadership council we talked about so many things. The main part I will talk about at the end of this email. But some of the other cool things were when President Bangerter read some entries from his mission journals. Another cool moment was when President explained the difference between authority and power. He gave some really cool examples. It was really spiritual because he gave an example of a disobedient missionary. He doesn't do anything because he wants to, only because he is forced too. President then asked a few random missionaries about someone that they love dearly who isn't a member of the church. He asked a few people and the last person he asked was Elder Estevam. He said he was thinking of his mom. President then continued with the example. He said, "So now imagine that missionary who isn't obedient and who doesn't have the desire to be there. He is on the street with his companion and they make contact with Elder Estevam's mom. Does that disobedient elder have the authority to invite her to come closer to Christ by getting to know the Church? Yes. But does he have the power to invite the Holy Spirit to that conversation so that she will be touched in her heart? No he has 0 power." It was really spiritual and personal during the training and reminded us how we all have authority to servants of the Lord. But the power we need only comes through our obedience and desire! It was awesome! Overall, Wednesday was just an awesome day and I felt the love of God so strongly. 

Friday was another great day! We had a Zone Meeting because we had to give a training and pass on information from the council that needed to be given before the start of this week! I will explain why. In our meetings on Wednesday President Bangerter had the idea that our mission needed to do something special. So we decided on what is called, "a semana de dedicação" in portuguese. In english it means " the week of dedication". So what is going to happen is that this week, starting today (Monday) we will wake up at 6 AM every day. We will leave to work at 8 AM everyday in place of leaving at 10, and come back at our normal time 9 PM. Our P-day today, ends at 3 so we can go out and work normally! We are all so excited and it is going to be awesome! We are all going to be ridiculously tired at the end of the week but we are excited to see the miracles. One thing that we decided as a zone is that we are going to look for a miracle each day. So everyday this week every companionship will write down a miracle at the end of each day. At the end of the week we will all email our miracles and put them together in a big email! We are all so excited. It is going to be tough, but it is going to be worth it. Our zone is really excited and we are too! Pray for us this week! 

On Friday after the zone meeting, we had a split in our area with the Assistants! It was so great! I got to go out with Elder Gil. He is from Mexico and just amazing! I learned so much from him and we had a blast together! We taught so many lessons and found a ton of great new people to start to teach. I had another one of those, "what the heck, I'm on a mission moments" when I was with him. We had just left a lesson and it was about 5 o'clock. It was just the perfect temperature as the sun started to go down. We were walking in the street laughing about something and I had the thought, "This is crazy! A Mexican and an American walking down a street in a poor Brasilian city, speaking Portuguese, a language that neither of us knew 2 years ago, and now we are laughing and having fun sharing the gospel together." It was so cool. It was one of those picture perfect moments haha! That scene will be forever printed in my mind! 

On our split of Friday we went and taught our investigator named Rosalia! I have written about her before! She is the lady we found our first week. She has been difficult to find lately but Friday we found her! She is crazy and a little bipolar but awesome. For example, we were teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she said, "I will be baptized, I know it. But only when God wants me too. But I want it to happen as fast as possible, but only when God puts that feeling into my heart." It was funny but we focused a lot on the principle of faith. We talked about how she can have faith to receive that feeling from God. But if she doesn't do anything to show her faith to God, nothing is going to happen. It was a great lesson and we will see how she progresses from here! 

Friday night was my favorite night of the week! As our last appointment of the day, we planned for all 4 of us to go to teach Marlene and Evely. We met up there and had an awesome time. Elder Gil and the other Assistant Elder Brito got to know them and we all had fun laughing. For the lesson we played a little game. Elder Estevam has these cards with things written on them. The name of the game is "Priority and Sacrifice." Elder Estevam puts 4 of the cards on table and the people playing have to choose which things are a priority and which they will sacrifice. It is a game that we play with members usually because as the game goes on it gets spiritual. At the beginning there are things like "all the money in the world", "a dream house" etc. But at the end there are things like, "family", "friends", "the scriptures" etc. The point of the game is to show that our testimonies need to be the thing that we cherish most, as in the last group of cards there is one with "my testimony" written on it. It was cool to see an investigator play because the thing you discover is what they have a stronger testimony in. For example, the first time I played it was really hard for me to have something more prioritized than family, because I have a strong testimony about family. Make sense? What people choose is what they have a stronger testimony about, but they don't realize that until the end when we explain the game. At the end, Marlene started to talk about why she valued the Gift of the Holy Ghost so much. She started to cry and the Spirit was SOOOO strong in the room. We were all sitting around a table and almost all had tears in their eyes. We started to focus on Evely and help her recognize that she HAS felt the Spirit many times before, and especially in that house, at that exact moment. There was a part when we all just started sharing spiritual experiences and at the end Elder Brito said, "Do you feel it?" He paused and looked around. "That happiness, that calm feeling? The Holy Spirit is here, and he is testifying that all this is true." It was a special experience. We all left on cloud 9 and we pray that Evely felt it enough that she will be baptized this week! 

Saturday we had a great lesson with a new family that we found that live almost next door to us! We will go back tonight so I hope they are waiting! If they start to progress more I will write more next week about them! 

Sunday was also a great day! We had a great lunch with one of the most faithful families I have met here. They live REALLY far away but are so strong in the Gospel. They are at Church every week and Sunday after lunch when we left, they all left with us to go visit another family in our ward that is having a hard time! It was so greatI I love strong members! They make us missionaries happy. 

So I think that is all! I got to go get to work! We are excited for this week and I can't wait to share all the miracles with you guys next week! 

Just to finish I wanted to share a quick experience. Wednesday we had that Leadership council. Well for the closing hymn we sang Called to Serve. President Bangerter likes us to stand up on the second verse. As we stood up I started to feel the Spirit very strongly. On my mission I have learned that when I feel the Spirit strongly I start to get REALLY happy! Like almost giggly happy haha! It is funny. As I started to get this huge smile on my face I felt this huge warmth spread over me. It was so strong I got goosebumps. I got teary eyed and had the thought, "There is nothing better than being a missionary." I am so grateful for being a missionary. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. He lives. That is something that I do not doubt one bit. This is his work! I love you all! 

Have a great week!  

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Last Picture with Elder Santana

Last picture with Elder Bair

Mission Leadership Conference

Zone Meeting

Helping in Primary

The sights of Salvador

"It's all true!"

Our Zone with President and Sister Bangerter

Hey everybody! 

How are you all doing?! I hope everyone is doing great and had a fun week and Halloween! Here in this part of Brasil, Halloween isn't a thing at all, so for us it was just another normal day but I was thinking about it all day! November is here which seems quite strange! And Christmas is almost here! I can't believe how fast time is passing by! We had a great week, saw lots of miracles and had many spiritual experiences! 

I’ll start with Tuesday when we had a cool moment at our lunch that day! Remember that here in Brasil, we have lunch with the members, not dinner! Because lunch is the big meal of the day and dinner is smaller! It is the opposite of back home. Anyways we went to have lunch at a lady's house in our ward named Leide! She is really awesome! She has two boys, one who is 15 and the other who is 8. Her husband is named Anizio and he is not a member of the church! He is a really cool guy and really likes the missionaries so it was great to talk to him. We decided before we arrived that we would try to talk about the Church with him and find out where he is at with it. As we spoke we realized that he really doesn't know a lot at all about what our beliefs are. But he is a good man who believes in God. Anyway, he seemed pretty hesitant to get into the topic of religion but as we spoke to him we invited him to just take the discussions without any commitment, just for him to learn a little bit more about what his family believes! He accepted the invitation so we will keep stopping by to teach him!

Tuesday night we had a fun family night with the sisters and a family they are teaching! The investigator of the family is Jefferson and he is awesome! His wife is Ingrid who has been a member since her teens but fell away from the church later! They have recently come back to church and Jefferson is progressing to be baptized! The only thing is that they need to get married! That is also in the process of happening! But anyway they invited me and my companion to their family home evening! It was awesome! Jefferson, the non-member, conducted the meeting and gave the lesson! An INVESTIGATOR! It was so cool! He talked about the Word of Wisdom and we had a great discussion about it! The best part of the night was when we got there because the sisters had told us that Ingrid had invited her friend who lived in our area and that he was interested in the church! So when we got there Elder Estevam started talking to him while I was talking with Jefferson! I was a little hesitant about Lucas (the friend who wanted to know more about the church) because I had the strangest impression that I had seen him before. Long story short, my poor companion was tricked because Lucas is a member from a different ward! It was so funny and I totally figured it out! I had seen him before! It was a fun night and Jefferson and Ingrid and their 2 kids are getting closer to being an eternal family! 

Thursday afternoon it was pouring rain which was a nice change from the heat lately! We went to visit Marlene and Evely! We got there and found out Evely wasn't there because Thursday was a holiday and she had gone out with her friends! But we stayed and taught Marlene. We had planned on talking about prophets with her but we wanted to see what SHE wanted to talk about! And sure enough she chose prophets! It was a great lesson and we were able to answer some of her questions and she said it helped a lot! 

Friday we had a Zone Conference! It was great but I was really nervous because it was my first one as a Zone Leader! That doesn't really change much except that we had to give one of the trainings! I was pretty anxious the night before and we did a lot of planning! In the end it all went really well! We talked about how we should teach the lesson about commandments focusing on the principle of the commandment, then the promise or blessing received after obeying that commandment. President Bangerter had told us that he wanted our training to be about that but that we could take it any direction that we wanted. We decided to do lots of practicing with the other missionaries and it went perfectly! It is so funny to see the new missionaries doing practices because they seem so uncomfortable. But all the missionaries with a lot of time LOVE practices! It was a great training and I hope that the other missionaries felt the Spirit like I did!

Saturday night was the best of the week! We went to visit Marlene and Evely! When we got there a girl named Brenda was also there! Brenda is a neighbor of theirs who is also a member, but inactive. We always visit her family because her mom and little brother are almost 100% active and whenever we visit she doesn't listen to our messages! But Saturday at Evely's she stayed and participated! We talked about faith. Our lesson ended up being a discussion about the Creation! It was a great lesson but at the end I wanted to end with a spiritual note so I opened my Book of Mormon and we read a few verses from Ether 12. 6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witnessuntil after the trial of your faith.

7 For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him; wherefore, it must needs be that some had faith in him, for he showed himself not unto the world.8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.9 Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith.

In portuguese, the part about being "partakers of the heavenly gift" is written as "dom celestial" which means celestial gift! I liked that a lot. When we read these verses the Spirit became very strong and we all felt it. We ended with the invitation to go to church the next day. For Marlene to continue strong in coming back to church, for Brenda to start the process of coming back, and for Evely to be baptized. It was great! And the best part, all 3 were at church Sunday! Brenda hasn't been to church in months! We were so excited!

One quick fun thing that happened Sunday was that we got to church at 8:45 and were talking to members and waiting for Sacrament meeting to start when all of a sudden we look to the door and President Bangerter walks in! We were so surprised as he hadn't said anything to us about being there! The best part about him being there is that we we had investigators there so it was awesome! He only stayed for sacrament meeting but then had to leave. I love President Bangerter so much. I am SOOO blessed to have such an amazing mission president to help us and guide us to be the BEST missionaries we can possibly be!! 

This Wednesday we have the mission leadership council here in Salvador. I have always heard so much about how awesome these councils/meetings are but have never actually been to one so I am so excited to finally go and spend Wednesday in the mission home! I think I will get to see Elder Santana again and since he goes home this month it will be the last time! Also Elder Bair!!! I miss that dude but I think I will get to see him Wednesday along with a lot of other old mission friends! I can't believe how old I am feeling out here haha! 

Well that is all from me! I love you guys so much and hope everyone has a great week! It's all true!! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Pics-

President Bangerter and I 

 Elder Gray with Elder Estevam and I. He's a new one! 

Cixubgas - one if my favorite foods here

"Miracles are happening!"

Elder Estevam overlooking the coastline from the Lighthouse on Pday

Hey everyone!!!  

How are you all doing? We had a great week here in São Cristovão and the future is looking bright! I love being a missionary and every week I feel the love of God as He helps us in this wonderful work! Miracles are happening!! 

So starting last Monday, we got to go on a little bit of an adventure! Monday afternoon we headed over to a place called "Farol de Itapuã" which just means Itapuã Lighthouse! It is a tourist spot and we went over with a whole bunch of other missionaries! It was really cool and my companion got us VIP access to the lighthouse just by talking to the people who worked there! It was so awesome and a blast! I will send pictures! The one funny part was that Elder Estevam and I didn't know that we would be going there so we wore our normal missionary clothes. We didn't have time to go back home after emailing and change so we went to the beach in church clothes haha! We got a lot of funny looks but we all had a great time! 

Tuesday night we went to visit Marlene, and her daughters Evely and Nataly. They are a family that the elders before me had been visiting but when I got here they weren't progressing very well so we were maybe going to drop them. But after we had a great lesson last week they started to progress so we kept visiting! Last week we found out that Marlene is actually a member! But has been inactive for years and now wants to come back to church! So Tuesday night we went to visit them and to teach about the commandments! We taught like an overview of all the commandments and it was great! But like usual here, there were 2 parts during the lesson when they got quiet or shocked. One was when we explained about the Word of Wisdom. When we said that we don't drink coffee the two girls were shocked! They said, "WHAT?! Coffee? No coffee?" I responded yes, then the coolest thing happened. Evely said, "Well that is okay I don't drink coffee!!!" We were so happy! That is what I see as the Lord preparing people for us! The other part during the lesson that was quiet was when we talked about Chastity! Nataly is 19 and has a boyfriend that she always stays with on the weekends. So we thought that that could be an issue. When I was talking about the Law of Chastity everyone got quie, but the Spirit in the room intensified. It was so cool for me to testify of that commandment and show them that the Lord's standard is the real way to have happiness! Overall it was a great lesson! 

Wednesday afternoon we came across another interesting situation! There is this sister in our ward named Nida. She was baptized about 5 years ago with her and her 2 kids. Her husband was not. So for the past 5 years the missionaries in this area have been trying to teach her husband, Josevaldo. He had been out of town but Wednesday we were passing by and I got the feeling we should go see if anyone was home. We knocked and found Josevaldo home already! Woo! So we went in to teach him. But then it got sad because he was very uninterested. He didn't seem to be paying much attention and at the end of the lesson he straight up told us that he really isn't interested. It made me really sad and he said that for 5 years the elders have been trying to baptize him and he has felt nothing. So it was but we are praying that he can soften his heart one day! The Lord loves everyone and always give us chances! 

Thursday night was another special lesson with Marlene and her daughter Evely. Her other daughter Nataly wasn't there because I think that after the lesson about commandments, she saw that we are serious about them getting baptized and got scared to make commitments! It is sad but we are still doing our best! But Thursdaynight we went to their house and taught about Temples and Eternal Families! We explained about the temple and about family history. I am so grateful that I know family history and love doing it because it makes teaching about it so much more fun and rewarding! The lesson got very spiritual when Marlene talked about how she has the desire to go to the temple one day and do temple work for her parents and grandparents. It always touches my heart when I see people who love their relatives so much. My testimony is always strengthened so much when I teach about eternal families and the temple because I KNOW that God wants us to be happy with our families for eternity! That is His plan! 

Friday we had an interesting experience with this guy named Felipe! He is 19 and we did a contact with him my first week here. The contact was hilarious because my companion is crazy and hilarious and they both ended up singing together during the contact. Anyway, we hadn't had time to visit him but then during the week we ran into him on the street again!! So we decided it was time for us to go teach him! We did and it was great! We found him Friday night and he was a little sad because he was having some problems at home with his mom but we sat out front of his house and talked to him about God and what he believes. He knows that he needs to get back on the right path and we told him that we can help him with that! It was amazing and I LOVE when people know that they need God. In today's world, more and more people think that they can do things on their own.  But the reality is that all that we have comes from God, and we can only do things with his help!! 

Saturday we went to visit Marlene and Evely again and we took the sisters from our ward with us! Sister Alves is a lot like Evely and we wanted them to meet and for Evely to see the sisters since she has said she would want to serve a mission! We had a wonderful lesson reading Lehi's Dream in 1 Nephi 8. At the end of the lesson we starting talking seriously with Evely. We asked her where she thinks she is on the path leading to the Tree of Life. She said that she was a little far from the path. I said, "I believe you are here," and pointed to the start of the path on the drawing we did while reading. Then Elder Estevam started to ask her how she felt about baptism. She said she didn't know but had been praying for an answer. We helped her realize, piece by piece, that she has already gotten her answer. We asked her if she thought that the Spirit had given her an answer already. She said yes. Then Elder Estevam challenged her to be baptized! There was a pause and they she said, "why are you asking when you already know the answer!" It was really funny and she accepted a baptismal date as a goal! It was great and we are so happy how well Evely is progressing. She has such a sweet heart and a love for God! We are praying and hoping that she can continue to progress! 

Oh, another crazy story! Saturday afternoon we were walking on this small little street. At one point we stopped walking because there were these two dudes, probably teenage years, out in front of their house with two HUGE dogs. One of the guys had a HUGE black dog on a leash. The other dog was a German Shepard and was just as big but he wasn't on a leash and was running around because they had opened the garage without putting the leash on first. Anyway, when we saw it we stopped about 20 yards away, waiting for them to get the dog on the leash and leave. We waited for a while as the other dude couldn't get the dog on the leash so the short guy with the black dog on the leash said we could pass by. Hesitantly we started walking keeping an eye on both dogs. As I walked by I looked down at the huge dog that was on the leash. Just at that moment he snarled and jumped up at me. Instincts kicked in and I jumped away really fast and man, was lucky that I did because he was going for the kill! The dog actually ripped my shirt sleeve! If he had gotten my arm it would have been bad. The whole thing was just weird and then the teenagers started to laugh and we figured out they did that on purpose. And oh man, Elder Estevam got mad haha! I got him out of there before he could start getting mad at them a lot but it was just weird. If that dog had gotten my arm, I would have had to go to the hospital. The kid who was holding the dog on the leash seemed to let him go a just enough so he could jump at me. It really could have been bad! But, thankfully I was protected and walked away fine so that was good! We told one of our investigators about it later and she got really mad and wanted us to take her to the house so she could yell at them. It was crazy that is for sure and now I gotta find someone to sew my shirt! 

Sunday was great because it was Stake Conference and I got to see all my favorite people from my old area, Imbuí! It was amazing as we got to see and hear President and Sister Bangerter speak, and Elder Joaquin E. Costa of the Seventy and his wife both speak! It was so great! Marlene and Evely came with us too! They got to meet and talk to President and Sister Bangerter and got to talk to Elder Costa! It was so amazing! We were so happy and everything was perfect! 

Well those were all the highlights of the week! I love you all so much and hope that everyone has a great week! God is real, this is His church, and miracles happen everyday! 

Love you guys! 

-- 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

PICS

1- Stake Conference with Evely and Marlene

2- A cool family in the ward we had lunch with on Sunday

3- Last pday when we went to the Lighthouse

4- Elder Estevam and I outside the Lighthouse

Holding the Lighthouse :-)

Sunset

The whole Zone of Missionaries

Sight seeing pics for mom!

Evely and Marleen at Stake Conference 

Awesome family who fed us on Sunday!