Elder Spencer Christofferson: "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