Elder Spencer Christofferson: "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!!