"A mini Book of Mormon book club"

District Meeting

Hey everyone!!! 

How is everyone doing!? I hope all is well and that you all had a great week! Our week here was a good one. It ended a bit sadly yesterday but then last night got good again! I will explain the whole story in the rundown of the week! 

Monday night we had an awesome family night with Irmã Leide and her family. Johnny and Rodrigo and Anizio (the nonmember husband) were all there! We shared a video about member missionary work and then did a cool activity with them so that we got a bunch of referrals. The coolest part was that Anizio, who isn't even a member, gave us like 10 people as referrals!!! It was so cool because at the beginning of the lesson I was deciding if I would share that video or a different one and felt like I should share the one about member missionaries. I am so glad that's what we did as well as the activity! Now the only thing that needs to happen is that Anizio needs to realize that the number 1 person who needs the Gospel is him!! We will keep praying for him and doing all we can to teach and help him.  

Tuesday was a great day back to the grind. Towards the end of the day we finally got to teach this family that we had contacted earlier but had never gotten to actually visit and teach. Their names are Gilmar and Isabela. They both have around 25 years old and have one 2-year old girl. They were so awesome! Isabela's mom was there too and we taught the Restoration. Gilmar and Isabela have never really been religious but Isabela's mom is so it was really cool to see how she enjoyed the lesson. I love how God has blessed me to be able to recognize the Spirit a lot better. I can tell exactly when the Spirit enters into the room. Everything outside seems to fade away and all those who are present start to get quiet and really think about what is being said. It is so cool. That happened during the part of our lesson when we taught about Jesus Christ and his life as well as when we talked about the First Vision. The craziest part is that people always seem to remember the First Vision. Even with inactive members who have been 10 plus years inactive always remember the First Vision. Why? Because for me at least, it is one of the most special parts of all our messages. It is the story of how God once again visited man on earth like he did in the Bible times and the glorious beginning of the Restoration of the Gospel! Of course it is memorable! But anyways, they all really liked the message and we will go visit them again this week! 

Wednesday we went to visit Lucas! I can't remember if I already wrote about Lucas or not. But to share his backstory really quick, Lucas is 13, we found him when we were out doing contacts and he is really cool! He lives close to us and is always playing soccer in the plaza in front of our house.  He is awesome and we started to teach him last week. Anyways we went to teach him Wednesday and it was just awesome. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then at the end I said, "So we have three invitations for you." He raises his hand and asks, "One of them is to be baptized, right?" I was like "umm".... hahaha "I wasn't going to say that one right now but..." And then Elder Machado invited him to be baptized and he accepted! It was awesome! He has a goal set to be baptized February 17th and we just need to get him involved with the members and for him to go to church. He is really smart and awesome so we are excited! 

Wednesday we also went and visited with Rita and Ellen again! They are the best and Ellen's mom and little brother should get here this week which we are hoping will help with Rita being excited for baptism and staying strong in the church. Also because our ward needs another family to start coming! Anyways, we went to teach Rita about the commandments. We were a little nervous for a couple reasons. One, Rita's whole family smokes and drinks coffee. It is not very rare obviously but we were worried. Reason two, Rita has a boyfriend and we were going to also teach the law of chastity. So we got there and started the lesson and it was great! One thing I have learned is that you cannot beat around the bush with this type of lesson. You have to be clear so people understand 100% and that's what we did. It was a great lesson and we had a little miracle because it turns out Rita doesn't drink coffee and she hates smoking!! So that was perfect! And about the boyfriend thing, she was fine about everything we taught so it was great too! The sad part with her was that later in the week she got sick and wasn't able to go to church on Sunday :( which means her baptism is going to have to be postponed to next week instead of this week! But it will be ok and everything will work out in the end as it always does! 

Thursday we went and passed by Marlene's place to see how they were doing. Since Evely has kind of stopped wanting to have the lessons since she already has taken all of them I was really stumped on what to do with our visits there. I have thought and prayed about it and I had an idea. We needed to focus more on the Savior. So we have started a little program of visits where we are reading all the chapters in 3rd Nephi of when Jesus is visiting the Nephites! So far it has been awesome and it is like a mini Book of Mormon book club, haha. Evely really likes to read in groups like we are doing so it has been good for her. I just hope now that she opens her heart up again a little bit and lets the Spirit enter. Little by little I know it will help her be happier! 

Friday was a day where everything fell through but we had fun anyway because we were with Felipe. Felipe is a dude in our ward who is going on his mission later this year and is preparing right now. It was a fun day and we did a lot of contacting and found this guy named Jonas. He was pretty interested and we taught him about the Restoration and he liked it. I love how people here just let us in and they always want to hear "a palavra" or the word! Gotta love Bahia.

Saturday was really cool too! We had a great day but Saturday night we had some lessons fall through so we were out of plans. The worst thing ever is to not have plans at night! So we started walking around on streets that we usually don't walk on and started to do contacts and knock doors. We knocked on this one door and this man named Domingos answered. He was really polite and let us in to leave a message. But after a little bit I realized that the Lord hadn't guided us there for him. His daughter was also there, named Evelyn and it was clear we were there for her. She is about 23 and has a 2-year old. The reason I realized that is because the minute we started to teach she was all in. She was so curious and thought it was the coolest thing ever! She couldn't go to church yesterday because we taught them on Saturday night about 8 o'clock and she already had plans but we are going back this week! Evelyn was super interested and said she would read and pray like we invited her too! 

So why did the week almost end sad but didn't? Well Sunday was a good day but we ended up not having any investigators at church. I can't remember the last time that happened!! And it just feels rotten because it seems like a whole week of work was for nothing because none of our investigators went to church! We had like 7 people marked to go with us but almost all fell through on Saturday. The good news is that church was still great. I actually got to teach Gospel Principles and it went really well. I love teaching the Gospel. 

Anyways, after lunch we went out to work and found this awesome couple!! Joilson and Crislania! They have 2 kids with one on the way and they are awesome. They have never really been religious which is rare to see here but they are great! We taught the Restoration and they seemed really interested! We'll see them next week and I really hope they progress! 

Really quick I wanted to talk a bit about my companion Elder Machado cause I don't think I have said much about him yet. He is from Fortaleza, which is a little north of where we are here in Bahia. He is 19 almost 20 and is a cool dude. He has been through a lot in his life but is super excited to be a missionary and the BEST part is that he is a WORKHORSE! He does a great job when he talks about the gospel and is really persistent. He also seems to listen to the promptings of the Spirit really well which is really neat. He is a little quiet at first but now he has opened up to me a little and we have become good friends. He is a good trainee. I'm looking forward to the rest of this transfer since after 2 weeks he is already learning so quickly and doing great! 

Anyways that was my week! It was a lot of stuff and I am really tired but the Lord will bless us like always if we do our best! Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

I realized I only took one pic this week, sorry! Sorry Mama! I know you like lots of photos! 

#ITSALLTRUE

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Hi everyone!!! 

How is everybody doing?! I hope you all had a great week! Things here in Salvador are going great! It is getting hotter which isn't the most fun but at least that means that I will get more tan! Haha! Our week was another full, great, and miracle filled one! We had a ton of stuff happen and a lot of cool experiences. I will hit on some of the highlights. 

So Tuesday was a big day! A whole lot of stuff happened. Firstly, we had our Zone Conference! It was interesting because I am the only Zone Leader so I was going to have to give my training alone. But Sister Bernardo is the only Sister Leader Trainer in our zone so she helped me and we gave our training together! It was awesome! We talked about giving baptismal challenges and how we can do it better. It was great and I think the first time I have ever seen and Elder and Sister who aren't a senior couple give a training together! It usually doesn't happen. But the whole conference was great and I learned a lot and felt the Spirit strongly! I really love Zone Conferences because I get to see a lot of other missionaries and get to hear President and Sister Bangerter! But Tuesday was an extra special conference for us because after lunch we got to watch the special First Presidency transmission! It was so awesome to be able to watch it with other missionaries in the chapel and with President and Sister Bangerter! It was so wonderful to see President Nelson and the new First Presidency talk to all of us! I know that the process of calling a new First Presidency is a divine process. I am so grateful for that. After the transmission and news conference, President Bangerter stood up and shared with us his experiences and testimony about all the Presidents of the Church since he was born. It was really cool and everyone left full of the Spirit and excited to work harder! 

Tuesday afternoon we had a miracle! I can't remember if I wrote about it last week but I think I did. Last Saturday we were walking by a building when Elder Machado stopped and knocked on an open door and we found a young woman who had just moved here from Fortaleza (Elder Machado's home). Her name is Ellen and now she is living with her grandparents and other extended family. Tuesday was the day we marked to go formally visit them. And man it was awesome!!!!! So we got there and started to get to know everyone. There were 4 youth there and some adults who unfortunately did not want to listen to our message. There was Ellen, her aunt Rita who's 14, their friend Amanda, and this guy named Gabriel. We started to talk to them and then we started the first lesson. It was very cool for many reasons. One, it was really cool to see Ellen hear the first lesson again. She was so happy and when we got to the part of the First Vision she got so happy and started to get emotional. She was so excited that her other family members were hearing the message! Reason two, Rita really liked the message. At the end of the message I asked her how she was feeling and she said, "I'm feeling this peace inside of me and I have the strong desire to cry." I was so surprised! It was like the perfect answer! I couldn't believe it! So we left the pamphlets with them and invited them all to read and pray about what we had taught. It was awesome! 

Wednesday was another sweet day! We headed over to find another girl who had been taught by the missionaries a while ago. Last week I was organizing some things at our house when I found a baptismal record almost completely filled out. The interview had been done and even the parent had signed it but the baptism never happened! So of course we went to look for this girl. We found her and her name is Luiza. We found out that she got cold feet before the baptism and didn't really think she had to get baptized and backed out. Anyways, we taught her and her friend who was there the first lesson and they loved it. Especially the friend, Giselle. She is a very intelligent girl and was really interested in our message! They couldn't go to church this week but they seem to have potential! 

Wednesday we also went back to visit Ellen and her family! Again our lesson was just with the youth but it was awesome! Rita again was the most interested and Ellen was loving the lessons. We talked about the Book of Mormon with them and they all got really excited to learn more about it! I love teaching about the Book of Mormon! It is the best! My testimony has been strengthened so much about the Book of Mormon from reading it every day. I love how every time I learn something new! 

Wednesday we also went and visited Ricardo. He is a barber that we met last week and he is really interesting. He LOVES to talk though wow. It was funny to see Elder Machado trying to get him to focus on what we wanted to teach. But I have learned something from experience that we need to listen to the people first and then relate what they were talking about to our lesson so that it has something to do with them personally. Instead of just trying to do the same thing and plow through teaching we need to listen and teach to the needs of the investigator! We ended up having a long lesson with Ricardo and we talked about the Book of Mormon. He seemed interested and excited to read a little bit since he is also a very knowledgeable man. He had given us his word that he would come to church but ended up not coming. We called him Sunday afternoon to see what happened and he gave us his story and felt really bad that he didn't follow through. But it is all good! We will see if he progresses! 

Thursday we had a nice visit with Rosalia! She is this lady that for a while we have been trying to visit. Her three daughters are inactive members. She is a good-hearted woman and finally on Thursday she said she wanted to change. This week we made a plan with her to go by and we will all be praying to help her make changes. We will see where it goes because she knows a lot already! If she really just decides to follow Jesus Christ and starts to change she will! So that is what we are hoping for! 

Friday we went back to visit Rita and Ellen and it was amazing!!! So we asked Rita how her praying had gone. She said that the night before she had read 2 Nephi 31 that we had left her to read and that afterwards she said a prayer to God to ask if was true. She said that she felt a "warm feeling, followed by extreme happiness." I once again didn't know how to react. Then I asked what she thinks she needs to do after reading that chapter. She said, "Be baptized and follow Jesus for the rest of my life." In my head I was like, "WHAT?!?! SHE IS TOO PERFECT!!" Haha! It seemed to good to be true because every answer that she gave was like 100% perfect. But we taught the Plan of Salvation that day and they loved it. She said she felt comforted knowing that her family can be together forever. It was so cool. Then we challenged her to baptism! She accepted! Our goal that we made together is for February 3rd!! She is excited. The best was Ellen's face when she accepted the invitation. She looked at her and said, "wait, you're going to get baptized?!" She then started to cry and gave Rita a hug haha. It was so awesome. The best part was at the end of the lesson. Rita offered the prayer and she said more or less this, "Heavenly Father thank you for all the things I have learned this week. Help me learn more and stay strong so that I can for sure be baptized on the 3rd." She is seriously "eleita" or elect in English haha! 

Saturday we had a nice lesson with a lady named Conceição! We found her last week and taught her once but she works during the week so we couldn't visit her until this week. She is really cool and we taught about the Book of Mormon. We asked her how her prayer had went to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said that she felt really good after the prayer and that during the entire week she didn't feel tired or with pain and that she thinks that is her answer. It was awesome and she really loved our message. She is an active member of a different denomination here but we will see if she can visit church this week to see how the Church of Jesus Christ is! 

Sunday was great! Elder Machado spoke in church and did a fantastic job. He was really nervous the entire week haha. But it went perfect! Rita and Ellen came to church and Ellen got to meet her new ward! Her mom and little brother are coming here in a week or so and they are both members too so that is great news for our ward! 

Wow I think that is it! There was a lot of other awesome stuff from this week but this is all I can remember right now! I love all you guys! Have a great week!!! 

#Itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

 A pic of a little part of my area

A PIC OF OUR ZONE CONFERENCE

"The Lord always fulfills his promises if we keep the commandments!"

Elder Christofferson and his BRAND NEW Missionary Elder Machado! 

Hi Everybody!!! 

How are you all doing?! Wow, this week has been crazy and wild and tiring and full of miracles and a whole bunch of other things! With the transfer, trainer meeting, a new companion, Elder Machado, who I will write about in a little bit, leadership council and everything else we had going on, I have a ton of stuff to write about. I hope that I can get my whole message across in this email!

So Monday night we headed over to Ingrid and Jefferson's house for Elder Estevam to say goodbye to them! He gave them their last English class with him as teacher and we ate the coxinhas that they make which are so good. Ingrid asked Elder Estevam and I to give her a blessing because she had been really sick that week. It was so awesome and I love to feel the Spirit working through me. I am so grateful and humbled that I can help people because I have the Priesthood! Even though it was sad we had a fun night. Sister Alves also got transferred to a different area and she had become like a sister to Ingrid so it was sad to see them crying. But that is the life of a missionary, right? Getting attached to the people in our areas, only to have to leave, but it's all good because hopefully we help them grow closer to the Lord while we are with them. And there are always more amazing people in the next place we go. 

So, Tuesday morning we woke up early and Eddy (the taxi driver who's the best) picked us up and dropped me off at the mission home. I had to say goodbye to Elder Estevam, which was sad and hard. I love that guy and am so grateful for the time I had with him. After they dropped me off, Eddy took Elder Estevam over to the place where the missionaries who are leaving stay for the activities they have at the end of their missions and I headed up to the mission apartment. The trainers had to be there at 7 but I got there at 6:20 and I had to wait outside for a little while because I was so early and President and Sister Bangerter weren't even dressed yet, haha! 

Tuesday was a fantastic day though. I saw so many old friends and made new ones! All the trainers were there and we spent the morning in trainings with the Assistents while President and Sister Bangerter were at the airport picking up the new group! The new group got here and they are AWESOME! 11 missionaries in all and only one American haha! His name is Elder Rust and he is cool. But the new group walked in and they were just so happy and full of energy. And WOW did I feel old. I don't know why but I felt so old as a missionary! I rememberd the day I got here and all those missionaries who were in the mission home the day I got here. And all of them are now home from their missions. It is crazy! Anyway, after a whole day of trainings and food we also got to go out and do contacts with the newbies. We just got to choose randomly but the APs put me with Elder Rust because he doesn't speak a lot of portuguese yet and they needed someone to help him. It was awesome and it reminded me a lot of my first day. At the end of the day President finally announced the companions and areas for everyone! My new companion is Elder Machado. He is from Fortaleza, Seará, Brazil. It is a state north of here and is known for its pristine beaches haha. Elder Machado is the man! He is a little quiet but is warming up and he has such a fire for the work! He loves to talk with people and is not afraid at all. We have had a great time together so far and I am looking forward to the future! 

So Wednesday we got to work! I was pretty tired because I had woken up at 5am the day before but I pushed through and it was all good. We had a great day and we found this awesome lady named Michelle. We were looking for a less-active and stopped to ask her for information. She was working at this little place that sells glasses. It is the most randomly placed thing ever but it was a blessing. When we went to ask her I felt a strong impression to teach her right then. So we did! We sat down and had a great lesson. I was a little worried because it seemed like she wasn't paying attention but I was wrong! She was listening because at the end of the lesson we asked her to say the prayer. She hesistated but agreed. In her prayer she said, "God please help me to know if the prophet, Joseph, that these missionaries told me about really was a prophet of God. He had the same questions as me and I need to know because if it is true, I want to be a part of it." It was amazing!!! We were so excited and she said she would read and pray again. We left so excited about her future! 

Thursday we had to wake up early again because I had to go to leadership council. On the way I dropped off Elder Machado in Imbuí with the Elders there and then headed over to the mission home for the third time in the week haha! We had a great council and I learned a lot and am excited for the changes that are going to come to the mission! I also found out that I am not the only single Zone leader! There is one other Elder that is and he is training too. So we kind of stuck together that day because we didn't have companions there with us, haha. All the other zone leaders are in companionships together. I loved hearing and learning from President and Sister Bangerter, as usual. They are the best and so amazing. I am so grateful that God blessed me to have them as my leaders here. 

Friday was another great day of work. We went back and visited Michelle! She said she had prayed and felt like she hadn't gotten an answer yet. But then we asked her how her Thursday was and she said it the best day of the week for many reasons! She then said, "Well maybe God is trying to show me something." it was really great and then we had an awesome lesson with her about The Book of Mormon. The only sad thing is that she wasn't able to come to church this week. But she is progressing well and we will meet with her again this week!

Friday we also went and visited Marlene and her girls. Elder Machado seemed a little frightened because they are crazy and wild and it was his first time meeting them haha! But it was all good. We had a nice visit with them and I shared a message about the Brother of Jared. It was cool because at the end Marlene said, "that is exactly what I was needing." I loved that because I love how the Spirit prompts us to say exactly what others need to hear. That is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. 

Saturday was tough, I won't lie! It was just one of those days. EVERYTHING we had marked fell through. Like everything. It was tough but we made the most of it and did a lot of contacts and found some great potentials. We had a cool experience that night. We were walking by this building and out of nowhere Elder Machado stops and knocks on the door. This tall kid comes up and we contacted him normally. And from behind walks up this girl and before we could really see her she says, "is that the Elders?" We were shocked and asked her how she knew us and she explained that she had just moved from Fortaleza, (Elder Machado's city) and that she was a member. She is 12 and was baptized last April and is now living here with her aunt and cousins! It was so awesome and we are excited to visit her this week. I am grateful that I have a companion that is so in tune with the spirit! 

Sunday was also a great day! We had a great sacrament meeting and Evely came with Marlene. It was sad though because it was the Cunhas last sunday! They are the family I have gotten closest too here and now they are moving to Michigan! The double whammy; first Elder Estevam and Sister Alves leave, and now them, haha! 

Sunday afternoon we had a lot of great lessons with some new people. But one of the most interesting was Sunday night. We were looking for this man who we had contacted days earlier. We finally found his house and he was home and let us in to teach him! We had an awesome lesson about the Restoration. The man's name is Ricardo. He is a little interesting. He has had a pretty tough life but we are going to help him. I don't know what will happen but I felt really good about him during the lesson! 

So that was my crazy week! It was a lot more than just this but these were the highlights and it was a great week. I am so happy to be a misisonary and I love serving the Lord. I know the Lord always fulfills his promises if we keep the commandments! 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

-- 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Sister Alves who was transferred to a new area! 

Elder Gomez, one of the AP's, he's a STUD!  

Sister De Paula, we have become quick buds. She is hilarious! 

Elder Brito ready to go home! 

Elder Souza, a former companion who is now a Zone Leader as well! 

"One thing I know for sure is that the leaders of the Church are really called of God."

Elder Estevam's LAST District Meeting! 

Hi Everyone! 

How are you all doing?! I hope the first week of 2018 was a great one! 

This was the last week of our transfer here and it was great! We got the transfer call last night and there are some changes coming. I am staying here in São Cristovão which I knew was going to happen because Elder Estevam is going home. (more on that later) But the news is that I will be training this transfer! And unlike the other times, I will train a brand new missionary! I will start the training of a new Elder and I am so excited! The crazy part is that I will still be a Zone Leader, but the only one here in the Imbuí Zone! So it will be a little more responsibility but I know that the Lord will help me! 

So this was the last week for Elder Estevam! Man I have grown to love that guy! I am so grateful that I was able to be his companion. I have learned so much from him that I will be able to use with my new "greenie" and for the rest of my mission. I love seeing the testimony that he has and it is a big example for me as he is the only member of the Church of his family. His family isn't the biggest fan of the Church so it is amazing to see the faith he has had the past two years to serve so faithfully! Now Elder Estevam is going home and he will start some of the other "missions" for the rest of his life! I was so blessed to be companions with Elder Estevam! 

Our week was good! It seemed to fly by though. So Wednesday we had interviews with President Bangerter! Our whole zone did. It had been a while that I had had a formal interview with him. I was pretty excited for it. When we got to the chapel on Wednesday morning President and Sister Bangerter told us that President Monson had passed away. I was shocked and sad. He has been sick for a while but I was still not expecting it. We all were a little sad. I reflected on the only other time in my life that a President of the Church has died, which was when President Hinkley died. I don't remember much but I remember that I cried. Anyways I had my interview with President Bangerter and it was exactly what I was needing. I got a lot of answers to prayers during my interview. One thing I know for sure is that the leaders of the Church are really called of God. As me and President cried together, remembering President Monson and his teachings, the Spirit testified to me that  President Monson is a Prophet of God. I also felt very strongly that the man who was sitting in front of me at that moment also was called of God. It was a very spiritual experience that I will never forget. 

Thursday night we headed over to visit Marlene and her crew. For the first time in a while the whole family was there. Marlene, Evely, and even Nataly was there. It was great and they were pretty sad that Elder Estevam is going home. It was funny though. We stayed there for a little bit and talked about a whole bunch of things. But at the end of the conversation we started to talk about the Church. Evely is now dating and seems pretty uninterested in the church, even though she still goes to church every other week so we don't know what's going on. Marlene is doing great though and very happy with her spiritual side of life. It has been great to get to know them and such a blessing too. 

Friday night we headed over to Ingrid and Jefferson's place to teach them English! They have a goal to move to Canada in the next few years and they need to learn english for that. Elder Estevam is the best English teacher! He maybe wants to do that in his future so it was really cool to see him in action. I also realized that teaching English to people who don't speak it at all is a lot harder than I originally thought. But it was a great night that ended with a message and a snack. They are planning on getting married soon and then Jefferson can be baptized. The sisters in this area have been working with them for about 5 months now but they have made incredible progress just in that time. 

Saturday was awesome too! Our lunch that day was with the Cunhas. They are moving to the United States next week so Saturday was their going away party! It was at the gated community where they live and it was a blast. A bunch of members went and non-members and we got to talk to a bunch of cool people. That guy Paulo was there too and we are going to visit him this week. But it reminded me a lot of when my family left Colorado. I did not want to go but my parents had prayed and felt that we needed too. The Cunhas have felt the same thing, and even though they are sad and scared to leave, it will all work out in the end. I was able to testify of that to them on Saturday. It was a very fun day and our little ward here in Mussurunga will miss them dearly. 

Saturday night we got to go to Eddy's house. Eddy is pretty much the mission taxi driver! He rose to fame in our mission because of Elder Estevam. He found Eddy when he was a secretary and started using Eddy for everything. Pretty soon the whole mission was hearing about Eddy because he is an awesome dude. He is married and best buds with a bunch of missionaries. I have gotten to become friends with him too! So Saturday night he invited us to a family night at his house with his family, friends, and some other Elders. They are not members of the Church. Actually they are strong members of another church, but they are so accepting and it was awesome. Eddy is the man and one day will get baptized. I had the opportunity to leave a quick scripture with them, but I will share that at the end. 

Sunday was a great day too. We got to go the mission home for Elder Estevam to do his last interview. His group is big so President took advantage and interviewed those in Salvador who are going home. I got to sit and talk to with Sister Bangerter and as we were leaving they fed us apple pie!!!!! Oh man it was so good. The best part was when President said, "If you two doubted that I loved you, now you know that I really do. Because I don't like to share this pie with anyone." HAHA! It was the best and I love them! 

So that is a quick rundown of our week! To end on a spiritual thought I'll write what I talked about at Eddy's house. I shared the scriptures from the New Testament about Thomas. The part that stood out to me was in verse 20 when Christ says that those who do not see but believe are blessed. Everyday we live by faith. Faith is the first principle of the Gospel for a reason. Without faith, nothing else can happen. That is what Jesus is saying in this scripture. We have to believe without seeing, and we will be blessed. I have a living testimony of that. I have seen it so many times on my mission! 

Well that is all! I love you guys! Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

PIC

Last District Meeting for Elder Estevam

Elder Estevam's "funeral" since he's leaving the mission (Silly Missionaries)

"All we have to do is trust in God!"

Celebrating the New Year with a Fireworks show from the Elder's in Imbui's Apartment! 

Hi Everyone!! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! Wow!! How crazy is it that it is 2018?!!? I can't believe how amazing this last year, 2017, was for me! It was my first entire year dedicated to serving the Lord as a missionary! It was a year full of ups and downs, but a year in which I have felt extremely blessed by God. I met so many people who have changed me and been through so many things that have made me a better person! I am excited for another fantastic year this year! 2018 is going to be a crazy, year full of change for me but it will be amazing! Anyway.... our week was a little weird and crazy this week because Salvador becomes a crazy place during holidays but we still had some great experiences and I will try to hit some highlights of the week! 

First, being able to talk to you guys on Christmas was just the best! It was perfect and might have been my favorite yet! They just keep getting better, haha! Elder Estevam absolutely loved you guys even more after getting to talk to you and I hope you guys loved him too! He is the man and goes home next week so this is the last week of the transfer! I am so sad already because I have loved serving with Elder Estevam and will miss having him around. I am a little scared to get a new comp. I guess I always say that and  should  be used to these changes but I still am not it seems like! i always get so nervous with the transfers but I will trust in the Lord and know it will be ok.  

So Wednesday after our lunch we stopped by the Cunhas house. They are the awesome family from our ward who helped in throwing me that surprise party. They are awesome but moving to the United States this month. We went by to see how they were doing with packing up their house and to know it they needed help! We got there and there was a bunch of people at their house and they were doing a ton of work! So we started helping and got to know their neighbors! We met this kid named Paulo! He is 18 and best friends with Mariana, the Cunhas daughter. We had heard about him before because he had regularly gone to church for a while a couple years ago! We never got the chance to actually meet him until Wednesday! The man is awesome and is apparently is still living the church standards! The only reason he wasn't baptized before is because his mom didn't approve, but now she is the one who told us that he needs to start going back to church!! We are super excited about it. He couldn't meet with us formally this week but we had a nice conversation with him and he seems interested still and excited about the thought of being baptized! Pray for him! 

Thursday night we went over to visit Marlene and Evely. Evely wasn't home and we actually didn't get a chance to talk to her all week but we got to talk to Marlene! She is doing well! She was a little frustrated about her work and a few other things and she kind of vented to us a little bit and we just sat and listened. That is something that I have grown to love as a missionary. We get to listen and help people. After she talked we shared some scriptures with her and she said at the end of the lesson, "I think it all just comes down to trusting in the Lord." I loved that! It is so true! At the end of it all, it comes down to trust in the Lord. faith in Him! It seems like Marlene's life has gotten a bit harder since she started coming back to church. She even commented about that. And we told her that that is what usually happens because the enemy is making a last try at getting you to waver in your faith. We talked a lot about that. The Spirit was so strong in her little house but I left so happy and edified. All we have to do is trust in God! 

Friday was a fun day! We had one of the young men, Johnny, from our ward come work with us for the day since they are on break! Actually the school year here just ended and the new school year starts at the end of February! We had a good day and even had a little competition with doing contacts. Everybody got 15 pass-along cards and we had to give them all out. A pass along card is like a small flier that gives information about the church and has contact information for people to learn more. Anyway, for the competition we decided for every card that we didn't give out we would have to do 10 pushups! It was fun and in the end no one had to do pushups because everyone gave their cards haha! We also visited this old lady named Iza. She is a member of the Church but has been inactive for years. She was very sweet but told us that she didn't really feel like coming back into the Church. That made me so sad! Sometimes people don't know what they are missing! Turns out he has a grandson who was baptized with her years ago and is also inactive. He seems promising but we barely got to talk to him on Friday so we will go back to see if he wants to meet with us more! 

Friday night we had an awesome moment. We went over to Johnny's house to have a little family home evening with his family. His dad, Anizio, isn't a member. But his mom, Leide, is amazing and one of my favorite members here in São Cristovão! We have tried many times to teach Anizio but he is a funny one and always tries to avoid us. But Friday he was there!! It was awesome and I got to give the message!! I shared a message I love to give from Ether 4:12 that talks about an anchor in our lives. It was great and they really liked the message. It was the first time I saw all 4 of them sitting together and when I looked at them I just was thinking of an eternal family! They look so great all together and I know that one day Anizio will join the church!! 

Sunday was a great day too! We had a fun little competition during our Gospel Principles class. Our teacher made this memory game with questions and answers of topics from the whole year! It was really cool. The cool part was seeing Marlene and Ingrid and Jefferson get so excited because they knew the answers. Seeing the progress in people is one of the best parts of being a missionary! 

Our New Years Eve was a pretty amazing night!!!!! We headed over to the Elders' house in Imbuí, where I used to live! Remember how the view from that apartment is of the ocean and beach?! Well here in Brasil one of the traditions at New Years is fireworks! So in all the big cities here there are huge parties and concerts and at midnight, fireworks. This year here in Salvador that whole thing was planned to be in Boca do Rio, like right next to the Elders' house!!!!!!  We knew we would be able to see the fireworks but we didn't know how well. (Of course we couldn't be out celebrating in the streets but were allowed to watch from the missionary Apartments) And WOW we were pleasently surprised!!!! The fireworks were RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!! We took a whole bunch of pictures and videos that I will send! It was amazing and got me all excited for this new year!! 

Well I think that is all! I love you guys and I love this gospel! Being a missionary this last year has been incredible and I have loved every second! It's all true!!! 

Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer Christofferson 

Elder Estevam, Elder Skraba, Elder Tavares, Me 

An awesome view of the Fireworks! 

FHE at Jefferson and Ingrids

The Best part of Christmas!!

Our Happy Missionary on Christmas Day!

We didn't have an email from Spencer on Christmas day because we were able to speak to him on Skype. We had an AMAZING visit and he is as happy as he has ever been. We loved EVERY minute with him and his wonderful Companion. We even had a chance to talk to Viviane and Anna Beatriz, the mother and daughter who Spencer baptized a few months ago since the missionaries were at their home for dinner. To hear these two women speak of how happy they are and how much their lives have changed since accepting the Gospel in to their lives and joining the church made me cry tears of joy and gratitude. Anyway, Spencer's pday was on Tuesday this week and here is his email. Thank you again to all of you for your constant love and support. It's hard to believe that in less than 6 months Spencer will be home!! 

Love you all! 

Marilee and Adam

Santa Hats and Christmas Ties

View from Brazil

View of the EVERYONE from Brazil!

Two Missionaries Skyping one house! Fun to talk to Elder Miller at the same time.  

Elder Christofferson (18 months served) got to talk to Elder Miller in Romania (12 months served)