Elder Spencer Christofferson: "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!