"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)