Elder Spencer Christofferson: "The work is hastening"

Bike ride from last Monday for Pday!

Hey everyone!!!
How are you all doing?! I hope everyone is doing fantastic! Our week was a good one but I don't have a lot of time to write so I will have to be brief today! Sorry! Next week will better! But you may ask, why do I have to be brief? Because today is a transfer day. And I am getting TRANSFERRED! Woohoo!! I will be going to Eunapolis. It is a place that is the far south of our mission, in the county of Porto Seguro, which is a huge tourist city here because it is the place that Brasil was discovered. Apparently it has a lot of history and I love history so I am pumped! Eunapolis isn't in Porto Seguro, it is about an hour north but we will have to go there a lot because I will still be a Zone Leader for Porto Seguro. My companion will be Elder Hilton who is an American!!! He's only the 2nd American companion I've had during my whole mission! I am super excited and we are going to have a great time. This is going to be his last area so I am pretty nervous because I want to do good and help him go out with a bang!

Leaving São Cristovão will be strange since I've been here for so long and have made a lot of friends. I have been in this ward for 4 transfers which totals 24 weeks which is a long time for a missionary to stay in one place. I will miss it here though and will be forever grateful to Heavenly Father for my time here. It wasn't always easy but it was such a learning experience for me. I love how God does things in our lives that at moments we don't understand, but afterwards when we look back on it we see that it was exactly what we needed. I am sad to leave Elder Loureiro too because we have become really good friends. The good news is that I'll get tol see him again because we are in the same group to go home! Anyways, big changes and I am excited!!

So our week was kind of tough because after last week when Elder Loureiro got sick he took a day or two to get better. By about Tuesday he was back to full strength and we had a zone meeting with President Bangerter and the other zone here in Salvador. The big topic was the new Ward Mission plan that the mission is trying to put into place in the wards and branches. President Bangerter discovered that a lot of the wards here don't have a ward mission plan! Tuesday, we talked about it. It wasn't a full on zone conference, just a zone meeting. One of the goals he asked us to put in to place is for every member to give 3 referills a year to the missionaries. I think that is VERY do-able! I am super excited and I challenge all of you to do the same! Another one of the goals is for every family to have one family night every quarter with a non-member family and invite the missionaries! I love that too and think that is very do-able. I am very excited about it! As always it was amazing to see President Bangerter and Sister Bangerter. They are both very happy and cheery these days. I think they are enjoying the last few months of their mission here and are content with how their mission is ending. They are working to make sure everything is ready for the new mission president to take over in July. It's pretty crazy to think about them not being here, but then it's crazy to think about me not being here too!! :-)

Wednesday was a good day. At night we went to visit Irmã Marlene and she is doing great. She is one strong lady. She is always in some type of tough situation but is always so faithful to the Lord. As we were leaving to go home since she was our last appointment, I started to feel a little strange. I got home and to make a long, sad story short, the rest of my night was spent being awake and sick! I got the virus that Elder Loureiro had! Ugh it was so frustrating because we were so excited to work super hard this week since it was the last of the transfer but then I got sick. So I spent Thursday and Friday getting better because wow that virus was a tough one.

Saturday and Sunday were GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!! And WOW!!!! What a time it was. Every single part was amazing. I love the new changes and progress that the Church is taking. I received many spiritual witnesses during the span of the two days that President Nelson IS really the Prophet of God here on the Earth. I am so grateful that we have the privilige of living in a time that we have a Prophet! What a blessing. The work is hastening, I can feel it here. And of course we were all so excited that Elder Soares was called as an Apostle. The members here were all so happy as he is the first ever Brasilian Apostle. When President Nelson was announcing the temples we were all waiting for him to say Salvador. I know some day it will happen and Salvador will get a Temple. The people here are so wonderful and need one close. But WOW, to hear Russia is getting a Temple??!! What a blessing!
So to finish my short letter I just wanted to express what touched me most at Confernece. One of the biggest things that I felt was that the conference was centered on Love. Love for our fellow-man and for God and His son Jesus Christ. Love is what is going to run the new ministering program and love is what enables us to get personal revelation. Not a love because you HAVE to love, but a pure, genuine love for our neighbors so that we can serve them. I felt immense love during the Solemn Assembly, when I was able to raise my arm to support our leaders. I feel love for the people here as I teach and see them seek the truth. The world needs this Christ-like love more than ever, and WE have the responsibility to spread it!
I love you all! Have a great week!
#itsalltrue...likeforreals!!