Tuesday, May 22, 2018

"We had over 30 lessons this week!"

District Meeting this week

Hey everybody! 
How are you all doing?! I hope that everyone had a great week! We had a crazy busy week here in Eunápolis!! We had over 30 lessons this week so it was fantastic! I don't have the capacity to write about all of them but I will hit the highlights! It was super hot this week but now is starting to cool down and today is all overcast and rainy! It is nice to have a little cool down since I will be getting home in the middle of SoCal summer!

Tuesday we had a crazy full day! But one of the highlights was when we went to teach Sabrina and her grandma Jazi! I can't remember if I wrote about it last week but a lady in our ward named Dajuda gave us a referill of her work friend Jazi. She said that their family was needing some help so we went over last week! We taught Jazi and her granddaughter Sabrina. We went back on Tuesday for the second visit and we found them two again and this time another one of Jazi's granddaughters was there! Her name is Raissa and she is awesome! She goes to a different church but was super interested in our message. So we gave a little summary of the first lesson and then focused more on the Book of Mormon. It is so interesting to me to see the reactions of the people here when we talk about the Book of Mormon. My favorite part is always when we explain Moroni's promise. I get to bear my testimony about it and I love it. One thought that came to me when I was bearing my testimony is how we don't have to just ask God if the Book of Mormon is true once. We should ALWAYS ask him to give us confirmations about it! I know that it is true. My testimony about the Book of Mormon has grown so much in these last two years! I have no doubt that it is true. So to those who haven't gotten that testimony yet, go get it! And for those who already have it, keep it! 

Wednesday was kind of a sad day! I'll explain why. So remember Irana. Branca's daughter who is 17 but doesn't live at home? Well we were supposed to baptize her this week and it didn't end up happening! :( This is why. We headed over on Wednesday to teach her about some of the commandments. We had already mentioned some and but we didn't think that she would have problems with anything. So we got there and started to talk a little before the lesson. Right as we were about to pray, Irana goes, "Oh yeah so I talked to my mom last night and asked her about the thing she had to sign about me being married and she told me that I am not legally married and the thing she had to sign was a different paper saying that I could live with my husband since he is already an adult." MY heart sank!! UGH!! So the reason for the confusion is because we knew that when someone younger than 18 gets married, their parents have to sign a paper saying that they are letting it happen. So when we first got to know Irana we asked her if she was married and if Branca signed that thing. Irana said that yes her mom signed that paper. So we were in the clear!! Irana even uses a ring and everything. She had just misunderstood us I think. At the moment when Irana told us, I got super sad but we continued with the lesson and didn't say anything to her at the moment. The lesson was really good though and we taught about the Word of Wisdom. The only problem that Irana has is that she drinks a lot of coffee. So when we told her that she can't drink coffee she got sad. We continued by explaining the blessings that can come and challenged her to stop drinking coffee she accepted. She said, "It will be hard, but I will do anything to see my little daughter again." We didn't know what she meant but on Sunday we found out. We were teaching about the Plan of Salvation when she asked what happens to little kids when they die?  We explained that children under the age of 8 years old will go to the Celestial Kingdom in the next life. She got so happy and then told us that in January of this year, she lost a baby when some health complications came up and the baby was born 5 months into the pregnancy and the doctors couldn't save her. What was so amazing about all of this is that Irana already has a testimony that the Plan of Salvation is true and that families really can be together forever in the next life if we live according to God's will. She wants do all she can to get to receive that blessing!! 

That night we had planned on going over to meet with Branca so we asked her about the whole Irana situation just to make sure. And sadly Irana is not married. After that we proceded by talking with Irmã Branca about temples and the work we do there! It is kind of a different lesson to teach and a little harder than a normal lesson because we don't teach it as much. But we really felt like we needed to teach that to her and help her feel a little more responsibilty. We wanted her to feel that she will get baptized not to just bless her and her current family,  but also her ancestors. I think it went really well and I realized how much I miss the temple!! It really is the house of God! We all need to be able to go there! 

Thursday we had a good day. We went and talked with Irana and we had to talk to her about the fact that her baptism was going to have to be postponed. I was super nervous because she was super excited for Saturday! I was praying the whole day that it would go well. We took Flavia with us and headed over. And it went totally perfect! We went in and told her we needed to talk! I said, "Irana we are going to have to postpone your baptism." She said, "I know." I was a little surprised and then she went on to explain that she knew that after she found out that she isn't really married that she wouldn't be able to be baptized yet. She was super calm and totally fine about it! I was so relieved! The Lord really answers our prayers! Now we just got to get Irana and Samuel married!! 

Thursday we also had a fun lesson with Alefe!! He is doing really well and progressing well! We talked with him about Alma 42 and explained some things about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. Alefe really is a good guy and knows that all that we teach is true! And he FINALLY went to church on Sunday! SOO we are planning on baptizing him on Saturday! We are praying it all works out!! 

Friday was funny because during the day we headed over to Flavia's for a little bit for Elder Palma to help her with some Spanish since she just got her mission call to Argentina! We also had a good lesson with Tais that day! She is doing great and apologized for not going to church! She said that her work schedule changed last minute and she had to work sunday. But we read with her 3 Nephi 11 and man I love that chapter!! Christ shows up and the Spirit is just so strong. One thing that I really learned to do and that I love is put myself into the scriptures. Use my imagination to think and ponder how it would be to be one of those Nephites that had just survived so many things and then to see Jesus. All those years of waiting and hearing the prophecies and finally it happened. I know that the joy and emotion that they felt was incredible! I think it is similar to the feeling that I feel when I see someone realize that this Gospel is true! It is an amazing feeling! 

Sunday is always just amazing! So we had confirmed with a ton of people to go to church on Sunday and we got there early and were waiting out front and it was almost 9 and no one had showed up! We were getting sad but then Sabrina and Raissa showed up! And right after Alefe with his two kids! We were so happy! Then we had two members bring others! That day we ate lunch at a girl named Bia's house. She is 17 and the only member in her family. She brought her friend named Elizia. And we were eating lunch there so it worked out perfectly! We ate and got to know Elizia and then we gave the first lesson! It was soooo awesome! Elizia is great! She loved church and even asked us how she can know that this is the true church before we had taught the lesson! My favorite part of the lesson was at the end when I asked how she felt. She said, "Would you believe me if I told you that I can't describe it? I just feel something good inside of me but I don't know how to describe it." It was so awesome!!! We testified that that is the Holy Ghost telling her that our message is true! It was a great lesson and we are going back tonight

Well ladies and gents I think that is all! I just wanted to share one last thing! So on Sunday I got to give a talk in our sacrament meeting! I said that I finally became a real Mormon man because I was the last speaker haha. But I got to talk about the Atonement. During my preparation I found a quote that I closed my talk with and I wanted to put it in here. It is from President Monson,  With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the firstfruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all shall live again. ‘Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: “I know that my Redeemer lives!”’ I also testify that Jesus lives and loves us! Have a good week everyone!! 

#itsalltrue
Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

I love my district!

Elder Palma was asked to read a poem in Spanish during a big event at the local school.
A member in our branch is a PE teacher at the school.
We had no idea this many people would the there and he was so nervous but he did great! 

Elder Palma is in the bottom corner waiting til it's his turn to go onto the floor to speak. He did great! 

Friday, May 18, 2018

"Everybody go out and serve someone!"

Elder Palma
Hey everybody! 

How are you all doing?! I hope you guys all had a fantastic week and a wonderful Mothers Day! Mothers Day here in Brasil happens to fall on the same day as it is in the United States! But I will get more to that later. We had a fantastic first week of the new transfer here in Eunápolis, with lots of exciting things happening! So I will try to get all the adventures and details into this email! 

Monday night Elder Hilton finished packing and I got ready to go down to Porto Seguro for the night. Here in Eunápolis there are no young men who can come stay with me and we are the only missionaries and since Elder Hilton was leaving and I can't be alone, I headed down to Porto Seguro to stay with Elder de Jesus for the night before my new companion Elder Palma got here. Funny side note, we almost missed Elder Hilton's bus! It was at 7:35 or something and I grabbed the phone and went to call the taxi at 7 o'clock and the worst thing possible happened! Our phone ran out of minutes!! But I could still call other missionaries but no one else, super weird. So after asking the neighbor, (who also didn't have minutes), standing out front of our house trying our luck to see if a taxi would go by, and calling a bunch of missionaries like a crazy person to do a conference call with the taxi here, we finally got one and raced to the bus station. We got there at like 7:30. It was crazy but Elder Hilton got his bus and I grabbed one a few minutes later to Porto and spent the night there with Elder de Jesus, who is also in his last transfer! It was a crazy but fun last day with Elder Hilton, who is probably at some beach right now haha!

Tuesday morning I got up and got a bus back to Eunápolis and got to the bus station at about 11:30. Elder Palma arrived from his last area just about that time as well so we headed home. The majority of the day was filled with organizing and unpacking but that night we had a cool experience. A member of the branch presidency had called us and asked if we could go over to the home of a less-active member and give her a priesthood blessing. We went over and met Renata. She is a young woman who is about 25 and she lives with her dad. She is the sister of one of the active members of our branch, Flavia, who is going on a mission soon. It was just a cool little experience because every time that I have the privilege of giving priesthood blessings I always remember the stories of the Savior. I love all the stories of how He healed and cured those who needed it. We gave a blessing to Renata and then to her non-member father, who already knows the church pretty well. It was a humbling experience as we are ministering as the Savior would. Having that opportunity is very special! 

Wednesday was an AWESOME day. Everything that we planned happened as we had planned it! First during the day we found Alefe! He is that guy that has been an investigator for a good few months now and has just kept flaking out. So we went there with the purpose of seeing if he is really sincere and wants to follow Christ or not. We actually found him at home, which never happens, and had a good talk with him and his wife Gisele. We read 2 Nephi 31 which has become one of my favorite chapters of the Book of Mormon as a missionary. I LOVE it!! Everything that we want and need to say is all just there, but written by an inspiried prophet of God. At the end of the lesson we asked Alefe what he needs to do. He pointed to the scripture that says, "can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" and said, "I think I have been going in circles long enough and need to start really following Jesus." It was awesome! We challenged him to baptism and he accepted so now time will really tell if he really wants to follow the Savior.

Another awesome lesson from Wednesday was from when we found a girl named Tais. She was a referill from some other missionaries in our zone that had talked to her in the bus station last transfer. Me and Elder Hilton had tried to schedule to meet her a bunch of times and had never gotten too. Wednesday we decided to just show up at her house and see if she was there and she was! Tais is the best! She is such a happy person and already just seems like a member of the church. We taught her about the Restoration and she loved it. In her prayer at the end she asked God to "help me find the truth and know if this is all true." As a missionary we can't ask for much more than that! 

ALSO on Wednesday we went and met with Branca! She is doing super well and she got to meet Elder Palma. We read with her Alma 32 and WOW I forgot how AMAZING that chapter is! It was like perfect for her! It was funny because at the end of the lesson we asked what she thought and she said, kind of ironically, "I know, I know! I have the seed of the Gospel in me and I have to let it grow and get baptized." It was funny because she knew exactly what we were trying to say to her even though we didn't say anything haha! Branca just needs her answer and she will get baptized! She is a great lady.

Thursday we had a fun afternoon as we met with Irana! Irana is Branca's daughter that she had brought to church once and that me and Elder Hilton had taught once and it went really well. During the last week with Elder Hilton we couldn't seem to find her and we didn't know what to do. Once again on Thursday me and Elder Palma just decided to try our luck and go by there and we found her. We had an awesome lesson with her about the Book of Mormon and she really loved it. She committed to praying more and going to church. 

Thursday afternoon we got a bus to go up to Salvador because we had the mission leadership council once again! We had once again 12 hours to go to Salvador and it was not fun haha. We slept very little. But the council on Friday was fantastic! We learned a lot and the focus was on the Book of Mormon! We talked a lot about how we can use it more in our teaching and how we can help our investigators understand why it is so special and essential to knowing if the church is true. The Book of Mormon really does hold it all together and we have to understand that. I love the power that I feel when I read the Book of Mormon. And we have to read it everyday like the Prophet says!! 

After another long 12 hour bus ride Thursday night we got home Saturday morning super tired. But that didn't stop us! We headed over to visit Irana again! We had a plan. One of our worries with her is that she wasn't legally married to her husband! She is only 17 but already lives with Samuel, who is 21. We had thought they were legally married but then some of the girls from the ward had told us that they weren't. On Thursday we had found out that they ARE legally married and we were really excited! So Saturday when we headed over we were planning on challenging her to get baptized! We read with her 3 Nephi 11 and it was a really spiritual lesson. When we got towards the end of the chapter there are two verses in a row where the Savior tells us to become as a little child and be baptized. After we read those two verses, Elder Palma asked, "Irana, will you follow what the Lord is telling us to do and be baptized to become pure like a little child?" She smiled and said, "I would love to!" So we gave her the goal for Saturday the 19th! She has already been to church twice, and would go again on Sunday and is just really elect. She believes everything we say and knows it is all true! So Irana is planning on getting baptized on Saturday! Pray that all will go well for her! 

Sunday was great and we had a few people at church! Irana came as promised and loved it! It is so cool because all of the members took her in so well! When the young women and the children went up to sing the mothers day hymn, they grabbed her to go up too haha! It was funny and she loved it! There was also this other kid named Kaique that one of the ladies in our ward took for the first time and he was super cool so we are hoping to be able to visit him this week! 

After church our buddy Flavia opened her mission call that we had picked up from Salvador for her! Whenever people receive their mission calls here the church sends them to the Mission Home and they stay their until someone picks it up or until someone is traveling to/from the area. Her call had been at the mission home for a week or 2 and she was so excited for us to pick it up for her. She is going to Argentina! It was super cool because no one was expecting it! There are currently 4 missionaries from our small little branch who are out serving! Flavia will be the fifth and she is the first to go out of the country! I love our good little branch here in Eunápolis! 
Flavia after she opened her mission call and William, a counselor in the Branch Presidency
Sunday night we got to talk to our families! It was AWESOME! It was super weird this time because it was my last skype and I wasn't sad at the end because I will see my wonderful family kind of soonish! I love them all! 
ADDED BY MOM: Our view from home! 
ADDED BY MOM: Our last call from the Mission Field


My view of the Family
So that was our week! I hope that you all have a great week this week. Everybody go out and serve someone! Even the little things go a long way!! 

Love you all! 
#itsalltrue

Elder Spencer Christofferson 


Monday, May 7, 2018

"WE HAVE THE TRUTH"



ELDER HILTON OUT

Hi everyone!! 
How are you all doing?! I am hoping everyone had a wonderful first week of May! Here in Brasil we are in "Fall" but it really doesn't exist so it is still hot haha. Actually maybe that is not all the way true! Here in Eunápolis it definitely feels a lot cooler than Salvador and it is raining here and it makes it colder so I can't complain! But w
e had a fantastic first week of the month here and last week of the transfer! Elder Hilton worked right until the end and we had a blast together during this last week! Last night (Sunday) we got the transfer. I will be staying here obviously and I will be getting Elder Palma! He is from MEXICOOOOOO!!! Haha I actually kind of already know him a bit and we are buds so I am pretty excited for him to be my last companion, my 15th companion. That will bring the total count to 2 Americans, 2 Hispanics, and 11 Brasilians! Haha craziness! But I am super excited and pumped to work my hardest in this transfer with Elder Palma. Maybe he can teach me some Spanish too! 

So we had a good week here in Eunápolis! A part of our week actually was not in Eunápolis. Last Monday we were down in Porto Seguro because we were going to do a division in a different area further south called Mucuri. After email last Monday we headed over to a cool part of the area which is called Arrail D'ajuda. It is like a small super touristy city right next to Porto! We got to take a little boat thing across the bay and it was super fun. We didn't have a lot of time there but we ended up getting lost and had no idea where to go and our cell phone wasn't working. We just started walking and we planned on asking someone for directions. The problem is that there were like no cars where we were! So when we finally saw a stopped car we ran over. We asked the couple for directions only to find out that they were also lost. They were from São Paulo. But they offered us a ride back to the center of the city! We accepted and started talking to them! It was super cool. Their neighbor is a member of the church so they knew a couple of things! They just gave us a quick ride and we got back on track but it was just so awesome! People here are so nice and caring I just love it! So that was a quick little experience! It definitely strengthened my testimony of neighborly kindness! 

That night we got a bus going to a city called Teixeira de Freitas, which has sisters. It is like 5 hours from Porto Seguro and from there Mucuri is another 2 hours. The problem is that we got to Teixeira about midnight and the bus to Mucuri wasn't until 6AM. So we had to go to the sisters house and grab the key to the chapel and sleep in the church hahaha! It was a blast! The funny part is that the chapel in that city isn't an actual chapel, it is a rented house. So there are no benches or couches or anything. So we had to sleep on the chairs! It was definitely an adventure and a fun time. I will send some pictures!
Sleeping on the chairs in the church....not as comfortable as it looks! LOL!
Tuesday morning we got to Mucuri! We met up with Elder Souza and Elder Sobral. During the day I got to work with Elder Souza my old companion! Man it was a blast! I love that guy! We realized that almost exactly one year ago we were companions! Now we are both oldies haha! It was super fun. We had a great day and tried to make the most of the city. Mucuri is a small beach town and is known to be pretty quiet. Tuesday didn't help because it was a holiday! But we had some good contacts and a few lessons. I just love being a missionary. I felt once again a great love for this work on Tuesday! I don't know why but I was just more excited and happy than usual that day. I wanted to talk to everyone and just scream "WE HAVE THE TRUTH!!" It was a fun day! 

 

Wednesday we got back home at about noon after waking up late to our alarm to catch a bus from Mucuri that morning. But we got it and got home safe and sound. We were pretty tired but we still had a great day. At night we headed over to Irmã Branca's house to have a heart to heart with her haha. We went after Iasmin had gone to college so we could have a more personal conversation with Branca. We just sat down and talked to her about everything. She says she is praying to get her answer but says that she hasn't gotten it yet. So we started to ask her how she thinks she is going to get an answer. We talked about that then she said, "and when are you guys going to take my coffee away from me?" Haha we laughed and taught the Word of Wisdom to her. She liked it but has some trouble with the coffee part. She has been drinking coffee since she was a kid on the farm. So we made some goals with her and talked about how she needs to show her faith and stop drinking coffee and maybe that will help her get an answer! She agreed! To finish we watched a mormon message from President Uchtdorf called "Road to Damascus" It talks about us waiting to get answers in big ways but that normally they don't come that way. It was super awesome. She understood and I just really hope she can get her answer. She is such a good woman and we love her so much! She just needs to take a small leap of faith! 
Elder Hilton is "dying" (leaving the mission)
Friday we had a cool little experience! We had lunch far away at this family's house in our ward and it was awesome. The family consists of the mom named Sara, her two daughters, and the husband. We had never really seen the husband because he is never home when we eat there and doesn't go to church. So when we got there on Friday her husband was home too! We were suprised but excited to have a chance to talk to him. We had a great lunch but he had to run to work after a little time. Afterwards Irmã Sara explained how she has been really sad and confused because her husband is going inactive. We talked with her and at church on Sunday we even made plans with the Elders Quorum to go visit him. It was just humbling for me to see her and her two daughters who still are strong in the Church. I love the faith of the members here! 


Sunday was awesome! We had a couple investigators show up. Actually two people that members brought. We had a fantastic testimony meeting! Both me and Elder Hilton bore our testimonies! It was my second to last and his last! It was awesome. The best part of Sunday was that night! We had Branch Council meeting and then after that we were going to do a going away party for Elder Hilton. We thought it was just going to be like some food, pictures, and mingling haha. But the branch did a whole program for him! Like opening hymns and spiritual messages and everything. They asked a few people to give some messages to Elder Hilton and they asked me to as well! I was the second to last and I told some funny stories about our transfer together and how much I have learned from him. Then after me he got up and bore his testimony. Everyone was wanting him to cry and it was super funny but he wasn't going to. He gave an awesome powerful testimony and then for the closing hymn, 4 of the young women were going to sing. They sang, "Ye Elders of Israel" but changed the words to include Elder Hilton's name! It was so awesome and HE CRIED! THEY GOT HIM!! It was so funny and he tried to hide it but we all saw haha. At night we headed over to Israel's house. They had a really busy week and we didn't have a chance to visit them so we went over quickly so Elder Hilton could say bye. Man I love that family! They are awesome! 
Goodbye Party for Elder Hilton that the Branch threw for him. 


Our goodbye visit to Israel and his family! 
So at the end of this email I have two more things to write. First, I wanted to tell you all how grateful I am to have served with Elder Hilton. Sadly we were together for a 5-week transfer but man we had a blast. I learned so much from him and felt the Spirit as he testified of the truths of the Gospel. He has been such a good example to me of a missionary who works until the very end and now I know how to do it in this last transfer! Elder Hilton, you are the man!



And that brings me to my last topic. Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it. My last transfer is beginning. I am in shock and it hasn't really hit me yet but I only have 6 more weeks with a nametag. I can't believe how fast it has gone but I am going to make the most of these last weeks and try to help the maxium amount of people come unto Christ. It is with him where we can find peace! 

I love this Gospel and i love you all! Have a great week! 
#itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson



"Hoping for a Miracle"

Sometimes being a missionary is HARD!!!

Hey everybody! 
How are you all doing?! I hope everyone had a great and fun week! We are almost into May which is craziness! We had a great week here with a lot of fun little adventures and lots of work. We are doing our best to try to get a baptism before Elder Hilton goes home! We are hoping for a miracle this week!! So I'll just get right in to the week! 

Last Monday, like I said last week, in the morning we had gone up to the historical center in Porto Seguro and after that we came to use email. Don't worry I will be sending A TON of pictures today of last week and this week!  Anyways, after using email we headed down the coast to try to find this other historic place that has a replica of one of the ships in the fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral, the guy who discovered Brasil! So we got there at about 4:40 and they had just closed! We were pretty bummed because we had walked for like half an hour to get there and it seemed pretty cool. After that we didn't know what to do so we started to walk back towards the city center and found a cool place to go bowling. So we went bowling! Haha! It was a blast even though Elder Hilton beat me. That night we slept in the Elders house here in the center again and then in the morning woke up and we had a division. Elder Hilton stayed with the two elders in the center and I went to an area here in Porto Seguro called Baianão. I was with Elder Kilidjian and Elder Gray, from our district!
All the investigators who came to church 
A little sight seeing!
Bowling and being beat. NOT my favorite!
Pizza is always a favorite!
Our only priest in the Branch and his non member father. 
Branca and her daughters at church!
Israel, Carol and their daughters at church!
Cool street in a quiet town

So Tuesday was the division. It was so awesome to be with two Americans for another day! We had a great day of work and I loved seeing and remembering my days when I was newer on my mission! I felt like such an old dude on Tuesday. Anyway, everything had kind of fallen through and we didn't know what else to do, so like usual, when in doubt we do contacts. We decided to walk to a less familiar street and knock there and do street contacts. Right when we got onto the street, I looked to my left and saw a house with its window open, but it was all dark inside. We kept walking by but I looked again and saw this big pillar of light shining on the ceiling! I stopped and said, "Elders wait, there is someone in this house!" So we went over and knocked and this young girl opened the door. Elder Gray did a contact and she was super receptive so we asked if she had time for a lesson and she said yes! So we got to teach her out front of her house and it was awesome. She has grown up in a different church so she like really knew the Bible even though she is only 15. But she thought it was so cool when we explained that Christ had a church when he was here on the Earth! It was such a cool lesson and I love how the Spirit can touch any heart. Even on a loud, crazy porch in front of a main road with tons of buses and cars going by every minute. It was great!

Wednesday we were back home after we got a quick bus the night before from Porto to come back home to Eunápolis. So Wednesday we had the whole day back in our area. We had a fun day as well with one minor failure. Irmã Branca had told us that she wanted to get to know better the life of Joseph Smith and stuff so we had thought that we would watch the 1 hour, Joseph Smith movie with her. We got there and she put the video on her laptop and then connected it to the TV. One thing we did NOT think about was the potential problem that the wifi could go bad. And like usual with these type of situations, the wifi started to go bad hahah. Rookie mistake from two oldies to not be more prepared. So after a good amount of trying we decided it wouldn't work and we just left a normal message. It was funny but we made up for it a couple days later. Anyways, Branca is doing great but she just doesn't feel like she has gotten her answer yet about the truth of our messages. She could get baptized any time and we are praying she will get the answer she is seeking!
The sign of a hard working tired Missionary. Falling asleep with a pen in your mouth! 
Wednesday night we headed over to visit Jailton! He is Lucas' dad who is not a member. (Lucas is the only priest in our branch and his step-sister is on a mission right now.) Irmão Jailton has been to church twice now and he is a great guy. We got there and decided to teach a little more in depth to him about the Book of Mormon. We also felt like we could watch the Restoration video with him,the 20-minute one. I have a little USB drive with the video so we figured we could just plug it into the TV and watch it. It always works. So I put in the USB and when I went to click on the video all I saw was a big red X saying, "Format not supported"! Ugh! Two failures with tech in one day. It ended up working out because Jailton just watched it on his phone. After we talked about everything we asked him if he had prayed about our message. He sheepishly replied that he hadn't. We told him that he needed to pray and we taught him how to do it. It was really cool and he really committed to praying now. If he gets his answer he can also be baptized any day! 

Thursday night we got to visit Israel and his family again! Man do we love that family. Every time we go we laugh and have fun and also feel the Spirit and learn. Thursday night we had a little miracle because their whole family was there again! Second time in a row! Haha it was great. We didn't have a ton of time but we decided to bring back the memories for them of our first lesson. So we watched the 20-minute Restoration video. (As I write this I realize we used videos a lot this week haha). The video was fantastic! I felt the Spirit so strongly as we watched a humble farm boy get called as a prophet. After the video ended, we almost didn't want to talk because the Spirit was so strong. I started to bear my testimony and practically we told them that they need to pray and get serious about all of this. It is sometimes hard to speak boldy but we were blessed to have the Holy Spirit so it really wasn't us doing the talking. They understood what we were trying to say so now we just have to hope that they really have the desire to find out if this is all true! (Spoiler: IT IS!!!)

Friday we made up for ourselves with Irmã Branca and we watched the Joseph Smith movie and it worked! We had gone early to the internet place and downloaded it so it would work without a hitch!! It all went smoothly and we had to have a little heart to heart with her too and speak boldly so she can understand how she can get her answer. We will see how this week goes! 

Saturday we had a good lesson with Patrick! He is one of our investigators that kind of tried to get rid of us last week but we still had a lesson marked with him and he told us he would finally go to church Sunday and he actually did! But we had a fun time too after the lesson when we helped him and his dad take this HUGE wooden table out of a house. We tied it to a rope and lowered it down over the balcony because it wouldn't fit down the stairs. It was a fun adventure and we sadly didn't have the camera with us! Only on the phone and the quality isn't good haha.

Saturday night we had a really cool lesson with this girl named Irana! She is Branca's other daughter that we didn't know existed until she brought her to church last week. She is 17 but is already married, or at least we thought, but I'll get to that. So we had marked with her last Sunday to visit her on Thursday but when we went there she wasn't home! Saturday night we decided to go by and we found her at home! We taught her the first lesson and it was awesome! She accepted everything and at the end we asked, "Irana, what do you feel now knowing that all of this that we said happened." She replied, "Well I am very grateful and happy because now I know which church is the true one, and I don't have to keep looking for it!" We were like in shock and then we challeneged her to baptism! She accepted! We gave her a pretty fast date because she only needs to go to church once more. We left excited but then on Sunday we were talking to the other girls in the ward after church and they said they thought that she wasn't leaglly married to her husband Samuel. We were sad to hear that cause we had thought they were married.  We will find out this week! And if they aren't married, they'll have to get married and then baptized. haha! 

Sunday was a great day as well. We sadly did not have all the people at church that we wanted but we had 4! Irana and Samuel came and Patrick too! And one other member brought her boyfriend who isn't a member. Everyone else didn't come because tomorrow (Tuesday) is a holiday here to everyone went out of town. But we had a great Sunday and the last meeting of the day was really cool because the District President gave a training on the new Ward mission plan thing that President Bangerter has been trying to implement in our mission for a month or so now! And we got a new, AWESOME, branch mission leader so we are super pumped about that! Sunday night we had to get a bus down here to Porto Seguro again and here we are! We are going to do a division, a city that is the furthest south in our mission. We still got another 6-7 hours of buses to get. We also might have to sleep in the bus station but we will see haha! We came down here and this morning we got to go to the boat thing! It was really awesome but the pictures are taking forever to upload so we will see if they work! But at least we got the ones from last week! 

Anyways, that was our week! We are praying for some last week miracles for Elder Hilton and we are going to give it our all! I love you all so much! And I love our Savior!! Have a wonderful week! 

#itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson


Trying not to lose focus but it's hard riding past this every day! LOL! Just Kidding! 
All in due time! 
District Meeting is always fun!  
Adventure anyone? 
A little sight seeing on Pday!