This week we were able to help a sister in the ward move! 

Hey everyone!!! 

How are all you guys doing?! I hope everyone had a great week! We had another busy one, full of rain, colder weather, and craziness here in Brasil. All of the truckers in Brasil are protesting because of the gas prices or something and they are all stopped on the freeways and not letting anyone through. Because of this there are no perishable foods in the markets and also there is no gas or diesel now in any of the gas stations! It has been going on since Wednesday I think! It is crazy and all anyone is talking about here but we are taking advantage because no one can go anywhere haha! The whole situation actually did end up helping us a little bit this week but I will get to that later! So we had a great week with a disappointing end because Alefe didn't get baptized!! Ugh! But I will explain! Other than that we had a great week! I'll hit the highlights!

So last monday night we headed over to visit Elízia again! She is the girl that one of the young women in our ward, Bia, brought to church last week! The tough thing with Elizia is that she lives super far away from the city but where she lives is still Eunápolis county. So she told us that she wasn't going to be going home until Tuesday so we headed over. She really liked the first message that we gave and told us that she felt really good about it. She read the whole pamphlet and prayed about our message! Monday we just decided to focus a little more on the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson and the best part was at the end when Bia told us about her experience about the Book of Mormon. She said that when she was baptized a couple years ago she felt that the Book of Mormon was true but that she really got a testimony of it at a girls camp her first year as a member. She said that the entire day they had activities and classes about the Book of Mormon and at night when she got back to her room she was praying and felt the Spirit so strongly about the Book of Mormon that she didn't even sleep that night! It was so cool and we all felt the Spirit while she was telling the story! 

Tuesday we headed over to Alefe's in the afternoon to re-enforce the Word of Wisdom. We had already mentioned it before and he knows what it is but we needed to make sure he was all in the clear with it! So we started to talk about the 5 things that God warns us to not use. When we got to coffee Elder Palma did something that he always does when we teach that lesson and I love it! So he asks the person to go grab a packet of coffee and then two bags of normal food. He flips them over to the back side and asks, "what do these two have written (pointing to the normal food) that the coffee doesn't?" I don't know how it is in the United States but the coffee packets here don't have a nutricional table! Like not anyone of them!! And normal food always does. The people always see it and then we explain because coffee doesn't have anything that is good for us and that could help our bodies! It is so awesome haha. And we did it with Alefe and he committed to stop drinking the little bit of coffee that he still was drinking! 

Tuesday morning we were getting ready to leave and got a call form Elízia! She said that she wasn't going home Tuesday and asked us if we could come over and teach her again! Of course we could so we headed over there Tuesday night. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It was super cool when we asked her how her reading of the Book of Mormon had went. She replied, "It was great! I really liked it and it felt like all my problems went away when I was reading. I felt this inner peace that made me happy. Like the way you explained you feel when you read it." Our jaws dropped!!! HAHA! That was like too good of an answer! But she really loved reading it! After we had a fantastic lesson about the Plan of Salvation. I love teaching the Plan of Salvation!! It is just the best when we see the people connect it all in their heads! It is so awesome! I love teaching it too because I always feel the strongest Spirit when we talk about eternal families! I know that this doctrine is true!! 

Wednesday we went over to visit Sabrina and Raissa but we found a sad situation. Only Irmã Jazi was there and she told us that Sabrina had gotten the news the day before that her Grandpa had passed away. So she had gone up to the city where he lived for the funeral with her mom. Apparently she was really sad and confused. We wanted to try and comfort her and teach her the Plan of Salvation but we didn't find her the rest of the week so hopefully we can find her this week. 

Wednesday we also found Irana finally! She hadn't gone to church on that Sunday and we didn't know why and couldn't find her earlier in the week! So we found her and had a nice visit with her. She told us that she had talked to her husband a little bit about the marriage thing and he said that he doesn't want to get married yet. We were pretty discouraged to hear that but she was strangely optimistic. I asked why and she said, "I'll get to him, I just keep telling him everyday that we need to get married and eventually we will. That is how we have this couch, the nice television, and washing machine." It was hilarious haha! So we are praying and hoping that Samuel will have his heart softened and want to get married ASAP! We had a nice lesson with her afterwards about Ether 12! I love that chapter! 

Thursday we went over to Alefe's and went over the baptismal interview questions with him since his interview was going to be on Friday. He was super excited and knew everything! We had gone over everyday that week and he was all set for the baptism! 

Thursday we also we and visited Irmã Branca! We had to have what we call a "conversa franca", or frank conversation haha. We sat down with her and pretty much asked her what was happening. She had been progressing so well before and then out of nowhere that kind of stopped. She hadn't been to church in a while and she hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon. I said, "Irmã Branca, what is happening right now is exactly what happened last year when you first met the missionaries. You progressed well but then stopped. I am not going to let that happen again!" We went on to explain how we see that when people get close to finding the truth and being baptized, the enemy gets in the way to try and stop it. It happens all the time. We said, "Irmã Branca, don't let the devil win!! You were so close!" Then we made some goals with her. We invited her to start reading the Book of Mormon again, and to start praying to know if it is true, and to go to church! Then the last invitation we did was for her to join us in a fast this weekend! We have felt that we needed to fast with her to get her answer to her prayers! Flavia was with us too and she told of her experience fasting to get her answer and it was great! Now only time will tell! 

Friday we had Elder Gray and Saes here to do our district meeting and Alefe's interview! I went with Elder Gray to Alefe's for him to do the interview! It went perfectly and he passed super fast. We told him to get to the chapel Saturday around 6:30 and that the baptism would start at 7. It was all set and ready to go! 

So Saturday we had lunch at Irmã Branca's. Later, around 6pm, we headed over to the chapel to set some things up for the baptism. The small pool we use here had been set up by one of the members here and was all ready. Around 6:30 we tried to call Alefe and it went straight to voicemail. We were getting anxious and there were already a bunch of members there waiting. Around 7:15 he still hadn't shown up and in my head I just kept thinking, "No, no, no,". Our ward mission leader, Lenini, took us in his car over to Alefe's house. We knocked and his son answered the door. We asked if Alefe was there and he said that no and that he had left a little while ago. We hoped that he had gone to the chapel so we waited on his porch and kept calling the people at the chapel to see if he had shown up. And nothing. We then talked to his wife who said that he hadn't said anything about the baptism and had left a while ago. We had to end up going back to the church, devestated! We didn't really know what to do and to cheer us up Lenini called us in to do a little family night with all the people that were there. He invited us to give the first lesson and we did and it was good. But man it was pretty sad that Alefe was a no-show. This was the second time he has done this. He was almost baptized before I got here to the city and never showed at the baptism. So we were pretty sad. We had visited him every day that week and it was perfect. 

Sunday we woke up and tried to call him and he didn't answer. We headed over to church and had great meetings! Elízia showed up to church! She actually had not gone home during the week because of the whole stike thing! So that is how it helped us haha. She went to church and it was alone even! Bia was sick and didn't come so she came alone in the rain!! Then we had Irmã Branca show up for a little bit. She came from the hospital because she was super sick! But still came and it was awesome! So we had a great sunday meetings! After lunch we headed over to Alefe's and when we were standing on his doorstep he pulled up. He got out and we had another frank talk. We asked him what the heck happened. He told us that during all of Saturday he just was feeling like he wasn't ready and that he needed to wait more. He kept saying sorry to us and we told him thanks but this isn't a commitment with us and him, it is a commitment between him and God. He understood and we were a little hard on him for not telling us how he was feeling and then standing everyone up but he needed it. He said that now he just wants to keep going to church every sunday and having us come over a few times a week but not have a baptismal date. We told him that that was okay. It was sad to see though. But we did all we could and he made his choice! But we aren't giving up on him. He is a great guy and really sincere, just a little scared for some reason.

I was pretty bummed and frustrated about the whole thing! But I am also very grateful for all the people that have helped me feel better. The members here, Elder Palma, Sister Egbert and Sister Alves, and others have been so great. I was pretty sad the day it happened but afterwards I was feeling better. I was thinking that this is actually never happened to me my whole mission. Elder Palma has had it happend to him 4 times in the last 4 months so he is used to it sadly. But we are not losing our fire! We know this gospel is true and will bless peoples lives, they just need to trust in God and follow Him. Clearly that is easier said than done for some people. But I have faith and know that in the Lord's timing it will happen. 

So that was our week! We also visited Elizia in the afternoon on Sunday because she still can't go home. She loves the church and the Book of Mormon and back with the plan of salvation lesson we had challeneged her to get baptized on the 2nd, this Saturday. She accepted but is still a little apprehensive. So we will see if it all works out for her to get baptized on Saturday! 

I love being a missionary! I love having the opportunity every day to testify that Jesus is the Christ and that his Church is once again on the Earth. I know that that is true. I don't have a doubt in my mind. And because of His Atonement, we can all return to live with God! 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

#itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

PICTURES-

Sorry I don't have more, I thought we would have a lot this week with the baptism but because it didn't happen I only have two. Sorry!

A selfie of me and Elder Palma this morning- pday!!