"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! 

Elder Spencer Christofferson 

Elder Estevam, Elder Skraba, Elder Tavares, Me 

An awesome view of the Fireworks! 

FHE at Jefferson and Ingrids

The Best part of Christmas!!

Our Happy Missionary on Christmas Day!

We didn't have an email from Spencer on Christmas day because we were able to speak to him on Skype. We had an AMAZING visit and he is as happy as he has ever been. We loved EVERY minute with him and his wonderful Companion. We even had a chance to talk to Viviane and Anna Beatriz, the mother and daughter who Spencer baptized a few months ago since the missionaries were at their home for dinner. To hear these two women speak of how happy they are and how much their lives have changed since accepting the Gospel in to their lives and joining the church made me cry tears of joy and gratitude. Anyway, Spencer's pday was on Tuesday this week and here is his email. Thank you again to all of you for your constant love and support. It's hard to believe that in less than 6 months Spencer will be home!! 

Love you all! 

Marilee and Adam

Santa Hats and Christmas Ties

View from Brazil

View of the EVERYONE from Brazil!

Two Missionaries Skyping one house! Fun to talk to Elder Miller at the same time.  

Elder Christofferson (18 months served) got to talk to Elder Miller in Romania (12 months served)

"SUPRESA" Party!!!

Happy 20th Birthday to me! 

Hey Everyone!! 

Sorry I am a day late this week. Our p-day is is actually Tuesday because of our Christmas Zone Conference yesterday (Monday). Anyways, here I am and WOW WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!! I can't even begin to describe the amazing week that I had! It was full of emotion, the spirit and fun! I will try to show how great it was in this email! I probably will forget a bunch of stuff but I'll try to hit all the highlights!! 

First off, last Monday night was fantastic! We had a great fun family night at the home of President Barbosa and his family! He is the first counselor of the mission presidency and he lives in our ward! I think I have talked about him before but he and his family are great! He invited us over because his oldest son was going to be ordained to the Melchezidik Priesthood and he wanted the missionaries to be there. We gladly decided to go and it was so awesome! I felt the Spirit so strongly and remembered of when I was ordained and when I was preparing to go on my mission. I did a lot of reflecting and was once again overwhelmed at how fast the time has been flying! It is so crazy.

Wednesday I got to go on a division or split or whatever it is called in English, with Elder Silverio in Itinga. It is close to our area so it wasn't far and we had a great day together! Elder Silverio is from Brasilia which is the captial of Brasil. He is actually just out here for 3 months doing a "test mission." He has some health problems in his knees so the Church sent him out for 3 months to see how he worked as a missionary and if he is able to work normally! He is finishing up the test mission and man he is doing great! There was one cool lesson that I particularly remember! We went to contact this man named Juan. When we got to his house he answered the door and was really nice! We found out that he lived with his wife and daughter and we asked if we could leave a message with them. He said yes and invited us to come in! They lived on the second floor of their building and the stairs to go up were really steep. Elder Silverio can't go up those types of stairs so we asked if we could have the lesson right there in front! And we did! They sat on the stairs and we stayed standing in front of them! We taught them the first lesson and it was so great! I got to talk about Joseph Smith (I love talking about that part!) I have learned so much about the Restoration being out here on my mission and teaching it everyday is one of the best parts of being a missionary for sure! We invited Juan and his wife to go to Church and pray to know what we taught was true. After we invited them to do that Juan said, "I don't know why but I feel like I am going to get a positive answer." It was so awesome! I had a great time with Elder Silverio and he will be a great missionary wherever he ends up serving for his 2 year mission! 

Thursday we had a great lunch with a brother in our ward named Cosme. He almost always schedules our lunches on Friday but this week he changed it so we could meet his wife! She is a member but she has been inactive for a couple years. I was a little nervous to meet her because she has been going to a different church, and one that really doesn't like the Mormons. Anyways it all turned out good in the end and Anna was really nice! We joked a lot with her and Cosme and invited her to church sunday! We even said we would go to her church Sunday night with her if she came Sunday morning! But it didn't work, at least not this week because she didn't show up! Next time! 

Friday was also a cool day because I got to do another split in Imbuí with Elder Tavares! It was great to be back on the coast haha! I realized that I missed those beach views and the ocean breeze quite a bit! We had a fun day together and I got to visit some old friends! I got to see the Reis family that night as well and it was awesome! I am excited because Elder Tavares is actually going to be going home at the same time as me so we will still see each other a good amount! 

Saturday was interesting. I have to go back to the beginning of the week to tell the story. So Elder Estevam is the man! We have become the best of friends and we always are talking and joking around and having fun! This week I noticed that he started to get a little quiet. He wasn't talking a lot and I was kind of worried. I tried talking to him on the day it started to see what was going on and helping him but he didn't want to talk. I figured it would pass and that he was just worried about going home and his family or something but the next day he was still acting all weird and ignoring me a little bit! I was so confused and thinking that I had done something to offend him! I eventually got frustrated because he wouldn't talk to me and seemed like he didn't want me around. The splits were already planned but they came at good times haha. I was a little weirded out because he said by Saturday he would be better. So Saturday I got back to São Cristovão and Elder Estevam was back to normal. I was relieved and we had a good day. He just kept saying, "one day I will get the courage to tell you why I was acting weird." So I was all good! 

So that leads us to Sunday! Sunday was my birthday and I was so excited! I woke up and opened up the package that Mom had sent me for my birthday and it was awesome. Elder Estevam was filming and said after I had opened, "wait a second I got to grab something." He left the room and came back with a present! I was shocked because he said he wouldn't get me anything because he was out of money! I opened it up and it was this awesome Broncos wood carving thing! I will send a picture! He then explained that was why he had been acting weird because he needed me to want to go on splits so he could set up getting the present and it was stressing him out a bit! It was awesome and I loved it! And I also learned later that there was another part to his acting weird that went a long with my birthday but I'll get to that in a minute. All in all I have the best companion ever! 

The rest of Sunday was great too and we had a great Church meeting. Marlene got sick so her and Evely didn't come. We visited them later that day and Marlene was feeling better. Overall they are doing well. We have been fasting and praying for Evely and thinking of a way we can connect with her again. 

Lunch on Sunday was fantastic. Sister Sielma had us over and invited Bishop and his family and they made me Chicken Parm!! I had forgotten that I had told her that I loved Italian food! And Bishop's wife made me an AWESOME cake! It was so good! I felt so loved!  

Yesterday (Monday) was also awesome! We had our Christmas Zone Conference and it was fantastic! Both of the zones here in Salvador were combined and we had a blast. The morning was full of trainings and learning! We got to give a quick training about these baptismal invitations that President Bangerter made. It went great! My zone also did a special musical number; we sang Silent Night, or Noite Feliz in portuguese! It also went great! After lunch we started the activity part and we all put on regular clothes and went and had fun! President Bangerter has all these fun games we played and he taught everyone (minus the Americans) how to play kickball haha! Playing kickball with a bunch of Brasilians who can kick a ball before they even walk is definitely interesting haha! It was a blast. Then President said that phrase that everyone was waiting for, "We are going on a walk." We left the chapel and walked across the street to.... the beach!!! If you guys remember last year when I was in Itabuna we had our Christmas Zone Conference in Ilheus which is a city near there and we also went to the beach! That year we were the only ones to go soI lucked out both years! This time we just went onto the sand real quick and put our toes in the water for like a minute then we had to go back but it was awesome. The other people out there probably thought we were crazy haha! 

We left the conference at about 6pm and had plans to head over to President Barbosa's house with the Sisters because I was told that they had invited us over for Family home evening. When we got there I walked in and Sister Barbosa called to me from the kitchen and said "Elder, all of your lunches for this week fell thru!" (She is the Relief Society President and organizes our lunch calendar) I walked down the hallway asking her why and when I got to the kitchen I was greeted by a bunch of members and the Sisters screaming "Surpresa!!" They through me a surprise party!!!! Haha it was awesome! They started to sing happy birthday in portguese and it was awesome. I learned that Elder Estevam set the whole thing up too which is the other reason he had been acting weird all week. Love that guy! Then there was another surprise which was a video from home! So this girl in our ward ended up talking to my mom on facebook and mom sent a video with a bunch of friends from home saying Happy Birthday! I got teary eyed because it was such a wonderful surprise! I felt so loved this week by the amazing members here and it made my 20th birthday an incredibly special one! 

So real quick I wanted to share a thought! At the Christmas conference President Bangerter shared the scriptures from Luke 2. I had given a message using that chapter this week since it is almost Christmas. I love how the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem when they heard about Christ. I thought about how we need to have that attitude with the gospel in our lives! Are we doing our best to quickly follow God and his commandments? That is my quick question for us to ponder this week! I love you all and thanks for being amazing! 

Have a great Christmas week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Birthday gift from Elder Estevam

William opened his mission call to the Domincan Republic

Christmas Zone Conference

My "SUPRESA" Party

...let us go to and labour with our might..."

My little buddy Miguel

Hey Everybody!! 

How is everyone doing?! I am sure all is well! I hope all are getting excited for Christmas, or Natal here in Brasil! We are getting excited too even though the weather is getting hotter in place of cooling down. I hope somewhere in the USA it is cold! HAHA! This week was another great one here in São Cristóvão! I was a little worried all week because everyone kept telling me about the fires that were happening in SoCal! Yes that news even was a big deal down here! The crazy part was that no one could give me details! So all I was hearing was, "Hey you live in California right? Well there are a bunch of huge fires near Los Angeles!" So I was a little worried. But I figured that if something bad happened I would be informed. But today I was glad to hear that all is good and everyone is safe! 

Last Monday night we headed over to Irmã Leide's house to have a family night with them! She is the lady in our ward who has two sons and her husband isn't a member! We LOVE that family so we were excited and anxious to teach Anizio (the husband). BUT, he got away! Right when we showed up he was leaving to go buy some medicine because he had been sick! When he got back it was literally right as we finished the message! We got to spend the last few minutes with him though. He is such a great man but I think he just doesn't feel the need for a change in his life. That is one of the biggest obstacles as a missionary that I have discovered. People feel comfortable with their lives and feel like they don't need a change, like they don't need the Savior in their lives. It makes me a bit sad because everyone needs the Savior. Anyway, our family night was good and with Anizio we have to just love him and his family and be patient! One day, I believe, he will be a member! 

Tuesday we had a nice day and our last appointment was with Marlene! We went over to visit her and Evely since Evely had stopped progressing but only Marlene was home. We had a really nice discussion with her about trials and why we have them. She has a few friends and neighbors that are going through some tough times and have some illnesses. I got to talk a little bit about Sue Robles and what I felt and the family felt during the time she was sick and slipping away! It was a nice little visit and we felt the Spirit strongly. Elder Estevam said a very nice prayer at the end and specifically blessed all the people that Marlene was worried about. I love prayer! 

Wednesday morning we had a Zone meeting! Elder Estevam and I decided to set one up with our zone even though next week we will have our big Christmas Zone Conference with President Bangerter and Sister Bangerter and the other zone here in Salvador. We felt that our zone needed to hear all the new things and some of the trainings that we heard last week at the leadership council! So we had a great meeting! I started by using a few scriptures that Sister Bangerter used. First, Jacob 5:62 "62 Wherefore, let us go to and labor with our might this last time, for behold the end draweth nigh, and this is for the last time that I shall prune my vineyard" 

I talked about how this is the last month of 2017 and that we have to give our all! This is the last chance this year that we have to work in the Lord's vineyard. Then I shared verse 72, "And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things." It was a great meeting and everyone is excited for our Christmas Zone Conference next Monday. 

We had a tough experience with Rosalvo this week. Wednesday we went over and had a nice lesson with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He seemed to understand it and was excited when we talked about baptism. He said he was going to be at church this week too so we were really excited! But then friday we headed back. We had called him earlier in the day to see if we could go over and he said yes and seemed excited on the phone. When we knocked on his door he came and answered and started to tell us that he was sorry. We pretty quickly realized that he was drunk. He started saying that this wasn't for him and that he couldn't follow God. He even asked us if we wanted the Book of Mormon back. He was really sad which made us sad. He was apologizing a lot and acting strange. He told us that we are cool guys but that he doesn't want more. We ended up leaving and I didn't know what to think! I was so sad because he had said he was doing so well not drinking lately! We don't know really what happened but the rest of the week we tried to call him and he didn't answer. We passed by his place once and no one answered! We figured we would go back when he wasn't drunk so we could really figure out what is going on. So now we need a miracle to find him and hope we can help him! Only time will tell! 

Thursday we had a cool experience too! We headed over to Itapuã, which is another area in our zone, to do a baptismal interview! Well during the interview with the young woman, I was sitting in the family room of the house with the other elders and with her mom! We started talking and she was asking a bunch of questions about missionaries! We found out that she wants her daughter, the one who got baptized, to serve a mission! It was an awesome thing to hear! Her mom is also an investigator and she hadn't seen the Christmas video yet so we watched it with her right there and she loved it! I hope everyone is still doing #LightTheWorld!! We are doing it here and it is awesome! 

Yesterday (Sunday) was an awesome day! A bunch of awesome stuff happened. Firstly, Evely showed up at church with her mom, Marlene! We were shocked! But she had a great time and even said the closing prayer after Gospel Principles! So now we have renewed hope for her! Secondly, I got to speak in church! I spoke about rescuing the lost and I used the three parables from Luke 15 to base my talk off of! It went great I think! Thirdly, after church we went with a lady in our ward to give a blessing to a sick man. It was really interesting because the guy has cancer in his brain and has gotten bad really quickly. He is 23 but we went over to give him a blessing. He responded to our questions with a thumbs up and we gave him a priesthood blessing. His family aren't members and neither is he but they have faith in God and that is what is important. It was a humbling experience! 

So I think that is all for this week! Next time I write you all I will be 20 YEARS OLD!!! What the heck? I am so old haha! And next week I will write everyone on Tuesday because we have our Christmas conference Monday and P-day will be Tuesday! 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Elder Tavaras. Great to see him and happy he's in my Zone. 

Zone Conference

"Be the Light of the World"

Me and Elder Brito, one of the APs!! He is the man

Hey there everyone! 

How is everybody doing?! Well it's December. The time is flying and not only is it December and I'm almost 20, but it's also almost 2018.  It is strange to have more than a year on my mission. Now when I think "This time last year I was..." I fill it in with a mission memory! Earlier that phrase was filled in with a "This time last year I was at home" so it is cool to feel experienced on my mission! Anyway, our week was great! It felt a little slow at times but we talked to a lot of people and had a lot of lessons. I will hit on a few highlights we had this week! 

So Tuesday we had a cool lunch! It was at Ingrid's house! Ingrid is a lady in our ward in her late 20s. She has 3 kids and has been together with a man named Jefferson for 6 years or something something like that. Ingrid was inactive in the church for a while but is started to come back to church about 6 months ago after her 4 year old son said that he didn't know who Jesus was. She came back but Jefferson, is not a member! The sisters have been teaching them for these 6 months. Like many couples in Brazil Ingrid and Jefferson are not married. The whole situation has been going slowly but they are progressing and it's exciting to see. Tuesday we had lunch at their home with the Sisters and it was just amazing for me to see Ingrid so happy. She said that she has changed so much for the better and that she is excited where her life is giong! Her son Miguel is the best little dude! He knows how to say my name perfectly, without any accent. Only a small number of people here can do that! He loves being with us Elders and talks everyday how one day he will be a missionary too! It is so awesome and Tuesday at lunch we had a great time! I shared the message and we watched the Light the World video! It was so great and we are all doing our best here to #LightTheWorld, or as it is called in Portuguese #SejaALuzDoMundo which directly translates to "be the light of the world!" I love it!

  

Wednesday we had another cool experience at our lunch! We went to a lunch far away and while we were there at Irmão Jose's house his son walked in. His son has already moved out of the house but still lives close. So we started to talk to him and get to know him. He isn't a member so we were excited for the possibility to teach him. Then we found out that he lives in a TREE HOUSE! When he told us we thought he was joking but he wasn't because after lunch we went over to his house! He literally lives in a tree next to the freeway haha! It is crazy. He built the whole thing and it is just his bed and stuff because the rest of the house is down below on the ground. But it was super cool! The one sad detail; we didn't have our cameras with us! Next time though! 

Thursday night we went to visit Marlene and Evely. We wanted to see how they were doing and we wanted to get real with Evely and see if she really wants to be a member of the church! We talked to her but didn't really come to a conclusion yet. She doesn't like serious conversations but she is still a work in progress! So that's good! Marlene, on the other hand, is doing fantastic! We are so happy with her progress and that she came back to church! She also takes care of us very well. She makes us dinner too!! We love her! 

Friday we had our mission leadership council! It was so great and I learned so much! We are all excited because the Area Presidency changed the goals for Brasilian missionaries. Per companionship the goal of baptisms in one year was 15. But now they doubled it, so it's 30! That means that we got to get going here in our mission! The work is hastening and everyone is excited for the changes that are starting to happen. It is not going to be easy, but will be worth it! 

At the conference I loved being able to see a bunch of mission friends and spend the day at themission home with President and Sister Bangerter! I felt the Holy Spirit strongly again during the closing hymn! But I will write more about that at the end of my email! 

Saturday we saw what is called "marcha para Jesus" or March for Jesus! What is it? Well I learned on Saturday because of my companion. A evangelical church that is near our house had this event where they had this HUGE bus with a band on the top and the bus drove around the city real slow while the band played music and the people walked with the bus cheering, dancing, and singing! It was way cool! It finished where it started, which was at their church, right in front of our house! So Saturday night when we were home we sat at the window watching them as they finished and it was really cool because at the end the pastor said a prayer. The prayer made me grateful for being in this wonderful country and city! He prayed, thanking God for this city of Salvador, which is named after Christ. He said a nice prayer and when he said amen every yelled it! It was really cool to see the faith of another denomination and see that Christian values are still highly valued in the world! 

Sunday was a great day too! We had testimony meeting at church and I bore my testimony. I love bearing my testimony! It is funny though because I still get nervous when I do it in church even though I do it everyday on my mission! I still was a little anxious as I stood up at the pulpit! But I love bearing my testimony and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share what I know is true and the things that have brought me so much happiness. 

 

Going back to Friday at the council meeting: I felt the Spirit fill me with happiness as we sang the closing hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". As we were singing I just got so happy and excited and grateful for Christmas. I started to remember all the past Christmas seasons and the joy that I always feel during this time of the year. 

I am so grateful that our Father in Heaven sent his Son to be our Savior. I am grateful that we can worship Him a little more during this time of the year and during everyday of our lives. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that He Lives! 

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

 Our new district! Elder Barreto is brand new in the field! He's from Cape Verde

A selfie of us and the sisters in the mission home! We were excited because we got there first! 

The white board President Bangerter used. Do you understand any of it? 

Me and Elder J. Sousa. He is one of the ZLs of the other zone in Salvador! He is from Elder Estevam's group so he will go home next month but we have become good buds!