so, this new area is cool. president put us here so that we could "turn it around", and that is what we are doing. i feel like i talk with maybe 200 people everyday, and invite them to hear more about the restored gospel. the truth is that about 20% listen, 10% care, and a little over one percent are probably ready to make the commitments necessary to receive all the blessings of the gospel right now. the mission counsel was AWESOME! president talked to us and gave us this incredible vision!! the goal for the mission is 2 people brought to enjoy the fruits of the gospel through baptism in the month of april... per companionship. we feel really good about this and are doing all that we can to realize this goal. that is why we talk with so many people everyday; because somewhere here in the favelas of rio are AT LEAST 2 people that the lord has prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. this is our faith: that the Lord will guide us to them, because He knows them. He knows our area, and He can do His work. WE, are merely tools in this great work.
hey, how about GC [general conference]!!! that was AWESOME TO THE MAX!!! i loved the talks, but especially the one from elder holland and elder bednar. e. holland is ALWAYS so powerful. do you remember the talk that he gave the last conf.? (you know how jay always does that finger-snap-thing?? we were all doing that during e. holland’s talk! it is missionary code for: "way-awesome super-gnarly dude!!"[we americans watched the conf. in our own room in english, so it was just us missionaries]) well, this talk was incredible too!! and that part where elder bednar talked about prayer and missionary work!!! ... whoa, we almost gave him a standing ovation!! really, i wanted to dance i was so excited!.. just kidding, but really... it is SO TRUE!!! missionaries on their own are NOTHING!!! there are two sides to every conversion- the spiritual and the social. missionaries are great with the spiritual side, but the social side, the social part of church- our power is limited. the MEMBERS ARE THE KEY!!! ask any missionary, you almost never baptize someone who doesn’t feel like they have a friend at church. [...] whew, sorry, i just get excited easy these days. that was in NO way a call to repentance, or intended to be preachy. you know,... i just love being a missionary and i get excited easy about the work.
well, I’ve got nothing to comment on of YOUR week, and my week was mostly hitting doors in the favelas near our house. coming to an area without ANY knowledge is tough. we walk around with maps and try to find people, but knocking doors is our primary skill until we get our feet on the ground. tomorrow we have zone conf. and we have to present some training. we are going to train the zones about "encontrar: o fruto baixo da pomar", - part member families and old investigators. we are also going to train about how to use the area book EVERYDAY; keeping it neat and including useful information on the records. we know a lot about the this last one, because lately- we have had to live out of that book. unfortunately, it wasn’t very well kept, so we are going to have to help other missionaries do a good job with theirs so this doesn’t happen again... it is going to be an AWESOME presentation. we have it planned out with ALL the bells and whistles included!
well, no pictures this week bc that dumb ol’ camera devours batteries and batteries are terrible and weak here. maybe for my b-day you could send rechargeables!?!
love my area and my comp- things are awesome because we are trusting EVERTHING to the Lord and obeying His commandments; this is the plan to receive the blessings that we need.
love elder helland
ps. write a letter anyway, it is probable that we will get permission to read letters tomorrow or thursday.
Mission Council
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