Campos - Week Eighteen

Well, this week went by all right. We didn't have a baptism, and Luiz decided that he doesn't want to follow the law of chastity, and so he doesn't want to go to church anymore. I was really sad about that, especially because he has a testimony about the Book of Mormon, he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he just doesn't want to  follow right now. It's sad, but what more can we do?

So this week went by pretty fast. We found a lot of new investigators, but not all of them want to progress. We had to knock a lot of doors this week too, which isn't really fun. We also haven't been able to teach our investigators more than once either, which is annoying. We don't have any credits on our cell phone, so when our appointments fall through, it's hard to get in contact with them again.

We have some cool investigators that we're teaching though. We are teaching a kid that reminds me of Drew. His name is Bruno, he's 16, and is a DJ. haha. He's really sincere, and wants to know more about our message. He said that he prayed out of curiosity, but that he hasn't gotten an answer yet. But he's a great investigator, and wants to know. His biggest problem is going to be Sunday, keeping the Sabbath, but we'll work on that. We're going to teach him tonight and see if he read the Book of Mormon.

We also started teaching a woman named Marlene, who is trying to stop smoking. The very first time that we taught her we taught the Word of Wisdom. She has been progressing a lot with this, but she doesn't understand very well the restoration, so I don't know how much more she is going to progress. It's basically been a miracle to see just how much her desire to stop smoking changed after we gave her a blessing. So cool. Just the little things like that are really cool to see.

We haven't been able to teach those other investigators that I told you about last week.

Anyway, we haven't been having much success this week, but we are going to work really hard this week and see if we can mark some more baptism dates.

So that's about it for this week. Love you all. Way to be a soccer star Darcy. Way to be the spiritual leader in seminary Drew. One thing that I just love is my personal study time. When your study is really good, it's just a great way to start the day.

If the kids are having a laziness problem, D&C 88:124 is a great scripture for that. haha. =)

And yeah, things can only get better. When we try to make things better and try harder, we'll get there.

That's about it. Love you all. Have a good week at school. =)

Campos - Week Seventeen

 Me with one of the kids in the ward (dressed like a funkeiro. Funk is a really annoying kind of music here close to Rio that is basically all swearwords, but it was funny when he came out dressed like that). I really like that family.

 Me and Elder Lefoll at integration night

Well I guess we should be happy that the GTO is gone with Drew driving, because he would wreck that thing in like 10 minutes of driving. xD

Anyway, this week was really hard for me. Yes, I'm with the same companion for one more transfer. I'm not the district leader anymore, (apparently after 3 transfers as the DL they decided it was time for a change) So yeah.

This week we made little progress. I wasn't feeling like we were doing well. We sure as heck were trying our best, and I think that's what mattered. We worked hard all week, but no one was ever home. It was like all of our appointments fell, and everyone we planned to visit wasn't there, or didn't want to talk to us. So we walked a lot and taught little. We found a few good investigators however, which we think should progress. I've definitely started praying a lot more this week. It was just really hard and frustrating all week long. But Sunday turned around a little bit, and I was really glad about that. We had our investigator, Luiz, at church again on Sunday. He started to say this week that he wants to stay in this church and be a part of it. He is still having problems with the Word of Wisdom, but we are hoping that he'll overcome. His baptism is marked for this Sunday, but he isn't super firm yet. Yikes. 

Anyway, that family of all women. We taught them once this week. =( They are really busy people. So we taught them an awesome lesson, and we challenged them to baptism. Ana Paula, (the main investigator there) and her friend Fernanda, both accepted to be baptized, but they didn't want to mark a baptism date. Lame. So we are going back today to try again. 

We have two other young women who are progressing, Pricila wasn't able to go to church this week, but she has been reading the Book of Mormon, and has been liking it a lot, and she promised to go to church this week. We are going to try and mark a baptism date with her this week.  The other, Stefany, I don't remember if I talked about her already, she is the one that taught US the restoration. Anyway, she went to the ward activity this week, and she liked it a lot and wants to come back, so we are going to teach her again today and mark a baptism date with her today too. She made friends really easily with the young women in the ward, which was awesome. So we'll see how it goes. 

I'm looking forward to teaching a lot of these people, I just hope that this week goes better. Sunday was really rewarding for me this week. After a long week of hard work with little success, the Spirit that I felt at just was really comforting and like an answer to all the prayers I said this week. We taught Luiz right after church, and left him there to pray, by himself, and ask if this was the true church. When he left the room, he almost had tears in his eyes, and he said he felt a great peace, but didn't really recognize it as an answer. We'll work on that today. He's got an answer, he just needs to see it. 

That's about it for today. Man, school already? Crazy. 

Anyway, the difference is Drew, I was just about 18 when I got my licence so I didn't have to follow that stupid rule for very long. And, go read the Articles of Faith. We believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the  law. So just do it. =) I'm diggin those Macbeths and the Macbeth socks, btw. 

Thanks for everything mom. Love you all. Have a great week.

Campos - Week Sixteen

So, I DIDNT get transferred, I'm staying here in campos for 6 more weeks. Not gonna lie I was a little bit disappointed, but I'm over it already. By the end of this new transfer I will have served 6 months in just this area. That's a lot of time. But if it's what the Lord wants, then who am I to complain. I have adopted the policy of "I'll go where you want me to go" here on the mission. If I'm in this area, it's because He wants me here, so I just need to do my best.

Well, I feel like I've needed to change my habits a bit here on the mission. I have been studying the Bible a lot, especially the New Testament, and have been using this to teach our investigators. I feel like my knowledge of the New Testament has grown so much this past transfer,  but I have been using the Book of Mormon less, which is a huge mistake. The Book of Mormon is key for our investigators to gain a testimony. And I haven't been using it. I've made a lot of personal goals here also this week. One thing that I have learned teaching people and being on the mission is that goals are key for success. If you want to change something, set goals. That's something that I have learned. Just saying "I'd like to do blahblahblah" doesn't get you anywhere. A plan of action is also required. This transfer is going to be awesome. I've made a goal to baptize 10 people this transfer, and I'll have to work hard and trust in the Lord's help to get it. I know that I'm not the greatest missionary, but I know that if I work the way that He wants me to work I can do it.

This week we continued teaching an awesome family. There's about 9 people there, all are women. For some reason I think women are more willing to accept the gospel. Anyway, they are super awesome. Some of them have gone to church before, and they really want to know if our message is true or not. So we're working a lot there.

We have been finding a lot of people this week, we'll see if they progress or not. I was really happy to see some of our investigators in church this Sunday. Luiz, who we have been teaching for some time, went to church, and he really liked it. He is really making progress with his problems, and I am praying that he will be ready for baptism on the 26th.

We have another investigator Pricilia, who came to church Sunday as well. She is the cousin of a recent convert, and she was really excited to come to church (she was mad that she got there late because of her cousin) and she really liked it. I hope she just opens up her time to read the Book of Mormon more.

The ward here is starting to make more progress. Because of a lack of coordination, not much has been getting done in terms of missionary work, but this week looks to be promising.

That's about it for my week. I'm trying to do so much better. I've been seeing that there is tons of room for improvement. There are so many people that I can be helping, and I know that if I try harder, the Lord will bless me. Diligence and hard work is the key to success.

Happy birthday Zack! I hope you have a great birthday this week and that you keep doing well at college. Hurry up and get married man! Or you could wait a while until I get home. That would be cool too. =)

Like Nate said in his letter, the Olympics are just instant trunkiness for us Americans here. Stoked that we beat the Chinese.

Thanks for everything mom. Love ya.
Keep up the good work fam. You guys are awesome.