LAST WEEK AT THE MTC!!

I'm sorry but I have to go right now--this will be short---I gave a Book of Mormon to a woman that works here and set up a time to meet with her. I took my friend, Elder Lucas Pinto Guerdes from the Rangers Soccer team and his companion Elder Guerdes and we met with two of the women working here and shared the first vision--the Spirit was there--I was able to understand about 80%---it was really good---the sisters wanted to know where they could go to church and promised to read 3 Nephi Capitulo onze!! Right now--our last p-day I'm going with my companion over to Mr. Cheney's to eat all of those cookies that you paid for me to get Mother---PARTY!!--Thanks a bunch--those cookies--are soooooo delicious. Sorry, I didn't have a chance to read anyone's e-mail yet but I will later on--don't worry. Our last visit to the MTC was fantastic. Proselyting--our first "official" proselyting was on Monday for about two and a half hours--the coolest part was after we walked up this super tall hill and I started walking really fast so that we could catch up to a young boy that was walking his dog--it looked like a black lab to me. His name was Leonardo and probably was only 9 or 10--about your age James! We talked to him about his life, his awesome dog--which indeed was a lab--and he had a super awesome name for it--but I don't remember what it was. Anyways--sorry this is bad English--going fast--we told him about the WARS in the BOM because as we all know little boys love war and being a hero and working hard, being tough, etc. We told him to take the book home and read it with his mother and we also gave him a pamphlet! I told him that I have five younger brothers and that we love to read the BOM every day and that I know that it can help him to learn about Jesus Christ and return to live with God. I have a lot of others stories---OH--especially when we meet William on the street AGAIN. Things don't happen by coincidence. Brothers!!---make sure you read the BOM every day so that what I told Leonardo can really be true!! Oh and we met a guy that didn't believe in Christ, God, nothing. Then when we asked him if we could give him a Bible or a Book of Mormon he said that he had already read it---HAH! Yea right. A lot of Brasilians here like to pull that card. I told him--Oh really! Okay, well then you already know that Jesus Christ visited the America's and we ended up sharing a message, bearing testimony and giving him a BOM anyways and he was reading it when we left so---we'll see. PLANT THE SEED! LOVE YOU ALL! I will try to send some letters by Mr. Cheney's--mother you can discontinue Mr. Cheney's now that I'm leaving---make sure you go online and discontinue--otherwise they will automatically charge you. Talk to you later. The church is true. Don't be afraid to listen to the Spirit--write the promptings down and then before you go to bed--look and see if you accomplished them all!! Today was the last time at the Sao Paulo temple---IT WAS AWESOME!! I learned a lot about the symbolism and had a great conversation with Heavenly Father in the Celestial Room. Remember Prayer is when you talk to God and his response is Revelation---we literally converse with God---keep praying and look at what is most important. Don't forget to have fun, smile and enjoy life--help others do more than just endure---be joyful!! Tchau familia!! Thanks for the love and letters---they strengthen me soo much. Love you all!

Life is AWESOME when you get to go outside and talk with people about the gospel. The feeling after giving a Book of Mormon away is unreal---you have all felt this feeling after sharing the gospel with someone. One of the most disheartening feelings as well is when you know that you didn't do your best--you didn't say what you felt you should say (aka: inspiration---revelation through the Holy Ghost). Pray with real intent--this is how we communicate with God and then he will converse back with you through an amazing member of the Godhead--the one that gives you your testimony as well as the knowledge you need---REVELATION! It is amazing to think that if someone were to see Christ and then deny him later Christ has great mercy on them is willing to forgive---IF THEY LITERALLY SEE CHRIST! BUT, if a person denies the clear, perfect knowledge that the Holy Ghost brings then they cannot receive forgiveness so easily. This does not mean that if you don't follow through with a prompting you are doomed--no---I encourage you to go and search to know why this is so--go and see, in the scriptures, what God says about the Holy Ghost. I know I have said this before in my life but many people seem to always say--I am so grateful for God, our Heavenly Father and His Marvelous Son, the Lamb, Jesus Christ---BUT---often times we forget the Holy Ghost. I love the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit, your best friend---along with Jesus Christ and God. A lot of people always say---oh missionaries always talk all preachy and spiritually but it's NOT TRUE---the rest of the world simple speaks--DULLY, CARNALLY AND TEMPORALLY. You can have spiritual experiences that are meaningful to you when you open your mouth---that is all that is required--open your mouth. I'm so grateful that my mother opens her mouth. Every day she tells us of some experience she had speaking with a mother on a baseball team of Luke's, or telling us that she loves and cares about us, or telling us of an experience she had with the Spirit at the grocery store. My mother is humble and knows that she loved because she loves others immensely. I remember as a kid when I was sick or being rude to brothers or having problems with practicing the piano or whatever it was mother knew what to say! Thank you mother for your conviction most of ALL. Every times I get a doubt in my head that says--oh just end the conversation with this person right now--you don't need to talk about the gospel now or every time that even another missionary (maybe even your companion) says--hey let's go I am grateful to have the opportunity to develop the same kind of conviction to say--hold on a second--we need to talk with this personal about the gospel--share something, bear a testimony and ask for an address and/or give a Book of Mormon and then we can leave. Thank you mother for your conviction--your example--waking up and studying the gospel, praying with real intent--you always receive answers to your prayers. Thanks for teaching me, Amber, Nathan, Spencer, Rachel, James, Luke and Hyrum! We love you and I know that I want more than anything to live with all of you in the Celestial Kingdom and go to the CELESTIAL Bear Lake, CELESTIAL Lake Powell, CELESTIAL church, etc. We need to always share the great message of the gospel with others and never miss an opportunity to open our mouths and just as someone. Every member is a missionary right??--YES! So, there is nothing wrong with standing next to a person in the bread aisle of a grocery store for a few seconds and saying--hello! How are you? Do you live around here? Oh, I love this kind of bread! I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I love the gospel and just have to ask--are you a member of the church? If they say yes then say---AWESOME! If they say no--then say---really---why not???---Let me share with you why I like the gospel--share a simple example and promise them that there life can be happier and have direction through the gospel and then get their address: Phone number and physical address so that the MISSIONARIES can meet with them. Elder Larsen and I had a great experience giving out a BOM today---p-day and Elder R.M. Acosta of the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke and I wish I could share more but my 30 minutes is over. I love missionary work--nothing more rewarding or exciting--the days in the MTC are sometimes long and a bit discouraging but every time you get to forget it all and go out on the street and share what you've been learning---it makes you LOVE THE DAYS IN THE MTC. I love you all---thanks for the prayers. Tell the Ward hello and the family.

CTM and talking to people about the gospel right next to the CTM!

First of all----WAY TO GO!!---on the hunt! When I first opened the e-mail I was like--I hate you Nathan--but in a joking way--ya know. That is seriously awesome--did Spencer go with you guys. Both of those put my tiny two point to shame. Did you have just the two tags--right? I usually take pictures of the e-mails and then read them later but Mother has been very good at sending hard copies of a lot of things too and I just barely got those at the Mission Ties office but haven't read the hard copy or the e-mails yet. So are you making jerky, steaks--ah well you proly already told me that in your e-mails. THAT IS SO AWESOME! I'm really glad to be here in Brasil but that is something that I wish I could have seen--SAVE THE ANTLERS! Dad's deer was bigger right?

 

Mother: I'm sorry I didn't respond to your questions very well. I only get mission tie letters every Wednesday but in the past even when you've sent things through mission ties on a Monday I've gotten them by Wednesday so it is super quick. I did also get your letter with all of the envelopes, Amber's AWESOME, hilarious letter full of quarters and advice from her and Sister Folsom and also the great paper about being a consecrated missionary--thanks Amber. Amber's letter went from Poland to USA to Brasil though so that is proly why I got it a month later then when Amber wrote it. Rishi has sent me a few letters though and they have gotten here in only 3-4 days sometimes so I'm not sure--maybe just the luck of the week or if you send it on a Monday or a weekend.

 

Today is week six and so it is now technically legal to try and talk to people about the gospel on the streets. Almost everyone that walks, has a store, or lives within a mile or two radius of the CTM already knows to just drop their head and keeps walking when two white Americans try to say: Good Afternoon. We failed for like 45 minutes going around saying hi to people, being friendly, and trying to understand what they were saying but did not give out any words of wisdom or talk about the gospel. Pray for me to be better at street contacts, sitting down at the Federal Police Station or in the lunchroom with nonmember workers is so much easier, and it's quite--easy to understand what they're saying. Please pray for me to be more bold and to have the gift of tongues--to be able to understand the people--especially on the street. I am now praying daily for the people that live around the MTC to not think that we are a bunch of tourists or here to play games. We're here to share the gospel and even though they've seen missionaries almost every day for 20 to 30 years they need to rethink things and be willing to listen. I know I can't get frusterated BUT--we were outside walking around the MTC for an hour and only gave out one pamphlet to a man named Oswaldo--he wouldn't let us take his address but he did tell us a few jokes--that we couldn't really understand--we just laughed anyways--hah--hopefully they were clean, missionary appropriate jokes--HAH. There were a couple times were I felt that I should just ask someone if they knew about the gospel but then someone else would walk by or someone would say something that I didn't understand and so I would just say hello and keep walking---LAME---I feel that I've been really confident so far--but I failed a few times this afternoon. It will definitely be great when I can have a Brasilian companion that knows how to do the small, QUICK, talk on the street a little bit better than I do--but that doesn't mean that I can't be good enough to do it now--gotta get better.

 

This week Elder Larsen and I have been teaching some great lessons to our CTM investigators Ana and William--our Portuguese seems to be great with the basic gospel terms, asking for commitments, etc. but we definitely need more street Portuguese. Keep praying for me to be more bold and be able to open my mouth, especially with those around the CTM.

 

Michael Morris from the SVU b-ball team is here.

 The temple was good again this morning. We over over half way! then to Teresina!

 

Love you all and thanks for all the great letters and prayers--tell the family hello.

 

I hope the cruise went well--I CAN'T BELIEVE OCTOBER IS OVER---have a fun Halloween.

Love you all.

 

--Elder Allen (Thanks Amber for the e-mail--I am going to read it now!)