Weeks 2/22, 2/29, 3/14, 3/21
2/22 New Companion!
Hey everyone,
So I got my new comp! His name is Elder Justin Viehweg. He is from Idaho, he likes dirtbikes, and he loves his country! Ill share some pics later to help you understand what I mean. Anyway this last week has been really good. We have some pretty high goals this transfer so we both have been working really hard. We have been contacting everyone we see and so far have 3 new investigators! They are all from Cape Verde. The people there are honestly so nice and so accepting. I love them! Its been fun to show Elder Viewheg around because apparently our area has been titled the scariest part of the Lisbon Portugal Mission. I havent seen anything too crazy yet but he doesn't know that. haha So everyone we would see I would tell him to walk the other way and don't look people in the eye or else they will mug us! haha He totally believed it too. It was fun for awhile but he knows now. I still thinks hes a little uneasy. Things are going really well here. We have a lot of people with potential. We just need to work really hard these next weeks to keep it that way. The language is hard but I'm starting to understand a little more. It used to sound like just noise but now I can actually pick out words haha. Anyways thats about it for me this week. I love you all and thanks for all the emails and support. Have a good week!
Elder Thomas
2/29 Starting to Have More Success!
Tudo bem..?
This week has been pretty awesome but because there's so much that happened and I only have a few minutes to write, I will just give you a rundown. SO to start off...we marked 3 people to be baptized this week. We have been finding a lot more investigators and teaching a lot more lessons lately! We have been working hard at "on road contacts" and its been paying off finally! We also started teaching Anicy again who was a girl we stopped teaching a while ago but now she has a lot more interest so we're working with her and will hopefully baptize her within these next few weeks. Something crazy happened this week but it's top secret! I'll have to tell you all in a couple of years! Remind me. Anyway just wanted to say how good God is. Night after night our prayers have been focused on having more success in this area and we know that God has heard them. One thing I've learned out here is that God truly does care and wants to give us what we ask for. We just need to do our part and sincerely ask for them having faith that we will be given them. I'm happy to be on this mission and it has honestly brought me closer to the knowlege of how great our father in heaven is and how much he really does love and care about each one of us. I hope you all have a great week this week,
Much love,
Elder Thomas
3/14 Five Month Mark!
Hey everyone,
Well apparently it's my 5 month mark. This week has been a little crazy! There's so many things that happened but it's so hard to write them all so I'm just gonna give a short little spill. So we let go of a lot more people this week because one thing we started noticing out here is that people lie and lead you on. They are really nice but they say things to make you happy. So that's been a little rough but we haven't let it get to us and have been working harder than ever because the transfer has a few weeks left and we really want to reach our goal. So from working hard we have 10 new investigators. Five of them are Gypsies who are a little sketchy but they have been doing everything like going to church and reading the BOM. We also have a girl named Margita marked for baptism on the 27th. She believes everything about our church exept that she needs to be baptized again so we have been working with her and she's starting to understand that without the proper authority, a baptism will not count in the eyes of God. This is why we have the restoration. We have also been helping a couple of inactive families come back to church and they are coming now!
Love you all and hope you all have a great week. FORÇA.
Com Amor,
Elder Thomas
3/21 Miracle/Baptism!
So to start....this week was a week of miracles! This was a week I won't forget!
As many of you know, the last few weeks have been a little rough. Success one day would be lost the next. We were getting discouraged. We tried not to let it effect our work though. Day after day we worked really hard but nothing was happening! When we finally felt like giving up, a miracle happened! Let me just say, that God wants you to push until the very end or until the last minute, and if you do, you will honestly see miracles! I feel like he does this so we know the blessing came from exercising faith in him. It's a trial of faith and if we don't give up, he lets us know he's there, and that he's in charge.
So here's the story. Last week we were waiting for some people at the bottom of a predio and a car passed by and suddenly slammed on it's brakes. The lady who was driving got out of the car and came over to us and said, "are you guys mormons?, because I've been looking for you and want to learn more about your church." We were in shock. So we talked to her and then she invited us to come back and teach her. She seriously accepted everything we taught her. We taught her a few lessons and then she even accepted to be baptized next week on the 27th. We knew because it was a little ways away not to get our hopes up. Then yesterday as we were filling up the font and getting things ready for another baptism but soon after the elders told us that their investigator bailed and that the baptism wasn't going to happen. We felt a little down and didn't know what to do because we had everything already set up. We were then inspired to call the girl we were teaching (Helena) and ask her if she felt ready to be baptized today. We expected her to say she needed a little more time but instead she went silent, laughed a little and then said to our surprise, "Elders, I'm ready right now." "I'm ready to be baptized."
Well, after one hour of planning and me having to prepare a talk and tons of other things, Helena Suate entered into the waters of baptism at 4:25 and was cleaned from her past sins and mistakes and took upon her the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. The look on this woman's face is something I'll never forget. She said, "Elders, my soul is filled with joy and I feel clean from my past." "I know this is the right path." Then she said, "I'm 53 and yet I feel as clean as a baby!" haha It's hard to explain in just writing it but it was seriously a miracle when you know everything that happened!
This was also the first baptism my companion has had in over 4 transfers. He was crying after. We have realized and it was made known unto us that we really are nothing in this work. We do NOTHING. Everything is done by the Lord and he has been forever merciful to us. He has blessed us without restraint and we have been filled with joy! We are in his hands. This is not everything but this was the highlight of my week! God is real and he loves every one of us! I hope you all have a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Thomas
I just have to add my testimony to this because this has happened in my life many times through challenging experiences. There is a talk or audiobook called The Fourth Watch that I love. It explains how the disciples of Jesus had rowed against a fierce wind on the Sea of Galilee all through the night before Jesus finally came to their aid. He did not come until the "fourth watch," meaning near dawn. My testimony is that sometimes the Lord answers our prayers on his timetable and sometimes it's not until we have reached our extremity. In doing this it increases our faith and patience. We should never assume that he doesn't hear our prayers or that he doesn't care. He often works with us this way. His tender mercies and miracles do come if we press on with faith and patience!
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