Elder Lofton Q Bean : Speaking to Government Officials

Bom Dia,

Ehhhh I just got done readin all the emails from yall!! Thanks a ton! Yall sound great :)) Eu tenho muito saudades de vocês!! Serio!! Miss yall a ton!

This week we worked our butts off. Did contacts in the streets like crazy to find more people that would be interested in hearing our message that we bring!!!

I taught Marcelo this week, an investigator of Elder Sowards and Farias. It was awesome. We taught him about Christ, and the ministry of Christ while he was here on the earth. And that if we have Faith, Repent, are baptised, and endure to the end, we can have eternal life with our Heavenly Father. And that Christ is with us every step of the way. "His yoke is easy, and His burden is light." The scripture is somewhere in Matthew I believe. Marcelo is a champ, but his mom isn’t really too happy about him being interested in hearing our messages. But his mom owns a little bakery, so we "softened her up a bit" by buying some stuff and being friendly and showing who we are!

But the lesson with Marcelo was super spiritual, I just felt like I knew exactly what he needed to hear. He said the prayer at the end. Wow, one of the awesomest prayers I’ve heard an investigator say. Truly from the heart. He just bore his soul to God, and then asked that Heavenly Father would help and bless his mom, that she would have a change of heart if he chose to be baptised. The Spirit was on fire, and after the prayer I just looked at him and had to say it in English, "Dude, your a freakin champ!!!" haha. It was awesome! I then I tried to translate it for him to Portugues.

On Tuesday this week, we met up at the church with the other 4 missionaries here in Gama to talk with a lady whose calling in the stake, is in charge of public relations. So at the church, every Tuesday and Thursday during the day for the past two months they have been having some government meetings there. The church offered the building for them to use since it is way nice and huge! So us missionaries have been helping them out by opening and locking the church and doing contacts. Good missionary opportunities. So last Tuesday was the last meeting so we went to grab pictures with the people and the lady from the stake had to speak. But she asked me if I could speak after her. I agreed, but not gonna lie I was so stinkin nervous. There were over a hundred people but it was different then speakin in church. These people are government people and some I recognized from seeing on the news. My job was to introduce myself and tell them what we do as missionaries and what is our purpose. Then invite people to our free English class we have and try to sell them on how awesome it is. ha. My heart beating so fast, I didn’t want to mess up cause of Portugues and so I just started praying like crazy. By the time she handed me the mike, there was this perfect sense of peace and I just felt like I was myself talkin english. It was awesome. I said a lot of funny stuff to start off get the people relaxed and it worked. haha. I introduced myself and told everyone I was from Texas, the best state in the US. I then told them about why we choose to come on missions, and what our purpose is while we are here. That we are willing to give up everything that is going on back home in our life, to go to a foreign country to help and serve others. I bore my testimony to them and explained more about the work we do here. Then told them about the English class that we have, taught by 4 Americans. I promised them, that even though my Portugues was a little rough, I could speak English perfectly. Afterwards, a lady came up saying she had a daughter living in Texas with her family. And that a lot of people said they respect what we do and would come to the English class the next day. It was perfect! It grew my testimony that God does hear our prayers, no matter how simple or extravagant. And that I have really grown a lot in the language and I love public speaking!!! hahaha We had a huge turnout to our English class the next day by the way :) yahhhh.

Other then that, the week went by really well. Taught and taught a bunch of lessons to a bunch of people. I am so grateful to be here and to be serving the Lord! It's incredible!! The work is true!!

Eu amo vocês demais!!!!!!! sou muito grato por tudo que vocês fazem para mim! Eu agradeço Deus todo dia por vocês.

I miss yall a ton!!! and hope this week is awesome for yall and Aspen kicks butt in cheer tryouts!!!! yeahhhhhhhh

Love,

Elder Bean

Gotta go :(

I hope yall have a great week!! make it the best one you’ve had!!

I miss yall a ton, but want yall to know that I am working hard and doing my best that I can to serve the Lord to the best of my ability for these two years.

It’s not easy, by far, but it is worth it!! I’ve given up so much by being here. Missing out on all the things that yall do and the memories that come with it. But Heavenly Father knows it’s a sacrifice and I have felt the blessings come into my life from it and have heard that yall are seeing them too, this brings so much joy to me!

I know this church is true!! I cannot deny it! I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. That through the Book of Mormon, and the Bible, we can look to the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who not only told us and said what we needed to do to return and live with Him, but SHOWED us how we could!! That is the miracle.

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is mindful of each and every one of us. That, if we have faith, we can see His hand working miracles in our Life. People say "miracles have ceased in these days". They have always existed around us, we just have to be willing to see them and have a humble heart. Through our Faith, through our obedience, The Lord will guide us and show us the path that literally leads back to eternal existence with Them and our Families one day!

I love each and every one of you! More than you can imagine! I want others to have this happiness that seems to fill my soul everyday. That I feel like I might burst. I want others to know that God lives!!!! That He literally IS our Father in Heaven!! We need to humble ourselves and be as little children, and hearken until the Shepherd is calling our name. We will all be joined together. For there is one Shepherd. (John 10:16, 3 Nephi 15:21)

I am so grateful for my testimony that I have of this Restored Gospel! I know that it was indeed restored on Earth. That God indeed did call a prophet in Joseph Smith. A young boy, whose faith, opened the windows of Heaven. He had a simple question. He had a simple but humble question, and through his faith, God and our Savior Jesus Christ showed until him the answers that he sought.

I know this Church is true. It is God´s kingdom on the Earth.

I know these things to be true, for the Spirit testifies to me that they are!!

I say these things. In the name of our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.