Como vocês estão?? Espero que tudo estejam bem com
vocês!!
Except for Brasil getting destroyed by Germany and
losing to the Netherlands, This week was awesome!! We found a bunch of new
people and had some great experiences!!
First: Futebol. So talk about shocked! When
Brasil got destroyed 7-1 against Alemanha (germany) and it was already 5-0 with
30 minutes into the game. It was crazy. I got a call from the Zone Leaders
after the 5th goal, that President was sending everyone back to the apartments
before it got super crazy in the streets. Without going into a lot of detail,
It got pretty crazy for sure!! ha. But there is a bar across the street from
our apartment that had the game on a big screen and we could see it and hear it
all from our window. I think after the 7th goal, people weren’t that ticked at
Germany, but more just at Brasil, like what just happened? The game
against Holanda (netherlands) I think most people just expected them to lose
after the loss to Alemanha. But it was hard to see them lose like that.
We watched the Final because every house here had it on. Argentina played
solid but Alemanha was the best team overall. They are solid and have a lot of
chemistry. They have been playing together forever, and when Brasil played
them, we were without Neymar and Thiago Silva, two of our best players.
But now the days are going to be going back to normal. I’m gonna miss the World
Cup atmosphere! it was an awesome experience. I’m not gonna lie, I watched a
lot of soccer just cause every house has it turned on. all the games!
But in other news, we have still been visiting with
Raimundo and Ivaneide!! They are doing awesome. Really progressing. I enjoy
hearing Raimundo´s testimony after each lesson so much! super powerful!! He and
Ivaneide are planning on getting legally married soon, and then after she will
get baptised!!! Raimundo gave us a reference to visit his mom, and all of
his family! He showed us where the house was, but didn’t want us to tell
his family that he had sent us! He felt that they wouldn’t be as willing to let
us in the house if they knew he had sent us. (already tried before) had
to be a surprise! haha it was funny. So on Tuesday at like 8 at night. We clap
at their gate! and Patricia (his older sister) comes out and is like who is
it!?? So I pulled out my acting skills and was like Sorry, we have been
knocking on doors on this street, and are really thirsty and could use a cup of
water! it Worked!!!! haha Then she brought water to us and was
super nice. I then continued to act like I didn’t know anything about their
family. She mentioned to me how her brother was a member of the church and his
name was Raimundo! So I kept it going and was like, "raimundo,
raimundo... who is raimundo?" Then she described him and I was like
"Raimundo, like Ivaneide´s Raimundo?" She was like yeah yeah yeah all
excited! So then I was like No way we know your brother!!! haha we saw
him at church and he seemed like a cool guy. (we have really been visiting them
for a few weeks ha) what are the odds that out of all the doors we knock on, we
find someone whose family member is a member of our church!! she was like,
"I know right!! It must be of God! only God knows" haha I just
smiled and said, yep thats right!! So she let us in to share a message
with them! had 6 more family members inside!! And they are all ages 20-50, so
in the beginning of my mission when I couldn’t speak that great, I would be
intimidated but now it was like, Lets do this!!! I was pumped! We had
such a spiritual lesson, one of the most spiritual lessons that I have taught
on my mission about the Restoration. It was definitely an example of
"Teach people, not lessons". At then end we taught about the Book of
Mormon! They were all clinging onto our words like it was gold! We taught Maria
(raimundos mom), Jenni, Marta, Marcelo, Patricia, and Gabriela! They all
fell in love with us and treated us like family from the start!! We left,
full of the Spirit and on cloud 9!! (we never told them that Raimundo had set
us up to meet with them!) haha. We ended up markin another day to vist, and
returned later in the week with Raimundo!! He was awesome and totally
helped them to continue to believe he hadn’t sent us! His whole family loves
him and so when Raimundo bore testimony during the lesson it was perfect!
Really powerful! Raimundo is such a stud, super funny and just jokes around
with everyone. We brought 5 more Book of Mormons to give to everyone
there!! They had bought cake and soda for us, so after the lesson they suprised
us with some food!! That’s always a bonus!! They are an awesome family!!!
We also found a new investigator named Maria (another
maria). It was cool how we found her. We were on our way to eat lunch at a
members house. I'm new here in the area, so I’m still learning who is who and
where people live. So we show up to the house, thinking we are at the house
where we will eat lunch with Junior and Patricia. We clap, and some sweet lady
answers the door, I was like "ehhh Irmã!!!" She just looked at us and
said "Diga". (speak, what do you want). I was confused and was like,
wait we aren’t eating here with you? then she got confused! haha it was funny.
We ended up realizing we had knocked on the wrong house, that it was her
neighbor who we were suppose to eat with. so after we apologized and laughed it
off, I took advantage of the opportunity and told her why we were here on a
mission, and we had a message that we know to be true that we would like to
share with her and her family. We asked if we could come back after lunch that
day. She was like "No, but come tomorrow at 4!" I was taken by surprise.
I cant recall another time in my mission, when I made a contact with someone
and asked if we could visit and they marked a date and time!! Usually people
are, no im super busy. Then we try to talk them into letting us come by later
in the week and sometimes they accept! But Maria, was just like demanding us to
come back tomorrow at 4! it was awesome!!
We end up going there and we show up right at four.
She is already waiting for us!!! (alot of times people forget or don’t remember
the time). We talked with her and got to know her. She is super cool!! She has
two kids who are in their late teens and early twenties. She told us how she
feels like God sent us there for a reason, That we just didn’t knock on the
wrong door for no reason! I was thinking, Nosso Senhora she is soo
Elect!!!!!!! haha. She told us how she had been a practicing Catholic,
going every Sunday for 15 years. And then about 3 months ago, she just felt
like something was missing and stopped going. Her pastors and people from her
church have been continually going to her house, trying to convince her to go
back. But she said she felt like something was missing! Then we show up!!
We taught her about Christ and when he was here on the Earth and His earthly
ministry, then we taught about Joseph Smith and how he wanted to truly know
which of all the churches was the Church that Christ had established on the
Earth. All that we were saying made sense! I then asked her, God loves
all of his children, if he had people here in the Americas, would he give them
prophets just as he did for the people in Jerusalem? she was like, Yeah without
a doubt! Com certeza!! Then I asked, do you think they would write down
experiences and things they taught so we could read them someday? She continued
to agree! Then we showed her the Book of Mormon and taught her about why we use
both the Bible and Book of Mormon! It all just made sense to her. it just
clicked. She then said she would read and pray about it. We asked her if
she received an answer that it was true if she would be baptised. She was like
Of course, why wouldn’t I? haha I had never seen an answer like that from
someone!! it was super awesome!! She then said she would talk to her neighbor
to get a ride to church with them! On Saturday night I called Patricia
(maria´s neighbor) to see if she could give Maria a ride. Patricia told me how
Maria had already been to her house to ask if she could go with them! I was so
happy, nosso senhora Maria is legit!!! She went to church yesterday and
loved it!! We will see how this week goes. We are also teaching Leila and
Ibraim. Leila was baptised about 6 months ago and is super awesome, and Ibraim
is such a cool guy, but is addicted to smoking a drinking. So we made some
goals with him to gradually go from smoking a carton of cigars a day to only 3
a week and continue to do it less and less until he stops! He is a really good
guy, and they have 2 little kids. When we taught about Families being sealed
together forever, that gave him the most desire to change his lifestyle and
work towards that!!
We have several other people we are teaching and they
are all doing good and progressing! Hopefully Augosto will be baptised on the
26th of July. He is doing good!
Being a missionary is such an incredible experience!
Everday has something that happens, that you dont want to ever forget! It is such
a blessing being a representative of Christ and talking with everyone about the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching such amazing families and people!! Helping
people to change for the better, to come unto Christ and see how much God
blesses them! it is incredible!! Seeing the changes in people. I am so grateful
for what I have been learning here! How to put my needs aside to focus on
others, and to feel such a desire to help them and having such a great love for
them! It’s crazy thinking I only have 1 more year to do this! I love my Savior
and all He has done for me, and for all of us!
I love yall!!! have a great week!! Espero que vocês
tenham uma ótima semana!!!
Te amo,
Elder Bean
