General Conference!!! It was Legit!!

The week was awesome!! General Conference this weekend was definitely on point!! It was legit!!!  It is like a completely different experience now for me, than it was before the mission. I caught myself many times thinking, how could I apply this to the people I am teaching. It was awesome to receive that spiritual training and now applying it to our lives.  We were a little disappointed because we had invited so many investigators to go and many said they would, but only 1 showed up on both the days. We watched it in Paranoá, the church where we do baptisms.  The broadcast was in Portugues but a few of us Americans were able to use the secretary’s office in the church to watch it in English on the computer. Even though I understand it all in Portugues, it is definitely so much better in English and hearing their voices.  The internet crashed for us during the ending of the last session before Bednar´s and President Monson´s talk. My companion told me how good it was since the Portuguese satellite broadcast hadn’t crashed so we rushed over to a member’s house afterwards so I could watch it. All of conference was inspiring and gave me a spiritual boost. Really strengthened my testimony.

This week we found an amazing family! We were "clapping at gates" to find more people to teach and share a message with and we found a lady named Iracema and her family! She is inactive but loves the church. She was baptized in Gama (my last area) about 7 years ago. Her family members are still active in the church in Gama, and her family there are some of my favorite people that I knew in Gama!! It was such a coincidence. But Iracema is awesome. She had moved to Itapoã about 3 years ago, and lost contact with the church. All of her friends are Evangelicals so she just started going there. But she still believes the church is true and she said how much she misses participating in the Relief Society!! We broke the ice really fast with her family and already bonded. When we left, I passed the address to our Bishop so he could visit her sometime. I got a call later that night from Bishop Paulo telling me that he went there and how it went! Our Bishop is awesome! It really showed me how much he wants to help us and values us. When I got here in Itapoã he was the ward mission leader and 1st counselor in the bishopric, and just two weeks ago was called as the new Bishop. Having members and ward leaders active in missionary work is what truly makes the work move forward! It is essential! Without it, it is hard to retain new converts and have much success in an area. 

We had a lot of good and disappointing experiences with those we are teaching. Many are progressing and wanting to know the truth and some of them aren’t wanting to continue. We have to respect people´s agency but its hard creating a bond with these people and seeing them for who they truly are and knowing how much this could bless their life, and them not seeing that. But by at least planting that seed, maybe in the future they will be ready and it will be the right time to make a change in their life. 

This past weekend watching conference really strengthened my faith and testimony of this Restored Gospel and gave me a spiritual boost for the next 6 months until next conference. Truly is such a blessing being able to hear such inspired messages and us having the opportunity and Responsibility to listen and then apply it! 

love yall!!! have a great week!!

Elder Bean I

Elder Bednar in the Sunday afternoon session (at the 1:33 mark) addresses people who are not members of our church and answers the questions, why we like to share our beliefs and why we believe in missionary work.
Sunday afternoon session of General Conference

All the General Conference sessions.

Watching  General Conference in the secretary's office