Elder Lofton Q Bean : "Mãos que Ajudam" Helping Hands Project

Boa tarde!!!! espero que tudo esteja bem com vocês!!! Estou muito bem e gostando muito do Gama!!!

This is seriously a blessed area, here in Gama!!! This week we had a blast and a ton of success. I’m feeling great and loving it here! We were able to mark a baptism date for Dino and his 21 yr. old brother Aldercino this week!!! YEAHHHHH. finally!! I’ve known Dino since February. The dude is solid now and is very firm that he wants to be baptized on the 22nd. I’m so excited and grateful that I’ll be able to be here for that. All the members of the church love Dino. This week I did an exchange with one of the District Leaders in our zone, Elder Winterbottom. It was a ton of fun and we had a great day. Marked the baptism date with Dino on that day. We have a lot of good missionaries in our zone. Will be doing another exchange with another companionship this week.

On Saturday we had the "Mãos que Ajudam". Helping hands project. It was a project planned by the area authorities. It lasted all day Saturday. Inside the church were a bunch of free offered services to help the community. It didn’t have as much people as expected (was planned on the same day as a national test to get into colleges in Brasil). But we had all the missionaries from the zone there working hard. We would go out and invite people off the streets to come as well as we had a room inside the church that had Mormon Messages playing on a tv with a bunch of pamphlets about our messages.

On Sunday I had a great little surprise. We were going to eat lunch at Maria Jovina´s. She lived in Itapoã while I was there and about a month before I left, she moved here to Gama! and on Sunday we were going to eat there. When we showed up, there was another member from Itapoã there who came to see me! It was awesome. It was so great to see them.

We are teaching a 19 yr old named Eduardo. He is really progressing and we are hopeful he will be baptized at the end of the month. Rogerio and Jhennifer are still doing good!! We are going to try to mark a baptism date with her this week. There are so many awesome families here in Gama that I have been so blessed to teach and know. It is such a blessing to just go out in the streets, and talk with people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and feel so much love for them. I have been so very humbled when entering the homes and teaching some people that live in very humble circumstances. It makes me grateful for all the things I have been blessed with, including the little things we take for granted. It is so difficult to explain in words, the feeling of love and joy in your heart when you enter the home of someone who has meager means, and they offer you everything they have. They show Christ like love and I have been so blessed to have known so many wonderful families throughout my mission like that. Those that have made a huge impact on my life and shown me what it means to truly have Charity. I find so much joy reading from the scriptures and teaching others about the truths of the Gospel. I know that what I represent is true! I am so grateful to be down here and I know the Lord is blessing all of you!! Stay true to the faith and never forget to pray! Communicate with your Heavenly Father through prayer. Pray morning and night. Pray when you feel the need to and pray when you don’t’ feel the need to. God is listening! That is a knowledge I have come to personally know for myself. He so loves us and is there to help us along the way. Se nós colocarmos nossa fé em Deus, nós cresceremos e tornarmo-nos mais como ele. Deus vive. Ele nos ama. Jesus Cristo é O Salvador do mundo! Ele sofreu pra nos. Ele nos ama e quer que tenhamos felicidade para sempre. Nós precisamos mostrar nosso gratidão por o sacrifício de Cristo por obedecer os mandamentos que Ele deixou. Se nós amarmos Jesus Cristo, nós guardaremos Seus mandamentos.

Fique firme! Ama seu próximo como a ti mesmo.

I love you,

Elder Bean

A fun moment of the week:

On Saturday for Elder Barusso´s birthday we went with a member (Sandra) to a nice grocery store where they make pizza. While we were waiting for pizza I went up to Antonio, a manager there. Me and him are good buddies and he wants to start hearing the lessons again. Taught him already back when I was with Elder Tippetts. He thinks I’m like so awesome for some reason ha :)

But I just put my arm around him and asked him for a big favor: announce happy birthday to elder Barusso over the intercom at the grocery store. haha.

So He does it!!! haha it was so awesome. Everyone in the grocery store (a big store) enjoyed it too!!! Was hilarious