Elder Lofton Q Bean : Visiting Padre Bernardo and Brazlândia

This transfer, President is doing interviews in each zone of the mission, so Elder Duarte and I have been going with him. It has been good to see how all the missionaries are doing and while president interviews individually, we have been talking with each district to see what their needs are and helping them with things going on in their areas. On Tuesday night, we headed up to Brazlândia to stay the night with the zone leaders because on Wednesday morning we headed off to Padre Bernardo (a new area that just opened up). Padre Bernardo is about 3 hours by bus from Brasilia and Brazlandia is the halfway point. We went on a charter bus, which was a lot better and comfortable. We got to Padre Bernardo just in time for their district meeting and we participated with them. The four missionaries there are all studs!! Elder Kesler, Ribeiro, Clark, and Nascimento. In Padre Bernardo there are only 6 members of the church - a family of four and another couple. We got to meet the family of four since the district meeting and lunch was at their home. (their home is like a second home to the missionaries). Isaac and Rebeca (14 and 10 years old) are awesome kids and have a really special spirit about them. After lunch, we split into four companionships and we went to work! I worked with Elder Clark and it was a blast!! We invited several people to be baptized and taught some of their great investigators who are progressing to being baptized next week. The Spirit in Padre Bernardo is incredible. It is a small town and the word and gossip has spread about the Four Mormon missionaries walking around the town. People are really interested and their hearts are opening up. While we were walking, this middle age woman stopped us in the street and asked us out of curiosity what we were doing and who we are. (I’m sure two big blonde white guys stick out) We introduced ourselves and we sat on a bench on the side of the road and explained to her about our church and taught her the gospel. She told us how a few weeks ago while at her church, she felt God telling her that the church where she was at wasn’t where she needed to be and that soon the right church would be shown to her. When she told us that, I felt the Spirit and was able to testify to her that we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and that Heavenly Father put us into each others paths so that she could hear the truths of the restoration and that the Lord needed her to help the growth of the church in Padre Bernardo. It was an awesome experience! She will probably be the first president of the relief society in Padre Bernardo! haha. It was really cool and a testimony builder to me that she had felt that prompting from Heavenly Father to leave her church and search for the right one a few weeks ago. Because a few weeks ago is exactly when our church was established in Padre Bernardo!!

We had some awesome family home evenings this week as well in our area. We did one at Demetrio and Norivans home (their daughter just got home from a mission) and had a great message and some pizza. We also did one at Scott and Cris´s house and had some American food and chips and salsa!! This week we were able to mark two baptism dates in our area with Àlvaro and Michelle. They have some problems but have the desire to change and that’s what matters! Qual é o seu desejo? What is your desire. Our desires lead to actions.

We ate lunch on Friday at Lucas and Vanessa´s house. We had to say bye to them and their little daughter Lia since they are leaving on vacation this week and will come back home a few days after we finish our missions. Lucas is the professional basketball player and it’s the offseason right now. They made us some awesome bacon cheeseburgers and we had a really good time. We will miss them a ton!! They have such an awesome spirit in their home and they make us feel so loved and welcomed.

We made some goals with a member family last night whose teenage kids aren’t wanting to go to church anymore. We made goals with them that they will pray as a family every morning and read the scriptures every day during lunch since they all eat lunch together. Through the small and simple things, the great things are realized and happen (Alma 37:6). Doing something as simple as having family prayer every day and reading the scriptures makes a huge difference. It takes just a few minutes, but that few minutes helps a family be more united and have more love in the home.

So grateful for all the blessings I have received and for these awesome learning experiences that I have here everyday. I hope y’all have an awesome week and are taken care of!!

Love,

Elder Bean

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." Alma 37:6