Fe leva a milagres
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| Photoshop magic - maybe overexposed but at least you can see everyone |
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| Original photo - not enough light |
Oi pessoal!
This week was super awesome. Lots of people have been showing up
out of nowhere that have known the church in the past or have member friends
and want to know more. When we are just walking down the street, even when we
aren't teaching, "doing publicity for the church" as some of our
members say, has led to a lot of miracles.
A few funny moments. One day we were walking through the richest
part of Patriota to go teach someone when I heard someone screaming
"Hi!" at us. It's been a while since I'd heard English, so we turned
back and went to that house. It turns out that the lady's sister was the one
that wanted to call after us but had never done so until then because she
thought we only speak English. Luckily her sister speaks English, so she
finally called after us to learn more. Everyone in the house complimented my
Portuguese, which was really nice, but the best part is always being able to
share the gospel with another that's looking for the truth. She said she looked
us up online a few times after seeing us walk by in the past so of course she
called us "Mormons" at first. I realized then that hardly anyone in
Africa knows us incorrectly as Mormons. That's something that has helped a lot,
being able to share that not only are we Christian, but that this IS Jesus
Christ's church restored on earth again in these latter days.
We also had our zone conference this week with almost half of the
mission. I love President and Sister Pinto so much, their love for the Savior
and for this work is palpable. The trainings by the zone leaders were super
awesome, one of my favorites was by Elder Korsten. He talked about how bamboo
trees in China need to be watered for 5 years before they even come out of the
water, but after 5 years, they grow a ton all at once. He talked about how if
we are faithful, we will be able to find those that have been being prepared to
sprout and receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ all their lives. Another
highlight from zone conference, pizza! Okay it's not the biggest highlight but
it's been a while since I've had pizza so that was nice too.
Super awesome miracle: One day Elder Lima and I were walking
in Dangereux, really far away from our house, and every single lesson and plan
we had fell through, so we decided to walk another way to see if we could find
some people to teach, but nothing still. We finally decided to sit down and
pray before figuring out what we should do. At that moment, a lady on that
street came up to us and asked us who we are, what we do, and then if we
could come and teach her. She said she saw us from far off and decided she needed
to talk to us if we ended up going to her street, and that's exactly where we
decided to stop. She said she hasn't been to church in many years but wants to
strengthen her relationship with God. We were able to teach her and one of her
sons about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the spirit was so
powerful in that lesson. She liked the lesson so much that she called us later
in the week to tell us that she talked to some of her friends about the church
and wants us to teach the rest of her family! Many times, during my mission, at
some of the lowest points, the Lord picks us up and provides miracles.
Obedience truly brings miracles, especially when it's hard or when we feel
discouraged but keep following the Savior diligently anyway.
For a while Elder Lima have been teaching lots of people, but not
many progressed. It's such a blessing to teach people who truly want to find
the truth for themselves. This week I was reading in the New
Testament in James, and many verses in the first 2 chapters illustrate what
we do as missionaries. We invite people to "be doers of the word, and not
hearers only" and "if (they) lack wisdom, to let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him.". That verse was what lead Joseph
Smith to pray and to ask God to find
a church that matched the one he had read about in the New Testament that would
lead him to redemption.
In JSH:
12 he says after reading this verse:
Never did any passage of ascripture come with
more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to
enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again
and again, knowing that if any person needed bwisdom from God, I did; for how
to act I did not know,
A few things that stand out to me from his experience are:
1.
He
wanted to know HOW TO ACT, he wanted to DO something, with the answer James 1:5
promised he would receive (it shall be given him).
Answers
come when we show our faith to action not just knowledge.
2.
Often
reading the scriptures leads us to a clue on how to obtain the answers to our
prayers. Then we need to ACT in FAITH on that clue/answer.
I
know that the Lord knows each of us by name, knows are struggles, hurts, pains,
sorrows and desires and as we DESIRE to know, have FAITH and believe, PONDER on
our questions/concerns, he will answer when we ASK as we show our desire
to ACT on it and desire HIS WILL.
Eu amo voces! T'chau!
Elder Madsen
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