church was pretty normal, a good amount of investigators there and we
were about 20 minutes late the entire time (which is really annoying).
Edson's baptism was really amazing. He was soo stinkin prepared it
all went really well and he will definitely make a good member. He
was really nervous and everything, but the members here all made him
feel really at home and really loved. We had one member that took us
and him out to dinner for Edson's birthday and he has already gotten
to make solid friendships with a ton of the members. This ward is
perfect for young men and guys in there 20s to be really well
integrated. When he came up out of the water the entire room was
completely silent and he just stood there for a moment or two before
he opened his eyes or anything. The spirit entered the room with full
force when that happened and it was a really special moment, probably
the happiest I have been watching a baptism happen because of how much
effort I have had to put into this one and how good of a guy he is. I
have already seen him grow so much in confidence and social comfort in
this short time and he will continue to be rock solid for sure. He
wants to begin preparing to serve a mission. It would be the perfect
thing for him to help him organize his life and get back on his feet
with some real direction.
After we went and had a big lunch with about 15 members, we headed out
to Costa da Caparica for Romão's baptism. We got a ride from the 1st
counselor in the stake presidency over to the other side of the river
which was really nice of him because without that we would have not
been able to make it over there very easily since the public transport
is a little bit complicated to get all the way out there. He is a
really cool guy. Romão's baptism was really cool as well. He had not
changed that much since the last time that I saw him, he just got even
bigger. I got to see a bunch of members that I have not been able to
talk to in quite some time. It was cool to get to see them again
because I didn't know if I would ever get to see them again. Plus one
of the families that I was always with when I was in Alverca has moved
out to Costa now and we went over to their house for a bit after the
baptism and we had some cake and got to catch up with them a bit. A
bunch of the youth that I made friends with in alverca are going to be
going on missions really soon which is really exciting. We got a lot
of help from the members so that we could get that visit done and be
back in our area in time. These people are really special to me and I
am so grateful that I got this chance to make so many relationships
while I am out here.
real quick I thought I might slip something in that mom will problably
not like too much. I got hit a couple times and spit on this week by
a stocky drunk african man and just about got into a full on fight
with him because he would not let us go. Thankfully I saw him for what
he was a pathetic sad man that just wasn't worth it and our ride
showed up right in the nick of time. It is interesting how we can
really feel calm in times of chaos because of the presence of the holy
ghost in our lives. I never got worried even after he had hit me
because I knew if I just did what is right I would be protected and
everything would work out fine. (He did not like that he was not
intimidating me) All of that because I am american and he does not
like Americans since we took the native Americans land. sometimes a
lack of knowledge is just astonishing where it can take you. In this
world people make decisions all of the time based off of so little and
I just wish that they could get a glimpse of the full picture so that
they would understand the truth a little better. Weird way for me to
have to learn that little lesson.
Esta semana foi muito bom para nos. Tivemos o oportunidade de ver
Edson tomar os últimos passos para ser batizado. Realmente ele é um
converso que vai continuar porque ele pensou e ponderou muito antes de
ser batizado e ele realmente percebe o compromisso que ele tem agora.
Também ao preparar para o treinamento pelo reunião de zona este semana
tivemos um oportunidade de esforçar muito para perceber profundamente
onde devemos estar com nosso nível de ousadia, quais são as cosias que
façamos frequentemente como missionários que faltam ousadia suficiente
ou que são demais. Aprendi muito sobre onde devo estar e espero que o
treinamento que teremos vai ajudar a zona a perceber este principio.
Penso que o problema em nossa zona é uma falta de ousadia. Acredito
que muitos gostariam ser ousados mas o que é ousado por eles neste
momento ainda não é suficiente para o trabalho aqui para atingir o
sucesso que precisamos. Vamos continuar a animá-los o mais possivel
para confiar no Senhor e fazer o serviço com bom animo.
This week in preparation for our zone meeting we put together a zone
news letter with all of the baptisms on it and some scriptures to help
motivate them a bit and give them a little message. I will send it as
an attachment in these emails today so you can see a little bit of the
work that we did for our zone this week. I am pretty satisfied with
how it came out.
I was thinking a lot about how you really need to be doing the right
things all of the time because there really is someone that is
watching all of the time and the things that you do when you are alone
are going to effect a lot who you are and what you are like and
especially how people will feel around you when you are with them
because of the things that you have been doing before. I really could
tell the difference when I was with some other missionaries that were
at the baptism for Romão that had come back, but the members did not
really bother that much with them, they were happy to see them but it
was just different. I got pretty sad to see the look in their eyes
that kind of showed that they just didn't have anything all that
special in their hearts for those missionaries and the relationship
was fine but nothing that was going to last.. I see the same thing in
a lot of the people that we meet and teach, they are just doing things
superficially and going through the motions to be polite or for
whatever other reason, but it just does not make that much sense to me
why people waste so much time doing things that do not really matter
to them, that do not have value and that will not bring them real
happiness. Life is really short, there is a time for everything, but
if we are doing things that are not in the right time then we can
really miss out on a lot. We all need to find what is most important
and put that in front of everything else, take care of those things
when the time is correct and then move on to other things.
Organization makes such a difference in life it is amazing. It is
wonderful to have all of yall as such great examples for me in that so
that I can make something with the time that I have to work with here.
Love You all have a wonderful week.
Elder Hobson
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