Temple Tasks

Oi!! 

Hello!! 

This email will talk about the last two weeks!  Wow have they been full of plenty of new things and I have been quite full of gratitude for this mission and experiences.  

The last two weeks I've been on 2 transfers in our Zone!  The first was in Barreto, and I was able to help them open up the first English class in the ward! We had about 0 people confirmed two hours before and then we put up a banner and there was 5 people in the class.  And then we received so many texts from people interested, over 40!  So I hope they will continue to flourish and have very large classes.  

The next exchange was in my old area with my old companion Elder Rodrigues.  We got to give a blessing which was really unique and do some amazing street contacts.  We also helped the ward with their temple invites and they were all doing double takes asking if I had been transferred back or not!  I loved being back in my birth area in Brazil with the BEST VIEW in the entire mission.  

The reason this blog is titled Temple Tasks is because that is what the last 2 weeks have basically been! Temple, Temple, Temple!! So many invites to the temple open house.   The church has started their big campaigns with celebrity endorsements, posters, all that jazz!  Really exciting stuff!  

One thing that was so unique was to be able to meet up with our entire Zone to do a giant group contact session.  We went to a public square and did mini exchanges and just went and contacted.  Probably about 300 contacts done in about 90 minutes. Just talking and making sure EVERYONE knows about the temple.  Maybe it was annoying to some people on the street but...it was so fun! It was really hard to be able to get people to stop, so I can't even imagine doing it without the Spirit of the Lord.  

However, we also received the news that we as missionaries wouldn't be going on the buses with our wards, or working as guides.  So we won't be able to go at all during the open house.  I got really really bummed out to hear that.  Being so close and yet not being able to go to the temple reminds me of the pandemic.  But now!  We have temples and close to us!  Don't wait! Don't wait for the perfect moment, go go go go go!! It's what we've been teaching every week here.  

Spiritual Highlight of the last 2 weeks: 

I've discovered that I love being in leadership and not because of the title or the added responsibility, but because I can do baptismal interviews!! So often in the actual baptism we don't see the full growth and testimony of the people making the covenant, but the interview is just that! A conversation about conversion.  It was the baptism of Barreto, and she is the grandmother of a member who is doing at Home MTC.  He'll help do a baptism before he even enters the field!  But, as we talked she was so filled with gratitude.  She said she was so happy like 50x.  The Spirit was so strong.  Needless to say, she passed and was baptized on Sunday.