With all Energy of Heart

The Zone with a few members too - A lot changed this transfer

Oi-

Hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! We had a good week. This past week we have been working super hard to find people to teach. We are in that cycle when our teaching pool is small. We were out knocking doors and trying to make new contacts most of the week. We shared with everyone we could an Easter message testifying about our Savior, that He lives and the importance of the sacrifice that He made for us. We worked super hard and prayed fervently for new investigators but it did not happen for us this week. It ended up being a week of faith testing moments. We worked crazy hard to try to get people at church yesterday too. We passed by everyone's houses to get them in the morning but sadly no one ended up coming. But I have faith that the Lord will provide a way. We just need to keep doing our part and inviting. Our purpose as missionaries is to bring others to Christ but at the same time in doing that we find ourselves becoming more Christlike through our challenges and weeks like this last week. I like a quote from Pres, Eyring where he says when you help bring others to Christ you will find you have come unto Him yourself. I can see that happening in the mission. We are learning and loving the work more every day and growing as we do it. Even on those rough days. I know if I do my best, the Lord will bless me in my efforts. There is also a great scripture in Hebrews 10:35-36 that I try to remember on tough days.

"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."

Never lose your confidence in the Lord. Hard times will come and that means one thing -blessings are on the way if you keep the faith and continue to follow Him.

Christensen got transferred - going to miss him!

Sister Cardoso got transferred

Sister Pastore finished her mission and went home.

Elder Costa our old ZL also got transferred

This past week we marked a date for baptism with Hector (30th of April) and we are working toward that. He is super awesome. We are still working with Liza to complete the invites & challenges we give her like reading the scriptures and praying on her own. This week we had to go to some areas in the district to help them with some of their contacts. We went to Horto B and Horto A. Hortolandia B opened the area and so we knocked some doors, did some Gato Gordo (contact technique) and also an interview. I did the same thing that I did with Hortolandia B (Sister Adao and Hansen) the last transfer. We worked super hard and it went well. We also had an activity with the Hortolandia Ward to do the same thing on Saturday for 2 hours. Our purpose was to do a ton of contacts before church and invite everyone to come to church. I ended up working with Paulo, a member from that ward while my companion went with another member. I have not had the opportunity to do splits with members too much so that was a super cool experience getting to know him and working with him.

Churrasco at Richard's house with Elder Walton

Elder Furtenato (far left) who finished his mission came back to visit.

Massive Chocolate Easter Egg Sister Diogo and Carla made for me. They are so awesome!

I want to share one last experience that we had while knocking doors this week. One that I will not forget.I knocked a door and a lady answered. After explaining who we were and sharing a little of our message I could tell she was not too engaged. I asked if we could say a prayer with her and she said, " No, I don't need anything at the moment. Go and say a prayer with someone who is in need of something." I kindly tried to explain to her that prayer isn't a delivery service that we just use to "call" Heavenly Father and ask Him to "Deliver" blessings. The beauty of prayer is that it is a conversation. Yes we can ask for help through prayer but it is so much more than just that. It's an opportunity to express love to our Heavenly Father and gratitude for everything He gives us. She then continued on to tell me once again, "I don't need anything now but if I do, I will be sure to say a prayer." and then shut the door. It made me reflect on how Heavenly Father must feel when we do not take the time to communicate with Him. We need to always remember to speak with Him and show our love every morning and night. He is our Father in Heaven and has such a great love for us. We should be anxious to call to Him fervently in prayer and thank Him at every opportunity we have. In the hard moments as well as the good moments. Prayer is a sacred tool we have been given. It is literally a DIRECT LINE to heaven. We should take advantage of that and develop the best relationship with our Father in Heaven. When I have done that I have been blessed in all aspects of my life. When we come unto Him in prayer we anchor ourselves so when the strong winds and tempests come, we will be firm and strong. It also helps us to become more like Him.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." Moroni 7:48

What a great scripture to remember and follow. Excited for this next week, it's going to be awesome. Tuesday will be the Leadership mtg, Wednesday will be a missionwide multizone mtg, then Thursday is district mtg. and Saturday Adrianos wedding!

Love you all and have a great week!
Elder Davis

P.S. Just a side note, so I did eat the chicken feet last week. I sent the picture with the last email and everyone was asking whether I really did eat them. Well it was at an investigator's home and I did not want to be rude so I guess we can say I am not as picky about my food as I was before the mission. haha The taste isn't what gets you, it is the appearance (of course) and the texture. Definitely not a favorite and something I hope I do not have to eat again. haha