"All These Things...Shall be for Thy Good"

District Meeting and Interviews with Sisters in Mococa

Hey Everyone-
It has been a super crazy week. The Lord is marvelous and I cannot explain the feeling of thankfulness I have in my heart for the many miracles and blessings that have happened this week, ranging from teaching here in Brazil to miracles at home. I am thankful for my family and for the blessings of safety and protection that we have been blessed with this week. I am also thankful to the Lord for His guiding hand in helping me do His work here in Brazil.

We had interviews this week with President too which is always awesome. It is hard to express adequately how much I love and admire Pres Bangerter and all he does to serve us as missionaries and the Lord.

Lunch with Sao Joao District after interviews with Pres. Bangerter

I feel it has been a week of miracles. First miracle. Tuesday as I was looking at some of the unknown phone numbers in our phone contact list I had a thought, "I'm going to call some of these numbers." There were a lot that were in there that did not match up with any numbers in our area book. I thought might as well call a few and see who they are and if we could come by for a visit. I called 3 people. The first person I called answered, asked who it was and I said "the missionaries" and the person hung up. I guess they still were not ready! The second person didn't answer at all but the third person did answer. His name was Ademir. I told him who we were and asked if he remembered missionaries visiting him some time back and he said he did. I asked if we could come by and visit him again. He accepted and I asked for his address again explaining that I was a little new in the area. He gave me the address. I wrote it down and we marked an appointment for Friday at 7pm. Friday approached and we were walking to the neighborhood where he lived and I went to look for his exact address in my planner, and when I reached for it it was not there. I could not find my planner. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I lost my planner and I lost the address. I didn't want to miss this appt. but I couldn't remember the address off the top of my head. I remembered only the neighborhood/vicinity but not the street or house number. I talked to some people on the street, asking if they knew an Ademir on their street but they didn't. They knew a few members that lived close and that was cool, but they didn't know an Ademir that lived near there. Anyway it was the worst. I had a sick feeling. I needed to find this guy. After awhile of looking and asking everyone - it was 8:30 and we were about a 45 minute walk home so I knew we were going to have to be going soon. I knew the Spirit would guide us if we were supposed to find him that night so we said a prayer asking where we should go. I felt an impression to go in a certain direction - down this one street I looked at the street map and everything and I felt, no its not in that direction - that can't be right. Felt the prompting again. "its literally right there, go down this street, and go right and its right there", But as I looked at the map it made no sense because then it would be in the next neighborhood. But the impression came again to go down that street "Its right there". Shouldn't have doubted right? We went down the street and just as we were going to turn right I saw a house that seemed very familiar to me for some reason. So we went there and knocked on the door. A guy came out and guess who he was? Ademir! I was so grateful for the Lord's hand in helping us find him that night. It was a miracle! But wait, its not over. So we went in and taught him, his son and his sons wife. They had been taught by other missionaries before and then had been to a lot of other churches too. They were really searching to find truth. We had a lesson on the Power of the Restoration. We read a lot in the Book of Mormon, answered questions and then invited them to pray about it. They immediately got up and went in to the bedrooms in the back one by one to pray personally. Each person came back praying for the other to receive an answer. And sure enough, all of them received an answer. They knew what we shared with them was true and they wanted to learn more. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted. All of them! Gods presence was in that house that night and I felt it and I am sure that they all felt it too. We will mark a date for baptism with them this week.

With Wender, LZs Elder Castro, Bahia and Kleinkauff at a member's home

We are also continuing to teach Jacqueline and have marked the 24th of June for her baptism. We are super excited for her! Miracles are happening in Siao Joao! So the work goes on. As we listen and follow the promptings we are given, great things will happen. One thing I have thought about a lot about this week is that Gods plan for us at times is hard for us to totally comprehend. Because we are mortal there are some things we will not be able to totally understand but I do know that He does have a plan for each of us. It is a plan that is made specific to our needs and growth. At times we do not know why certain things happen but later we then understand why they had to happen and see the ways we grew from having it happen. I am certain that things happen how they should when we are living close to our Savior. Like in D&C 122:7 the Lord says "know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.". If something happens to us, it is usually because it is something that will help us in our future and is something that is essential that we pass through. We will not always know why but when we focus on exercising our faith in everything we are able to say "Come what may and love it". We cannot control what happens to us but we can control how we react. Let us love God and His plan, no matter what happens. Always trusting, always doing His will and loving what comes!

Have a great week!

Elder Davis