Go Forward in Faith

The Elders of Zona Rio Claro

Hey Everyone-
Hope all is well there in the Carolinas. My heart goes out to all the victims of the hurricanes in Texas and now in Florida. Sounds like a lot of devastation. What a huge reminder to us to be prepared not just physically but spiritually. Hope everyone is doing okay.

The kind and infamous Regina

A picture from Regina - she likes to see us enjoying her food!

It has been a great week. So much stuff to do this past week and it felt like the week was a day. It literally flew by. We have been working with our ward to build our teaching pool. Some of the great things that happened were this past Tuesday we had a FHE with a different member than usual. We have one member who invites us every week to bring our investigators to her home for FHE which is awesome but this week we also went to a different member's home. Her name is Regina. She invited her whole extended family especially those that aren't members and so that was super cool! We were able to make some good contacts there. We also had lunch at her house during the week. Dad, you had asked whether we ever cook, well the answer is almost never. Which is lucky for us! haha We are fed lunch and dinner most days by members. I have to give a shout out to our members they are the best! I am always amazed and grateful for the love and generosity of the members. The people of Brasil are so awesome. As missionaries we are blessed greatly by the wonderful ward members here not only in taking care of us but with their desire to help us share the gospel. We found another new family through another member named Paulo. Our testimonies of faith and working with the members was strengthened through our experiences with him. When we started the visits, he told us he really didn't have anyone to visit. So we asked him to think of a few people he knew that would allow us just to visit them and who he could introduce us to. He first took us to his neighbors and as we talked with them they started talking about some other people and then the list just kept getting longer and longer as we went to each house. At first he was a little bit timid to share with his friends but by the end he had caught the missionary spirit and was doing almost all the talking and bore his testimony at each home. He shared with everyone how he was baptized and had progressed to the point where he is now. He also shared the great joy he felt when he baptized one of the recent converts in Limeira and how the happiness he felt was so great when he helped someone else come unto Christ. We have marked 2 dates for baptism with 2 of his friends, Rosa and Luiz. How great is that? It was marvelous to see him sharing his testimony and see how the Lord blessed him as he went out in faith not knowing where to go in the beginning. By the end we could hardly get him to stop for that night. Haha. It was great! It can be the same for each one of us. Everyone needs to go out with the missionaries and share your own experiences with your friends. We don't know who will accept and we certainly should not judge and cannot guess who will be ready and seeking the truth. The Lord prepares a way for each one of us individually to take part in inviting others to come unto Him and receive the blessings of the gospel. So go out there in faith. Miracles will happen.

Lunch at Madalena with Paulo

Dinner at the House of Mara and Adilson

This week we will have the baptism of Maria Eduarda! The daughter of Ana and Gabriel. She will be baptized this Saturday! Her parents want to be baptized too but have a few things we need to help them work on, so hopefully soon. We are also working with Ronie and Elaine and doing our best to get them ready for baptism by Sunday but it may need to be the next week. It will all work out! Transfers are next week too, time has passed so fast. I appreciate all the prayers and support! Have a great week!

Elder Davis

Brothers in the Work