His Work

Sumaré Zone with Pres. & Sis. Bangerter (minus Elder Conceição and Elder J. Oliveira)

This week was a good week. We had interviews with President on Wednesday which are always good. Then Wednesday to Thursday we did divisions with the assistants, Elder Christensen and Hainsworth. It was nice to see them and talk and catch up on the old days (they are both from my CTM group). I then went with Christensen on divisions and it was awesome. I was able to learn from his strengths and see some things that I can do to improve and be a better missionary. I am glad to be able to have the opportunity to improve each day. As well as it was awesome to work in Piracicaba because I haven't ever passed a transfer there!

While in Piracicaba at the mission office I ran into Sister Ramirez from one of my old zones.

We also did divisions in our zone with Elder Conceição and Elder J. Oliveira this past week. I went with Elder J. Oliveira to Portal Bordan (their area). We were able to find new people to teach as well as confirm some people to go to church. I was going to do an interview with someone they had marked a date with but it had fallen through. She wasn't home at the time they confirmed with her and the morning after wasn't home either. So I did not get to speak with her but the division was good. It was a good opportunity to help them with a few things to make their work go a little more efficiently and for me to learn from them also. I appreciated Elder J. Oliveira's heart because when I made a suggestion he sincerely tried to apply it and wrote down a few notes. His example touched me. We all need to be open to learning from one another. We did an inventory at the end of the night to see how the division was and to talk about what we thought. It was really cool because even though the day had been hard and we were only able to find a few people, we were both able to see we had been blessed by the hand of the Lord. As we did contacts, knocked doors and visited a few people, we were still not having too much success and then finally the Lord would bless us as we would find someone who really needed to hear our message and agreed to come to church on Sunday. He blessed us various times during the day with miracles! Can't give up you just have to trust in Him.

Elder Araujo and I with Elder Conceição and Elder J. Oliveira for divisions

Unfortunately not all the people in our own area that were supposed to come to church this week made it but we were glad to see those that did. Cleonice came. She is awesome. She is already participating in the class discussions and even bearing her testimony of things she has learned! It is super awesome to see that. She truly has a pure heart and because of that the Spirit is able to help her recognize truth and experience a "change of heart". Those are the moments that I love when people gain their personal testimonies of the church and of gospel principles and are able to respond to our questions with "Yes, I know it is true." I love that feeling and that happiness that fills their heart and mine. As we were showing her the baptismal font and answering some of her questions on Sunday we asked her if she had felt the Lord touching her heart confirming what she had learned that day was true and she quickly responded "Yes, I don't have a doubt in my mind about that". She has decided to be baptized! Oh the joy that I feel in my heart when people truly accept the truth in their hearts. Thankfully I have changed a lot on my mission thanks to the Lord and many others. I have always felt happiness and joy as others have accepted the gospel but it was sometimes I think partly for a selfish reason. I had worked hard and I liked feeling like all of my work had been worth it. But I quickly came to learn it actually was not very much of me, but it was the spirit of the Lord that was helping these people come unto Christ. I now feel the joy and happiness not because it is a reward for hard work but because it is another precious soul coming back into His fold. It is a brother or sister who has found the path. I am grateful that I get to be a small part in that happening and to feel the joy and happiness that comes with it. I am thankful for this opportunity to be a disciple of Christ. To set ourselves aside and do His work and help people come back into His fold.

I hope you all have a great week.
Elder Davis