Finally Serving in Piracicaba

Piracicaba Zone

 This past week was good. I ended up going to Piracicaba 2 so travel was pretty minimal this week. I was with Elder Nunes and Elder Castro. It was a great experience. While working with them I could really see the potential that Elder Castro has to be a good leader. It is great to see when someone really has the desire to do things the right way, as well as learn and apply. We talked a lot about planning and the importance of revelation in the work. When understood, the principle of praying about which neighborhoods and streets to work in and truly trying to know and do the Lords will, makes the work go a lot better. You won't spend as much time searching and knocking doors because you will go where the Lord has prepared people who are seeking and searching.

This past week I also did a service project with Elders Nunes and Castro which was great and then went with them to the sisters area to help them out with some interviews and finding new people to teach. Elder Nunes interviewed some people and I did too. We also found some new people to teach. It was great because when we were walking down a street and knocking on some doors that we felt prompted to knock, we found some really great people. One was a youth who we talked with awhile at her door who was very interested but her family was not home so we marked a date for the sisters to come back and teach the family. Then at another door down the street a man answered the door and asked what we wanted. We shared that we were missionaries and had a message that would change his life. He threw us the key and told us to enter. He said he normally wouldn't have opened the door for us but his wife was out working and he was home alone. He had his right leg amputated from the knee down and used a walker to walk. He had definitely had some challenges in life. As we talked with him we learned that he felt little purpose in life. He doesn't go to a church or many other places because it is difficult to get there with his leg and walker. We spoke about the importance of spiritual guidance and nourishment in our lives and that it is essential to have that in order for other parts of our lives to go well too. It is the base of all happiness and strength. We invited him to church and he was enthusiastically said that he would go! We also talked about baptism and he said that he has been waiting until now to be baptized because he never had the opportunity. We told him that today was his lucky day because the Lord sent His true representatives to help him complete his dream of being baptized. We discussed the importance and meaning of baptism with him as well as read out of the Book Mormon and gave him one. We asked him to pray about all we had shared and marked an appointment for the missionaries to come back. He thanked us for coming and you could see the new hope he had. It was a great experience.

Dinner with Eliane and family with Elder Jackson, Nunes, Castro

We also found a few more people to teach in the Elders area this week and marked a baptismal date with a girl called Emily for this coming Sunday. She is someone who had already been to church and received all the lessons from the missionaries. She had even got to the point of setting a baptismal day but didn't go through with it because she was scared of making the wrong decision. She understands and lives all the commandments and truly has a desire to follow and live the gospel. I had a progress interview with her and we talked quite a lot about her doubts and fears. We opened the scriptures and learned a little bit together about the obstacles/temptations of Satan and how he wants to ruin what is good for us and the opportunities that will take us forward in life. She felt the spirit as we spoke and a confirmation that she needed to be baptized so this Sunday is the day she marked. The other person we found is called Natalia. She lives in our street and she has already been to church 3 times in previous times. We invited her to go to the transmission that happened yesterday. It was a Noite Familiar da Presidencia da Area and she went! She is reading the Book of Mormon every day and has decided she wants to be baptized. The Elders will keep teaching her and follow up with her.

My thoughts and study this week have been a lot on personal revelation and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.Some great quotes on this is one by Pres. Nelson and one from Elder Boyd K. Packer.

"But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." - Pres.Russell M. Nelson

" No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration" - Elder Boyd K. Packer
Personal study is essential. We need to read the Book of Mormon everyday as well as study the scriptures. Not just study but EXAMINE the scriptures to find the things that will protect us in everyday battles. Because without our personal study daily, we are going into the battles of the day without armor and leaving the protection that God has to offer us unopened and unused.

Have a great week!
Elder Davis