Wednesday, April 18, 2012

April 17th E-mail

Dear Friends and Family,

Tomara que vocês estejam felizes e saudáveis! Eu estou bem! Estou aprendendo cada vez mais! É um grande privilegio de ser uma missionária! 

My week was really good! Long.....but really, really good. This week, we began teaching two families that have a ton of potential. One of these families was a reference from a lady who was baptized in a different ward a couple weeks ago. This lady, whose name is Lira was so excited to be baptized and wanted her sister, Sylvia, to have the opportunity to hear about the church as well. Sylvia is so cool! She has been reading the Principles of the Gospel book because her sister gave it to her to read.She has also been reading the Book of Mormon of course. The one hold back is that she is living with her boyfriend. However, they have been talking about marriage, which is good. She came to Stake Conference this Sunday and many of the talks were about family relationships and marriage. She cried throughout most of it. I know it really touched her. We will be teaching her, her boyfriend, her son, her daughter, and daughter's boyfriend tonight! I hope that wasn't too confusing! 

We are also teaching another really awesome family: Mara Ione, Fabio, and Eduarda. Mara Ione works with a member of the church, and the member has been talking to her about the church. We taught a lesson with the member present, and this family had a lot of questions. Fabio, the father, suffered a really bad accident a little while ago and has really bad burn marks all over his body......he was especially interested in the message of the gospel. 

I want to tell you about one more guy that we are teaching. His name is David. He is the grandson of Suely (the older woman that was just baptized). David is 22 years old and is living with Suely right now. Just a few months ago, he was a drug trafficker. He was beaten up by the equivalent to a cop here, and left on the side of the road to basically die. Since his recovery from that, he has been trying to change his life around. He has an honest job and has been reading Suely's Book of Mormon. He said he doesn't really understand anything he reads in the Book of Mormon, but he feels a peace when he reads it. 

Ahhh!! I know the Book of Mormon is true! Even a simple boy who doesn't even understand what it is talking about can feel its power. I know that it works together with the Bible to testify of Christ. I am filled with the love of God, with answers, and with comfort every time I open its cover. One thing I have learned while on the mission is how to truly apply the Book of Mormon into my life and the life of my investigators. The Book of Mormon is a powerful witness that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and that His true church is on the earth today. Never take that book for granted!!! 

I love you all! 
Sister Autumn Barnes

No comments:

Post a Comment