Monday, September 28, 2015

Finding New Investigators

This week was looooong but it was a good week!! We had interviews with President Lundgren on Thursday, we took a bus to Novo Gama and had the interviews in the chapel there. Im so grateful for President Lundgren and the revelation he receives for our mission. I always receive exactly what I need to hear in that moment. He is so good. 

This week we were knocking doors with Caio in a neighborhood where weve never worked before, and we told Caio to pick the next door...he picked a house on the corner that had a light on (it was already starting to get dark).
He let us in, we started to talk with him and get a better feel for who he is and if hes already heard of church, how long he has lived in Cristalina...and when he asked where were from and I told him Im from the US, he asked:
-Do you know Elder Derek and Elder Barker?-
I was thinking it was a different E. Barker from our mission so I said yeah, and he responds with a huge smile:
-Ah, they were the Elders who baptized me.-

Ummmmm seriously??? I was in so much shock I imagine that the look on my face was kind of ridiculous :) Donezett is his name. He explained how he was baptized in Minas Gerais 14 years ago by these 2 american elders. He even went to the US with them to visit their homes (new jersey he said) and he was super super strong...but fell away. After he moved to Cristalina a bunch of years later, he started going to church again in Luziânia. And 3 months ago, he had to sell his car so he hasnt gone to church since.
He didnt even know that the church is here in Cristalina.
We all got super happy that the church is here and its close enough for him to go on foot on Sundays :)
We met his wife, Iva... shes not a member (yet;) but shes super sweet and open, we are going to go there this week to see them again.
It was super good to see Donezett in church this Sunday <3 im sure he missed it so much. It was funny because nobody knew he was a member of the church, and theres never time to explain to everybody during the meeting...so there were lots of explanations after church ha.

I gave the lesson in Relief Society this Sunday from the Liahona, a talk by Elder L. Whitney Clayton titled Choose to Believe...such an amazing talk, I love love love this talk. I love that everything we do, we are obedient because wechoose to be obedient...living and keeping the commandments never just ´happens´. Its a choice! A daily choice. Our choices really do affect our future. 🌠

We found lots of new people to teach this past week, including a mom and a daughter, Fracisca and Graziele. The first night we found them, Francisca said that she has already been to church 2 times in Brasília...we taught them about the Restoration and left a Book of Mormon and marked the Introduction for them to read...when we went back a few days later, they had read everything. And prayed to know if its true <3
It touched me so much that Grazi (9 years old) read and answered some of the questions in the back of the pamphlet. And she even read the parts we marked. Such an amazing girl...and everytime we are there I miss Gracie so much because Grazi reminds me so much Gracie ahhh :)))) The purest soul 💟

Heavenly Father always blesses me with experiences that show me how His hand is truly leading this work. It is His. These are His children. This is His doctrine and His gospel. What a privilege we have to be a part of it!!

I hope we can all prepare our hearts for this weekends General Conference. I know that if we are all prepared with questions in our hearts, we will receive answers as we show the Lord we are willing to follow the answers He gives us. 💜

I love you all. Pictures will come next week, we hiked to Chapéu do Sol this morning and it was cool.

Muito amor,
Sister (Braz)Hill 🌎

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