He Was Put In My Path...Again

Hey there, família!  Como está tudo o mundo?  

   This week has been great!  Elder Z. and I have been working hard, and we´re seeing some progress!  We have two investigators that are progressing well!  One is W.  He´s a recent convert´s friend, and is preparing to be baptized on the 30th of April.  He´s reading the Book of Mormon and has already received a testimony that it´s true!  
That´s so awesome!

We´ve also got another investigator, his name is G.  He´s also preparing to be baptized on the same day.  He´s one of those investigators that came ready made out of the box.  I´m not sure exactly how, but he found out about seminary a couple days back and starting attending the classes.

What is Seminary?

 I was on a division with a newer missionary when we went to teach him for the first time this past week.  As we taught the restoration, he lit up and became very excited, especially about the Book of Mormon.  He said that he´d been wondering for some time which church he should join, and which one had the true teachings of Jesus Christ.  When we introduced the Book of Mormon to him as the tool to learn for himself if what we taught is true, he told us "I´ve been wanting to know which church is true for some time.  I started coming here because I thought that this is the one, but I didn´t know how to be certain.  Now I know!"  

It was so neat to see how the teaching of the gospel functions.  
We´re not here to convince anyone, simply to enable and equip them to discover the truth for themselves through the Holy Ghost.

We also went to a Zone meeting this past week in my old area, Ip, where I served with Elder M.  I love that area so much!  The areas in which you work the hardest are the ones that you love the most, it´s interesting how the work precedes the love.  Anyhow, after the meeting we were walking on a large avenue leaving the church, and there I ran into R!  Do you remember him?  He´s the Ex-investigator that I taught with Elder M. that I found again in the bus a few months back.  I didn´t even see him, but he saw me and called me over.  It really is incredible how the Lord guides us!  That´s the first time that I´ve returned to I. since October, and he was put in my path!  The Lord works wonders! (Read about it in the entry titled "In The Middle of a City with 4 Million Inhabitants..." - Dated November 9, 2015)

I´ve got to go now, but I love each one of you!  Thank you so much for your prayers and support!  Until next week!

Love,

Elder Sweet

Increase In Faith

Hey guys!

   Anyway, the mission really is a learning experience.  It´s an environment in which we can apply the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives in a way that, at least for me, I never had been able to do before.  Faith becomes something so much more real as you are put in situations in which it becomes so much more necessary to exercise it.  I´ve also come to truly appreciate the power of fasting.   Early in my mission I asked President K. how I could be a better junior companion, what are the most important things for a junior companion to do.  His response to me was "Fast and the Lord will tell you how to be a better Junior!"  Since then I´ve had to opportunity to apply this powerful principle over and over again.  I still haven´t gotten to the point that it´s easy, but I´m gaining a testimony of it´s power.  Recently when I perceived that my faith was not sufficient to do what was required of me, I fasted and the next day I felt and saw in my work a noticeable increase in my faith.  The fast truly is real, and as we seek to apply this principle in our lives we can be taught by the spirit in truly incredible ways.  

Got to go now, but I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Sweet

Conference was AWESOME!

Hey guys!

   So what did you all think of the INCREDIBLE General Conference that we had?  Man, it seems like each conference just gets better as time goes on.  It´s amazing how much we can learn from the words of the prophets if we´re in tune to the spirit, and how individualized the counsel that we receive can be.

   This weeks going to be pretty busy!  On Wednesday we have the Mission Leadership meeting, so Elder Z. and I are working hard to prepare our training for them, and as always we´re excited to hear what President K. has to say as well!  

   Anyhow, I hope that everyone had a wonderful General Conference and I pray that we all seek the Lord to know how we, individually, need to apply the teachings of his prophets and apostles in our lives.  I know that as we seek him in the attitude of prayer and fasting, pondering on the words that we heard, that the heavens will be opened to us and the Holy Ghost will whisper to us in the quiet moments what it is that we must do.  Let´s not lose this opportunity!

   I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder S.

(I´ll send pics in a minute!)

Dear Sweet Family

A letter from President K. letting us know of Elder S's new assignment serving as a second assistant.

Working Hard!

My time´s almost up, so I´ll be quick!

   This week has been great!  I´m back in G, and we´re working hard!  Last week we found 3 new investigators who accepted a baptismal date, they´re M, T, and M.  M´s an elderly lady that we talked with several days back on the street.  She came to church and absolutely loved it!  It turns out that a family member of hers is the elder´s quorum president, so she was happy to see him there too.  T is M´s niece, M recommended that we teach her as well.  The other M is a friend of a family in the ward, we taught her for the first time yesterday and she really enjoyed the message!  She also accepted a baptismal date.

   My new companion´s awesome!  He´s very creative and is a hard worker, so I´m sure that it´s going to be a great transfer!  Elder Z. is very dedicated to the work that we´re doing, but at the same time knows how to make missionary work a lot of fun.  He´s almost always cracking a joke, so that helps me to keep my spirits up when we pass those inevitable difficulties.  Anywho, got to go now but I love you guys!  Have a great week and keep in touch!

Love,

Elder S.

Transferred!!! Again!!!

Hello, everyone!  I hope everything´s going great!

   Sorry for not sending an e-mail yesterday, I was on the bus coming back to G. yesterday so I didn´t have time to go to the L.H.  Anyhow, I got transferred again!  I only passed 2 and a half weeks in B. R, U, that´s the least time that I´ve ever passed in an area on my mission.  But it was great!  Last week President K. and the assistants came to U. to give a zone conference there.  We met them at our house about 8 at night to let the Assistants into the house so they could leave their things there.  President K. got out of the car and asked me "Elder S, are you liking the area?"  I responded "It´s great, I´m absolutely loving it!"  President K. then replied "Well, you can already say goodbye.  You´re coming to G. in the next transfer to be the second Assistent to the President." (Did I spell that right?)  I must have gone a little pale, because the next thing he said was "Don´t faint!"  I tried to reply, and just gibberrish came out.  President started laughing and said "He can´t even speak!"  So that was a surprise, but that´s the mission for you!  It´s full of surprises.  My new companion is Elder Z.   We´ve got to go to the airport now and get the arriving missionaries, but I´ll send some pictures next week.

   Know that I love each of you!  Jesus Christ is our Savior and his atonement is real.  I have seen and felt the cleansing and enabling power of this infinite sacrifice more in my mission than at any other time in my life.  And I know that our families can be together forever, through our Heavenly Father´s plan!  I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder S.

Quick Letter!

Hey there, everyone! 

   This letter´s going to be quick today, but I want to tell everyone that I love you tons!!!  So, this week was awesome!  I went back to Goiânia this week to renew my visa, 16 hours in a bus!  I took a good long nap on the way there, and on the way back I had an awesome study about giving correction in the Lord´s way.  I studied various scriptures about this and learned a lot!  The most important doctrine that I learned is that the principles of correction and chastisement are in fact based upon the principles of love and charity.  If we do not first develop love for those that we must correct, then it is impossible for us to correct them as the Lord would.

   This week President Kuceki is coming to Uberaba!  He´s delivering a truly incredible training to the missionaries.  I already heard it when I was in Goiânia, so this is going to be my second time.  I´m excited!  My mission president is incredible!!

   Anyhow, this week I saw the grace and enabling power of the atonement in my life in ways that were so obvious and incredible.  Getting used to walking the whole day in the sun again is difficult.  My legs get tired fast, and there´s a lot of hills in Uberaba!  I´ve had the experience several times now of, after arriving at almost the end of the night, finding myself still contacting people on the street and thinking "Wow.  Earlier in my mission this kind of exhaustion would have been enough to stop me."  It´s difficult to describe how, but I received and noticeably felt strength and drive beyond my own to help me to forget the difficulties and invite everyone to come closer unto Christ.  It really is incredible how much more Christ can do through us than we can do through ourselves.

Got to go now, but I love you all a ton!!

Elder Sweet

I´ve attached a pic of me and my new companion, and another Christmas picture that I don´t think 

I´ve sent yet.