Olá meus amores, espero que vocês estejam bem. First I want to mention the new youth theme for 2024. It’s “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ” 3 Nephi 5:13, which just so happens to be my mission scripture. In case you’re wondering, yes I am the inspiration. I’m taking it as a sign that 2024 will be a good year on the mission for me!
This week was incredible and stressful. We had the wedding and baptism of a family: Elaine, Eduardo, and Lavínia. I’ve been teaching them for 7 weeks now. Here in Bom Conselho, they have 1 day every month where you can go and get legally married. So although this couple was prepared and desired baptism since the end of September, they had to wait until November 1 to get married. Then on Saturday, they and their daughter were baptized.
The baptism was supposed to start at 2 pm. We arrived at 1:30 to prepare and set things up. For the next 2 hours, people slowly started to trickle in until almost the entire ward was there. The bishop, who was asked to give a marriage blessing, showed up last at 3:45. Everything went well but there were two very angry, and very exhausted sister missionaries in attendance. Luckily there were no problems with the confirmations on Sunday and the family has been well received into the ward.
Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. Our friend, who was marked for baptism two weeks ago but ultimately fell through, bore his testimony. He told everyone how grateful he was for the missionaries and the church, and that we welcomed him in. We took this as a very good sign and went to visit him later that evening. We talked about his testimony and baptism and asked him what was holding him back. Why did he feel like he needed to wait? He didn’t really have an answer so we finished up the lesson and were about to leave when his entire demeanor changed in an instant.
I’ve never met anyone possessed before but in that moment, I thought I had. He started yelling, going off about how life after death is nothing but a filthy lie. That the Bible is perfect and our church is wrong for saying otherwise. That the Book of Mormon is nothing but a fantasy and we have no evidence for any of it. He kept pointing at me and saying that of course the American would defend this book, and he wasn’t going to be convinced. What was so strange was 1 week ago he told us he knew for certain that this church was true. Yet obviously, he didn’t. Without a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you can’t know that this church is true.
We got out of there as soon as we could and just sat on a street corner thinking. This man has been coming to church for 30 years, his brother is a return missionary, and all his nieces and nephews are active members. His situation taught me a lot about waiting. He has been waiting to believe for a long time and still hasn’t figured out that believing is a choice.
There is a difference between patience and stubborn persistence. Waiting for answers with faith and sincerity will bring hope and truth. Just holding on to the iron rod without a desire to move our feet or position on the path will get us nowhere. We need to walk, we need to move, we need to show we are willing to go and find the answers. I’ve experienced and witnessed a lot of waiting these last 2 months and it’s hard when the immediate future is nothing but fog. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and joy along the path. Choose to follow, believe, and let the power of the Atonement into your life.
That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!
Ame,
Sister Alyssa Grace
Bom Conselho, Brasil
Leave a Reply