minha história Missionária: September 16, 2013

So to begin this week I have to say that I love cornbread. Because I made it this week.

One more cool thing about food -- a member gave us R$50 (25 USD) for lunch instead of having lunch in their casa. So we went all out with the food from the supermarket. And we feasted because food is relatively cheap. We bought chocolate milk mix and mixed it with sweet and condensed milk, and it was probably the most delicious thing ever. Sweet and condensed milk is a big thing here. Everyone eats it a lot. They use it like mayonnaise, which they also use a lot.

We also bought goiabada (which I've previously called "personal pan watermelon" because it is like a baby watermelon) and that was the best treat of all. Because those things are delicious.

So here are a few scriptures that I like from this week

2 Nephi 31 and 32 (whole chapters) -- I call chapter 32 "how to endure to the end" because that's what it's about, really. Chapter 31 really lays out the whole gospel of Christ, but what I realized this week, is the first 4 steps of the gospel (fé, arrependimento, batismo, dom do espírito santo) [editor’s translation note: faith, repentance, baptism, and gift of the holy ghost] are pretty quick steps. And after we get the Holy Ghost, we all spend the rest of our lives in the 5th step- endure to the end (perseverar até o fim). Basically, everything we are learning now, from prophets, from scriptures, everything is teaching us how to endure to the end. And it's all centered in chapter 32 of second Nephi. So if you want to be saved, do what that chapter says.

Moroni 7:15

I like that this verse compares our choices to day and night. Because every choice we make, really, is either for good or for bad. And the difference between the two is really obvious, if we stop to think about it. But if we don't think, Satan is pretty good at tricking us.

Moroni 7:41-42. These verses have cool meanings in Portuguese. Because the verb "esperar" means both "hope' and "expect." (This gets confusing when people talk sometimes, because, for example, I might ask "do you think it will rain?" And the response will be "não espero" which means both “I hope not" and "I expect not." And so I never really get an answer) But anyway, this verse is telling us that we need to both hope and expect the second coming.

Anyway, this week was awesome, because we baptized, and more, we achieved all of those goals of the mission- I sent a list a few weeks back.

Thalia and Amanda before their baptism

We baptized Thalia and Amanda, daughters of Karen, a previously inactive member. We met her when we were making contacts in the rain one night 3 weeks ago. Since then, we've prepared her daughters to be baptized. I really have seen a change in their life. They lived in a one room house-thing made of concrete. The room is probably 15X12 feet. But recently, Karen got a job and now their moving to an apartment.

More, I've seen a change in Thalia. When we began to teach them, she resisted our teaching. She didn't want to go to church, etc. But now she's excited to be a member and is much happier. This gospel really changes lives.

waiting for the baptism ... teaching the other missionaries to "Gig 'em"

When we were preparing for the baptism, we realized that we didn't have any baptismal suits. Someone had taken them home to wash and hadn't returned them. We had some white pants and a million white shirts in our apartment, and were going to use them, but Irmão Carlos Martins saved the day by driving to Tramandai to borrow some of their suits. I'm not quite sure how far away Tramandai is [editor’s Note: Tramandaí - Rio Grande do Sul is about 18 kilometers away from Tanner’s mission city of Osório - Rio Grande do Sul], but I know that if anyone other than Irmão Carlos Martins had driven, they probably wouldn't have returned until that night.

So while he was driving, we entertained all the people by singing and taking turns talking from the pulpit. Finally he arrived and we had the baptism. It was awesome. Elders Eliason and Souza baptized 3 more this week too.

We're excited to continue to work. We invited Seloni, a sister of probably 55 years, to be baptized. Her son was listening in on the lesson and he said that he wants to be baptized too! So yay!

I'm almost understanding everything that people say, but I have to press attention. But I know I'm getting much closer to being fluent. This week one of our investigators, Rita, asked that I pray in English. That turned out to be pretty funny because I kept messing up. I'd insert Portuguese words into my prayer and have to stop to correct myself!

I love you all and hope that you're doing well! Do something awesome this week like tell a friend about the Book of Mormon, or invite someone to church. This gospel is true, and I know it.

Até mais!

Elder Jasperson

Everyone feel free to email me (tanner.jasperson@myldsmail.net) - I'll respond to you all (: