September 30, 2013

Dear everyone!

I'm officially having difficulty with writing English. So bear with me. And as time passes, I'm sure that my letters will grow shorter and shorter because of the time it takes to write them!

Anyway, this week was awesome! We had to run and run to get everything done. It's the last week of the transfer. We got transfer calls last night. I'm staying here (because usually you stay several transfers in your first area), but Elder de Oliveira is leaving.

So my first order of business: here's a bit of what I studied this week:

• Alma 29:9 talks about joy in my missionary calling
• 1 Nephi 11:22-23 talks about that Love of god is a major happiness for the soul. Verse 25 says that we can obtain this love when we hold on to the iron rod (by keeping the commandments)
• D&C 101:36 says we can only obtain a fullness of happiness through Christ.
• Lastly, 3 Nephi 11:29 talks about how the spirit of contention is of the Devil. I see this a lot in the work. Often when we're teaching, the spirit is chased away because an argument will start among our investigators.

Anyway, I study a lot, but I liked the parts about being happy. Because I love being happy and so should you!

It was a bit chilly one morning so I studied like this!

This week I saw several horses (which is normal for Osorio) but these ones stood out. They were eating grass, like always, but they were up close to the barbed wire fence, pressed against it, eating the grass on the other side. I'm not sure why. The grass on that side was full of trash, and their side was full of regular grass. This was an analogy for me about sin. When we are sinning, we are doing what these horses were doing. We are pressed up against a barbed wire fence trying to eat grass among trash, when we could be living comfortably eating grass within the fence.

a birthday party we attended

This week I saw a lot of miracles. We knocked a lot of doors this week, and we knocked into houses of less active members, investigators that lost interest, and other people that are ready to hear our message. We are really guided by the Lord to these people. Because without the spirit, I don't think we'd be having so much success.

I felt the Spirit especially this week on Friday. Elder de Oliveira had to do an interview in Tramandai. So I did a division with Elder R. Silva, a missionary from that town. Without Elder de Oliveira to guide me, I had to find all of our (sorry I don't know this word in English) compromises. I was guided throughout the day to find each house that we had scheduled to pass by. We had an awesome day, teaching a ton of lessons and it was great!

Even more great, is we baptized again this week! Celoni and Wallyson are a mother and son who we found by a reference from Rita, another investigators of ours. We helped them stop drinking coffee, and enter the waters of baptism. Wallyson is especially awesome. He expressed for us his doubts about baptism, and we helped him resolve all of them. He is excited to be a member and wants to serve a mission. He is 13.

the baptism

One day this week we passed by to teach, and Celoni was really sick. We told her we could give her a blessing, and did. After that, Wallyson really wanted a blessing too! It was funny because he was too shy to ask. So he sat down in front of us really quietly and just looked at us. Celoni told us "I think he wants one too!" We told him that we couldn't give him a blessing of healing because he wasn't sick. He immediately responded with 5 or six things that are giving him pain (haha). We told him that we could give him a blessing of comfort instead, and did. I didn't struggle too much with the words, and it was great!

Luiz (11) and Marcio (9) are sons of Greice. She is awesome too. She has a real desire to be baptized, but needs to be married to her husband. We'll be working with them in the weeks that come to help them be baptized hopefully in October! I spent a lot of time at their house with Luiz, Marcio, and 3 other little girls. They are really fun, and I entertained them while Elder de Oliveira talked with their Grandma or parents. I have a special gift with Children and I'm really thankful.

On a truck we passed walking home

It's getting hard to remember which day was which, but I'm pretty sure that at one point it rained a lot this week. It was also cold. Yesterday and today were great though!

Lastly, I ate potato soup this week, in case anyone is wondering. I couldn't find celery anywhere, so I used onions instead. It was good.

I also can't find brown sugar anywhere, and I want to make cookies (yeah it's kinda girly, but cookies can be for Elders too!) [Editor Note: referred Tanner to tips on making your own brown sugar.]

So if anyone has a cookie recipe that doesn't include brown sugar, help me out!

Love you all!

Elder Jasperson