December 16, 2013

Good morning America! This week (today, actually) I learned that I'm 4 hours away (time zone difference) from Texas. That means y'all are just waking up and stuff as I'm here getting ready for lunch! Weird.

It's funny how different the world is.

Here's some nice scripture moments - I studied a bit of the Bible this week and especially liked James 2:21-22 (Our works perfect our faith) and James 3:2 (how to be perfect). The thing is, to be perfect, we have to dominate our tongues (speech), and that's not possible. But I liked the thought that one of the biggest errors we make is through use of our tongues. We all need to improve how we talk.

Lastly, I liked 2 Nephi 10:23. I don't think I've ever heard this scripture used before because we always use 2 Nephi 2:27. But I liked how Jacob puts it in Chapter 10. Be happy! Salvation is easy- you just have to choose it, and act with that choice.

So we had some miracles happen this week. And some awesome stuff too. On Pday, we went to a mall. It was probably the nicest mall I've ever been in in my life. And we ate Burger King there. Which was probably the nicest Burger King I've eaten in my life. 

Then, we made a sacrifice of some of our Pday to teach Catia and Carlos. We taught about the Word of Wisdom, and Catia told us about an experience she had. She was super addicted to coffee. But on Sunday, she didn't drink any coffee at all. She had been thinking about how strange that was when we showed up and taught about the Word of Wisdom- that coffee does bad things to us. And then and there her family and she made a commitment to never drink coffee again. And they didn't. As a result of the power of the testimony of Catia, we were able to baptize her sons this Sunday. She asked us when they could be baptized, and asked that it be done as soon as possible. Sweet. Andre Samuel and Vinicius are two really smart boys. They are reading the scriptures often and always listen to our lessons. They remember almost everything we teach. Catia and Carlos are talking about getting married, and after that, they'll be baptized too!

This week was our Mission Christmas Conference. It was great to get to see the Mission President, his wife, and all the other Missionaries. I got to talk with Elder Angus again, and was happy to hear that things are going great in Osório. João and Adinam were both baptized! The Christmas conference was awesome.

We found Rose this week, and her family and started teaching them. She and her husband love to laugh. We had a ton of fun visiting them this week. In our first visit, as we were sharing our message about the restoration of the gospel, Rose interrupted us and said- "Well y'all should be out sharing this message with everyone and gathering the people who will listen" and then after a short pause "Ohhhh Now I understand! Y'all are here to baptize me!" That was pretty funny, but we're hoping that the family can be baptized. They are understanding a lot of our messages. On Saturday, we taught a lesson there and couldn't stop laughing. We laughed and laughed with them. 

Rose and her family have pretty much nothing. They live in a wood shack and she works with recycling. Which means that she walks around pulling a cart all day trying to find tin cans and cardboard boxes. We know that the gospel will bless their lives and are happy to get to share with them. Sadly, they didn't go to church this Sunday.

Yesterday, I made a challenge contact - what Elder Luz and I call contacts with people who are carrying bibles (which is actually pretty common because some of the more popular churches here teach the members to carry bibles always) because usually it starts a debate. In situations like these, people usually start to question our doctrines to prove them false. In Bible Bashes (these debates) it's pretty much impossible to win and we avoid trying to. We just explain what we believe. Anyway, in this case, I won. I've never, ever, ever won a bible bash before, but as I explained the gospel principles to him, he felt the spirit and realized that they were true. So we marked to pass by his house and talk with him.

This week Elder Luz and I did a massacre of mosquitos. They have been eating us alive every night. (Editor's Note: Elder Jasperson's mom tried to send a mosquito net with him when he left home....but he refused and stated the mosquitos would not be too bad!) So we went around our little house hunting them. The best way to hunt mosquitos is to smack them out of the air with your hand. The get knocked out or something and can't fly anymore- they stay on the ground and limp around. After about an hour the ground was covered in bugs and we were certain that the house was mosquito free. We're still finding some of the little pests in the mornings, but we're not getting bitten as often J  

At lunch the other day, the Sister asked what sort of food I used to eat at home. I told her that we don't eat rice and beans and she couldn't believe it! Without rice and beans, what on earth did we eat? Even I couldn't remember. What did I eat for dinner every day? I guess that means I'm pretty much Brasilian now. Because rice and beans are delicious.

To finish, I want to let you all know that I know that this church is true. I know that the work I am doing is the work of God. I know he loves your personally. Because we know this, we should all be happy, as he wants us to be. Have a wonderful week and Christmas season!

Elder Jasperson