Dear Family, this week went well and also kind of so so.
We had a go week working with investigators and all but when
Sunday came, nobody went. We called members to pass by we even got up early to pass
by and nobody went. Every missionary passes through this and has the same
frustration. By the end of the week is somehow formatted my card on my camera
so I lost every picture that I have taken since the mission, unfortunately I learned
my lesson by never saving my pictures to another source. I’m still pretty upset
by it but I think there is someone her that can help me get my pictures back.
My companion got better but maybe too much, I had to have a lot of patience
with him this week ha-ha, I likes to joke around a lot.
But I learned from brother Schetselaar something.
He told a story about how he always planted potatoes and how
he buried them. He would wait for a stem to come up and then he would through
more dirt on it.
And when the stem came up he would do that again. So he
would keep doing that until a flower blossomed. and he would do that because that’s
how he would strengthen the potato, without doing so, the potato wouldn’t have
enough strength to support itself. So I learned that I was like that potato
this week but what helps is to know that the Gardener is someone that knows and
loves me and it’s just to strengthen me.
This week I was also reading in my journal and I had some
great laughs at how I was at the beginning of the mission. My second day of the
mission my companion and I had to teach a lesson in the MTC. They gave us these
green books that had everything. All you had to do was read out of it and it
was simple as that. But my companion and I wanted to teach the lesson without
anything but the Book of Mormon and the Bible in Portuguese. We were excited
because we were so confident that the gift of tongues was going to kick in and
we would be speaking fluently ha ha. We went to teach our lesson and nothing
came out! we said nothing! we couldn’t even find james 1:5 in the Portuguese
bible. After that lesson I remember just feeling like an idiot and we were
pretty discouraged after that.
I learned that nothing works like that. We have to do our
part. When I got to my first area I had an American companion, he helped me a
ton but we spoke only English.
When he got transferred the President sent another American
to be my companion, he only had one more transfer then me. So here we have to
new Americans in the middle of Brazil that don’t know barely any Portuguese. I’m
not going to lie, I thought that the president was crazy! I had no faith that
everything would go well.
This was the transfer where I saw the gift of tongues the
most. That transfer we hit the standard of excellence with baptisms. I believe
that I was able to speak Portuguese so well because I needed to. I think that
our Father likes to let us do what we can do but when we are in need he helps.
Who knows maybe I learned how to speak Portuguese so well just because of that
transfer when I needed to.
I’m glad everyone is doing well,
I miss you all and I would send pictures but I got to get
all my pictures back unfortunately.
I hope everyone has a great week.
Love you all
Elder Toma
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