Sunday, August 12, 2018

August 5, 2018 Reaching New Heights


Dear Family, 

This week has definitely been a better one. 

It seems that everything has being going back to normal in the area and we were able to find some good investigators. 


This week we had 5 at church so that was great and two of them are a couple that are really wanting to get married and baptized so we are setting some goals with them and the bishop has some contacts that can help them get married fast and cheap. 

This week I was able to talk to my companion a little bit more and his story sounds a lot like your friend Jason's. 


So my companion, Elder Araujo, used to be a part of some spirit religion and he came in contact with the sisters just to bible bash them. He wanted to attack the church but then when he went to church one day the Spirit told him "God loves you and he wants you here, this is your place" afterwards he asked the members behind him why they said that in his hear but then the told him that he didn’t. He said that he started to pray and ask if that was an answer from God and he said he felt really warm and ever since then he was converted. But like Jason he had to wait a year because his family went against him and was even banned from going to church for a year and his family would find his Book of Mormons and burn them. 


But he is an excellent missionary and has one of the strongest testimonies ever and now his family is liking the church and excepting the missionaries and everything. 


This week we also went to the leadership council meeting in Maceió. So my companion and I usually leave the house at 11 30 at night and we get a but to Maceió at 12 30 and then we usually arrive in Maceió about 6:00 in the morning. This time we arrived at 5:30. Then from the bus station we go to the president's house and wait until 8 for the breakfast and then we start at 9.

The meeting was very spiritual especially Sister Taylor´s training and President´s. 



 Sister Taylor talked about reaching higher. She did a practice where she had someone reach as high as the could on the wall and then she marked it with taped.

And then she had the same person try again but reach a little higher. It’s interesting that we always find a way to reach a little higher even if it’s just by a little. 

President talked about the roles of a district leader and a zone leader and how neither is better than the other but the mission has this idea that a zone leader is more important when it really isn’t. IN fact a district leader has even more contact with the missionaries. He compared the two as a bishop and as a stake president.

After the meeting we went to the bus station at 6 and returned home a little before midnight. I think that the lack of rest and travelling got me sick because all week I have been feeling really tired and I caught a nasty cold. I am getting better and its passing but it is never fun getting sick on the mission especially when you need to work but your feeling tired. 
So this week was good but also a little annoying with the cold. The next day when we got back from Maceió at midnight we had to wake up early and go to a district meeting I was just dead ha-ha. 

My studies have been going really well and I’m enjoying this challenge to finish the Book of Mormon by Christmas. I was reading in Mosiah and I read the story of Abinadi and I just love that story. It reminds me of all those that sealed their testimony with their blood. Joseph Smith, Abinadi, and Christ are great examples of that. 
It teaches me that even when we are afraid to do what’s right we just need to do it. I love that. It reminds me of President Thomas S. Monson's talk on daring to be a Mormon. 

Sounds like everyone has had a great week. I loved the pictures!

I hope everyone is doing well.
Have a great week

Love
Elder Toma

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