This week was very... WET. Welcome to the rainy season! But guess what. Rainy season is miracle season so it's all good. And Brazilians are just naturally so sweet and (almost) always let you in.
Truthfully, this week was tough. Mentally, physically, emotionally. But we will not give up!!!
This week President Farnes sent us a letter from a missionary from another mission who baptized every single week for one year. Can you believe it?! 52 baptisms in a row??? Wow. In this letter, this missionary described what they did and how the Lord magnified their efforts. Now we are applying these principles in our areas, things like: focusing on a part of a neighborhood or just a few streets, working smart and efficient more than physically, talking about baptism ALL THE TIME and how to help each person reach this goal, praying together as a zone for the people we are all teaching, and not being scared to invite everyone and anyone to be baptized. Honestly and truly, there is no big secret. It comes down to desire, mental power, and focus. The secret is trust in the Lord: "You were not called to serve with your own strength. You were called to serve with the power of God".
This letter really pumped me up!!! We worked so hard this week, lots of prayers and fasting, doing everything possible to help our investigators. But.... I have to admit I am a little bit frustrated because I feel like nothing is happening. Only one of our investigators came to church yesterday and not a single one came to the big activity we planned. Broke my heart! Satan is working hard and using the smallest of things to stop these people from going to church and being baptized. But we are stronger. And we are smarter. And we will WIN!!!!
"We do not desire to murmur.... we trust God will deliver us, notwithstanding the weakness of our armies, yea, and deliver us [and our investigators] out of the hands of our enemies" (Alma 58:35,37)
Just like Helaman kept the faith when his armies, including the 2,000 stripling warriors, didn't have any more resources and were struggling to keep fighting, I will keep the faith too!!! I will keep praying for the Lord's help so we can do His will for His children.
So these are the main people we are teaching. Every single one of them have been to church at least once, all of them are reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And every single one of them can be baptized this weekend (Saturdayor Sunday) if they accept it. So in your prayers this week, please pray that we can discover their concerns and that the Spirit can touch their hearts.
Giovana- 18 years old, her less-active mom goes to the catholic church now and she doesn't know where she feels more "at home"
Ian- 22 years old, accepted baptism with a date on the first contact, GOLDEN, couldn't go to church yesterday because he was sick
Felipe- 19 years old, he will be the best future missionary ever, dating a Mormon girl, he doesn't want to disappoint his parents and leave their other church
Isabel, Eugenio, Araceli- mom, dad, and 17 year old daughter, our miracle family from english class, they still have lots of doubts and don't want to be baptized until they know everything
Every single one of these people will accept the gospel and be baptized. I can feel it!!! They are all just so good!! And I love them all so much. They just need a little push. And your prayers will do the trick! THANK YOU!
I love you all! Happy early Valentine's Day! Too bad Valentine's day in Brazil is in July. I'll celebrate it anyway.
Seja Valente e Fiel,
Sister Jorgensen
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