This was a really, really good week! This week was AWESOME! Still melting and baking in the brazilian sun, but hey, we are on fire in more ways than one! We had a district meeting about using every possible opportunity to teach and it really pumped us up. We taught over 60 lessons this week! And we've been working on inviting everyone to be baptized with a specific date on the first contact. Sounds crazy? Oh, it is. It's kind of thrilling! This is thrill in the life of a missionary. Conquering our fears.
We have to take advantage of every moment to give people the chance to change their lives for the better. I have no doubt that there are people all around us right here, right now, ready to accept the gospel and be baptized. Here's proof:
Tereza was a referral. Sweet older lady who has super strong faith but really doesn't want anything to do with the church. She wanted help for her 30 year old son Luiz, who is recovering from addictions. First visit he stayed in his room and didn't want to talk to us. Second visit, even after much coaxing and persuasion, he still stayed in his room. Then, when it came time to pray at the end, he came out. He told us he had been listening, how he wanted to read the Book of Mormon, how he wanted more than anything to change. It was a very humbling moment and the Spirit was strong. So what did we do? We invited him to change his life and put him on date for baptism in that instant. November 8th. It's going to be the best day of his entire life. And guess what... HE PRAYED AT THE END!!!! I'm so excited to teach him more!
We found a 19 year old less-active named Julio a few weeks ago who told us he had been feeling like the missionaries would visit him that day. He felt like everyone had forgot about him, and this visit was what he needed to have the desire to return to church. We were sad when he didn't come to church last week, but he came yesterday!!! Wooohooo! He even took out his earrings and was wearing a suit! Best part. He brought his girlfriend Sabrina. And we're teaching her tonight!
We had one another investigator at church yesterday. His name is Otavio. Sister R. Santos street contacted him in another area when we had exchanges this week. She tried to get his address but he was being stubborn and wouldn't give it. We found him again on Saturday (there are no coincidences!) and he ended up telling us his whole life story about how he lost his wife and how he doesn't know what happiness is anymore. He still wouldn't give us his address so we said "If you want happiness, meet us at church tomorrow". He told us that if we weren't out front waiting for him exactly at 9am, he would turn around and go home (haha this man really is a funny one). We kept our end of the deal and there he was. He stayed for all 3 hours and loved the Gospel Principles lesson about Eternal Marriage. Perfect. We are going to be teaching him this week!
As you can see, Heavenly Father is really blessing us ALOT! We have been working so hard and we are so exhausted. But it's all worth it.
I gave a talk in church yesterday about missionary work, how Christ was the perfect missionary. I love Matthew 4:19 when the He says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men". Key word "I". HE will help us. HE will qualify us. This is HIS work. I got lots of compliments on my talk so I think everyone was able to understand what I was saying. I hope so! It was a good experience for me and I learned a lot preparing for it.
I know my Savior lives and He is helping me be a valiant missionary every day. This week was truly a week of valiance for us! When we show the Lord we are willing to work, He blesses us. It's that simple! So happy and excited for this upcoming week! More miracles!!!
Love and miss you all!
Sempre Sorria,
Sister Jorgensen
P.S. Pics from the Campinas temple that I wasn't able to include last week and a family we are teaching. Rita, the daughter of a less-active, just turned 8! We are helping her family return to church and preparing her for baptism.
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