Cidade Jardim and looking forward

What 4 months looks like.

Hello! How are you all? I’m doing quite swell! 

This week was really pretty awesome! We had transfers, and I am now in Cidade Jardim in the same zone I was last in. The previous area closed at the transfer, so I’m opening again but this time with four elders! Yes! It’s true! There are four elders in the area, and the work here is moving rull fast! My companion is Elder Rojas from La Paz, Bolivia, who only has two transfers left on his mission. He’s very humble and I’m learning a lot from him. We're here with Elders Mota and Vasconcelos, from Manaus and Recife, respectively. They are the Zone leaders in the zone and we’re learning from them too. Elder Mota could be home now, but he asked to stay one more transfer because he loves the work so much. I thought that was pretty cool. 

The ward here has about 300 people in it, with about 200 who attend every Sunday. The Bishop is awesome and has done splits with us twice already. The Ward Mission Leader is a 20 year old who was baptized 3 years ago, and he will be going on his mission soon after he finishes college studying...yes! English! The ward is really something of a work of genius. Clayton the WML, Diogo, another young man prepping for his mission, and the bishop, are totally involved in the work and the members all love the missionaries, so it’s really something of an amazing miracle here. We have a number of investigators and one new miracle who spoke to us on the street our first day here and who wants to be baptized! 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of testimony this week. Our testimony is really how we know that something is true in the gospel. A testimony is proof that we have hope in the gospel because it allows us to look forward without doubt, and with the assurance that what we are doing with our time is worthwhile for tomorrow´s work—because if we know the gospel of Jesus Christ and His church is true today, it’s going to be true tomorrow, and if it’s true tomorrow, we have work to do today and tomorrow! The Lord said in the Doctrine and Covenants that if we know him, we would labor while it is called today. I like D&C 107:99-100 a lot about working and about our testimonies. If we have a testimony, we will exercise it "in all diligence." But just having a testimony is not enough—we need to share it. As missionaries, we share testimony every day, and it is important that we share testimony; we learn in the Bible that sharing testimony allows other people to hear testimony, and hearing testimony is how others can gain testimony. That being said, a testimony is not something to be taken lightly; it is to be nourished and kept sacred, and shared through the Spirit. Because the Spirit speaks to edify. 

Anyways that was the week! Elder Martins left São José to go be a zone leader elsewhere in the mission, and oddly, I did not take any photos this week. For that I apologize. I am a sinner. Love you all!! 

Elder Hughes