Direct and immediate answers

photo cred: Jessica Gonçalves

Hello!

How are you all?

This week was super good. I’m totally in awe of how the Lord answers our prayers. Last Sunday, we fasted for 24 hours to know how we could best help our area, and this week we received direct, immediate blessings from this fast. We’ve been able to contact many amazing people who have been prepared to hear the gospel. I shall explain:

We had Family Nights with many people, and many invited their friends who wanted to hear about the gospel. We were able to talk with many people that way and share the message of the Restoration! We also contacted C, the friend of a member here, to see if she had interest in learning more about the church and the gospel. She sure did! She accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson—actually, she asked to be baptized before we even started the lesson with her! This week, a couple we are working with also received—with much help from the local bishop—paperwork needed for them to get married so they can be baptized soon. So many blessings have been received this week, and I have been stunned by the answers to prayers we have received.

Like always, we have been speaking Portuguese. However, this week I had difficulty separating Portuguese from English. Sometimes I can’t tell. Some words now have been completely replaced with the Portuguese word, and it’s kinda odd. I have to think about English now which is surprising—however, it’s continuing progress! I still have a Portuguese/Portugal accent from my trainer and not a Brazilian one, but we’re working on it. Lots of prayer and fasts to learn the language are being answered.

During the week we did splits with the bishop here and visited several less active church member families in the area. In one lesson we taught with him, the Bishop asked if he could teach about stewardship and share the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy. He shared scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants 104:11-16, and he explained how the Sabbath Day is a way we show our respect for our stewardship, or our responsibility to take care of what has given to us. We’ve been given the ability to go to church, to know that we are children of God, to give back and to serve, learn, and humble ourselves, and to become clean and be forgiven, and we can take the sacrament. It is our opportunity and responsibility to do this because God has given us the ability to become more like Him through these things, and since we know their importance, we don’t really have an excuse for not using them. That is an awesome thought! I’d never thought about a stewardship like that before, but in the lesson it made perfect sense—and the family joined us at church two days later! Awesome experience!

The APs (Assistants to the Mission President) came to the zone last week to do some training. They gave us good tips for the area and that should be a big help to us. One of them, Elder Homer from New York, should be at home now, but he was asked by the Area President to stay one more transfer as AP. Probs good idea to take the advice he gave me.

We´re working hard, and having a good time. The gospel is true. I’m praying for all of you!

Love,

Elder Hughes