Significant Sacrament

This week went by very well, and very fast.    Last monday we drove to Matola to pick up Elder Santos, our new companion.  I respect Elder Santos so very much.  He is an example to me of what happens when someone does everything they can to reach their potencial.  Elder Santos did not speak english before the mission.  Now he speaks very well.  He has learned a lot about how to be a leader.  Elder Williams and I feel privileged to serve with him and prepare him to be the next assistant to the president.  

Quick update on the families that we are teaching:

Ronaldo and Iva came to church together, (they did come late, but we'll teach about the importance of the Sabbath day this week)  Ronaldo and Iva are reading in the book of mormon.  One of our focuses this week with him will be to help him read even more. Iva on the other hand is reading really well and is past 1 Nephi 10.  They still haven't seemed to get all their documents yet.  This week we'll teach about the importance of the plan of salvation.  It will help them understand why they need to follow God's commandments on earth and follow them now. (Alma 34)

I mentioned in last week's letter about two new families that we taught:

Julião and Amparo as well as Nelson and Nayomi.   This week we haven't been able to sit with Nelson and Nayomi, but we were able to sit with Julião and Amparo last night.  We taught them the plan of salvation.  The lesson went very well.  Julião and Amparo are people that have a greater understanding of things.  They are both very smart, He's a business consultor and she's an accountant.  Along with that they are both religious and have their understanding of things pertaining to God.  The plan o salvation however was able to clear a few thins up for them.  They have a lot of question about it that we weren't able to answer last night.  We'll be sitting with them again tomorrow to talk more about it.

We sat with Neslon and Louisa this week.  Man!, this family is special.   They live with their two children: Cynthia (9)  and Julinho (6)   They accepted the restoration very openly.  We left them with two book of mormons and committed them to read as a family every day.  Louisa doesn't know how to read very well, so she follows along as her husband reads.  They are progressing!    We sat with them three times this week.  and.....they came to church!  We went by their house early in the morning before church to walk with them.  Our area is about 30 minutes away by foot.  (That is at a missionary walking speed)  A family with their two younger children can take 40-60 minutes to get to church. These people have so much faith.    They enjoyed church a lot and we'll be teaching them tonight as well.

Carlos and Ana are doing well.  Carlos is converted, he's reading the book of mormon and is gaining a solid testimony that this is God's church.  It's seems like half of his family is splitting though.  Ana is still very strong in her church and doesn't show a lot of excitement at the thought of suddenly leaving and joining another church.  She has friends there, many of which she helped them start going there. One of her concerns this week was why we take the sacrament every week, and why it isn't wine with bread.   It's so important to understand the importance of the sacrament.  If an investigator truly understands, then he won't become inactive.  Many people go inactive because of something they did, or that was done to them that could simply have been taken care of by taking the sacrament and renewing their course.  We explained to Ana that the sacrament is simply renewing our baptismal covenants.  We explained that none of us is perfect and we need to renew and realign ourselves with God weekly.  Before my mission I didn't understand the importance of the sacrament.  (The funny thing is, is that 40 years from now I'll look back at this time in my life and say the same thing.  We are always growing and deepening our understanding and testimony of Christ and His Atonement)  Carlos has been to church 4 times in a row.  The first time he only came with one of his kids.  The second time he came with two.  The third time he came with his wife and one of his sons (Nando) and the fourth time, which was yesterday, he came with three of his kids.  It won't be long before the kids start coming every week.  Ana will eventually see a difference in her kids and her husband and will desire the same thing.  Tonight we will be doing a FHE at their house.  We're bringing the Relief Society president along with Nelson and Louisa with their two kids.    Elder Hamilton, when he came to our mission, said that FHE may be our secret weapon to unify families.  I know for a fact that FHE does help the family stay united.

This week we made it into the double digits for investigators at church, and we want to keep it that way.  The Lord is blessing our area and it's starting to build up.  If we are able to get the marriage process open with Ronaldo and Iva this week then they'll be married on the 29th of March.  We hope they can get baptized on the same day as well but we want to make sure that they are converted to the gospel not the idea of a new thing and getting married.

Well, thats all folks!  have a great week!

-Elder Greenman