Year Two, Letter Eight

scripture: Mosiah 7:33


updates on my old investigators from Marília:

Carol was the one I baptized. her parents, Renato and Cassia were
married and baptized! they are way strong.
Soraya was baptized the week after i left and is strong.
Junior and Marcele were baptized a week after I left.
Antônia and Fernanda were baptized.

I am so happy. They are all strong.

hey everyone. i gotta be quick today. we found out that we have been
kicked out of our apartment because...well we don´t know why. the guy
just doesn´t like us i guess. so we have to go and try and find
another house or apartment asap.

alright well it sounds like dad and mom should be the new mascot for
the energizer commercials. you guys just don´t stop. but I bet the
house is going to be AMAZING as always for the family reunion. i guess
i will send my RSVP right now...THANKS FOR THE INVITE!! But I won´t be
able to make it this year. Sounds like it will be really fun, but I
already have a previous commitment. But i am sorry that you guys had
to work a TON. you are pretty amazing examples.

it sounds like you guys are doing great with the new callings. That
lesson about a change of heart must have been great. it really is a
miracle to see how people´s hearts can change because of the gospel of
jesus christ. my favorite example lately is Hélio and Nalva. They have
a son named Diogines (say it like Jorgeness...good luck) and a
soon-to-be daughter-in-law that started hearing the missionaries a few
months ago. At first, Diogines was a rock. He didn´t like the
missionaries and every time he got home and saw them teaching his wife
(even though they asked permission), he just got pissed. But she
insisted and they insisted and he finally went to church and started
listening. Now, they are getting the marriage set up and they will be
married in the next few weeks and baptized. The best part is that now,
Diogines and his "wife," Marcele, are my really good friends and love
us, as well. So, Diogines wanted us to teach his parents. In the first
lesson, I felt the spirit so strong. Diogines bore his testimony and
his parents were so amazed at how he changed and they felt the spirit,
too. When we went back, they had prayed about what we said and Nalva
just said that she knew that what we had told her was true. Now the
crazy part. Hélio is the ex-hitman who lived in Pernambucu (i think
that is spelled right), but moved because people wanted to kill him.
He has smoked since he was 11. He never wanted to hear anything about
Christ or the Gospel. But now, he is listening. He is reading the Book
of Mormon. When we went there to teach him last week on his day off,
he said the closing prayer and started crying in the middle of the
prayer. When he finished, he looked at me and said, "Only you guys can
do this." And I just said, "No, it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that
can do this. We are just here to let you know that." Now, he and Nalva
are wanting to get married before the end of the year so that they can
be baptized. And he has started trying to stop smoking. he has gone
from 2 or 3 packs a day to 2 or 3 cigarettes a day. yes, the church is
true.

I don´t understand why President Mario (our Branch President) doesn´t
support us. He was also interviewed by President Tavares this last
weekend and it looks like President Tavares was very firm with him.
But after the meetings on Sunday, we have pushed forward some ideas
and goals and he has committed to do everything he can to help us. We
had District Conference this last weekend with President and Sister
Tavares. They talked about what we need to do to be true disciples of
Christ and how the Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion,
respectively. Great talks. We also had a Leadership Training after
lunch. The 3 branches in Presidente Prudente were supposed to have the
leaderships there. Everest Branch and Aviação Branch had about 15
people each. Planalto Branch (my branch) had Elder Ferandes, Me,
Presidente Mario, and the Branch Mission Leader. 4 people. Yeah, looks
like this branch is real psyched to get to work. But, we worked
together with President Tavares to make some goals. It looks like we
have potential.

Sérgio went to the conference. He liked it. He was interviewed on
saturday for baptism. Elder Loftus interviewed. The branch president
doesn´t have the keys. Sérgio didn´t pass. He has a couple things in
his past that caused some problems. President Tavares interviewed him
on Sunday after church and made some goals and Sérgio will be able to
be interviewed again on Friday or Saturday and baptized this next
weekend. He is still pretty strong. We will continue doing everything
to strengthen and prepare him.

Lillian is doing great. We are now teaching her little sister and her
boyfriend as well. She is bringing other people to church...and
President Mario just said she was a snake (that is what we call the
girls who just listen to the missionaries because they like them). But
when we taught the Law of Chastity, Lillian´s 12-year-old sister said
she wasn´t sure if she would be able to keep it. So sad. She is
12...and she has already done several things that I won´t even say.
But we were VERY, VERY direct with her and explained why she needed to
keep the Law of Chastity and she understood. I think she got a little
scared actually. But it was necessary. Lillian is 14 I think.

Alex and Jonathan are 16. And they are doing well. But we gotta try
and make them (Jonathan) understand and stop being lazy. I dunno. We
will see what potential is still there.

The new missionary is Elder Van Orden. He is cool. He is from St.
George, Utah. He was Elder Yuma´s comp. He plays golf. He is
dedicated. Thus and therefore, we are getting along quite well. I
think he thinks I am a little crazy. But that is just because he is
young on the mission. But he plays golf, so we are good.

My interview with President Tavares was...good. He told me that I
might be getting transferred at the next transfer. I think he is
unsure because he wants to see what i can do with this area with Elder
Fernandes, but at the same time, he said he might want me to get a new
start in another area. The Assistants were here a few weeks ago and it
turns out that they lied a ton about this area. One of them that was
teaching Alex with me said that Alex´s mom grabbed his butt. No, I am
not kidding. I was there the whole time and Alex´s mom didn´t even
like this kid and then in my interview, President was asking if that
was the truth. Oh, I got mad. I explained everything that happened and
it turns out that that was just one of the several lies that this
Assistant was telling. So President was kinda confused but said that
he believed me. I dunno.

I was studying in Preach My Gospel about how we need to learn to
recognize the whispers of the spirit. It was good. Something that
people don´t realize is that when we just look at the negative side of
everything, we can´t feel the spirit. i said that to President Mario.
we have to have the right attitude to feel him guiding us. we have to
seek him and always do our best to follow him. if we lose ourselves in
the world, we can´t follow the Spirit. I think that is why so many
people leave the church. they lose themselves in things that aren´t
really important. ya know?

mom, for the package, i think you know some good, cool things. last
year was spectacular. haha a few ties would be good. ummm i don´t
really know. you guys are the geniuses here. haha. pictures are always
good. what do you think would be a good idea?! toss some of your ideas
out there. i am good on like sunscreen and chapstick and repellent and
powders and stuff. i don´t need those. what would be some good ideas?
and i don´t know if we will have a mission conference again. maybe,
maybe not.

Alright well I think that is all for this week. I love you guys so
much. Thank you for everything you do for me. don´t forget to send
some christmas ideas. :)

tchau!

Elder Scott Ghormley

i forgot

Carol´s cousin, Bia, was also baptized :)

thasall

love you guys.