Letter #50- "525,600 minutes‏"

"525,600 moments so dear. In 525,600 minutes. How do you measure, measure a year?"

 

Hahahahahaha I have been waiting a year to start my email with that heading!!!! Hahaahah how funny is that! And I am surprised that no one included THAT in their email. I was almost positive Audrey would have said that in her email. Hahahahaha. So I hope everyone is doing good. Can you believe it has already been a year? It really has flown by! 

 

Can you believe it´s already time for General Conference again!? I am so exicted I can hardly wait. I am super excited for everything. To hear the Prophet of God speak to us and the 12 Apostles and to hear President Uchdorf! "LIFT VERE YOU STAND!!!" i´m excited to hear a story about someone flying an airplane!!!! hahaha but seriously. I love him. I get so happy when I see him talking. hahaha. When we were in the CTM a few missionaries played a joke on me sayin that President Uchdorf was coming to the CTM. I just about died. hahaha. but I am excited. Conference is a great time to reflect on the things that we need to better in our lives and how to become more Christlike and how to be better prepared. How wonderful it is to have a prophet of God and 12 apostles like in the days of Christ? 

 

I was reading Tad R. Callister´s talk (from 2 years ago) that is intitled "Joseph Smith-- Prophet of the Restoration." Read it when you get the chance. It´s the most amazing talk I have ever read in a long time. In it he talks about 4 truths that Joseph Smith learned in the first vision in 1820.  I would like to quote one of the truths:

"The third truth that Joseph Smith learned was that God still speaks to man today—that the heavens are not closed. One need but ask three questions, once proposed by President Hugh B. Brown, to arrive at that conclusion (see “The Profile of a Prophet,” Liahona, June 2006, 13; Ensign, June 2006, 37). First, does God love us as much today as He loved the people to whom He spoke in New Testament times? Second, does God have the same power today as He did then? And third, do we need Him as much today as they needed Him anciently? If the answers to those questions are yes and if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, as the scriptures so declare (see Mormon 9:9), then there is little doubt: God does speak to man today exactly as Joseph Smith testified. (see Joseph Smith- Prophet of the Restoration by Tad R. Callister in the October Conference in 2009)"

 

God still speaks to man! And that is an awesome truth that has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. It´s been a rough week for me, but I remembered what President Uchdorf taught in the last conference: When we go through turbulance in our lives, we nee to slow down and return to the basics. So I have been focusing a lot on the Book of Mormon this week and 'feasting on the words of Christ'. 

 

One of the reasons it was so hard is because we were at Suely´s house a few days ago and she walked in and Elder Medeiros asked her why she didn´t go to church on Sunday and she said because she didn´t think it was true anymore and that she didn´t want to go back to church because she didn´t feel good there. I kept quiet the entire time, but I was really really really REALLY mad. Then she said the wrong thing, at the wrong time. She said that she never wanted to get baptized and we forced her to be baptized and that´s when I stood up and said "Whoa. whoa. Don´t you dare lie to me. I was with you when you felt the Spirit. I felt it with you and with your daughter and with your son. I heard you say you that the day you went to church was one of the best days of your lives. So you either lied to me then or you are lying to me now. Which is it?" and she kept quiet. and I continued "and more even, the Lord manifested to you several times that this church was true. You had at least 2 dreams about the church and you know this is true. If you deny the truthfulness of this church and this Book, you are not denying us, you aren´t denying the church but you are denying God, why? Because He is the one who answered your prayers and now you are going to tell me that THAT NEVER HAPPENED? Don´t you dare. You can tell me that now you don´t want to be a member of the church. but don´t you dare tell me that you were forced into this church." 

 

And then the Spirit whispered to me that the reason why she stopped going to church wasn´t because she doesn´t feel good there, but because someone had said something to her. So I said "What did they tell you? Who told you this?" and she said "oh elder no one told me anything. I just don´t feel like this is true anymore, I like my old church." Oh man... wrong answer. And so I said "so what is it about our church that you don´t like? Is it because we don´t scream at you? it is because we don´t scream at God? is it because we don´t ask you for our money and tell you that if you sell us your house, God will give you 3 houses (because they do that!) is it because we don´t sell 'land plots in Heaven'?(because they do that too! You can by 'Land in heaven´) What is it?" 

 

She said "I just don´t want it anymore." I was done. I sat down and shut up. I was ticked off and I knew if I continued to talk I would start saying things that a representative of Christ shouldn´t say. But I remembered the talk by Tad Callister that I read that said this:

 

"Yet sorrowfully, on occasion, some are willing to set aside the precious gospel truths restored by Joseph Smith because they get diverted on some historical issue or some scientific hypothesis not central to their exaltation, and in so doing they trade their spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. They exchange the absolute certainty of the Restoration for a doubt, and in that process they fall into the trap of losing faith in the many things they do know because of a few things they do not know. There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite, but likewise there will always be the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration to cling to, which will provide the rock foundation upon which our testimonies may be built.  When many of Christ’s followers turned from Him, He asked His Apostles, “Will ye also go away?” Peter then responded with an answer that should be engraved on every heart: “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:66–68).

If someone turns from these restored doctrines, where will he go to learn the true nature of God as taught in the grove of trees?"

 

Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. That´s all there is to it and the thing about it is that it´s not a hard concept to understand. God always talked to His people through prophets (Amos 3:7) and He does so now. and if you don´t know, ask God and He will tell you. I know that God lives and that this is His True Church reestablished on the earth again. Restored by a prophet of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet. He saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ in that grove of trees. We have a living prophet that is on the earth today that speaks to God as Moses did. We have 12 Apostles JUST like they had in Christ´s ancient church. and they are going to speak to us this weekend. I don´t know about you but I am so excited to hear what they have to say! I know that Book of Mormon is the word of God and is true. I love you all. Happy one year!!!!

 

-elder askins

P.S. I am super excited to talk to you all next month!!!

Letter #48- "It's colder than it ought to be in March‏"

"and I still got a day or two ahead of me, til I'll be heading home, into your arms again. And the people here are asking after you. It doesn't make it easier. It doesn't make it easier to be away.  I'd like to hire a plane. I'd see you in the morning, when the day is fresh. I'm coming home again. When the day is fresh, I'm coming home again."

 

WOW! That is Dashboard Confessional. I think I got all the words right. It´s been a while (almost a year!) but I love that song. Especially after I received my call because I thought, "Colder than it ought to be in March-- in Brazil it gets colder, and I am used to it getting warmer." but I do love it.

 

MY dearest family and friends. I sure do love you all so much and I have been praying a lot for you in these last days. Can I vent a little to you? I HATE mosquitoes! hahaha. They sure do suck! hahaha. But you live and learn right. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity. hahahaaha. But it seems like there are a lot more mosquitoes here then in Curitiba. hahaha. So how was everyone´s Spring Break!? (And the last little bit of Spring Break for Aud is still going on! Que Bênção!!)

 

Well, I am happy, the summer is over officially here (it´s still hot, but the summer-going people are finally leaving the beach) and life is calming down here in Matinhos. Things are going super great.

 

So if you wanted to know, Elder Medeiros and I are on fire! Literally and figuratively. We have been teaching like crazy. This week has been great. So last week we knocked the door of this sweet old lady and taught her the first lesson. She loved us and when we went to mark to pass by her house another day, she told us that she lived in another location. On the beach! So we made plans to pass by this past Monday. We went to her house and she wasn´t home, but her husband was and we taught him and he really enjoyed it. She read the parts of the Book of Mormon we asked her to read and to pray and she did and she knows that it´s true. He is having more trouble with the reading and the praying. When he does, he´ll know it too! 

 

Afterwards, we were close to the house of this old investigator, so we thought "Why not?" so we passed by and talked to her. She told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it and she knows it´s true. So we marked a date with her in 2 weeks to be baptized. QUE BÊNÇÃO!!

 

Yesterday, we went to this lady´s house (she´s a member) she has been telling us about her neighbors who she has been preparing to hear our message, so we went and taught them.  My favorite part was on our way to their house, our member that was with us said "Now elders, it´s a mom and a daughter. The daughter is a beautiful girl who is just a little odd." 

 

"But Irmã, what do you mean by odd?" 

 

"Oh, she´s like possessed by a demon.." 

 

Whoa whoa whoa. Well, let´s go. So we went and I was nervous and ready to expell a demon. We got  to the house and the mother was nice and then we met the girl who seemed really normal and nice, and then we all sat down and I noticed that something was strange about her. I started getting nervous because I was thinking of an 'Emily Rose' experience was going to happen. I kept praying for an insight. Then the girl started talking to us. About how she has problems with things emotionally and about how pastors and preachers and padres have passed her house telling her she is possessed and an evil girl and has all the sicknesses because she won´t let Jesus in her heart and she was crying. I told her about how special she was and important she was and about how she was, in fact, a Daughter of God with much valor and worth. The Spirit bore testimony to me that that is true with all of us and that this girl has problems, but a demonic possession was not one of them. We taught them the first lesson and the Spirit was super strong. We marked a baptismal date for 2 weeks and we are passing by tonight to see if they read and prayed. Afterwards we gave her a blessing of comfort to help her feel better.

 

I know that God lives. I have been very impressed with the passage that is in John 13, verses 13-20 which read:

"13. Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.  

14. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.  

15. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 

16. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.  

17. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.  

18.  I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.  

19. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he (JST The Chirst). 

20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."

 

On a mission I am literally emplyed by the Jesus Christ.   He is in all literal aspects my Master, my Boss. That is how it should be for all people who follow Christ and so we must serve others and be as Christ was  because as He so taught, a servent is not greater than his Master and at the end how He says, "He that receiveth you, receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me, received Him that sent Me." Who sent the Christ? The very Father and speaking of this receiving part I am thinking of one of my favorite scriptures which is Hebrews 13:2. I will not say it here, but look it up when you get the chance. It is a fantastic one that all converts to the church should love (and shouldn´t we all be converts?)

 

I love you all and I am so thankful that we are an eternal family. I love the Lord, my Master. I love this work. The Church is true and the Book of Mormon is too and Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and we have a prophet today who speak with God, just as Moses of old!

 

com amor,

-Elder Nathan Palmer Askins

Letter #47- "The Promise"

"I´m sorry but I´m just thinking of the right words to say. I know they don´t sound the way I planned them to be but if you wait around awhile I´ll make you fall for me. I promise you. I promise you. I´m sorry but I´m just thinking of the right words to say. I know they don´t sound the way I planned them to be but if I had to walk the world I´d make you fall for me. I promise you, I promise you, I will."

 

Wow. I love that song. It is a great one! Well, I hope everything is going well in good old AZ. I heard about what happened in Japan. We really are in the last days. So we had an exciting week here on the coast. The same day that the tsunami hit Japan, we had heavy rains and flooding along the south-eastern coast of Brazil or in better words.. where I am. The road to Paranaguá and the ferry boat the guaratuba and the road to Curitiba were destroyed. The flooding was so bad in Paranaguá that they ran out of water and they are running out of food but things in Matinhos are fine. We just had A LOT of rain but no need to worry about me. I am fine. hahaha. 

 

So Tiago´s baptism didn´t happen but we remarked for this weekend. So hopefully that will happen. He did some things that made it so he couldn´t be baptized. We had a very spiritual lesson with him. We passed by and I told him. "Do you believe the Book fo Mormon is true? that Joseph Smith  is a true prophet? That this is the restored church? that Jesus is the Christ our Savior and Redeemer?" He answered yes to all the questions. I looked at him in the eyes and I said, "Then act like it!"

 

He felt something because he hasn´t smoked or drank since Sunday night when we had the meeting with him. He is a great kid. I enjoy being with him. 

 

I would just like to share some studying that I did and things that I have learned. Read Acts 1-3 for a good read. I love it. It´s amazing. Look at the power that Peter had. I did some intense studying of those chapters for many reasons. One was because chapter 2 is what a lot of the church's that speak in weird tongues use to support speaking in weird tongues and they also use that to teach that you don´t have to be a member to receieve the gift of the holy ghost of that it doesn´t need to be by the laying on of hands. Read Chapter 2 of acts carefully. first thing you notice is that they were all grouped together and peter was leading the meeting (a clear indication that he was the Prophet of the church). then it talks about how the apostles got in front of everyone and  that "they were filled with the holy ghost) They, the apostles were filled withthe holy ghost.. because they already receieved the gift of the holy ghost. and then they spoke in tongues. Who? If you read the whole chapter, you notice that THE APOSTLES were speaking in tongues. it says something like "Strange tongues" Not like in a blabbering sense.. but in languages they had never spoken before. so of course it was strange.. before 1 year ago.. portuguese was a weird language to me. then Peter gives a powerful discourse about Christ and the atonement. i was impressed witht he formula that he used to give his talk. (scriptures that the people knew and then explained and applied them to their lives) that it the same way that the apostles and prophets give talks today. wow! I loved that studying. well. i love you all so much, i hopeall is well in AZ. i love you!

Com Amor!

Elder Askins

Letter # 46- "Where is your boy tonight? I hope he is a gentleman."

And maybe he won´t find out what I know... you were the last good thing about this part of town.

 

Dearest family.

 

Oh how I love you! This week has just blown by! My stomach has been hurting a lot but it´s gotten a lot better.

 

Well I feel there is some news I should share with you: I SURVIVED CARNIVAL IN BRAZIL... ON THE BEACH!!! How many people can say that? hahaha but this past week was Carnival in Brazil and it is just as horrible as you hear other people describe it. Imagine Satan in full power and iniquity on the beach.. with like 5 million more people. It is horrible but I survived... and we are having a baptism this weekend!

 

Suely (our newest convert) is so awesome! She introduced us to her son, Tiago. And he is awesome! He will be baptized this Sunday. I am so excited! He spent the whole p-day with us today. We went to this place called Surfer´s Hill (or something like that) and we played soccer there and it looks over the beach. SUPER BEAUTIFUL! I´ll take us there when we come back! And we got some lunch. Though this was the first time in about a year that my legs received sunlight... they got a little burnt but that´s fine.

 

Things here are just calming down and every one is leaving because Carnival ended today. On Sunday it was really bad.  We were in our house and all our appointments had fallen through and I was on my knees saying help me Heavenly Father. I said we are going to this person´s house, if there is a better person to teach, please let me know. So we were walking to this person´s house and found some of our good friends (a part member family) and the father was... in all honesty... pretty wasted. So we stopped to talk to them.

 

They invited us in and we started talking tothem. The dad came in, drunk as a skunk and started going off about how the church is a cult and all this stuff. (normally he is super nice when he is not absolutely wasted) So we left. The next day Elder Medeiros was not feeling good. So we cancelled our lunch and I let him sleep. I started thinking about this guy and that family. We had marked an appointment to come back that night and I thought, we will not go back.  I felt like we should pass by during the day and I thought Elder Medeiros is sick, but the dad will be drunk. We are not going back and then I laid down. When I laid down, Elder Medeiros sat up and said "Elder Askins, I feel great now. Get up, we have to go to this guys house."

 

And I was astonished. He said "I have been thinking about him a lot and I feel like we have to go there now. So we got up and ran to his house. He was there, not completely wasted and we talked to him for like an hour about the church and about his drinking and smoking. He said he would try to quit because he knew it was true. PRETTY DANG NEAT. So right now we are waiting for him, because we are going to do an activity with his family to finish off the p-day and then we are going to Suely´s house to talk to her, tiago, and Jessica.

 

I feel like Nacho Libre because I can say "MY LIFE IS GOOOOD" I love the Lord. I love this work. I know know KNOW that this is the true church and that the Book of Mormon is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet. Thanks for answering the letters family. I sure do lobe you!!!! (like they say in Mr. Deeds) hahaha

Com Amor!

-Elder Carlos (I will never run out of nicknames that dad has given me)

Letter #45- "I Confess, I Messed Up, Dropping I´m Sorry Like You´re Still Around."

"And I know you´re dressed up, 'Hey kid you´ll never live this down!' Cuz you´re just the girl all the boys want to dance with and I´m just the boy who´s had to many chances. I´m sleeping on your front porch again dreaming she said, she said, she said, "Why don´t you just drop dead?" I don´t blame you, for being you but you can´t blame me for hating it. So say what are you waiting for? Kiss her, kiss her! I set my clocks early cuz I know I´m always late!" (Fall Out Boy from the album From Under the Cork Tree)

Hello my dear family! I sure do love you! My heart is full of joy today. It has been a wonderful, wonderful week! It has been pretty exciting here in our district. Let me start off with last Wednesday night. So as you remember last Tuesday night, we were teaching Sueli and marked a date with her daughter, Jessica.

Well, Wednesday night we stopped by her house to teach Jessica about some of the commandments.  When we got there, we started talking to them about baptisms and the Holy Ghost. Sueli said, "Jessica, tell them what you told me this morning." Jessica said that the night before, as we were teaching her about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the experience that Joseph Smith had in the grove behind his house, about how he saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Jessica said that when we told her that story, a burning feeling flooded her chest and spread to her whole body and that she started to cry, but she didn´t want us to see. She couldn´t find the words to express how she was feeling, so when we asked her if she wanted to be baptized, she just gave a simple, "Yes." She said that that feeling happiness that she experienced stayed with her all night, even after we left and when she woke up, she still felt it and then she felt it the whole day. She said life seemed to be different. I asked her if she would like to feel that way forever and she said yes. We told her about how she had to be baptized and afterward, she would receieve the gift of the Holy Ghost and then she would be able to have these feelings with her forever, it was awesome!

I felt the spirit so strong! The Thursday, I went and did an exchange with other elders to do some interveiws for them. 3 out of the 4 people I interviewed were baptized! It was awesome! Then when I got back to the area, I ran straight to Sueli´s house because her interview was happening. Elder Medeiros told me that Jessica called the night before and said that Sueli didn't want to be baptized but that she wanted to bring the elders to do the interviews and that her mom really would be baptized. So when I got there, Jessica already got interviewed and passed. We waited like 30 minutes and Sueli came out and she passed and wanted to be baptized again! How awesome! And then they asked who wants to be baptized by whom. Jessica picked Elder Medeiros and Sueli picked me. It was awesome. We had the baptism on Sunday after church. The water was freezing. But in all honesty, I never have attended a baptism with warm water here in Brazil. haha.

Sunday night we watched, the Restoration with Sueli and what was super funny is her brother, who is really drunk all the time, stood in the door and watched the whole movie with us but no one saw him. When it ended I started baring my testimony. He interrupts me and shouts, "That was the best movie I have ever seen." Hahaha it was really funny. We all laughed. Her brother is starting to change. Sueli says that lately he´s been a lot more sober then he has been in a long time.

Last night we taught Sueli´s son, Tiago (which is portuguese for James FYI) I will tell you what happened with him. but afterward we went into the other room and the brother was there, sober, listening to our message. It was really neat. He actually looks like a really skinny Chuck Norris. I will try to get a picture with him.  When we were teaching Tiago I taught him about God, and families, and about prophets, and about Christ and about how Christ organized a church. We read Ephesians 4:11-14 (which is one of my favorite scriptures) it explains that Christ built His church on Apostles and Prophets (v. 11) and that the purpose of the church, or why we need to frequent a church is for reaching perfection (v. 12) and that the church, with the foundations of 1 prophet, 12 apostles, and the authority of God was designed (by Christ Himself) to last on the earth until all of us reach the unity of the faith (v. 13) and then I said do you think that the Christian churches are in the unity of the faith? and he said no and I said then we HAVE to have 1 prophet and 12 apostles on the earth. I explained that we have prophets and apostles to help the doctrine of Christ stay pure (v. 14) and I bore my testimony and passed to Elder Medeiros. He bore his testimony about what I taught and said, because we are not in the unity of the faith we have to have 1 prophet and 12 apostles. But where are they where are the prophet and apostles? I heard a voice inside my mind shout "THEY ARE RIGHT HERE! THIS IS THE ONLY TRUE AND LIVING CHURCH ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH WITH THE AUTHORITY AND WITH 12 APOSTLES AND A PROPHET OF GOD. Luckily I kept quiet. haha. Elder Medeiros told the first vision and I felt a deep burning in my chest and knew that it was true. Whats more is, after we taught the lesson, we asked Sueli´s son to say the prayer and in it he asked if the things we said were true and the minute he asked, I felt a burning in my soul.  I felt the answer. It was a really awesome experience. I thought about what Presidnet Cordon said last week about through 1 person we can bring millions to Christ. How true that is.

 

I know that this church is true and that God lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is true because I have read it and I received my answer!

I love you all! Hey! This month I´ll hit my year mark. wow!

Com Amor,

-Elder Askins