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
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