Week 100 July 4, 2011
Hello family how is everyone doing on this fabulous day! So first things first, a happy 4th of July for all of you back home!!! I hope that you guys just have a great day! I got some photos from Emmy this week of this last weekend and it looked like you guys were enjoying every moment! Get some fireworks and let them off for me ok. Ha-ha… I think here in Brazil I might just have to get some and have some fun too… hahahahaha just messing.
This week has been full with so many activities and amazing experiences! First of all last Monday night we did a family night with Gioberto. Ana, Scarlett, and Stephanie and it was just a great night! We taught a little bit about the Gospel of Jesus Christ; faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end and it was just great! But we taught it in a little different form! Thanks to mom (because you sent me all those good things to give to the people… we did a little bit of an activity… where I told a story which the moral was that “our lives are in our hands” we are free to choose what we want and I put something in the hands of everyone that was at the family night…. In the hands of some I put a necklace of a mustard seed to talk about faith… but the CTR ring and the pin tie for repentance… and so on and so forth…. But it was a great lesson and this family is getting closer and closer to the baptism date, which we marked!! The only thing that is holding them back at this moment is the mom stopping to smoke… we did a branch fast for her without her knowing and it now has been 2 and a half days that she hasn’t smoked!! Wahoooooooooooooo!! It’s been soooo long since she has done that!!! Oh man!! You want to know something funny! I don’t think that I have ever prayed so much for someone to stop smoking and I pleaded with the Lord to help her… to do anything He could to help her stop smoking…. The next day we went to her house and out of no where she said she got this huge cold and a sore throat and she said that she “couldn’t Smoke” ha-ha!!! The Lord is amazing huh!!! And Gioberto he is a police man and worked the night shift Saturday night all night for 24 hours then he got home at 8 A.M and showered and got the family in the car and came to church!! How cool is that!!! What an amazing family!!
This week we also had a great experience!! We were walking on the road in a division with a different missionary here (elder Nascimento) and all of a sudden out of know where I felt like I should knock on this door. So we went there and knocked and they just opened the electric gate and said “come on in… who sent you two elder”’ I was like ahhhhh "elects" hahaha we sat down with this family for some time just to find out that they have 24 years as members of the church! That actually they were the ones who practically started the church here in Santo Angelo and the dad was the quorum president, and the grandma was relief society president, and 3 of the 5 kids were baptized… now all the kids are grow up with their own families and no one is member of the church just the mom…. I was thinking OH MY GOSH!!! The mom continued to say that it had been 15 years that the elders passed by and stuff but they had always had the will to go back to church and to get active again!!! I don’t think I had ever been soooooooooooo happy in my life!!! I was thinking wow 4 amazing families of 4 kids in every family that all more then 9 years of age will be coming back to the church!!! Then we invited them to come back to church and they said yes!!!! But then they said that it won’t be able to happen until August… I thought oh man……… they are going to leave Santo Angelo for the whole month of July because it’s holidays here and its sooooooooooo cold!!! But it will be 4 great families for the next elders here!!
This week we also had a great Zone conference the whole conference was about the Book of Mormon!!!! And it was just amazing!! You know I don’t think I learned anything “new” but I was reminded of the importance of the Book of Mormon for the entire world! Then we talk about what it is and what it contains and the Bible testifies of the Book of Mormon and vice versa, it was sooo amazing!! The Book of Mormon is physical evidence that shows the whole world that what we have to share as missionaries is true! It confirms what is taught in the Bible and does it with clarity, and without any errors! We talked about the spirit that it has brought the world and into the lives of those who read it, and what it means to those who pray to know its true!!
Something that I have already gained a huge testimony about is that if one would open up their heart and read the Book of Mormon and ask God in the name of Christ if the Book is true, God will already answer the prayer of that person!!! And to honest those who would do this (ask God if the Book of Mormon is true) with a sincere heart and a real intention I already know what God will answer! The answer every time will be YES!! Every person needs to get to know the Book of Mormon, to read it, and it think about what is written then ask God because when one knows that the Book of Mormon is true that person will automatically know 3 more things….
1) That Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, because the Book of Mormon testifies of His life and His eternal sacrifice and the road He left for us!
2) That Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God! Which was called by God to restore the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ in its perfect form as it was in the time of Christ
3) And then we will automatically know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is the Kingdom of God (the only true and living church of Christ) that has been restored on the face of this Earth in these last days, in preparation of the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!
You know it all seems sooooo clear to me after!! And I felt sooo sad for not using the Book of Mormon in my teachings as much as I have should have my entire mission!! As missionaries here in the Santa Maria mission we are walking in the roads with the Book of Mormon in our hands now, I'm sure that other missions in the world have been doing that for decades maybe but here we just started it, and I can tell you that I am proud and honored to do just this!
For those who haven’t read the book of Mormon and family I challenge you to read and really imagine what the prophets of old are trying to tell us in their passages, I challenge all to do just that! Read the Book of Mormon and became a witness, like me and millions of others, that it is a book that has been sent from God, written by His holy prophets here in the Americas, to change the lives of those who read it!
I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for His love and guidance in my life!! I know that President Monson is a prophet of God in these modern days that has been called by God to guide the world! Give heed to his teachings and his words, they are ever so precious and so important!!
I love you all and you guys have a great week ok!
Happy 4th of July!
Love Elder Wiscomb
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