Well this week has been pretty good! We
have had some exciting developments in the mission! As of this coming
week we will be getting smartphones for the mission! I cannot tell y'all
how excited I am for that because it is going to help the missionary
work soooo much! Our planning and Area Book will now be on the phone and
we will be able to share videos and study more talks as we prepare to
teach! It is going to be an amazing blessing the the missionary effort!
Yesterday
we also had the awesome opportunity to have a General Authority
Seventy, Elder Costa and his wife, come and do a mission tour. As always
it is super amazing to have a General Authority in the same room as you
and they are all soooo funny! I have never had more fun Zone
Conferences than those when a General Authority or Apostle is visiting.
So Elder Costa told us a super funny story from his time as a mission
president in Brazil. He got invited by some of his Elders to come with
them to a teaching appointment of a family where a local minister would
be in attendance. Turns out the not only a local minister showed up but
the head minister of the mission region and, even better, the head
minister of all the church in Brazil! Big game yeah? So the church that
the family belonged to is one that believes the Sabbath is on Saturday.
So the head minister of all of Brazil says that if Elder Costa will
answer a couple questions then they will leave and let them teach the
family but if they can't answer the question the Elder Costa and the
Elders must leave. So they agree. And of course the first question is
"Do you believe in the bible" followed by "What day is the Sabbath?" So
Elder Costa answers both questions and it makes the minister mad. The
minister starts to bash with him and then Elder Costa gets a spiritual
impression, "Do to him as Nephi did to Laban." Elder Costa looks at us
and goes, "So then I am looking around trying to find a sword!" We are
all dying at this point because of what he is saying. He then tells us
he says a quick prayer "Lord I don't understand." and the spirit tells
him "Cut off his head with the spirit." So he turns to the story of when
the Savior healed a man on the Sabbath and how the Pharisees reviled
him. He then looks at the head minister and says "You are like they
were. I hope you keep your word." And then the ministers leave. We all
died during his story because he has broken English and we could tell
that if there had been a sword there he probably would have done exactly
what Nephi did! All in all it was a great time!
One
last awesome thing that happened was that we had about 40 people at
church this week in the English branch! I haven't seen that many people
in a long time and the best part is that all three companionship had
either an investigator or a less active that they had been working with
show up! It was soo cool to see the fruits of all our labors here in
Chalmette and that we actually are making a difference! Maximo and his
family also showed up to the English branch because, as Maximo told
Elder Boyd, "This morning was a good morning, and I wanted to feel good
this morning. I do feel good this morning." So that was really cool to
hear. It was also a blessing because something came up and Maximo and
his family werent able to come to the Spanish group that night! The Lord
does prompt his followers!
Well I think that is it for this week! Have a great one y'all!
Elder Nathan Stoddard
