Chris Martin once sang about
getting a tattoo that says 'together thru life' for the one he loves.
While we know that the Lord doesn't want us to get tattoos, cuz that's
bad, he has asked us to write the Savior's name on our heart, a sort of
eternal ink if you think about it.
This week started the
last (or trunky) twelve weeks of my mission. Never thought that would
happen. It's giving me time to reflect about how I've written the
Savior's name on my heart, what it is to serve him, and what it is to
love him through obedience. This week I got a bit of a wake up call on
that, and it's got me thinking a lot. Funny how wake up calls work,
isn't it?
One incredible thing from this week has been the
progress of one of our thug friends, Obona. Since last week, he's
continued to progress in leaps and bounds. The fact he went to church
sent waves through our area, he's a pretty well known guy, and it got
people talking. In just talking to other investigators and people in our
area, we had at least 3 people tell us he invited them to church, and
last night, Obona told us about a friend of his who said he wants to
follow his example and get clean of all the bad stuff in his life.
Amazing what one repentant thug can do, hey? This week, he's been an
example to me of someone who's written the Savior's name on his heart.
He's far from a perfect person, he doesn't speak Portuguese very well,
can't read the best, but he's got that desire to change and be a better
person. It's honestly been a miracle to see. At church on Sunday, he was
there before us; we had passed his house at 10am and three different
women on the street shouted, almost at the same time, that he'd already
gone. He's got these real cool round sunglasses and always shouts his
name to announce himself. My favorite line we got from him this week was
when we taught him the Word of Wisdom, in which he told us he'd already
stopped drinking and smoking, and when his friends offered him some or
invited him to a party, he responded, 'sorry, my religion doesn't permit
that'. He's not even baptized yet! It was so cool. He's awesome.
Transfers
happened on Wednesday. It was sorta weird. Elder McMullin got sent out
to Sao Nicolau, and Elder Bullock left to Fogo again. Second time that
we've all been in the same zone and they've proceeded to leave me. One
gets over it after a while. Elder McMullin's spot got taken by Elder
Cosmo, who I know well from our Fogo days, having been in Cova Figueira
together for more than 4 transfers. It's good for Elder Hingano, Elder
McMullin's son, cuz now he's got the trial by fire with Portuguese going
on. I've taken over District Leader responsibilities, making it the second time I'm District Leader in this district. I'm pumped to still be here.
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