Saturday 8 October 2016

The Well and The Lighthouse




It's been interesting this week to see a fun contrast in our area.
 


It's been a week since Obona's baptism, and he's doing awesome! We visited a little bit with him almost every day, mostly because we see him all over the place. Everybody in that part of our area, Fronteira, knows him really well, so everybody is really impressed with him. Obona also has lots of buddies that tell him they want to change too, and we're beyond down to help them out. We found 5 new investigators this week because of him alone, as well as other references along the way. The fun contrast is, while so many of these people profess interest and want change, there's only one way to do it, which is through action. While so many of these people realize they are stuck in a well, they don't start climbing or looking to that lighthouse that's constantly beaming. Obona told us he'd bring some of his buddies, our investigators, to conference, and when he came with one of our investigators, told us sadly, 'sorry guys, but I guess the others don't really wanna change'. I thought it was interesting how somebody of only a week in the church was able to recognize that necessity of action in someone having to change. 
Our investigator, Zezinho, is looking really good for baptism this week. He showed up to conference without us having to call him or go by his house, making it the 4th time he's come to church with us. We also had a sweet family night this week at a member's house, this young married couple named Brandao and Nidia, both return missionaries. Zezinho showed up on his own, and it was sweet to get some member integration going. Our other baptism for the 8th, Junior, told us on Monday he was moving to the other side of Praia, but would keep coming to church. We saw him yesterday and he told us he's moved back, buuuut he's looking like he's gotten back into some of his old ways. We're gunna keep working with him, buuut he's gunna need a little more time. Still stuck in the well for now. 

We found a really cool new investigator this week, named Jay. He's 18, graduated but not really working or going to school, just doing stuff here and there. I played his guitar on the street with him for a bit a week or so back, and this week, when all of our appointments fell and we were walking with a member, we saw him and asked if he wanted to talk. He was more than down, and after teaching the first lesson, he was very pumped and got all of it. On our return visit, he topld us almost perfectly the first two chapters of Nephi by memory. He accepted a baptismal date for the 29th and came with Obona to conference this weekend. One funny thing, he has a big sorta afro with almost frosted tips going on, and his mom one day, while we were walking, called us over, adn told us to get him to cut his hair :P it was classic. 

Conference was awesome, I especially loved Elder Christofferson's talk. His translation into Portguese is his own voice, just recorded. It was rad. I loved how he taught that the Savior didn't just suffer til it was good enough, he suffered til it was complete, so that when he looks to each of us, he can call for more than just 'good enough'. So often we think where we're at is enough, but Christ always asks for more, because he knows it's the only way for us to become like him. We always fall short somehow. I had prayed going into conference for the gift of tongues (for the first time in a while) so I could understand the translation, and it worked! #tendermercies

Love y'all!

Elder Massey


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