C-Do you know what Guardia is? Do you have to boil the water?
I have no idea what guardia is. The water thing is no big deal. In the CTM he'll get a bottle with a super advanced and expensive filter. He will drink from that and never get sick. The church takes good care of its missionaries. However many missionaries stop using the bottle. Most of the time they don't get sick because, well, Rio is an advanced city for Brazil, but there are always those exceptions. Just use the bottle.
Dear Walker Nation,
9/11. Where was I? I remember two things. I remember walking in to the kitchen after the first plane had hit then sitting there with mom when the second plane came in. Crazy. The other thing I remember is Mr Los, the band director. We said the pledge of allegiance in his class then he went on the rest of the hour about how great it was that we said the pledge of allegiance with such respect. We didn't play one note that entire hour.
This week was a rather special one. We worked hard on Tuesday, and that was pretty much the extent of our hard work. Wednesday we had to prepare for our voyage to Teresópolis and Petrópolis. You all know how much I love bus rides!! (jk). Wednesday we left Nova Friburgo to get into the station at Teresópolis. There we sat waiting another two hours for the rest of the zone (except Elder Alvorado, He's in the hospital for some kind of infection or perhaps kidney stones.). The good part is I bought a new card game: Monopoly Deal. Usually I'm not the biggest fan of Monopoly, but the card game is much quicker and a lot more fun. We played several rounds, met up with the other Elders and went to Petrópolis. That place is freezing!
The conference was excellent. Elder Mazzagardi from the quorum of the 70 spoke. He spoke less about baptism and a lot more about retention and reactivation. He spoke of preparing for a temple (woohoo). He explained the promise of Malachi. We have robbed the lord in tithes and offerings. I we pay our tithing (the members) and give an offering, the Lord will open the windows of heaven. We,a s missionaries, need to offer an offering for the Lord. He also said that we need to look to baptize more families and look for them closer to the church. It's much easier for them to stay active. He had so many good ideas. The conference was excellent. The worst part was when he joked about lunch being In-n-Out. It was right before lunch. I told him that you can't joke about things like that. He's a funny man.
Afterward we made the wonderful trip back home.
Friday we made preparations for President. He was coming to Nova Friburgo to interview a man that was involved with a motorcycle accident while drunk. The situation was a little complicated and we didn't know if he could be baptized because of the law. President showed up and interviewed him. Turns out, everything is ok. There was only one thing. President took us into the room with him. He explained that Maykon's desire to be baptized is good. Then he looked to Maykon. He said he is allowed to be baptized when he knows for sure that the Book of Mormon is true. When he has a surety that it was translated from the plates. He promised that if he read, then prayed with faith, God will give you a testimony of the book. I was impressed. I feel like many of my investigators need this testimony because the book of Mormon really is the foundation of a testimony. If they know the book is true, the chances of them falling away are less likely.
Of course, we didn't hesitate to act. That night he read and prayed. We called him and visited him in the morning. He had received an answer. Maykon is our miracle story. He had a life-threatening accident and survived. He had to learn to walk and speak again. He did all of this and started changing his life even more when he found the church. He was willing to do anything to be forgiven of the things he had done. Finally, he was able to be baptized, and we were the fortunate ones to witness the event.
Sunday, Fatima and Maykon were both confirmed. The worst part about sacrament meeting was the piano. With the organist missing, the bishop called on me to play. Uh oh. I told him I am only so-so, but I didn't refuse the call. I played and messed up a bunch. So, I decided that one hand would suffice. I really wish I had practiced more so I could have been better prepared to answer the call.
The church is true. Have a lovely week.
Love,
Elder Walker
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