Old men arguing about the preisthood, flooding, fires, and all the powers of an upset satan
This week was an awesome week, it's was incredibly busy and stressful too
It started off with heading an hour and a half bus ride north to do an exchange with our zone leaders but in order to take that hour and a half bus ride north we had to take an hour bus ride south to Campinas first, so after that bus ride to Campinas, we had to then snag another bus to go to mogi guaçu, it was a little less fun because we had to take all our stuff like our suits and stuff for zone conference that would be the next day, well when we went to buy our next bus tickets they informed me my ID wouldn't work, so i then called the secretaries to see if they could send me a picture of the new photo id receive tomorrow at zone conference, they sent me a picture, and so i went back in line and waited and they said that a picture wasn't good enough, so then our zone leaders call us with the idea of the secretaries sending an uber with the id to me, so we called the Sec's and they said they could, so we waited for the id, they ubered it to me, then i once again waited back in line, and handed my id to the bus station worker who was reluctant to accept it, but accepted it in the end, it's just because of the wait for them to accept the id we had to wait another hour for the bus to arrive, and then take the now 2 and a half hour bus ride to Mogi Guaçu. but in the end we arrived and started the exchange, and it was really fun i learned a lot, had a family night with a family of Venezuelans who made us some really fire food, it was a really awesome exchange,
what wasn't fun about the exchange was that we had zone conference the next day back in Campinas, and our comps the zone leaders left the house without us, and didn't say anything, but luckily our district leader helped us out and stayed and guided us to the bus station, however the trek to the bus station wasn't easy, it was an hour walk in the hot sun wearing our suits, lugging a suitcase only because they planned the exchange before zone conference, the suitcase really slowed me and elder Garces down, as we rushed to catch the 7:20 am bus, the final stretch involved picking up the heavy suitcase and running, we got to the bus station at 7:15 and we were informed that the 7:20 bus only comes on Monday's, so therefore we would have to wait for the 7:40 bus, and therefore we would get to zone conference late, so we got to zone conference late witch is never good,
at least zone conference was great,
in the end all the bus rides costed 90 of the 300 reais we get, one thing that made the exchange and zone conference a little harder was that when we received the area of amparo we had to cancel some lunches, one of the lunches then after it was canceled the member switched with another member days so that she could give us lunch later, so we ended up having to cancel with these members again, for the day of zone conference which just sucks, and the day of the exchange, we had to cancel too, but the wrong member tried to confirm it with us so we canceled with the wrong member and the actual member was wondering where we were while we were on the bus to Mogi Guaçu, it was awkward,
but after zone conference the week became quite great, Several weeks ago i spoke about an awesome woman we were teaching who is just extremely intelligent, and truly feels the spirit and understands, her name was Diana, after some amazing experiences teaching her she got baptized this week, which is such a special and amazing thing to see, One of the most awesome teaching experiences ive had was with her, she was so elect we taught her basically 4 and a half lessons already by visit number two, and she was telling us that she believes our teachings, and that she believes joseph smith was a prophet and restored the church, and really all other teachings we taught, but that as we said with the promise of the book of Mormon the spirit will testify the truth of all things, and she told us that she was still waiting for the spirit to confirm them to her, to confirm the book of Mormon, after she had told us this twice, and that she's been praying for the confirmation, the spirit spoke to me and i felt that she already has had the spirit confirm these things to here and that it was by the spirit that she believes the things we had taught, it was so subtle but i knew what i needed to do, in that lesson i bore my testimony that its by the spirit who confirms the truth of all things that we learn, and that Diana you probably have received a testimony by the spirit, in which she responded with yes i believe i have i believed that im learning by the spirit right now, im just waiting for a confirmation by the spirit of the book of mormon, and i sat there a little bit confused, thinking i did as the spirit directed me and she didnt quite understand what i was trying to teach her, i then later addressed it again, because i knew by the spirit that she already had a confirmation, of the things we taught, so i said Diana how are you feeling right now? "I'm feeling really great". Diana that is the spirit that you are feeling and i know that the spirit is testifying the truth unto right now in this visit and that it was the spirit that confirmed the truth of these things unto you, "yes i believe it, i'm just waiting for a confirmation of the spirit," honestly at this part i felt a little lost, id been guided and directed by the spirit twice, to say and teach these things, and i taught them with the power of the spirit i felt it and others did two, why doesn't she understand, what am i doing wrong? well i began to sit there and ponder about what i should do while my two comps continued to teach her, i think i sat pondering about what to say and do for 30 minutes, and then my comp elder Poyfair said he had to step out for a little bit in order to do a baptism interview, we all agreed that after he was done when he came back we could continue to teach, well we waited, and and i kept thinking and pondering and praying to know what to teach and say because i simply knew that there was something more she needed to know, and i received the answer of what i should do, and i realized that i had been prepared for years and years for this exact moment to testify to Diana, i decided when Poyfair came back i would testify, so everyone had just been talking for 30 minutes when the members decided that it was getting late so it would be good to end it set the table bring out the food, and they did. they set the table and brought out the food, we kept waiting for Poyfair and they decided let's just start without him, this whole time i was desperately praying to know what to do and when and how to testify, i was filled with the spirit waiting to testify what was directed me and then the member said these words, Elder Bremner can we say a prayer to bless the food? in which i knew it was now or never and replied with, YES! but first just one thing, Diana It was in this visit right here right now through you that i received an answer to my prayers, Diana I remember when my dad invited me years and years ago to read and pray about the truthfulness of the book of Mormon, and that if i prayed with faith wanting to know i would receive an answer, i went to my room and read the book of Mormon, and i prayed that night to know if it was true, and i pondered after i prayed waiting and listening for a response or a feeling, or anything, and what happened? i felt nothing i didn't have a big spiritual experience not even a little one, i didn't feel the spirit even a little big, and i was young i kinda forgot about it, but when i went on the mission, we testify a lot about this promise, and i thought to myself how can i testify about the truthfulness of this promise when i never had any experience at all, I thought i'm in a spiritually high place right now I believe and have faith in the promise, and so i prayed again. "on the mission!?!?!" yes on the mission, and you know what happened, nothing, nothing happened, i didnt feel anything, there was no burning in my bosom, there was no thought that came to my head, i felt nothing.. (now the members are getting scared) Diana it was right here right now that i received the response to my prayers, it was spoken to me by the spirit and i now i know for a surety that the reason i never had any spiritual experience with the book of Mormon was because i already knew it was true and that i didn't need a spiritual experience for me to teach about it or to know it was true, I already knew, and i know that the spirit has testified the truthfulness of what we have taught unto you and that you know they are true by a confirmation of the spirit, and i know that god will respond to your prayers but maybe god will respond in a way that you aren't expecting, I don't have many experiences where ive felt the spirit more powerfully, I know because i saw that the spirit pierced her heart, and the hearts of the members who heard it, and the spirit testified of the truth of my words unto them, and i also know that the spirit helped me to speak, and that through the gift of tongues i was able to speak in this way, because right after i finished Elder fish said in English " wow that was the gift of tongues". what was so amazing about this experience wasn't necessarily how the spirit taught her or the members but how the spirit taught me, i followed with exact obedience praying and pondering to know what to do, and the spirit directed me to know what to do, and I knew that when the spirit told me what to testify that god had finally responded to my prayers from when i was younger, and i knew that god didnt answer my prayer in that moment when my dad invited me, to prepare me to bear my testimony to Diana that day, and that he also prepared me and the spirit brought things to my mind while i pondered and i was taught by the spirit in the moment i needed it what the answer to my prayer was why i was prepared, and how to teach Diana, the lunch with another member that day before prepared me because the member shared his testimony of the book of Mormon, and how he didnt need to pray because he already knew it was true by the spirit through other people, and i taught Diana with the power of the spirit, and she got baptized this week, I was also prepared because i wouldn't have even had the opportunity to teach her had my mission president not changed his mind about transfers a day after and decided to put me in a trio, thus closing the area and adding it to my area, allowing me to teach her that day, she was prepared and was able to be taught, the elders before us had a lot of trouble marking times to visit because of her husband, and we were able to teach her because as we found out in our first visit with her, she had just separated from her husband that very week, god prepared my life from years before and her life to prepare her to be baptized. and i know these things are true and i won't deny them.
Another person i had taught got baptized this week it was a young 12 year old kid named Bryan who i have also mentioned, he received his answer about the book of Mormon after rejecting our invite to be baptized, after his mom had gotten baptized, and he also got baptized this week, and that makes me super happy
another person I have mentioned and taught got baptized this week, His name is Douglas he basically was a member already, but hasn't felt ready to be baptized, or felt like he really had a testimony yet, My first comp Elder Bryan was teaching him before i got to the mission, my second comp Elder Romero was teaching him before i got to the mission, and then because i got emergency transferred i had the opportunity to teach him me and Elder Haacke had the plan of getting him on a baptism date that lesson, and in planning me and Elder Haacke had a lot of disagreements on how we should teach and invite him, In the lesson Elder Haacke invited him to be baptized and Douglas rejected us, I later testified and invited him again in the same lesson to be baptized, and he Douglas rejected us, and then after having a group prayer all of us praying about the book of Mormon, and the testimonies of his family about the prayer and the book of Mormon, and using a scripture i found from my personal study that day we invited him one more time to be baptized on the 25th of march, and he accepted, it was an amazing lesson guided by the spirit that is super special to me, and he did indeed get baptized on the 25th of march, and i know that i was prepared to be there to help him get baptized, I wouldn't have had this experience had i not been emergency transferred out of my area, and without the scripture from my personal study and being guided by the spirit in the visit to pray and share our testimonies i know we wouldn't have gotten Douglas on date that day, and maybe it would have taken a lot longer for him to get baptized, But he is baptized, and he and his family are so so awesome, and im super happy for him,
ive written so much and still have addressed the things in the title of my email that are so dramatic! so here we go!
Baptism stories aren't over yet, Me and my comp Elder Garces-Diaz Baptized Grazi yesterday after Church, it was super fun teaching and helping and working with her, and i'm super excited to keep working with her and her husband, but let me tell you, Satan has been doing everything in his power to keep her from getting baptized, from things that delayed her first baptism date, and the list just goes on, i won't go crazy into detail, but her first baptism date got delayed, and then we also had a lot of time marking a time to do a baptism interview, because for some reason ( satan) she's had more clients at work than she's ever had, and had to stay up until midnight working, thus delaying her date from Saturday until sunday its not that bad, but still, we began to really see how everything was going wrong with this baptism, and i received the prompting to tell and warn grazi that night, so we sent a text and told her that satan is still doing everything to stop your baptism, and although he isnt hurting your testimony, and cant anymore, he is making you super busy at, work, as well as a lot more to delay your baptism, and next day she had her interview and everything when great, she ended up showing up to a ward activity and we got to talk and she said that she knew who she wanted to baptize her, we made it a goal this transfer to try and get members to baptize, so we basically haven't really said we were options, and she decided on Bishop, we call bishop who wife tells us we cant go because he is in a surgery right now and wont be able to go let alone baptize, we informed Grazi that Bishop couldn't unfortunately and that she would have to choose someone else "any man with the melquesidek priesthood *list of members as examples*" and she decided she wanted me to baptize her, i felt kinda bad for Elder Garces Diaz who has been teaching her for 6 weeks longer than i have, but he was fine, and i accepted, the next morning, i basically woke up thinking about how you never know or expect the moments you need to use the priesthood, for example with the baptism, well we walked in to church, and the first counselor and second counselor were debating, because we asked if one of them could confirm grazi, because it would be great if a member did it, in witch they decided I would have to confirm her because of a list of things that arent really in the general manual as far as im able to find, and despite our ideas and saying it would be good if they could they decided i had to and there was no changing there minds, which then brought the though "yep i guess you really never know when you need to use the priesthood ive never confirmed anyone before" and then they asked us if we could bless the sacrament which brought that thought one more time, that evening i told my comp that i had that thought that morning, with the baptism and then ended up having to confirm and bless the sacrament, and then he said that reminds me can you give me a blessing? so I now declare that this is a real truth we always need to be prepared to use the priesthood power we hold because we never know when we will need it,
The rest of the day was going really well, we filled up the font, i turned off the font, we took a picture by the font, and the first counselor told us a very funny story about an idiot elder who left the font filling for 6 hours and flooded the whole church, and also for some reason while he tells us this story there is a fire next door to the church, then Vando Grazi's husband runs over to me from across the church and tells me that water is overflowing from the font and is now all over the floor, I perceived that i must have only turned off half the water that fills the font, and now water is all over the floors, and i run and turn off the water, as the members all are showing up really confused, and a little frustrated as some awesome members start grabbing buckets to take water out of the font, that was overfilling, buy hey it wasn't all bad, they used the buckets of water from my mistake and they put out the fire next door, we took the pictures had an awesome baptism and confirmation, Grazi is super awesome! and hilariously extremely brutally honest, the members pulled through and despite having very little notice showed up to the baptism, and brought food, really tasty food, and other then old members arguing about our baptism plan, and whether pictures are allowed of the font, and a gigantic list of cultural, not actually rules or standards, whether our plan made from preach my gospel is correct, (it was) and then they changed it to conform to some not rules, we had a really awesome baptism service that was really special and fun, every baptism is super special and great, its one more person choosing to follow god.
I just wanted to now talk about an angry Satan, satan is real he is doing everything in his power to stop us hurt us and lead us away from god, in righteousness ive found its much easier to see satans power, and that he's trying to stop us in every way, but at the same time how weak it is compared to gods power, and that satans temptations and tempests and afflictions are more powerful and stronger now than ever before, and if we dont watch out we may very well see that we were lead away to dark places we never even imagined possible for us to get there, but that through the power of god, using our agency to do good, we can go back to the light where true and real happiness lies, and that if you dont know that you beleive in this light you can know its true, because i know its true, and ive seen it shine in many people this week from Grazi Douglas Diana and Bryan, who also now know with much assurity that its true, and that all you need to do is seek and search for the truth and i know youll find it. its through the atoning sacrafice of jesus Christ that we can gain power over the powers of satan, its through repentence that we over come his powers and that through growing our roots in Christ, all the powers of satan will have no power over you, its in sin we get led away, and its on our climb back to righteousness that satan fights even harder, but the powers of god will always overcome the powers of satan, its just our choice to choose whom we follow.
on April 1 and 2 will be General conference were we can all have the chance to hear from a Prophet and Apostles who are called by god and receive revelation for all of us, i'd like to invite all of you to watch it, and i promise that if you have questions for god that are genuine, with a desire to know, and if it would be for your benefit they are answered, having faith to receive, if you watch and look for an answer in this General Conference, i promise god will answer through the prophet and apostles, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
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