April 4, 2012 – letter (received April 19)
Dear Family
Well, we just finished
conference yesterday, and all I can think is how blessed we are to have
inspired men chosen of God to lead us.
One phrase I really like
was when Dallin H. Oaks said, “the symbols of OUR Christian Faith is the lives
of our members:” WOOO, what a
responsibility. We’ve got to be
good. We can’t just go through the
motions; we’ve got to really believe the Gospel.
Now I’m making goals to follow
the council of the Prophets and Apostles.
Wow, there are a lot of things to work on! Lately I’ve been studying the Christ like
attributes, and it’s been amazing. I
encourage you guys to do the same, and make specific goals to develop that
attribute! For example, I’ve made the
goal to serve Elder Lopes in some way if I have a negative thought about him,
even if it’s something stupid, like get some water for him. It’s fun.
The Lord is blessing us
a lot here. I don’t know if you remember
Vera, that lady that we baptized, we’re seeing real miracles with her. She’s
the most firm baptism I’ve had yet! The
week before her baptism, the gas valve connected to the water heater broke, so
she had to be baptized in cold water! A
59 year old lady, being dunked in cold water!!?? Yes, that’s what we do as missionaries. Haha.
But we asked her afterward how it was with the cold water, and she said
she didn’t even feel the cold, because she was filled with the Spirit. That’s conversion. She’s amazing.
After the baptism, our
bishop gave her a special Liahona about the Temple, so that she could prepare
to go to the Temple. We passed by to see
how she was later that day, and she already had read the entire Liahona!! She even shared a story that she really liked
in the Liahona with us! Just like a
visiting teacher already.
Now, we’re talking a lot
about family home evening. She lives with
just her and her 11 year old granddaughter, Camilla. Camilla is a really sad situation. Camilla is the only child of Vera’s daughter
with a man I don’t know (for present purposes I have dubbed him Vagabond) Vera’s daughter is really negative about what
happened with Vagabond, so she kind of treats Camilla poorly. Well, not kind of, for example, Vera’s
daughter takes her sons of her present husband to activities, like the
waterpark, or to church. But she never
invites Camilla. Camilla only has
Vera. So now, we’re trying to baptize
Camilla. She’s such a good girl. Vera and Camilla are already holding Family
nights, and reading the Book of Mormon together. In fact, Vera and Camilla each drew an Easter
bunny picture for Elder Lopes and I, and gave them to us. It’s now on our refrigerator. Camilla is so great, and Vera is helping her
so much. She’s going to Church this
Sunday, and soon after we’re going to baptize her. She’s going to start attending Primary, and
things will start looking up for her, because the Lord will bless her.
We’re praying a lot of
them, but I’m sure that it will turn out fine.
For now, I’m still in my
first area! Bairro Novo. It’s amazing here, I love it. There are always people who the Lord is
preparing.
OK time for the weird
thing in Brazil
J-Walking
The strange thing is
that here J-walking is not only perfectly legal, but it’s basically the only
way to cross the street here. The delinquent juvenile and the humble family
alike break this American Law. But that’s
ok, because we look both ways here in Brazil.
Lot of Love
Elder Twitchell
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