BOM DIA MISSÃO!! Cómo estáis?! Como vocês estão?!
I apologize if this email is quick, we have zone conference tomorrow, so today we have zone p-day 🙏
Monday: We got a call from a brazillian member, and we are not sure where she lives or how she got our number, but she gave us the contact information for her boyfriend who lives here in Cáceres, and we had a wonderful lesson with him that night. He has a great desire to be baptized and has a great knowledge of the gospel.
Tuesday: Started off the day with divisãos with the 🐐 Elder Maile, which was amazing. We found a super cool park doing contacts por las calles. Then we headed over to a town that is right by portugal which was super super cool. The person that we were going to teach there wasnt able to leave their house, so we called a bunch of grey dots there, and none of them were interested, but one of them gave them a number of a friend that was interested, and he said that they were just talking about things about the gospel and how she had a bunch of questions.
Wednesday: We had a wonderful lesson with a friend named Luz from Colombia, and got to meet with the family of our recent convert Ronald who their family is from Peru. We also got to practice for the choir cause we are getting a new local for the rama in 2 weeks and we are going to sing there.
Thursday: We met up with a friend that had requested a book of mormon. She lives in a town super far away, and she told us that she doesnt think that she will be meet up, but on thursday she had to take her mom to a specific hospital in caceres, and so we got to meet up with her, and she told us how she never goes online, nor has she ever been a person that reads books, but she had to go online for some reason and she saw the book of mormon and she said that something was calling to her to the book of mormon telling her that she had to read it. She is going through a super hard time and she felt like that book had the answers to her preguntas. And she had no idea what the book of mormon even was. Then we looked for parking for an hour and went over to a noche de hogar, which was also amazing.
Friday: We got to meet with David Cordero y su familia which was amazing. They are super nice. We also helped him move a gigantic closet from the top floor down to the bottom which was fun for Elder Oportos first service activity 🤣🤣 He told us before that it weighed 300 kilos and i thought he was just joking until we went up and saw it 🤣🤣
Saturday: We got to play fútbol with some friends and David Cordero and his son Antonio, which was amazing. Our friends Juan and Ikler were asking us about baptism and how the scriptures say there is the baptism by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and a baptism of Jesus Christ, and so we got to explain to them the gift of the Holy Ghost. We invited a bunch of people to church, helped a lady push her broken down car, and set a fecha for José Luis to be baptized the 4th of May!!! We are super excited for him and it made Elder Oporto super happy to be able to set a fecha.
Sunday: Most beautiful day of every week. José Luis came to church and we got to meet all the members and bear our testimonies and hear the testimonies of every else, which was so amazing. We also got to go over to our Branch President's house that night and talk and teach them the doctrine of Christ, or gospel of Jesus Christ, and invite them to read the Book of Mormon every day.
Hoy: I wanted to share with you all my testimony of the Book of Mormon. When I started going to church again, I started to read the book of mormon daily. As I read the Book of Mormon daily and prayed daily, my life began to change. After having repented of my past sins and beginning to change, it was a new start, and reading the Book of Mormon applified every good feeling in my life. I began to start feel happiness that I had never felt before. I began to understand what the Savior's sacrifice actually means for me and how it works in my life. I began to see His love for me, and my Father in Heaven's love for me. I slowly and surely gained more knowledge and power from my Heavenly Father and from the atonement of Jesus Christ. Living the gospel is a process, becoming converted is a process, and I am of course still in that process, but each and every day as I continue to stay true to the covenants, (or two way promises, where one promises to do a certain thing, and our Heavenly Father blesses us specific blessings, that I have made with my Heavenly Father) starting with baptism, and moving forward with the covenants that we make in the temple, praying cada día, studying the Book of Mormon, every day, attending church every Sunday to partake of the sacrament, (to be able to renew, my covenants that I have made with my Heavenly Father) I have received a peace, a love, a joy, a comfort, a power that can not be found through anyone or anything else, other than through our Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ. Making and keeping our covenants with Him gives us increased access to His power. No, life will not be perfect if we choose to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ, in fact, we need to expect opposition, because the adversary sees that you are trying to draw closer to your Heavenly Father, and that is the opposite of what he wants. But God gives us the strength to withstand the attacks of the adversary as we are firm in the faith and stay true to our Heavenly Father and the covenants that we have made with Him. The way to stay firm is to do the small and simple things, like praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and going to church every sunday to partake of the sacrament. So, find the peace that is awaiting you. If you are starving, and you pass by a tree that has your favorite fruit in the world, which is so sweet and so delicious, are you going to stick out your hand and wait for the fruit to fall from the tree into your hand? No, of course not, you're going to reach up and grab it and enjoy it the fruit, and replenish your hunger. Our loving Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, are always in our reach. I promise you, that as you reach out to Him, you will feel His love. You will receive His comfort. You will start to perceive the reality of His existence. The existence of a real and loving, merciful, Father in Heaven, and a Savior who loves you so much that He was willing to suffer every single pain and affliction that you have ever, and will ever experience.
So, with all of the being said, read the Book of Mormon. Pray, your Father wants to hear from you. And, watch how your life changes.
Os quiero 🫶❤️
- Élder Powell