Monday, January 30, 2012

The New Chapter of Big Al's Mission

Well, here we are again. Transfer day. This week was without a doubt the most hectic of my mission..

The big news is that for the first time I know where I will be going when I am transferred tomorrow and likely where I will be finishing my mission. I will be going to the office in Porto Alegre to serve as the Assistant to the President. I found out Thursday on our way home from the beach. The Assistants woke me up and gave me the news, and told me that I needed to come in on Friday to help finish the transfers. (I will be killing Elder Campos, it is his last transfer and they didnt think that just one transfer would be enough time to prepare me for the rest.) So it was interesting to be able to finish the last details of the transfer with President and the assistants. There is a ton of work that is involved that I had never considered. 

Saturday in the late afternoon I returned here to the Vale with Elder Carroll and until now we have been running trying to do all the visits we needed to and say goodbye to a few people. But the great part is that I will be able to return to this area on division. Also I will get to return to Passo Fundo and Caxias! I am honestly very excited about his new role, a little overwhelmed but mostly just excited.

My last few days here were so special. I´ve been witnessing true miracles. Yesterday we committed Adriano and Jaqueline to get married with the Bishop. They will be baptized with their 4 kids sometime next month. Yesterday we were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie with Jackson and Danielle, and then Luciano and Deise made dinner for us. I gave Luciano a signed baseball and he gave me a custom made cup with a picture of us at his baptism. It was awesome. 

My thoughts have been in a constant flurry these last few days, thoughts of my imperfection and how many flaws I have. But So many things have led up to me being 100 percent convinced that this church (and this mission) is run by pure revelation. One of those was a special experience I had with Elder Green (the assistant that is leaving) in my future area on division a few weeks ago. I believe I mentioned how painfully brutal that day was.. We were kicked on, spit on and flat out denied. It got so bad that we  decided to take a break, step back, and ask for heavenly help. We were led to a family of 4, and a good first lesson, and after that I sort of forgot about it. But What I haven´t shared is how Elder Green has called me after every subsequent lesson with them. About how they talk about that first visit every single time. How they NEVER let any kind of preacher into their house but in our eyes they saw real sincerity. They talk about how much their life has changed since then, and how excited they are to get baptized. They remembered every single word we said that first lesson, even our first names! They have already gone to chuch twice and given the Assistant two other references of people they are teaching. I had their opportunity to stop by their house on Friday with Elder Green and more or less tell them that I would be taking the spot of Elder Green. They will be doing a family night with them tonight to answer the question they asked of how we found them. Green wants to ask permission to come back for the wedding and the baptism. It is truly one of those unforgettable stories on the mission. 

Please pray for me in this new aspect of my mission. I know that it is in our weaknesses that the Lord qualifies us for the work. He calls igsifnificant people to take part in his spectacular and grand designs. 

Love,

No comments:

Post a Comment