So for the first time I will be leaving the Brazilian Coast. I was transfered to a small town in another state (Rio Grande do sul) called vacaria. So we will see how it goes. I know my companion already. He is from my group and has had a hard time so far on the mission. SO pray that I will be able to help the branch and also be able to help the missionary as well.

It is so odd to leave an area. I only had 6 weeks here but I love these people already. It is so great to be a missionary because you feel a love for everyone. But the hard part is that you are always coming and going. I guess life is kind of like that but that doesn~e make it any easier.

We had the stake dance festival here in our ward and had 3 investigators and 1 less active member that came to watch which was super fun. The youth did a great job and it was super fun to see everyone just excited about being in the church. Especially when it was competely modest and appropriate. It was so great.

I never know what to say in these emails.... haha sorry but it is so true.

I am glad that someone came to look at the truck. I hope it all went well. I have been a little stressed about everything this week. Mostly due to the fact that my life is completey blank after june of 2013. haha I have so many loose ends and sometimes they all come back to stress me out. But that is part of faith right. Knowing nothing more than God will help and moving forward.

My companion(who is just trained) will go back to San Fransisco  (where I just left) so he wil get to teach all the people that I taught there and will get to help in the growth of the church. He will be great there.

Well I love you all. I feel like time is passing really quickly right now. I hope we all make the best of it:)

Love Elder Noel

9-17-2012

Hey mom/dad so this week was a good week. 

 We had the chance to talk to a lot of people in their houses which is kind of rare here. haha and Heavenly Father opened doors for us that I never thought we would be able to get into. Please pray that we might be able to help these people as they grow in the Church. 

 The highlight of the week was that we had the chance to sit next to Leandro in church. Leandro is a man who two years ago was involved pretty deeply in international drug trafficking. He left and started going to churches but was a little confused as to why there are so many churchs and why so many talk about money so much. He saw us taking a break outside his house and asked if we wanted water. we said no and then he asked if we wanted an orange, you know me mom I never accept food from other people but I said sure and he cut up some oranges and told us his story. we marked a lesson and visited him with a member. 

 That was two weeks ago. This week he came to church for the first time. As the choir sung (As sisters in zion and Well bring the world his truth,) he told his story to the member and his wife as tears rolled down his face. He cried for the whole church meeting. It was something so powerful that reminded me that there is so much more than us. We as missionaries are pretty much nothing. We cant speak well. we are uneducated and we are immature. But as Heavenly Father helps us we can see miracles in the lives of his children. 

 I am increasinlgy horrified but the focus that the mission puts on Baptism. It worries me alot. I know we need to baptise people but is that really our Goal? Peter invited people to be baptized only after they had gained a testimony that Christ was the Messiah. Christ and his apostles baptised those who wanted to follow him. John baptised those who believed his words. Shouldn~t that be the first step? Testimony? Baptism comes after testimony. I dont know how to see this focus on baptism. It scares me but at the same time I see it as almost a necessary evil. Are we as missionaries ready to recieve the doutrine of teach for testimony and baptise the repentant? I don~t know. But that is how I teach and how I work.

 I love you guys I pray for you and for all that you do to help other people and to help me. 

 

 

 

Well this week we found some cool people to teach. The work is starting up here which is cool to see and fun to watch the members get excited about the work. I always have fear to invite members to our lessons because sometimes they think they know better than us how to teach. Wchich ends up being a head ache.... but it is fun to see how exctied they get afterward. 

The bishop told us about his missino and how he didn~t get up at 630 ever. That he always got up´ before to study or read. That is a pretty interesting thought. I am thinking about starting my day a little earlier.... 

 

Recently I have had several members tell us about reading the BOM and how fast they read it. Or how many times they read it on the Mission. Do you know how many times I will read the BOM before the end of my mission. NOT ONCE. I am in Alma 30 and started in the MTC reading slowly and studying the book Marking who is speaking and where and why drawing maps and things. I have started to understand so much more. I learn things as I understand WHO is talking to who and why. I have gained a new appreciation for Mormon. It is mostly his insights that we have in the book or mormon. I love his perspective. The way he talks about events and the way things happen. Little words here and there show how he understood and knew our Heavenly Father. 

 

As of late my understanding of study has changed. We dont study to read the BOM or the BIble. We read to know GOD (John 17:3) I get so frustrated with people (members non members and missionaries a like) who know the scriptures but don~t know God. IT is so sad. They have gained a telestial knowlege through telestial study. As we study and write with the intent to use the books not as manuals for obediance but rather as sources of knowlege designed to change behavior we start to understand and apply in a celestial way.

 

But enough preaching. This week was good. I am tired and ready to rest. haha There are a ton of hills here and I need to change my eating because my waist is smaller now than when I left home. haha

 

Love you guys