September 29,
2014
Hello!!
I called
the secretary this week so I am glad you finally got the itinerary. (Lindsay arrives October 15 at 10:03 a.m. She reports October 26 at 9 a.m.) He
told me I would have a layover in Michigan too and I was pretty excited.
My mission is like a Brazil sandwich. Crazy the time is passing by so
quickly!
We had a
great week here in Utinga filled with exchanges, Conferencia das Mulheres, and Zone Conference too! This week flew by...I seriously can’t believe it’s
Monday again. We had some difficult circumstances due to rain, lessons falling
through, and investigators dropping us, but one miracle that happened really
affirmed my faith and showed me once again Heavenly Father knows what He is
doing.
We taught
our investigator Ronaldo a few times this week and he was progressing so much!!
We finished all we had to teach him and so our district leader came to do a
baptismal interview. It went well and they set a baptismal date for October
5 in between conference sessions. We were excited!! On Sunday we
were in the chapel waiting for Ronaldo to show up to church but it was 9:15
a.m. and he still hadn’t come. I was disappointed, but we had the strong
impression we should visit him and see what was going on. We went to his
house and he let us in. When we invited him to come to church, he gave us
a mountain of excuses...I have things to do...I am tired...I am just not
feeling it today. We were SUPER confused at what had happened.
After a little while longer of asking questions, he confessed he had to give
his brother a ride to the bar the night before and when they arrived, all of
his friends made fun of him for not drinking and so he drank one beer. He
felt AWFUL about what he had done. While he was sitting in the bar and
thinking about his decision, he saw two Mormon missionaries walking by the window.
The elders walked by, looked in the window at Ronaldo, but kept on
walking. Ronaldo said they looked in the window directly at him and he
knew he shouldn’t be there. He left and said he thought about his choices
and prayed for forgiveness. But here is the cool part of the story:
1)
The elders who walked by were the same elders who came to do the
baptismal interview. This was crucial because Ronaldo recognized them and
he thought they saw him as well. We called the elders later and they didn’t
even notice him there! But it was just the reminder Ronaldo needed.
2)
The elders were in our area to do a baptismal interview with the other
sisters in our ward. They walked to our area but the man who needed the
interview wasn’t home. They thought they walked all the way there for
nothing, but once again it was just the reminder Ronaldo needed.
3)
Our district leader is training a new elder right now. When the man
wasn’t home, our district leader said to his companion, “Right now we have a
bit of extra time so we can talk to people on the street and I want you to
follow the Spirit and go where He wants us to go.” The new elder felt
like they should go down one street and there was absolutely no one there...but
this was the street where the bar was.
How cool,
right? Ronaldo said he woke up and decided he wouldn’t go to church, but
he felt strongly we would come and visit him during church. It was so
good we came. We talked about repentance and the power of the sacrament
and in the end he agreed to come to sacrament meeting. Here is where the
title of my e-mail makes sense.
There are
moments on a mission where people do or say things that make you SO
RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY!!! All you want to do is hug them or shout because you know they
are making such a good decision that will help them in their eternal
progression. However, the difficult thing is you have to pretend like
nothing happened because your investigators can’t think you are absolutely
bonkers. It’s the hardest thing to control for me because at times during
my mission, my heart feels like it will explode. Anyway, when Ronaldo
said he would come to church I felt that way. He had to go take a shower
first so we waited for him and then went together. When he said he would
come, I wanted to shout and show how happy I was inside, but all we said was, “Ta
bom. Nos esperaremos aqui.” When he left the room, I started to
cry. I am such a baby these days. But I was so overwhelmed by how
perfectly orchestrated everything was and how strong the Spirit was when we
were testifying of repentance. He came to church and loved the
testimonies that were born, and he is still on date for this Sunday.
I hope all
of this made sense. It truly was a really great experience! Pray
for Ronaldo this week!! I love you all so much and have a great week!!
Sister
Dixon
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