mission tour

This week was marked by the mission tour. We were visited by Elder Geraldo Lima, an Area 70 from northern Brasil. Due to the logistics of bringing all the missionaries to one city for the mission conference, we ended up with 18 missionaries sleeping in our little apartment! Needless to say, we spent 3 hours the next day cleaning up the mess.

It was wonderful, however, to be able to be instructed by a servant of the Lord. He talked a good amount about the family - how important it is in God's plan, and how we should do our best to find and teach complete families. It was inspiring - we all came away with a different vision of how we should be working.

On Saturday I helped one of my good friends Marcelo work on the construction of his house! So now I know how to build houses. If anybody needs help, just give me a call.

AND I gained a greater testimony of the blessings of service, because as we walked down the street after working on the construction, we ran into one of our investigators. She had been adamant with us when we invited her to baptism - "Não, vou ser batizada não." When we saw her after the service project, she said "I decided that I want to get baptized!" POW! Out of nowhere! 

God blesses us as we do His divine Will. He knows and loves each of us. When we keep the commandments, we are highly blessed!

Elder Eric Olsen

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SO speaking of almoço (lunch), this week we got to go to a churrascaria! It's called Churrascaria Chi Marrão if y'all wanna look it up, I've been there like 10 times in the past 6 months and they give a discount to the missionaries! Haha it pays to serve the Lord in many ways.

BUT this week was great. I especially gained a testimony about prayer. I was reading in the teachings of Joseph F Smith about prayer, and he said that we cant just pray with words, we have to pray with the feelings of our hearts. So I tried my best to really pour out my heart to God in my prayers, and we ended up with much better results! Coincidence? I think not.

The other great part is that even when it didn't work out, I felt that God was watching over me, that He knew what was happening and that He was in control. I felt His love.

Our zone is going great, we are reaching a lot of the goals that we're placing. Not that any of it has to do with anything I have personally done, but you can see that the missionaries are dedicated and working hard. That's what makes me happy!

Unfortunately, airplanes continue to fly nonstop over this area... pray for bad weather so I can stop being tempted to lose focus! haha

Love you all! thank you for the support and prayers always

Love,

Elder Nick Olsen