Week 95

Monday, October 7, 2019

So this week was insanely busy and finished in the best way with getting to hear the prophet. It was really cool because There were two apostles that speak portugues who instead of having a translator, recorded their talk before and played it at the same time so we could hear their real voice in portugues. It was Elder Christofferson and Soares that did that for us.  And we had a few investigators in the sessions that really felt the sprit. One of my favorite moments was the change regarding baptisms and testimonies. Now that women can act as witnesses, we have a few baptisms that will be better to have the families participation. This week we should be baptizing Ayza and Rogerio. 

Ayza: So her mom finally signed the paper. She has been difficult these last few weeks. But bringing her a cake helped a little. kidding... what helped was us getting the whole extended family coming to testify and show that she was fighting something good for her daughter. She finally decided to sign and everything is all good. Ayza was so excited to tell us! She almost exploded! We are very excited for her. Please pray that all works out for her. 

Rogerio: He was progressing but not as fast as we were hoping. He was fighting his addiction to smoking. But God knowing everything helped him out by breaking his foot. The only place he smoked was at work where he is a guard in a store. But one night at work burglars entered and he fought them off but when kicking one of them he broke his foot. He will stay 30 days in house and can’t leave. We got there to share the video of the gardener and how god loved him enough to cut him back. He has completely changed his attitude and is all on board. We will also try to baptize him this Friday with Ayza. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng   Here is the video we shared that helped Rogerio 

Larah went to conference but she is super busy and will be traveling this week. So unfortunately because of my time limit I might not be here to be a part of the baptismal service. But she is progressing and loving to learn the true gospel of Christ and his powerful atonement.

So that’s basically it for this week. I really fighting the fact that there are people here who I won’t be able to baptize but I’m learning to trust in God and the next elders that pass here after me to continue. I love you all tons! Hope you all received revelation during conference. Have a great week! See ya all here in a little! 

Elder Joshua D Lee

Week 94

Monday, September 30, 2019

I didn’t have a title so I just left what was there. 

So this week was very interesting. First of all we went to Nanuque a city 3 hours away for a zone conference. The weirdest part was it was my last. So I had to give the last missionary testimony. It was such a weird feeling because every transfer you watch others and even your friends give it and think it will never be your turn. Well... as we say in portugues... Já era... (i don’t know how it translates. ) But the conference was good and very uplifting. After, we went out as a district for acai. 

     We taught Larah this week about the plan of salvation. It’s one of the lessons that the mission has most difficulty teaching but it’s one of my favs. We get to focus on the logistics of the gospel and how the atonement functions. Also its one of the lessons that defines our church separate from others and everything is even backed up in the bible. Point is that Larah loved it and had great questions that will lead to her progression and baptism. 

     Fun service story was walking home from a lunch. We had to walk about 7-8 kilometers and then coming back. We felt to go a different path that had more hills. During the return we found a sweet old lad who couldn’t open her door to get inside. It was heavy and old and a little broken. After about 10 minutes we got it open for her and she could go inside to rest. I don’t know what she would have done if we hadn’t passed by. Glad my comp and I were on the same page. 

Anyways that’s about it. Love you all tons and hope you’re all doing well. Have a great week and prepare for conference.  It’s not every day we get revelation from 15 prophet, seers and revelators. Love you all!

Elder Joshua D. Lee 

Week 93

Monday, September 23, 2019

Hey everyone! The end is near and I’m running out of weeks to send you all letters. Good news is I’ll be home to keep you all updated. This week was pretty cut and dry standard work. We found a few new people with potential and Sunday we had four people visiting church with us. They all have pretty good potential. Azya is amazing and her mom is getting a little less difficult every day. Her date is Oct 11th. We also started teaching Laura who is 18 and very happy and excited. She is catholic (but the kind that actually goes to church) but she is very excited and open. We will teach her about the book of Mormon tonight. She went to church with us and I had her write and note all the questions so we could get them answered faster. Other than that everyone is doing well. Unfortunately we had to cut a few families for a time to get them to appreciate the sprit and our lessons. But we will return here in a few weeks. Any ways sorry for the short letter but here’s a spiritual thought from Dallin H Oaks 

The World teaches us to know... the gosple of Jesus Christ teaches us to become... What will you become?

Deep stuff. (this was in portugues and I’m translating so I don’t know if its exact...) Through the atoning power of our Savior we can literally become as him and God through our obedience and efforts to follow him. Its power goes way beyond forgiving sins. I love you all and hope we are all striving to learn to use the atonement in every aspect of our life. Love you all!!!!

Elder Joshua David Lee

Week 92

Monday, September 16, 2019

It’s crazy to think that I’m entering into the last transfer... The call came in and we discovered yesterday that I will stay here in Teófilo Otoni with my best friend and fav comp Elder Aguilar. We were overjoyed because we have a great number of people here we need to see enter the waters of baptism. 

     Speaking of baptism we had the chance to teach a less active family and help the 8 year old son be baptized and his family return. The mom was the first missionary to serve from this city... But with lots of things happening she went in-active. The situation in the family is very hard. But the example of 8 year old Bernardo helped wake up the family. He was baptized by a member in the branch that will be responsible for ministering to the family. That was the definite highlight to the week.

    This week while walking through the park to an appointment we met a real life sloth... just like the movie Zootopia. (haha the nephews and nieces would have loved him so this pic is for them) His name translated into English is literally Lazy... Matches pretty well. 

     Sunday I got to give another talk and I chose to discuss about the parable of the sower and the seeds in Mathew 13. The end point was that we could make our branch into fertile and good soil to produce 100+ and grow. But the best part was participating in the youth class with a few investigators. 12 year old Ayza who we are going to baptize gave such a deep and profound answer that the entire class stopped for a few minutes to appreciate the answer. One of those proud elder moments.

     Anyways I hope you all have a great week and look for missionary opportunities. A gente fala mais aqui em 6 semanas! Amo vocês! 

Elder Lee