Cell phone Woes

Dear People, This last week was teaching and humorous, at least from the perspective of a missionary. We received a phone from the mission as we opened this new area. What we didn't know however is that the chip inside it was an old one from a different area. So we were calling to confirm lunch one day and we called for Sister Andreia in our phone because she is our Relief Society President. A woman picked up and we asked her for where our lunch would be she passed us a number which we then called. The lunch appointment started describing where she lives and we just were really confused. Turns out the Relief Society President of the other ward is also called Andreia. Hehehe. We also called one member with a collect call and she picked up the phone, didn't hear that we were missionaries, and burned us about calling people without reason. She apologize later when she found out it was us. We are teaching about five couples, four of which need to marry, and all who will visit church this Sunday. We will have a super Family night tonight with three of them to help make friendships one with another and feel more at ease. If this works out, we will have many baptisms next transfer. I am wonderful in case you were worried. I am eating well and am happy and working. I love you all and keep you all in my prayers. The work is speeding up and I am feeling the presence of the Holy Ghost more and more. I am receiving personal revelation everyday as I continually ponder the things I learn and receive confirmations of what I learn. I love you all and would like to share a couple scriptures with you. While studying, I often come across interesting scriptures by chance. This one made me look at my eating habits :) ´´But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him´´ Deut 32:15 We ask people in the street at times for a cup of water to quench our thirst and to have an opportunity to talk with them. I decided to find a scripture to express our thanks. This is the best I got. ´´For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward´´ Mark 9:41 The last verse in Corinthians is inspiring for me. It explains the things we must help the investigators feel. If they feel the love of God, the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and the force that comes from the grace of Christ, they will be converted. ´´The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen´´ 2 Cor 13:14 Come on really, Elder Healy

Reactivation

Dear Family and Friends, I am super excited to be writing you a letter this week. We have been working really hard but feel as if we are spinning are wheels a little. We mark lots of appointments but they all fall through. But we will keep at it. We will have a baptism this week. A woman has been visiting the church regularly for more than 2 years and the first day we see her, she asked the bishop to be baptized the this Saturday. She is dating the Quorum President and is practically a member. We also received a reference from a member. This family is great. The Father accepted baptism without hesitation and we will be trying to baptize them this next Sunday if all goes well. There are many people less active here, but we are doing our best to bring them back. We hope that the members will see our effort and be more encouraged to help us. My companion, Elder Bryan, is great. He has such an earnest desire to improve and I hope I can help him and pass what I know to him. He was really worried about receiving money from members to buy lunch because he thought it was against the rules. I couldn´t help but laugh a little. I remember when I arrived on the mission and always complained about how everyone broke the rules and how many rules were dumb. I have humbled myself and just try to do my best and help those around me. It is funny that every less active we visit, it seems that they want to give us food. I have been studying recently about how to have the Spirit with us and pass this to investigators. This is one of the greatest gifts we can receive from God and without the Spirit ´´ye shall not teach´´. We must all strive to have the Spirit with us constantly. We do this through the ´´prayer of faith´´, through keeping the commandments, through remembering Jesus Christ and the atonement, through developing Christ like attributes, through fating and scripture study, among other things. I hope you can all study about the gift of the Holy Ghost and seek to apply it in your lives. I love you all so much and am so thankful for every package and letter you have sent me. Come on really, Elder Healy

Like a Phoenix

Good Day, I am sorry that I did not write last week. I have been spotty about this. I was really, really rushed. So this last week I had the most powerful lesson of my mission. We had marked the baptism of a father and a son for this last Sunday, but when we called them that morning to go to church, the father said his wife was sick with fever and it wouldn´t work out. We were crushed. We were sad during church because we heard that we would both be transferred and we decided to stop by his house to give it one last try. When we arrived there, I felt guided by the Spirit. We read in Mosiah 18 and asked him if he was willing to be an example of Christ in all places and he said he was. The story then poses the question ´´So what do you have against being baptized?´´ He talked about his fear he would fall away, his fear to not keep the commandments, his desire to have his family follow him. We solved every problem one by one through testimony, stories, and prayer. We showed he was ready through the baptismal questions and his own testimony. We then invited him to be baptized the very next day. I had the privilege of baptizing him and helping him enter the path of righteousness. What a marvelous way to end a transfer. I was then sent to serve here in Sousas, a suburb of Campinas. The area has been closed for almost a year, but we received a warm welcome upon arrival and am excited to get to work. I thing the going will be tough, so I might as well get going. Like a phoenix, I am having an opportunity to start anew. I feel so blessed to be ending the train of my new companion, Elder Bryan and help this ward. I truly am feeling so fly like a phoenix, like a phoenix. I will keep you guys updated on how the work goes and hope you all watch the Temple dedication in Manaus! I love you and pray for you. Come on really, Elder Healy Let´s see. We have got a photo from tranfers, me cooking up some S´Mores (thanks so much by the way, they were the best), me at the temple, me taking a photo of a Mason sign, me cleaning a pot, me drinkign sugar cane juice with a hint of pineapple (hmmm), and me helping marry some investigators. The man with glasses and the child were baptized! Choi