Busy, Busy

Sorry I didn´t write yall on Monday, I was in a leadership meeting and did not have time. But I am writing now. This last week was interesting and one of growth. We had the opportunity to finally have a solid week of work in the area and the results showed because of it. We were able to teach many people and leave with many members. We had a two-member division like 3 or 4 times last week and were able to visit a bunch of people. My companion knows how to teach extremely well and is very confident in his abilities. We will baptize on Sunday! Woohoo! We reactivated a family that had been sealed in the temple but went away from the church a couple of years ago. We have helped bring them back to church and stop working on Sundays and there son will be baptized at 4 with all his member and non-member family in attendance. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go on a division to an area that is struggling in our zone. He stayed with the Senior companion there. He had not been doing his contacts, lessons, or new investigators and I went there to find out why. He knows how to work well and we were able to mark 4 baptims, find 5 news, and mark 6 people for church in the course of a couple of hours. I showed him why we need to work and how we can do it. I love being able to help others realize their potential. We also had some interesting encounters. One person we marked to visit tried to avoid us by turning her head and looking off into the horizon when we saw her sitting in a chair in the front. We just stood there looking at the same point to make it awkward. Then we taught her. All the members think I have high blood pressure because of a faulty blood test I did. So now we are eating like rabbits. That´s a good thing, however, because I had some blockage problems recently. I haven´t been drinking as much water as I should so things have been a little drier to say the least. Then I started feeling a extreme pain in my stomach after lunch so President order me to go to the Doctor. They did an X-Ray and discovered that my large intestine was so stuffed up that I had a gas pocket that couldn´t escape which was causing pressure. A couple Lax and I was good to go. I feel more and more each day the presence of God in my life and less and less desire to sin and do anything contrary to his will. I know that I am doing the work of the Lord and know that anyone can recieve the same testimony I have. I love you all. Come on really, Elder Healy P.S. Go Warriors!

House Hunting

Hi. This week was pretty interesting. So our house is not so good. Its got faulty plumbing, mold, slugs, leaky roof, broken stove, etc. So we have been doing our best to find a new house and get new things. So our mission President came to our area today to get new stuff for us and to resolve the housing issue. So we spent a good 5 hours driving around with President and Sister to find a house. We found a couple of sweet ones and they got us a new stove, refrigerator, microwave, and cabinet. Then we went for Pizza! Pretty dang sweet to ride around in an air conditioned car and talk about the zone. We will be moving in a little hopefully. When we opened the area, my companion and I encountered a zone with a little rebellion and fault of desire to work. So my companion and I conducted the whole meeting to show them how it should happen. I laid it on pretty thick about the importance of obedience to receive the blessings of the Lord. Things improved this week. Yesterday we had the opportunity to teach a family that we have helped bring back to church. Two weeks ago, just the father and one son went. This week, the father, the two sons, and the mother went. We had a touching lesson on the importance of church attendance and eternal families. Everyone was tearing up and feeling the spirit. One of their children is not baptized and we hope to baptize him in two weeks. We will see how that works out. One phrase that stuck in my mind is 创My Eternal Family.创 This truly has becoem my goal and my dream. To have those I love with me for all eternity. I would give so much to have that. It gives me more energy to do everything when I think this is what I am helping others achieve. I love you all and hope for your best. Come on really, Elder Healy

Alligator!

Hey! So like yall know I was transfered! Now I am in a district called Jacare which means alligator in Portuguese. My companion and I are opening the area so to speak because both of the missionaries there before were transfered. They did not leave a very big teaching group nor a much in the area book so we are looking to an uphill battle. But the members are excited and we are as well. The people so far have been receptive and we have been able to get into various houses to teach. Lots of funny things happened. I am so bad at time management... Come on really, Elder Healy

Let the Good Times Roll

Well its that time of the mission again! Transfers! So I was caught by surprise and transferred from Vinhedo while my companion stayed and they opened another area. I had some mixed feelings about this mix up, but I will go where he wants me to go. I feel as if I was able to make an impact for the better in this city. On Sunday we were able to bring a whopping 13 investigators to church. We had plenty of members leaving with us and plenty of references this week. There are a good 12 baptisms that could be had here in the future. I sincerely hope to have a similar teaching group in my next area! I am as happy as can be other than this transfer business. I feel like I am fulfilling my purpose as a missionary, helping others to truly come unto Christ. I feel inspired to talk to others and share my testimony. I want to help my companion and other Elders improve. I have been thinking a lot about faith recently and have done my best to study it as thoroughly as I can. What I have learned is that faith is much more complex than what I had believed from a quick glance. I originally understood it as confidence and belief in the unseen, with a willingness to act on said belief. But it is so much more than that. The Prophet Joseph Smith dedicated an entire book on faith called 创Lectures on Faith创 that has given me many an insight. From quotes I have read, I have learned that to truly have faith in Jesus Christ, 1. You must believe he exists 2. You must have a correct understanding of his character 3. You must have the certainty that your life is in line with his teachings. But it is further than that. Mere obedience and diligence does not guarantee divine help. Most people have faith unto action. If I act now, something will happen later. But the faith we must develop is faith unto power. That through our righteousness and desire to do the Lords will and our utmost confidence in him, miracles happen. In Ether 12:14 we learn that it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that changed the hearts of the Lamanites. It was there faith that changed another. I hope to develop this kind of faith. I love you and pray for you. Come on really, Elder Healy

World!

I´m super sorry that I havent been writing you like I should. I was just a little busy with apps and the like. But I am here and writing now. Much has happened since I last wrote you and I will do my best to sum it all up. This week is the last week of the transfer so we will see what happens. We have 4 couples to marry which would be a grand total of 11 baptisms. Keep your fingers crossed. We divided up the ward and opened a group in another neighborhood. The group had 51 people Sunday! My companion and I are getting along great. I hope to stay in Vinhedo next transfer, but who knows. I have been tired lately for some reason and getting sick, but I hope to get better. We have been able to bring a bun ch of people to church in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully these fruits pay off. I feel myself improving each day as I search the scriptures and try to apply them. I love you all. Come on really, Elder Healy

Food Poisoning... Dun Dun Dun!

Hey Yall! So today was super awesome thus far. Last night we ate some supper at some investogators´ house who are just waiting for a marriage to get baptized. It was some kind of corn and shrimp sauce with rice and hot sauce. Pretty tasty. But when I woke up at 4 am and was blowing out of both ends I wasn´t too happy. I threw up three times today and all of it was that dang shrimp sauce. I´ve brushed my teeth like three times already... But then I bought some medicine and popped some pills and I have been stable for about three hours. Let´s see how I hold out. So that was fun. It rained a whole ton this week so at one point we stayed in a garage for about an hour and a half which slowed things down. We have a new rule on the mission where you can´t teach lessons on the street anymore so that we can teach people in their houses with more quality. So everyones numbers dive bombed. Also, we had another baptism! YEAH! It was super awesome, the room was full. Only problem was that the font drained a little bit so it was really low. And the woman did not close her nose. So I had to put her down real low and she came out sputtering, but other than that it was all good. We will have another one this week as well. A 16 year-old who wants to go on a mission! We just need to teach him a little more and do a family night and it´s a sealed deal. I think that we are having enough success that they will put another dupla here, but let´s see. This week I will be traveling until Friday to do divisions with other Elders to help give them training. Let´s see if I can get them animated and back to work. I´ve come to the realization this week that I have a solid knowledge of some pretty useless deep doctrine and have neglected my study of the New Testament and Doctrine and Covenants. I am trying to do ariel kicks without first learning the basic punch. So that´s something that will change in my free time study. That´s about all. Until next week! Come on really, Elder Healy

Bring the Rain

hello, Hello, HELLO! How are you doing on this wonderful day? I am excited you are reading and learnign along with me. We had another interesting week here in Vinhedo with successes and heartaches, triumphs and failures, so keep tuned in! Our New Year´s was uneventful with missionaries over for district meeting and a big ol´ fest of BANG! the best Wild West Game ever made. That combined with fruitcake and powdered juice made for a good time before district meeting the next day. I then gave some doctrine about the how we qualify to have the Spirit, that is much more than keeping the rules and praying. I then talked about how we must invite the Spirit to our teaching and allow him to touch the hearts of our investigators. So we practiced the First Vision and the Atonement which, for me, bring the Spirit so quickly to the lesson if presented correctly. The Restoration and the Atonement, with the Fall, are the most important events in history and thus leave a significant impact on the investigators. After that it was just work until now. We have been hitting doors, doing contacts, visiting inactives, and asking references all to increase our teaching group and we have had mixed results. Because the area is so large and we are in charge of two wards and I only have two feet we are trying to decide exactly how to focus on one specific area to be effective. We finally decided on two neighborhoods and have found many elects. It´s raining. We´ve been in the investigator´s house for too long so decide to book it. I recommend we go to a member´s house. My comp forgets so we end up under a bus stop. We call the ward mission leader to send someone to give us a ride (because we are drenched). He says Geraldo will stop by in a little. A car pulls up and tells us to get in. We do and tell Geraldo thanks. Dun, Dun, Dun! It´s not Geraldo, but Aginaldo. He was taught four years ago and went to church for three months straight. Now we are marking his marriage and he will be baptized next month! Yeah! Stuff like that just doesn´t happen everyday! We are being so blessed as we do our part. This next week we will have 10 members leaving with us and a bunch of references to receive. I love you guys and hope you really know that and feel that. I think about you and pray for you and hope you too can fell this love for the gospel! This work is true. This is not something relative to me and what I feel. It does not vary from one person or another. As a ward missionary put it so eloquently in his testimony on Sunday, ´´Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. This not my belief, but actual fact.´´ Come on really, Elder Healy