Monday, Nov 1st

Oi Família!

This was really great! We had a meeting with a member the Seventy. Elder C. Scott Grow came and spoke to us all and gave us some really good training. It was a great experience because I got to travel more towards the center of São Paulo and I got to see more parts of this HUGE city! It is really amazing just how large this place is!

Well everyone, I have a really funny story for you guys! Just yesterday, my companion and I were talking about how we wanted our suits to last a long time because we only use them on Sundays for Church and then we just leave them in our house afterwards, so they should last quite a long time, right? Well, as I was saying that, we were coming up on big pile of trash on the side of the road... I thought, there´s no problem here. I´ll just walk around the pile of trash and everything will be all rig...WHOA! Yeah, I tripped over the garbage in the street, right in front this court where these kids were playing soccer. I ripped a tiny hole in the knee of my blue suit haha I got up, brushed myself off, gave my companion a little jab in the side to get him to stop laughing so hard, and laughed it off as well. I guess there is such a thing as karma haha.

We are teaching yet another person who has a problem with smoking, but I had a very different reaction with her. Her name is Madalena and we have been teaching her for about two or three weeks now. She is a reference from God! One day, out of the blue, she showed up at Church and said that she knew that it was different than all of the other Churches here. We began teaching her and she prayed and already knew that everything was true and she wanted to be baptized. We then taught the Word of Wisdom to her and she said that she has a problem with smoking. We made some plans for her to quit and then ended with a prayer. I invited her to offer the prayer to ask for more help to quit smoking and she responded like this, "I don´t feel worthy or prepared enough to pray to God because of my problem with cigarettes. Let´s wait a little bit and see if I feel better about praying." I could feel that she really was hurting inside and she felt remorse because of her smoking problem, so I said the first things that came to my mind. "Sister Madalena, it doesn´t matter what you´ve done, where you´ve been, or how long you´ve done it, your Heavenly Father absolutely loves you and He wants to help you. All of us are worthy to speak to our Father in Heaven, and He is just waiting for us to open our hearts up to Him." She looked at us, smiled, and offered one of the most beautiful prayers I´ve ever heard. The next time we passed by her house, she expressed how much she has appreciated prayer and how it is helping her overcome here addiction everyday. She said at the end of this visit, "I will quit smoking, I will be baptized, and I will be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ!"

I know that this Church is true. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I know that we all are a part of the great family of God. I am so glad that I have great family and friends to share these experiences with. I hope that each and every one of us develops a more close and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Clark