June 27th, 2011 Monday

Oí Família!

Hey, do you all remember last week in my letter when I said that I really hope that I don´t get transferred because everything was going so smoothly out there in Lorena? Well, that day I woke up and told myself, "Heavenly Father would be playing a pretty big joke on me if I get transferred right now." Well, once again, I have found out that our loving Heavenly Father has a great and full sense of humor, because I have been transferred from my favorite area in the mission. Now the name of my city isn´t as easy to say as Lorena. Everyone repeat with me, "Itaquaquecetuba." Did you get it? Pretty cool, huh? I really like this place and the members are really nice! I spoke for about five minutes in Church yesterday without knowing that I would have to give a talk. My companion told me that this ward never calls on the new missionary to present himself on the first Sunday, so I relaxed and thought that I would only have to say hi to a few people. Nope. But it was nice, I went up and told a few jokes about my tiny hometown of Spring Lake and then bore my testimony.

Something that really caught me by surprise this week was what happened when I was transferred. This month of June I didn´t baptize anyone. I really didn´t work really hard, or at least as hard as I used to, and the results showed it. I thought that my president was disappointed in me, because I was a little disappointed in myself, and I knew that Heavenly Father wasn´t entirely pleased with my work. I made a promise to God that if He would forgive me for the poor month that I had, I would work twice as hard in July. What happened? I was called as a zone leader. I was absolutely surprised at how quickly He answered my prayer and now I know that I have to dedicate myself even more to help this work continue onward. Brazil São Paulo East has just moved up to the highest baptizing mission in Brazil and the third most baptizing mission in the world. We have to keep workin hard to keep bringing these souls unto Christ. We aren´t working to be better than everyone else, but we are working to be OUR best for the Savior.

As we were walking down the street this week, we had in our minds that we would invite EVERYONE to go to Church. We passed everyone, handing out little flyers that we made and giving service to people who needed it. We were passing by one house that was working on their house. All of the houses here in Brazil are made differently than the houses in the U.S.. All of the houses are made of this huge type of brick that is pretty heavy to carry around. This particular house had about 300 bricks outside of their house that they were all moving piece by piece into their garage. We put down our backpacks and just started to help. We didn´t even ask if we could help, we just went at it. We were with one of the young men of the ward and he and I and my companion started going to town! It felt so good to help them and all the neighbors just sat there watching three young men in white shirts and ties helping these people move brick inside their house. Sometimes words don´t need to be spoken to share the message of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I can´t even believe how fast the time is flying by out here. I live with two other missionaries now in my house and one of them is an Elder who arrived in the MTC with me and will leave with me at the end as well. We both only have 11 months left and that really is not much. We have a duty to fulfill with God out here and there is no time to waste! I am so happy to be a member and missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I know that we are taking the message of repentance and baptism to the entire world. Christ is coming and we need to prepare these people for His coming. I love these people and I love the mission! I love my family and I get so proud of you all when I hear about your stories during the week. Have a great week everyone. Tambi, read the scriptures if there isn´t TV at Mimi´s house :)

Love,
Elder Steven B. Clark