This week was pretty chill. Nothing too exciting
like last week's wedding!
Elder Omar's hair was getting pretty long this week,
so I offered to cut it. He said alright and when I started he asked, "have
you ever cut someone's hair?" And I responded "no..but I have seen
hair being cut like a thousand times already so it can't be too hard." He
got a little bit nervous, but it turned out great! I only cut my finger a little bit. I think I am going to start cutting missionaries'
hair for $5 reais (about $1.50). JK
This week our investigator Rosângela (who is going
to get married next week) had a medical condition. Her husband had to ask
people for money so they could take the bus to the hospital. Luckily some dude
offered to give them a ride. With even more luck, it wasn't too serious and she
didn't suffer permanent damage. But if she gets more nervous or annoyed and
stressed, the medical condition could return.
Rosângela and Zeca are seriously awesome. They are
so poor, but have such big hearts. Rosângela is already a missionary. We went
to her house one day and she told us that she had just talked with a woman who
now wants to come to church. We went to that woman's house to teach her and
Rosângela came with us. She kept bearing the strongest testimony of the church
for this woman. The way she described how she feels at church was so cool. I
can really see that Rosângela is being converted. We have encountered 3 new
investigators just because she loves to share what she knows.
I am studying a lot about repentance. I have learned
so much about the process of repentance and how it isn't some easy event. I
read the talk by President Henry B. Eyring at BYU entitle "Come unto
Christ." He talks about D&C 19:15-17 and the sufferings of the Lord.
One quote I really loved from it was,
"..I felt the overwhelming suffering of the
Savior. And then two things dawned on me. First, if I could not repent to
qualify for His atonement for my sins, I must suffer to the limit of my power
to suffer. And, second, with all the requisite suffering of my own, with all I
could bear, it would still not be enough. I would still be forever shut out of
the only place where there will be the warmth of family, the family of my
Heavenly Father whom I have loved and whom I miss, and that of my family here.
Somehow I had gotten the idea that the choice was between repenting or not. And
then I realized that whatever pain repentance might bring in this life, it was
certainly no more than the pain I would face if I did not repent here, and yet
that later pain could not lift me home. It could not bring the mercy I
needed."
Love you guys! Have a great week. I invite you all
to repent.
Elder Waters
