Week 16

Família. Tudo bem?

   This week was very nice. We hooked up our fridge to a new outlet, so now we can have cold foods!!! Awesome. I'm attaching a few pictures for ya, but I guess that I can't attach videos because of some memory limit. LAME!!!

   I think about you all all of the time. Things here in Cassequel are great. We have had awesome progress with people.

   Let's start with D. We were going to drop him. He had received all of the lessons, and was not keeping ANY commitments, including chastity and Word of Wisdom commitments. When we went to let him go, the member that was working with us, A.P., started to tell him that it was time to change. She gave him a baptismal date for us. He said over and over: "imposível". We didn't even think it was possible, but I told Elder Perry that we shouldn't give up just yet.

   We went to his house, and gave him a picture of Christ (one that I may or may not have used in my luggage to deter theives) and some passalong cards to tape up all over his complex for him. We gave him a scripture study notebook, and told him we would check up on him twice a week, and call him each night. We gave him a priesthood blessing to quit alcohol. When I gave the blessing, I had the distinct impression to not say anything certain. So, I said "with work" before every blessing I promised. Well, we called him each night, visited, and asked him about his commitments and scripture reading each time. He changed completely. He dropped alcohol that day when we gave him the pictures. With 1 week of struggling, he gave up smoking. He also took our advice and made it a rule of his house not to allow his girlfriend to be alone with him at home. 

   We asked A. P. to verify, and she said that he had been doing everything that he said. He was the only one o f our investigators that came to all 4 sessions of general conference... and payed attention. He isn't the best scripture reader, and he doesn't always understand everything that he does read, but if the baptismal interview goes well on Wednesday, he will be baptised on Saturday. I don't know how strong his tesitmony is of the Book of Mormon, and that does scare me, but I do think that he is trying very very VERY hard to live his life the way the Savior would have hime live it. I am very anxious for Wednesday!!!

   All of our other investigators with baptismal dates are ones that "don't feel ready", but we know that they will be at the times of their dates. They are golden people, and are just a little nervous. So, we tell them that when we give baptismal dates, we KNOW that they aren't ready that instant, but that we want to give them a goal to prepare for it. Then, at our next visits, they are much more excited about baptism.

   Ok... so I might need to find a new Book of Mormon in Português... I sort of gave mine to an investigator... haha. We were on a division with a zone leader, so we were a triple. We went to a woman's home named Natercia. She said she was big into studying religious things, and she was open to anything. She showed us a book on fasting and talked FOREVER about it. She also challenged (didn't discredit, but challenged) everything that my companions said. So, I bore a testimony. It was a strong one. I told her about you guys, and how I don't know Português yet, and that I missed you. Then, I told her that I wouldn't be here if I didn't know that the Book of Mormon was true. We didn't have any give away copies with us, so I told her to take my personal copy and read, ponder, and pray about it until we could meet with her again and get her a new one. She accepted, and we left the lesson on a high note!

   Sounds like summer time is coming for you all! It's turning into the dry season now, but we're seeing more rain than the country has in a VERY long time. I hope all of you are having fun doing what you love: baseball, visiting family, getting sick, etc. haha

   I love you guys. I miss you and can't wait to see you again, but in the mean time, I'll just keep trying to improve myself!

I love you all. Fique bem. Têm força.

  -Elder Alex Hobbs