Week 37....Mogi Mirum

This week was definantly different than any other week that I have had on my mission. This week we had the oppurtunity to listen to Elder Evans and President Costa. They are both from the Seventy. It was pretty funny though. They called last Saturday saying that they would be coming to visit our mission Tuesday and they wanted everyone to be there at 9 in the morning, which means at the latest 8:30. It was a pretty hectic day. We left our house at 5 in the morning so we could ride the bus for almost 2 hours and then walk quite a ways to the conference but everything we did was worth it. It was funny because Elder Evans is American and needed a translator. So it took twice as long to say what he wanted to say but it was really emphasized because I got to hear everything twice. Elder Evans is the chairman of the missionary work and knew alot about missionary work but strangely he decided to talk about families. He talked more about eternal marriage than how to talk to people on the streets. I found it really interesting when he said, "If we hold true to what we believe, starting with the family, thousands and even millions will come to the Church of Jesus Christ." He said, "this is doctrine not theory." Also he said that, "if our investigators do not meet the qualifications in DC 20:37 then we have a commandment that we can not baptize." It answered a ton of questions that I had. Also he said that he was at a conference with Elder Nelson and he asked Elder Evans, "How long after your mission were you married?" He responded, "3 months." He said that Elder Nelson gave him a dissapointed look and said that he married 5 days after his mission. He just left it at that and said that we could guess what we need to do after our missions.

Other than that our week was strange. We went and visited an older sister(75 years young) because she always has references for us. When we visited her at first she seemed normal but after she almost collapsed. She took medicine for knee pain and then for low blood pressure and had a reaction with the two drugs. Her blood pressure would go super high and then drop. It wouldn´t stay still. We ended up calling the ambulence and it took two hours to show up. During that two hours there was alot of praying going on. Then when she was in the hospital it got better but the doctor said that it was because of her faith and the faith of her "friends" that she was saved. Also one of her references was confirmed this Sunday by an inactive that came back almost 6 months ago.

 

So this transfer will be 7 1/2 months in the same area. This week when I got to church I was adressed as Bispo Zachary and Patriarcha Zachary by several members. One member even offered to start building me a house here in the glorious town of Mogi Mirim for me and my future wife. Oh and we painted our house this week!

 

We are also having alot of Elders leave the mission and to think that I have less than 15 months till I come back is crazy. I feel like it is going by too quick. Also this fruit is called maracuja. I think Brother Chandler would recognize it. It is super strong and looks like frog eggs but makes a super good juice. Also believe me I am still loving it in Mogi Mirm because next week is Carnaval and if I were in any other city I would have to stay in my house all week but Mogi Mirim will just have house parties nothing like Recife or Rio de Janeiro. Also I am excited to see you guys moving in the direction the Lord wants and how you guys are so willing to obey. The only problem that I´m seeing is that if you think Wamego is hard, I can´t imagine serving in Burlington with 30 people every week. I´m sure it will be great there though.

 

Love,

Bispo Zachary