As the Queen song rightly states, sometimes radio ga ga is all we hear. I feel like there's been a lot of ga ga happening that has tried to distract us and other people around here. I've been hearing a lot about the US elections, which is honestly the last thing I want to hear about. Also, this week I saw a trailer for the new Fantastic Beasts movie coming out, and in so doing saw and heard way too much for me to be thinking about here. Thirdly, a game between Benfica and Porto yesterday meant that 80% of the population here were busy at that time.
And yet life goes on! Yesterday we had a couple of incredible lessons, despite the game. The first one was the first time that we marked with Bispo to go teach with us. We talked to one of our lesser progressing investigators, Claudia. It's hard to meet with her, because even though she has a marido, he's never there at the same time she is. The lesson that we had with Bispo was incredible because when Bispo explained how he learned the truth of the Restoration, he explained it in a way that Claudia seemed to totally related with! She was super attentive every time that he spoke, and she seemed even more determined to search for the truth by the time we left. Bispo's such a cool guy, and he even asked to leave with us more this week!
Another cool thing that happened this past week was a lesson we had with Adilson and Lenira (the delicious ice cream treats people). We taught them about the first principles and ordenances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with a focus on baptism. Lenira was pretty doubtful when we explained that the baptism she made in the Catholic Church wasn't enough because it didn't have the right authority. We went right back to testifying about the Prophet Joseph Smith and how we know that this church does have that restored authority. I think she finally understood why it was so important to ask of God. Because we still don't have copies of the Book of Mormon to hand out, Elder Ronces lent them his so they could read 3 Nephi 11 and learn what Jesus Christ had to say on the matter of baptism. When we passed yesterday, they said they read! The only bad thing about it all was that we marked to take them to church but we didn't write it down, so we forgot! I felt pretty dumb about that, but they forgave us and said we could try again for this next week.
I think the coolest of all moments this week was with Marina and Elisio. Having taught them the Law of Chastity, we wanted to get them planning for marriage. As they don't live together, it's not technically necessary before baptism, but they have 2 children together so we weren't sure. We decided to take Totone and Maria over to talk to them about their experience. It was honestly one of the most perfect lessons I've ever been in on my mission. Their experience was similar enough that when they talked, you could just tell that Marina and Elisio were feeling the Spirit testify of marriage to them. They talked about how they wanted to marry, but they didn't have any way to sustain themselves. Then, suddenly, I got the impression that they didn't need to marry before baptism. I asked if they were willing to completely obey the Law of Chastity, and to be baptized by the end of the month. They agreed. So now the biggest obstacle is for Elisio to get to church. We'll definitely take care of that this week.
Anyways, This was a pretty good sized update for me, so I think I'll leave it at that. I love the Holy Ghost, and the way it's able to testify through me. Remember that this church is so freaking true. Love you all!
Abraço,
Elder Penner
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