Hello All,
The days are flying by and we had another great week at the CTM. There were a couple of really neat experiences this week at the CTM.
On Sundays they show a church movie which people can go to if they want to. We went for the first time this Sunday and they were showing "17 Miracles" which was REALLY good. Lots of sniffing in the crowd, but it was really spiritual AND it was in English with Portuguese subtitles. We had a really good, bad visit with one of our "investigators" this week. This investigator (who is really one of our teachers) has a father who is a Catholic Priest and has been interested in the gospel when we come to talk with him. We were planning on teaching him the restoration lesson, but after our small talk and a prayer he told us his dad doesn't want him to listen to the Mormon discussions anymore. I don't remember a lot of what was said, I just remember a lot of what we were feeling. Both of my companions were at a loss of words as to respond. But I just remember feeling such a wave of saddness come over me. it must have shown because he told me not to be sad. I bore testimony (in Portuguese!) that I knew the gospel could bless his life and I was sad because he would be missing out on all of those blessings. We talked for a few minutes but we were all at a loss as to how to express our feelings and answer his questions. He thanked us and got up and left. So essentially, it wasn't very productive, but we really felt the Spirit and I really felt like I connected with him and what he needs, we just lacked connecting all of the dots. We talked for our teacher for a while after, about how we just felt at a loss of what to do. He helped us out a little and gave us some pointers. When one of my companions asked if the point of the CTM was to make us feel like we didn't know anything he answered well yes. And it totally makes sense. Missionaries can't convince people the Gospel is true, that is what the Holy Spirit is supposed to do, bear truth. He said a lot of Americans leave for foreign missions thinking the only thing they need to learn in the Language. But really, we all need to learn how to teach with the Spirit and how to connect with people and find out what their needs are. Anyways, seems like we've been learning that a lot this week.
We also had two really good devotionals this week. One was from Elder & Sister Dille who were a senior missionary companion serving as the medical doctor and assistant for the CTM (For those of you who don't know, "senior" means just that, they are retired parents and grandparents who have been serving the Lord for the past 22 months). Sister Dille talked about leaving her 7 kids and 19 grandkids behind. She has missed four births of grandchildren while they have been gone, but feel truly blessed from everything they have experienced while working here.
This week has been good in a lot of different ways. We also had fun seeing missionaries off this week. There were 3 elders who left for Londrina this week and the only ones I've meet so far going to Londrina. We also said goodbye to some amazing sisters heading to Rio & Fortaleza. We can't believe we've already been here 3 weeks- 16 of the way through!!
Today we went to the temple, and I did my first Portuguese session. I love the temple and the special Spirit that is there. Just like all our P-days we get to go outside and see some of the surrounding streets and enjoy the beautiful sunshine. You could probably google the temperature and know better then me, but we think its in the low 80's with humidity.
I have 25 more seconds on computer time,
Love you all!!
Sister Bullen
No comments:
Post a Comment