batizar, reter, & resgate

This week we tried really hard to work with members. On saturday, we had lessons with four different members helping us integrate our investigators and helping them get to church the next day. It was a fun day! It really strengthened my testimony that we need to do all that we can to have members present in our lessons--especially members that can really help our investigators. On sunday, we had many non-members at sacrament meeting and almost all of them were brought by members. 

Jonathan was baptized yesterday! We had a Family Home Evening with him on wednesday night with an awesome family in the ward that already knew him from when he was taught in the past. Their oldest son, Vinicius, knew Jonathan from before and really integrated him well. Then the next night, Vinicius brought him to our weekly ward activity and even more members got to know Jonathan. Sunday morning, Vinicius picked him up for the baptism and everything went smoothly. It was a testimony to me that working with members makes the work so much easier and efficient. 

Also Elson(25), who was the other investigator that came to church last week with a member, came to church again on his own. He will be baptized this saturday. He loved the church and even participated in our gospel principles class. We taught his family after church the Restoration and they were really interested in the church. 

We also had another golden referral from the stake president who brought one of his neighbors, Jefferson(21), to church. Jefferson has been looking for a church for a long time and he was invited by our stake president. He plays soccer with the stake president´s son and after church we brought the son with us to teach him the Restoration. We taught about the Book of Mormon and he asked anxiously, ``How do I get one of those(a book of Mormon)?``It was cool to see how much he wanted to know for himself. It will be fun to teach him this week. 

We also had Vitoria and her boyfriend come to church yesterday. Vitoria is 13 and the daughter of a less-active member who found us on the street one day and asked us to pray and ask for a blessing on her family/house. She wants to come back to church but has been busy with work lately. She really wants her kids to go though. She wants Vitoria to get involved with the young women´s programs and realize that she is too young to date. Anyways, Vitoria and Leonardo went to church and stayed to watch Jonathan´s baptism after. I asked Vitoria how she liked the church and she said that she will go next sunday and the next sunday and the sunday after that and so on. I think that´s a good sign. She is also being integrated into the young women´s organization and will go with them to girls camp this week. 

I feel really blessed to be here in Aracati. I´m really thankful for wise and helpful leaders and the spirit that guides us. 

This week we had a training and interviews with the president. In the training, he talked about how every appointment we make should be made to help us fulfill one of three purposes: BAPTIZE, RETAIN, or REACTIVATE and all three should help us find new investigators to baptize. I´ve seem the fruits of these three purposes just this week. We found Vitoria (and her siblings and boyfriend) because we found her mom and began helping that family. Elson and Jefferson were referrals from members that we have been working with/teaching with. I think that as we work with members in general, even teaching investigators we already have with them, we give them more motivation to help us find even more people to teach. Our retention activity on thursday was really fun and Mariana came and brought a friend to church on sunday. and Jonathan was just a miracle. 

I´m grateful for all the miracles that I saw this week. I know that miracles happen according to our faith--and we know that faith without works is dead,  so the miracles happen when we act on our faith and take a step out of our comfort zone and follow the counsel of our leaders in the church. 

Thanks for all your help and encouragement!

Much love, 

Sister Bledsoe

Elder J. Silva, Jonathan, Sister Bledsoe and Sister Villagran

amor duro

Miracles really do happen according to our faith! This week Sister Villagran and I were working really hard trying to get a ton of people at church this week. Unfortunately, most of our teaching pool cut themselves because they weren´t keeping commitments, so we spent most of the week trying to find new investigators. We contacted, asked for referrals from almost every contact, and really tried to pray continually***. However, it didn´t seem like anything was really happening or that we were finding the elect. We kept contacting and working hard though and preparing for a baptism on sunday. Mariana was baptized on sunday; she´s a neice of a member that brings her to church every week. The mom went to the baptism and it was a special day. However, we weren´t successful in bringing any other investigators to church by our own efforts. Thankfully, Heavenly Father is kind and blessed us with 2 new investigators that showed up at church. One is Jonathon(24): his family was taught by the missionaries YEARS ago because his dad is a member. He and his mom never got to baptism. Anyway, he said he just woke up that day and told his mom that he wanted to go to church. He went and found the elders and said that he wanted to come back and get baptized! We visited him later that day and him and his mom accepted baptism. It was an awesome day. The other investigator came with a member and he loved that church too. Yesterday really strengthened my testimony that miracles happen when we do all that we can. It was a sweet reassurance that our diligence matters in the Lord´s eyes and he blesses us with tender mercies according to our faith.

This week we also had a special conference with our mission president about obedience. He called the conference ``amor duro``(tough love). Alma 4:19 is a good summary of what happened: And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony.`` 

It was pretty hard core but it really helped me feel the Spirit and weight of my calling. He shared some scriptures on obedience:

D&C 82: 2, 3, & 10-    Nevertheless, there are those among you who have sinned exceedingly; yea, even all of you have sinned; but verily I say unto you, beware from henceforth, and refrain from sin,lest sore judgments fall upon your heads. For of him unto whom much is given much is required;and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation... I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

1 Samuel 15:22-     And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.obedience is more important that sacrifice--I can work really hard but if im not obedient, my offer isn´t very pleasing to God

D&C 58: 29, 32 &33-

But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded,and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned...I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing. Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for heir reward lurketh beneath, and not from above.

***praying continually:We also had a training that really changed my view on the concept of praying continually throughout our day. They talked about how most of the time on our way to appointments(when we walk, drive, etc.) this is what we are thinking: ``I´m tired. Just 6 more months of this. I´m hungry. I hope Sister Silva makes good snacks for our FHE tonight. etc.`` They did a demonstration where 2 missionaries were thinking this kind of stuff and when they got to the house, the investigators were in a rush/hadn´t read or prayed/didnt accept commitments/etc; Then they did the practive again but just changed what the missionaries were thinking as they walked. This time as the missionaries walked to their investigator´s house their thoughts were more or less this: ``Heavenly Father, please bless the Costa family. Please touch their hearts. Help us to bring the Spirit into their home. Help us teach them the principles that will motivate them to change their life forever...etc`` Then when they got to the investigator´s house they were spiritually prepared and the investigators ended up making time for the lesson, accepting commitments, sharing experiences/difficulties, etc. When Sister Villagran and I applied this this week we were astonished at how much more we felt the spirit this week and how many of the hearts of our investigators were touched. Heavenly Father really does bless us when our hearts/thoughts are in the right place. One of my favorite scriptures is 3 Nephi 13:21 ``For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.``

Have an awesome week! 

Sister Bledsoe

Gabriela(Mariana´s friend), Sister Villagran, me, Mariana, Andre(Mariana´s cousin), Manuel (Mariana´s uncle), Geovana(Mar´s sister), Marinalva (Mar´s mom)

converção

So last week I told you all that they bought my plane ticket but don´t think that I´m trunky! Sister Villagran and I are still working really hard here in Aracati and it has been really wonderful this last week. 

We have been working a lot with Edgar, João´s friend (by the way, João is the portuguese name for john). They are good buddies and teaching Edgar has really helped João stay excited about the church and his testimony has grown a lot as we teach Edgar. Seriously, everything that my mission president says is GOLD. He taught us that we have to teach all 5 lessons before and after baptism, but the lessons after baptism have to be taught with a non-member. That means that the recent convert has to give us referrals and we have to teach the referral with the recent convert. If they don´t have a referral for us, we have to bring them with us to teach another investigator. It works so well because the recent converts are so enthusiastic about the church and how it changed their lives. I just love working with recent converts, especially João because he has changed so much in the months that we have known him. He literally has a new light about him. He is also helping Edgar quit some bad habits/addictions and is bringing him to church activities and everything. 

This week we have had 2 activities at the church--one was with the other ward that shares our chapel and the other was just our ward. The combined activity was good, but the ward activity was awesome! Tons of members showed up and about a third of the people at the activity were non-members/part member families/friends/etc. It was way cool! I love using the chapel. It´s always a great experience for everyone. 

We ended up taking the same bus home as a recent convert in the ward. He is probably in his 60s and was baptized like 6 months ago and he goes to every single ward activity and has not missed a sunday since the first sunday that the sister missionaries invited him. He mentioned that he had plans to travel to visit his family in another state but is waiting until after march. I asked why and his response gave me the biggest smile. He said, ``I have been to church for 44 sundays. I have been to the temple 3 times to do baptisms for my ancestors. I will visit my family after I have completed one year of the church. I need to get my endowment and I will not miss one sunday in this ward until then.`` I was amazed at this man´s conversion. He is an incredible example of righteousness. Everytime we have stopped by his house and ask what he has been doing that day, he says that he got home from work and has been reading the scriptures. I´m glad I could meet such incredible people on my mission.

Thanks for your emails and updates, etc. 

Love you! 

Sister Bledsoe

Anyway, we are still teaching Edgar. He went to an activity on saturday at the church and really likes everything about the church. However, he really struggles with the word of wisdom. He has smoked cigarettes since he was 8 years old. He smokes like 10 cigarettes a day right now (compared to 4 packs like a month ago), so he is smoking less. He needs more motivation to quit smoking. I think we will try to go the temple with him and João this week to help him to expand his vision and help him to feel the desire to try harder. He has a testimony that the church is true though and is really grateful for our help. He said that he knows what we teach is true because he sees the light in our eyes and told us that he knows that it is the Spirit. This week we will bring more members with us to our lessons and really help him to quit smoking and drinking. 

This week we also realized that many of the people that we have been teaching aren´t willing to keep any sort of commitments so unfortunately we will cut many of them this week. We need to work more at measuring desire and really finding the elect. In our teaching pool were people that don´t read what we give them or pray and many who aren´t home when we have appointments with them. However, we are confident that we will find new investigators this week and help them progress.

muito obrigado!

Ahhh I just got an email with my flight info--sooo unreal. It feels like yesterday I got here in Brazil speaking no Portuguese and so excited to just teach and help people. my trainers from my mission in the US both went home recently and one of them went home last week and she was talking about the talk by  President Uchtdorf in the April General Conference session titled "Grateful in Any Circumstances,`` where he says:                                                   We Are Not Made for Endings

In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder thatwhenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us?There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.

Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless¹³ and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.

The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.

How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan 

there are are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings.

(Thanks Sister May ;P) I really am grateful though for the knowledge that I have of the plan of salvation. I feel like I am just so lucky to have been born into a family where I was taught these eternal truths. I am humbled as I think about all the blessings that I have received at home and on my mission--many tender mercies and blessings that I did not deserve. I am grateful for a loving heavenly father and my family and amazing influence that they are and have been for me.  I have been blessed with incredible support on my mission--all the emails and cards and encouragement. I hope to be able to do something for my savior in these last few weeks of my full-time mission and for the rest of my life to express how grateful I am and how happy I am to have been given so much. It´s like the song ``because I have been given much I too much give.`` 

It has been incredible to see the happiness that the gospel has brought into my life and into the life of the investigators and members that I´ve taught. Yesterday João brought his friend to church; Edgar loved it and has been going through a hard time since his close friend had an accident and is now in a coma. On sunday, he found a peace that I know that he didn´t find in alcohol or any of the things that the world offered to help him feel better. I am so grateful to be able to see the gospel change lives and complete the happiness that others didn´t even know they were looking for. 

This is turning into a novel or my journal. It´s always so hard to write emails to try to sum up my feelings/thoughts from a week of this work, but hope you all can know how much I love each of you and how grateful I am for all you have done for me and taught me through your words and examples. 

Thanks! 

Sister Bledsoe

boas novas

HELLO! this week I got my new companion, Sister Villagran from Chile!!! She´s really cool and we had a really good first week together!

This week was really good--lots of good things here as we are trying to find new people to teach. We have recently gotten some really good referrals from the members here and one from a member who lives in another mission who works with Alan, who lives in our area. Alan is in his late 30s and he has already been baptized in many churches but has never found exactly what he was looking for. He has talked to his member friend a lot about the church and has a lot of interest. His wife is really receptive too and they have a few kids that weren´t home when we taught them. When we taught the first vision, he said that he identifies a lot with Joseph because he has the same doubts. They accepted baptismal dates and everything, but then they went out of town for the weekend so they didn´t make it to church. 

Also João is doing really well--he´s sooo happy. We talked about being a light on a hill (mat. 5) and then he gave us a referral for a young couple that lives in his street. We taught them and they are receptive to our messages; they want to get married so we will work with them to get that going. It´s awesome teaching referrals with new members! João was just so excited about the church and told them just the best things about the church; it was really fun. 

This week we will find even more of the elect in our area and help them to get to church!  I was reading recently in Romans 10 about missionary work and how important it is to open our mouths: ``13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!.``

love you all!
Sister Bledsoe

this is Ivanildes and her family--everyone was super sad that sister angulo got transferred

bem-vindo 2015 :)

This week was a miracle! I´m not sure if I told you about João a few weeks ago--he is like 60 years old and he was a street contact when I first got here. We invited him to church and he said yes and we asked him if was a man of his word, he thought about it for a second, said yes, and he came to church that sunday! He told us that a long time ago he went a few times in another area. He really changed as we taught him and it was amazing to see it even in his countenance--he was just so unbelievably happy when we taught him. He was baptized on sunday, and he got up to bear his testimony and almost yelled as he told us how happy he was. I am so grateful for the gospel. I hope to be able to help anyone discover that there are no strangers in the church of Jesus Christ--that we all belong there and that is where true happiness lies. I love being a missionary. I love seeing the change that happens when true principles are put to the test.

 transfer news: Sister Angulo got transferred and I will get a new companion tomorrow. crazy! we knew this would happen though because she has been here for like 6 months. 

Love you! Remember to read the Book of Mormon!
Sister Bledsoe

Elder Fuenteabla, João, sisters

Sister angulo and I with Bia´s mom... we are trying to help her understand the book of Mormon. We just love her so much but she was really against Bia getting baptized at the beginning of december but now she is softening up. We committed her to read the book of Mormon and she accepted!