Arachely

Hello everyone!

 

 

We had another good week this last week! There's a whole lot going on in both of the areas we're working in, I'm very excited about the progress we're seeing. Arachely's baptism was a great experience. She was super excited and just beaming afterward. I had the opportunity to confirm her, and it was a very special experience. The spirit was very strong and everyone that was present was very touched. She brought her entire family, and only her older brother is a member. They all had a great experience and were very well received by the members. I'm excited to teach them this next week. 

 

 

We also had stake conference on sunday and it was incredible! We got to hear from our Stake President, President and Sister Crane, and some recently returned missionaries. Our Stake President spoke on covenants and ordinances. He said that the most important ordinance we do in the church is the sacrament. It was a little interesting to think about, but if we receive all of the ordinances in the temple, and we don't continually renew our covenants each week when we take the sacrament, then the covenants we made in the temple don't mean very much. I learned to see a lot more importance in sacrament meeting, and I'm very grateful for the chance to take the sacrament weekly. 

 

 

I also got news that I'll have the chance to go to the temple on Friday! I'm super stoked. The Recife Temple isn't part of the mission boundaries, but President Crane is taking a handful of missionaries with the missionaries who will receive their endowments. I love the temple so much and I've been missing it so much. I love the feeling of the spirit in the temple and I truly believe the most important work we'll ever do is in the temple. 

 

 

We were also able to go to Recife for MLC on Wednesday. It was a great chance to be taught and council with President and Sister Crane. We talked a lot about receiving revelation. I definitely received A LOT of revelation and I learned that I have a lot that I need to improve on. It's interesting, the closer you get to the Lord, the more you realize you've got a lot longer ways to go. 

 

 

Thank you to everyone for the many birthday wishes yesterday! I love you all a lot and I'm grateful for all of your love and support. Have a great week next week!! 

Elder Larkin

Jaqueline

Olaaa todos!! 

We had a great week last week. I felt like we were much more organized and the work was flowing a lot better in both of our areas. I'm very excited about the work going on, it's been an incredible couple of weeks! 

We were able to baptize our friend Jaqueline yesterday. It was an amazing and powerful experience. I've been working with her ever since I arrived in this area. When I first started to teach her, she didn't want anything to do with the church. She refused to read in the Book of Mormon, come to church, or make friends with the members. She was only being taught because her boyfriend is a member. 

After feeling a little discouraged with the lack of progress, we kept working with her, and two weeks ago, something changed. We were teaching her the gospel of Jesus Christ, just the very basics. I bore testimony of Him and promised blessings that would come from baptism. I felt directed to invite her to be baptized one last time, so I extended the invitation. The room got very quiet. The spirit was incredibly powerful and she got very emotional. After about a minute of everyone just listening to the spirit, she accepted my invitation, and was baptized yesterday. 

Leading up to her baptism she studied the Book of Mormon everyday. It was as if she gained a testimony with the click of a button. It was incredible. The most amazing part of the story is that her boyfriend has been very less active in the church. When  we met he wasn't going to sacrament meeting. But he's making plans to be worthy to enter in the temple with her. I realized that her baptism has potential to create an eternal family a little further down the road. I'm so happy and grateful to have had the chance to work with them. 

We also had a fun activity with the youth in one of our wards we're working in! Lots of them brought their friends who are non members, and it was super fun to play games and just build friendships with them. They're all super good kids and everyone had a blast. Afterward my companion and I got to share a message with the entire group, and we decided to talk about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. Everyone loved it! Two of them accepted a baptismal date and the rest accepted copies of The Book of Mormon. It was incredible! 

All in all, I'm doing super well. My relationship with my Savior has grown immensely. I'm just so so happy with the success we're having and the lives that are changing around me. I love you all! Have a great week this week!

Elder Larkin

Transfers

Hello everyone!!

I hope you're all doing well!! We had a very busy, very good week this past week! It started off on Monday with Alessandras baptism! She was super excited to finally be baptized and it was such a good experience. She lives in Riacho das Almas, a city pretty far away from where we're at, and she was still able to bring all of her family to participate. Her grandma, aunt and uncle are members, but the rest of them aren't. Everyone in the meeting felt the spirit very powerfully and we started to teach her parents and little sister! I really hope that they'll continue to feel the spirit as we continue to share the gospel with them. 

Then on Tuesday we had transfers! It was a bummer saying goodbye to Elder Sodrè. He's one of my best friends, so it was hard to see him go. But I received another incredible Elder to make up for it! Elder Dionizo is a stud. He's very obedient, loves to work hard, and is super happy all the time. So, we've been getting along great! We were to have some pretty phenomenal lessons and find some new people to teach, I can tell that it's going to be a great transfer. 

We're both really excited about Jaqueline. We had postponed her baptismal date to give her some more time to prepare, but she is doing great! She came to church on Sunday and had a great experience and her testimony has grown immensely. I started working with her since I got to this area more than 3 months ago. She has made a lot of progress from then until now and is super excited for her baptism coming up on sunday. The Gospel has really changed her heart and I've loved having the chance to see her draw closer to Jesus Christ. 

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Elder Larkin

Miracles

Boa tarde!! Tudo bem?

 

 

This last week was pretty good!! I'm so happy with how it turned out. We were able to see many miracles and see many different people change. 

 

 

One of the bigger miracles that happened this last week, or transfer really, was Delci. His story is incredible. He doesn't have very much and is very humble, but has more faith than most people I know. His faith has moved many different mountains in his life. He was able to quit smoking, give up coffee, and was able to get past other people trying to stop his baptism from happening. The experience I've had being able to work with him was incredible and I'm pretty sure I'll never forget it. 

 

 

We were also able to baptize Heloisa, she is 9 years old and part of a less active/part member family. With her baptism she was able to reactivate her family and help all of them start coming back to church. They've been coming consistently for a month now. Pretty incredible. After her baptism, she was given the chance to bear her testimony and she said, "Estou muito feliz por ter me batizada, e nunca quero fazer mais alguma coisa errada na minha vida." Another pretty great example of faith if you ask me. 

 

 

Another miracle has been Alessandra. She was supposed to be baptized yesterday, but she rolled her knee on Saturday and had to go to the hospital. But she has been an incredible example to the rest of her family. Her aunt and uncle made a goal along with her to get to the temple and do baptisms and to be sealed. She also told us she really wants to serve a mission if she's given the chance. She is 16 years old right now, I pray she can prepare for 3 more years to serve a mission. 

 

 

We had yet another miracle happen yesterday. We had a lesson with Jaqueline, we've been teaching her for 2 transfers now and she was on the verge of being an "eternal investigator". She's been on baptismal date a couple times now, and it had been a couple weeks since we'd been able to meet with her. We finally got the chance to meet with her yesterday, and we taught the basic truths of the Gospel and read Alma 7:10-15. After we read and testified the spirit was very strong, and she got very emotional and started to cry. She said she had received an answer, we invited her to be baptized on August 8th, and she accepted. I'm excited to keep working with her and to help her to finally reach her baptismal goal. 

 

 

We were also able to have an exchange with the Santa Cruz Elders, and I worked with Elder Andrade! It was a very good exchange. We were able to have a couple baptismal interviews and visit some of the people we're teaching. He has a lot of heart and I was impressed by his care for others around him. He always seems to serve someone else before he thinks of himself. That's an attribute I would like to work on moving forward. 

 

 

We also got transfer news, and my companion is leaving, which is a bummer. We were able to work super well together and we had a lot of fun. But I'll be getting Elder Dionizo as my new companion, and it'll be a lot of fun! We're going to be taking on another area/ward too, so we're going to be verrryyyyy busy haha. But I'm looking forward to it!

 

 

I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Larkin