Too Many Miracles to not Believe.

this week was really spectacular! me and elder c baptized 5 people this week!!!

Al told us that he was waiting for the missionaries to find him again, the sisters had taught him three years ago but he didnt want to be baptized because he wasnt able to stop smoking. but about four or five months ago he read exodus 23:20-23 and recognized the missionaries as the angels and with prayed really hard and finally stopped smoking! he was just waiting for us to come baptize him! on wednesday we taught him and his wife, Qui, was in house (usually she works all day) we taught her about the restauration and challenged her to pray RIGHT THEN to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet. so we all kneeled down and she prayed and asked. after a few moments she looked up at us and said that it felt like the weight of the world dissappeared and was floating, really light and happy.  she accepted that as a response from the Holy Spirit and accepted the invitation to be baptized THAT SATURDAY!!!

the other 3 people was another family that we have been working with for about a month, a family of 4.a couple and 2 kids. the wife is scared of choosing the wrong church and hasnt been receiving answers to her prayers, but last week we discovered that se was smoking, which blocks the spirit. we gave her a blessing, and after that she said that she didn't get any pleasure out of smoking. she even tried smoking a couple of times after that just to see if the addict´s pleasure would return but it didn't. God straight up took the pleasure out of smoking from her, so she stopped and was baptized with her husband and daughter! (her son is being a little rebellious so we are going to have to teach him more so he can gain a testimony)

crazy, crazy week, i´ve never felt the spirit so strong in my life as i had this past week, because even with this miraculous show of priesthood power she STILL was scared of making the covenant of baptism, so we taught her every day with members and even brought Al to bear  his testimony to her, She could not deny the power of the Spirit of the witnesses of so many things and got baptized!!!!

Love you all, i Know that this church is true, i´ve seen too many miracles to not believe

-Elder Leete

A Great Week!

This week was a great week! We had a leadership training meeting for all the zone leaders. Which is always really great and spiritual and then we spent two days travelling to some small cities that surround M to do some splits with the missionaries that are working there.

Also we had a BAPTISM!!! 

I baptized B, a grandson of a member that was really into bad things, but after he went to church for the first time he lost all desire and wanted to turn good. It has been really cool to see his spiritual growth and how his whole demeanor has changed since we started visiting him.

This week also we have been teaching an old man that studies theology, his name is A, he studies the bible every day for hours. He said that he studies so much just so that when preachers talk to him he can beat them in a bible bash. He was taught by the sister missionaries like 3 years ago but wasn´t baptized because he was smoking.

When we visited him this week and left him a Book of Mormon he started to change, he could see that we could answer all of his questions and weren´t taken off guard by his tricks. We took him to church yesterday and when we did a follow up visit to teach the plan of salvation he said "I know that all of this is true, this is the true church because it has the true, pure doctrine." When he said the closing prayer he said "Thank you for sending these missionaries, I have been waiting for them. "He had stopped smoking just a few months ago and now feels ready to be baptized. So, we are going to baptize him this weekend!

I really know that this work is guided by God, there are people here that are ready and waiting to accept the truth, we just need to find them.

I love you all, until next week!

-Elder Leete

p.s. I spent 70 reais (Brazilian money) on bus fare this week, but it went to a good cause.

Swamped!

June 11, 2012

This week I’m swamped with zone leader work, I have to make sure that everyone in the city has all the materials and stuff they need and I write like a newsletter for the zone with a spiritual message and everything.

Love you all, until next week!

-Elder Leete

Life as a Zone Leader

Answers to moms questions:

So tell us about your new companion-where is he from? 

What is your daily routine as a Zone Leader like? You liking your new area? 

Sis G’s nephew should be about done with the MTC soon so keep an eye out for Elder M (he got there in March). 

My comp is Elder C,  he was my zone leader like 8 months ago when I was in the city M! It’s really weird, he is like the Brazilian version of me. We get along really well, the only problem now is to make sure that we are always talking and focusing on the work instead of wandering and thinking about profound doctrine.

The biggest difference about being a zone leader is that you have to follow up with everyone. Lots of missionaries are really great teachers and stuff, but sometimes let a baptism fall through because they weren’t following up enough or didn’t go the extra mile to help that person. Our job is to help them think about all these things and give feedback on their work and show an example with our work in our area.

It seems like we are always on the phone.

I saw Elder M! (not in person just on paper) he is working in the "centro c" ward in Londrina. That’s a great ward I’ve heard a lot about it, it´s the ward where our mission president lives. He´s being trained by a funny American missionary that I’ve met one or two times.

That’s all my time for today! I love you all and having a great time here, I think I even forgot to say that we had a baptism last week! An older woman named E!

Love you all!

-Elder Leete