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

Transfers this week will bring me a new Companion

today has been crazy, we will have transfers this week , i´m going to stay and get a new companion Elder C, he was my zone leader in m and now we are going to be zone leaders together here in m. i´m excited .

Elder s, my comp now, fell and hit his head pretty bad yesterday, so we spent last night in the hospital, but he is getting better, seems like he has a stomach bug or something that made him faint, so hes off solid food for a couple of days but he´ll be just fine.

ive spent some money in the past couple months on restaurants and grocereies but i think ive been forgetting to tell you, so should probably check to make sure its all good.

love you all,

-elder Leete

The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

hi EVERYBODY!

things are chugging along well here in m, me and Elder S are having a hard time finding some good families to teach that are really interested, but the miracle always happens AFTER the trial of your faith, so we just gotta keep going thrusting in our sickle with all our might.

Parabéns pra seus aniversários! (congratulations for your birthdays!)

we are  all so old now, jennifer is 22, im 20 jessica is 19. . .its really weird to think about.

glad that everythings going well at home, here a year from now that gazebo thing should have a good ivy growth on it it will look cool.

a while ago i finished reading Jesus the Christ, its a really great book. helped me really understand not only the life of christ and his teachings, but more about how he really was the chosen one from the begining. how the history of the bible and the traditions of the jews all tie in and show perfectly the divinity of Jesus as Jehova and how he established his church in EVERY dispensation, including this one

the most annoying thing about teaching people is that literally their heads are just completely full of lies. they think they understand the bible but they really dont. they think they understand their own religion but they dont. most people don´t even know where it was written or by who. i´ve even taught people that thought that God wrote the bible as it is now with his finger in stone.

if only the people just like took a basic history class about the bible our message would make so much more sense. . . .

some people dont even believe in their own religion. the Catholic Church claims to have the pope, wich is the divine successor of peter who then holds the keys to the priesthood and so the catholic church is the only true church. I have only ever spoken to one catholic who actually believes that. everyone else just follows it because of tradition or because they like worshipping Mary. its sad, here she is literally the fourth member of the trinity. . .

but thats just apostasy, i´m so happy that we have the truth restored in the latter days, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. the truth that you can study over and over and over again and always learn something more, the truth that makes more and more sense with every single new bit of information

love you all, untill next week

especially yours,

-Elder Leete

Mother's Day Skype

From the Editor:  We enjoyed a wonderful Skype with Elder Kevin Leete for mother's day!  We had a great time talking with him and seeing him.  All is good in mission-land.  His testimony is strong.  He is working hard.  He is happy.  And we are proud!  

Here are some of the things we talked about:

I asked what the most embarrassing time was so far. He said that it was when he was doing some street contacting and found out the women they were talking to were actually men!

We asked about what the membership was like there. He said the branches and wards were small.  A big percent are inactive. One thing they are working on is going through the ward lists and visiting those they don't know. They try to get that magic number where they can become a ward, then big enough so that they can have a building.   They don't have organs, and maybe out of their whole membership they will have only one person that can play the piano. He said that they sing mostly a capella, or have someone play out of the simplified hymn book, or play with one hand.

When asked what it was like for the members there and what challenges they had, he said that everything was just  worse there for them compared to us  at home.  For example- because of the heat, immodest dress was more prevalent.  He said think of Westview High school and the bad stuff there (language, sex, etc) and multiply it.  He also said that marriage isn't the norm.  Most couples have lived together for years and aren't married- even with children.   He said that if they find  a couple that are married, they jump at the chance and teach them because it means pretty much a guaranteed baptism.

When we asked him to tell us of a spiritual experience he has had, he told us that everything about a mission is spiritual, non-stop. He loves studying the scriptures, prayer, teaching, and conferences with the other missionaries.  He especially liked having Elder Cook visit with them, and loves learning from his mission president, who he said is awesome and was sure that he will be a general authority some day!

Here is the nice note I got today at his normal email time:

Mon 5/14/2012 8:34 AM

i love you too mom!

 you know what´s weird? i will probably be home next mother´s day!

 it was great seeing everybody! but its still is weird, mom´s keeping me all updated on everything so i dont have anything to talk about! i´m trying to get back up some pictures today, so ill try to send you guys some!

 i love you all!

-elder leete

Leadership Counsel with the President

The names of those in my zone that are from my same group.

(have the same amount of time on the mission)