BISHOP THIRD COUSIN IN BRAZIL

This week, we had interviews with President Bonini. Our President is a boss. His view on the mission is to "start with the end result in mind," or in other words, to teach investigators with the goal of getting them to the temple. His desire is to change the work of the mission to become something more than just baptism. 

Also, while we were in the mission office, I learned that Sister Evans (married to Elder Evans; a senior couple in our mission) is my cousin! Third cousin, really. Something like that. She's actually Grandpa Bishop's cousin. However, Sister Evans knows a ton about our ancestors and stuff like that, so it was really fun to hear about that. Also, it was Pioneer Day, so it was the perfect day to learn more about that.

In our area this week, we had a few cool things happen, and we had some scary news. First, we had quite a shock when we went to visit Regina. We got there, and only her kids were at home, and all of them were crying. We learned that Regina's toddler, Adele, had a seizure, due to a very high fever, and that they had to race to the hospital. The look of fear and pain written on the faces of Regina's kids that day will never leave my mind. I offered to say a prayer, and I was able to calm the kids down, but it was still pretty intense. That was definitely not the best day of my mission. Fortunately, the three-year old is doing well now, and she's back at home, so everything ended up alright.

On the other hand, the awesome came the next day! We were struggling to find a man from our ward to go with us to visit Leda and Nalda: the family of Lucas. For those of you that don't know, we cannot enter a house that doesn't have a man over the age of sixteen. It's a rule. But this week we absolutely had to visit Leda and Nalda, because we had to try and get them to church. Since the baptism of Lucas inspired them to investigate the church, we were betting on this visit to work out. We probably visited half of the ward (which wasn't too hard, since our area includes about 14 streets) to find someone to come with us, and no one was at home! We almost gave up on our visit, but as we were walking away from what we thought was the last member that would've been able to go with us, we heard someone call out "Elderes!" We turned around, and I had to look for who called us, because I didn't see anyone I recognized. Some guy that I never met before in my life walks up to us, shakes our hands, and tells us a beautiful story. This guy said that he was a member that had just moved into the ward, that he had just got back from a mission, and that he would love to teach with us sometime. So we asked him if he could go with us right there on the spot, and so it was. What a miracle! And lets see the results! We were able to teach Lucas and Leda and Nalda, and all of them went to church. Most likely, we will be able to secure their baptisms now, and Lucas won't be the only one in his family that is from the Church. Out of nowhere our little problem was solved, and the greater question of the Salvation of Souls has begun with this family. Isn't it awesome how God helps us out?

And that was my week. Aproveita.

Elder Bishop