Hello hello hello!
The past 2 or 3 weeks have been great (frankly I don't remember the last time I wrote one of these but I think 2 or 3 weeks ago). Elder Yoshida and I have been doing all we can to help people come unto Christ. It has been fun, and hard sometimes, but very very rewarding.
We are working with a couple right now named Vitor and Trinidy. Trinidy is already a member, they are newly weds since February. Vitor and Trinidy are amazing. Every Monday night we go over to their house and play cards and games and laugh and eat food and then do a lesson. It usually starts at 7 and ends at 10 haha. So Monday's we get home late! But these 2 are literally so funny and golden. Vitor is 21 and Trinidy is 20. They actually remind me a lot like Shelby and Bodie! Okay tbh I haven't been with Shelby and Bodie in a minute but I like to imagine this is how they are haha! And it's super awesome!!!!!! The only reason Vitor isn't baptized is he feels like he needs to participate more to be baptized. Him and his wife work just about everyday of the week and Saturday and Sunday are their busiest days. And unfortunately here in Vargem Grande steady work isn't that easy to come by. So he can't leave his job. Nor is he in a position to get Sunday's off. Which isn't a huge problem to us. Back in the day, Sacrament attendance was something that had to happen in order for people to be baptized. But now do the pandemic, it has been changed a lot. Due to the church's renewed emphasis on a gospel centered home, some of these sacrament attendance rules for investigators have been lifted. And Vitor has already been plenty of times, he knows all the Ward members, and his father in law is in the bishopric(which might not seem like much but here in Brazil being in the bishopric is huge!!!). So he really technically has no rule or anything stopping him from being baptized. It's just him! So the last time we were over there we tried helping him see that. He said he'd pray about it and think about it. We are going to bug him some more but if all goes well he could get baptized this week. Our focus is on his potential to be eternal companions with his spouse who wants a temple sealing so bad. We told him it takes a year after his baptism to go through the temple so the longer he postpones his baptisms the longer he postpones his temple blessings and his wife's. So it was bold, upfront, but he felt loved so it was right. We are hoping it goes well with him.
Over the last 3 weeks we have absolutely SIFTED through people. I think we've blown through literally 20 people. Found them, start teaching, stop progressing, quick drop. We are just sifting this area. And we continue to sift. We have invited many to baptism and for whatever reason have still gotten no's haha what a joke! But this work is rewarding.
The subject of my email was a branch of thoughts I was having the other day after reflecting on 2 big choices I made in regards to following revelation. 1 is maybe controversial so I won't bring it up but the other is about my release date for my mission. I decided to counsel with my Mission President about being released on July 27th rather than August 17th. There are a few factors in play with making this decision but ultimately it was inspiration and revelation. Here was the journal entry that I made after reflecting on these 2 choices... Also I swear this talk I refer to is Elder Holland but Momma if I'm wrong please fix it
(also delete this line too!)
"I was pondering on receiving revelation and I thought about the talk given by Jeffery R. Holland, it's about how the people prayed when they were at a fork in the road and then felt prompted to go one way and it was wrong, and so I started thinking about what kind of revelation God really reveals to us. "His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men."(Moses 1:39). With that understanding we can know each decision He makes is towards achieving that goal, His work! But we need to remember that the way into presence of the Father is not to be perfect, but to be made perfect. And becoming perfect doesn't come through making perfect decisions. If that was the case, none of us would ever be able to become perfect. Becoming perfect comes through sincere effort and the enabling and cleansing power of Christ's Atonement. So, knowing these principles, we can be okay if we receive revelation to go the "wrong way". Because always choosing the "perfect" path isn't what is going to make us perfect, it's choosing to try and have faith in Christ. So sometimes, God will inspire us to maybe make the less "perfect" choice so that we learn and grow and can begin to become perfected. For example, if I approach a fork in the road and am trying to get home. The path on the right is a perfect smooth path back to my house. The path on the left is bumpy, rocky, full of thorns and hardship, but eventually connects to the path on the right and leads me home. The more "perfect" path would be the path on the right. The path that could require sincere effort and faith could be the path on the left. When we left the presence of the Father we entered into a world that was pretty rocky, thorny, bumpy, and full of hardships. But, we knew and are now trying to remember that this is the path God revealed to us that would help us get back home. It isn't a path of smooth sailing and it isn't the "perfect" path. It's a path that demands faith and repentance to become perfected. So, if someday in my life I am confronted with a number of trials after receiving revelation to choose the path that had trials(though maybe in the beginning I was unaware of such trials that were ahead) I can know and be comforted that this is the path that God revealed to me as the most correct or perfect(without quotations marks because this path actually is perfect for me individually) path. I think this principle will help me be more faithful when confronted with trials that seemingly came from heeding divine revelation. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk".
Hopefully that makes sense. I added in quotation marks around the word perfect a few times to signify that in those instances of the word perfect I was not meaning the idea of perfect that is God's plan. It is a perfect that the world or sometimes we label easy things as. Sometimes we like to say, "It just worked out perfectly that this ..." insert whatever clause you want that alludes to the fact that things worked out easily. Easy, smooth, or seemingly coincidental do not mean perfect. "Perfect" decisions don't help us become perfect. It is Christ who is the one who can make us perfect. All we can do is try! So each time we receive revelation from God, let's not worry about how "perfect" the choice is we are making or waste time trying to find a way out of making this choice because it could be hard. As President Oaks counseled, we just need to follow the first prompting we receive! So let's do that. Maybe it is in this aspect that we can exercise blind faith. "I believe in Christ so come what may", just choose to follow the dang revelation and stop thinking about al the consequences so much.
So I am excited to be going forward with some of the choices I've made! I am excited and ready for whatever consequences they may bring. I know these decisions were inspired and will help me come closer to God! That's all I want!! Love you all! Pray for Vitor!
Elder Hixon
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