BAYLOR WHO??
Another week in Brazil! A lot of changes and new beginnings, but I'm loving the new setup. My new comp is Elder Kusulas from St George. He comes from a family of 13 kids and has about 20 months in the mission. We also have four Elders all living in the same house and splitting the area of Tramandai. It's been a blast living with the guys, and I can already see the leaps I've taken with the language since being with them.
This week we had the baptism of Amanda. I've yet to talk about her because when we first met her, she was a bit of a wild card, but I've seen a full transformation in her life over the last two weeks. About 2.5 weeks ago, we were stopped in the street by a mom who explained that she had a daughter going through a lot of trouble in her life and wanted us to help. We were more than happy and upon arriving, we quickly realized what we were getting ourselves into. Amanda has had a tough few years dealing with mental illness problems and the difficulties that come along with it. We explained to the mother that the only thing we have to help her is the message of Jesus Christ and that's exactly what we did. Things started slowly but each lesson you could see a light in her eyes grow. We brought along members from our church to lessons and really wanted to show her that she has a place where she belongs. It was pretty amazing to see her life change in just a short time. Each visit she retained more and more knowledge and the biggest progress is that she for the first time in a while had something that brought peace and happiness. The mother was also very present in every lesson and has started her marriage papers so she can be baptized. I saw first-hand the Book of Mormon testify in their lives the truth of this church and teach them that God has a plan for each of us.
We, also, continued to teach the family of Altair and have baptism dates set for them. We've been focusing a lot on really teaching each lesson and helping people learn about how our church is run starting with the prophet all the way down to the members of this church all around the world. It's cool to see their reactions when they realize that no matter where you are in the world, the church is run the same.
This week, I talked a lot with my comp on the right way to approach missionary work and the answer can sometimes be distorted. It can be easy to chase numbers and sometimes forget that we aren't here for personal desires. Our purpose is to help people through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since being here, I've learned that everyone has a need and that we can sometimes be quick to judge without ever knowing what someone has been through. The bottom line is that everyone of us have had sadness in this life but that's a part of the plan. What we try to teach as missionaries is that the Plan of Happiness Christ has for us includes suffering but that we are on this earth to learn and grow and prepare ourselves to return to the presence of God. I've seen this gospel change people's lives and there is no better feeling then helping people. I sometimes take for granted how lucky I am to have these experiences, and I never want to forget how amazing it is to be a missionary.
Love, Elder Copeland❤️
