Parigot de Souza Week 2

So this week was a good week. On Wednesday we had zone conference, and we talked a lot about study, and the importance of it. It was a good zone conference, and I learned a lot. This week Hevelyn (nicknamed Vicky I don´t know why) was baptized. So Elder Morais found her with Elder Sodré, the Elder that was here before me. She was a reference from a member. They taught her one time before I got here. She had a very sinful life, but had a very bad experience, and decided to change. She has changed a lot in the past two weeks, and has had a lot of opposition. It was good to see her make a covenant with the Lord.

Apart from that, this week is Carnival, but here in Curitiba it is just like normal holidays where everything is shut down, and everyone is on vacation. Including the members. There was a campout in the stake that a lot of members went to so there weren´t a lot of people at church. On the bright side, I had a talk so with nobody there, it was less pressure. :)  My talk was on ``What is my role as a Christian.´´ Here in Brazil they don´t give you a talk to base your talk on, they just give you a theme, and you have to just go with it

. It is good, and bad at the same time, because it can be pretty intimidating to a recent convert.

To answer your questions, the area is good, also it is a lot smaller that my other areas, so that is good too. My companion is good, we teach good together, and it is good to be able to help one another. The ward is good. They give a lot of food to the missionaries. The house we live in is perfect for missionaries, not too big, and not too small, it´s just right. Also I forgot to say this in my email, but the Eccos that I had (the pair I used every day) had a hole in the bottom from a lot of walking, and so water was getting in as well. So we went to a person who fixes shoes this week, and they put new soles on them (I will send pics next week.) So my shoes are now basically boots, but they should last the rest of my mission.

Anyway in my talk, I talked about being a Christian means following what Christ taught, which is the gospel of Christ- Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I focused mostly on enduring to the end. summarizing my talk as Christians we need to be humble, love others, serve others, and share the gospel. Actually serving others, and sharing the gospel are both ways that we show our love for others, and for God, especially when we share the gospel. What better way do we have to love others than to help them receive all the blessings that we have received in our lives? That is what being a missionary, or member missionary is all about. There is a talk by President Oaks called ``Share the Restored Gospel.´´ It is a great talk, and really helps us understand our purpose as member missionaries. One thing is that in D&C 38:41 it talks about in what manner we should share the gospel. Also the best way we can share the gospel is be an example, and share your testimony.

The scriptures I used:
Matthew 5:39-44 be humble, and love others
Matthew 22:38-39 Love others
Mosiah 2:17 - serve/love other = serve/love God
Mark 16:15 - missionary work is a responsiblity as a christian
D&C 38:41
D&C 18:10-16 the promise, and blessings of the gospel/sharing the gospel.

-- Élder Pettingill

Fotos:
-District meeting
-District meeting
-Me. my companion, and the other elders that live two doors down.
-Me, my companion, and Elder Souza waiting during the baptismal interview
-Baptism pics
-baptism pizza