We never know how we help people on their earthly journey

This week was an amazing week.  We were able to have interviews with our mission president and were able to get to know him a little better.  We have also been preparing Carlos to be baptized.  My companion actually bumped into his less active wife about 4 months ago.  He helped them get married brought them back to activity and on Sunday he was baptized.  It was a stressful road but in the end turned out perfect.  President Silcox even came to watch him get baptized which was really cool.  After we had a bbq with a ton of food and was a perfect way to end the week.  Now we will prepare them to enter the temple to be sealed for eternity.  It has been a blessing to be a part of their journey.

Love Elder Visser

We had a great week.  We have been working really hard and I find that the harder I work the happier I am.  We did have one or two days this week that were tough.  No one was home and no one in the street had time to talk to us but days like these happen and the next day is always better.  This Sunday a friend from my last area came to my ward to visit me so that was a really cool experience.  We also had a baptism here.  It was a kid that my companion has been teaching for a while but he was excited and ready to go.  He is 17 years old and is really special.  My companion will be going home in 4 weeks and I will be getting another one but I am grateful for this chance to be in this area and to work hard.

Love Elder Visser

Being the district leader is a big responisbility

Thanks for the email and updates about home.  

I’m a little rushed today,  we ended up doing some shopping and my computer is pretty bad today so I will do my best to let you know what is going on in my life.  We had a great week.  The only down side was the my companion got a little sick which made it hard for him to work.  I did have the chance to go on an exchange this week and got to work and learn a lot during it.  Exchanges are a lot different now since I’m the district leader.  I get to set everything up and its my responsibility to help out the other missionaries and to help them stay happy and do what’s right.  We are working with two really great people right now and one will be baptized this next Sunday if everything turns out right.  Its been a great experience to stay in the same area for a long amount of time.  I feel like I have gone through so many things in my short time here.  I’ve had amazing experiences and some really tough ones but I am happy for the time I’ve had here.  There's a saying here that we say a lot that goes, “Tudo vai dar certo”.  Which means basically everything will turn out right.  When we put God in front of everything everything will turn out right and tudo vai dar certo. 

 

Thanks for the support and love.

 

Love Elder Visser

A good start to the transfer

This week was amazing.  We got in the area and had to help the other missionaries with there bags and help them find their houses.  That was a long day but a good start to the transfer  My new companion is Elder G. Santo,  he is Brazilian and he will be going home after this transfer.  We are working so hard though and it feels good.  I had several difficult companions in my other area so I have really been enjoying my new area and new companion.  We have the responsibility to take care of 6 other sets of missionaries.  I am still learning but this will be a good chance for me to learn and grow even more.  I gave a talk yesterday in church and I thought it went pretty well.  It was about being obedient.  We have a chapel here that is pretty big with a good sized ward.  Its been a good first week and we have been working super hard.  I am really excited for this next transfer and know that good things will happen.

Love Elder Visser

I am going to be transfered

So the transfers came in and turns out that the two of us our going to be transfered.  At first I was really sad to be leaving the area and all my friends that I have made.  At the same time though it will be a good new start and I am really excited to be going to a new area to make new friends and do good things.  After 7 months in the same area it will be really strange to leave.  If I have the chance I would love to return here one day and visit everyone again.  It was honestly such a great experience to be able to serve in Ferraz.  I feel like I have learned and grown a lot in my time here.  I hope that I made at least a small impact on the members here and helped them out.  I am ready to go to a new area and to do my very best.  I dont have a whole lot of time left on my mission and I want to finish out strong.  I am grateful for the trials that I have been given and because of them I have been able to grow and become closer to my Heavenly Father.  Thanks for all the love and support.

Love Elder Visser

We can learn from all the experiences we have

This week was really interesting for us.  My companion ended up getting sick and the presidents wife told us to stay in until he gets better.  This was dificult for me and I did not enjoy it one bit.  We were able to leave only a couple days this week but even that was hard for him because of all the hills that are in our area.  He asked me Elder why am I sick when I’m doing the Lords work and keeping the comandments?  I told him I don’t know but the one thing I do know is that there is always somthing to learn from every experience we have whether it is a good one or bad one.  If we make a mistake and sin clearly its not a good thing but we can do one of two things.  We can be sad and do nothing or we can learn from our mistake repent and do better.  I also had the chance to give a little talk this Sunday.  I got a call early Sunday morning asking if I could give a talk and I accecpted.  I talked about the Lords timing and plan for us.  Sometimes its very different than what we want and what we are expecting.  I told the story about the canoe trip I went on and how we wanted to leave before the group of girls because they took forever and slowed us down.  We planned everything even got up earlier the next day but for whatever reason we let them go in front of us.  About 2 hours later we found them trapped on the side because their canoes tipped along with all their food and equipment.  It was in the Lords plan that we did not leave before them even when we wanted to really bad.  Who knows if anyone else would have have passed by them that day to help out and probably they would have been stuck for days.  I know that a lot of time we want things to go our way and we want answers fast but we need to remember the will of God is different.  Thanks for the love and support.

 

Love Elder Visser

We never know who is ready for the gospel and who is not

Happy Fathers day and thanks for the example that you are to me and our family.  Because of you and mom leading the way for us a lot of other people had the chance to hear and accept the gospel.  I’m glad that the warriors ended up winning.  How are the Dodgers doing and the rest of the baseball league?  

 

We had a great week.  It started on Saturday when we had our conference for the families of our branch.  They put together a choir and it turned out really well.  Sunday morning was our Branch conference and we filled up the sacrament room.  Yes there were a ton of people from the stake but it was still a cool thing to see.  After church we were able to have the baptism for Deived which was really special.  We have been working with him for about 2 months now and he is really special.  He learns really quick and is always wanting to know more.  He was super happy and at the end thanked everyone who were at the baptism.  Now our goal is to get him to go to institute.  This will help him out a ton more to learn and grow.  It was funny because he was a referral that we received from a member and the first contact we had with him was in the street and after I asked the member to invite him to take the discussions the member said no because he already has a church and will never accept the church.  Two months later and an answer from our Heavenly Father he was baptized.  We never know who is ready and who is not.  Its our purpose to open our mouths and at the minimum invite.  Thanks for the love and support.

 

Love Elder Visser