Loving the Mission - June 23

óla, Minha Familia!!!!

Ok, so the craziest thing!!! So, remember those men I told you about that approahed us at the Grocery Store last week? Well, we were walking in front of the CTM to go to Mr. Cheney´s cookies to e-mial, and lo and behold...We see our Friends: Laurte, Vitor, and Rodriguez walking toward us!!! We got so excited and they were so excited to see us too. I went to give them a hand shake and they went in for hugs and a kiss on the cheek...wasn´t very successful at getting myself out of that...going to have to work on that.

Anyway, we started talking and they wondered why they hadn´t seen us around and why no one had come to talk to them yet. We explained yet again what we were doing and why. Then Luarte told us not to worry about sending missionaries to their home to teach them because he was only going to be there for a month anyway because he travels for work. Welp...too late! I gave their information to one of the older sisters in relief society on sunday and she was going to take it to MY mission president the next day.

I had been thinking and praying about them all week long...hoping that they would be able to recieve the message. We didn´t have a Book of Mormon to give to them last week and I had been feeling like they needed one all week long, but I never expected to see them again. I have NO doubts that Our Father in Heaven hears and answers our prayers...it was no coincidence that we ran into them right in front of the CTM. Sister Lasley and I were talking to them and we told Sister Winters to run and tell one of the elders to hunt down 3 Books of Mormon. I wrote my breif testimony and marked moroni 10:3-5 in each of the books and gave them to them.
They kept saying, `we have a bible...we have a bible, we don´t need anything else..`` So, we explained to them that the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ and tells of his dealings with the people in the Americas during bible times. It was incredible! Sister Winters and I were talking with Vitor and Sister Lasley was talking with Luarte and it was absolutely incredible.

Vitor was telling us that he had believed in Scientology for awhile and tried to find answers to Life´s questions through science. He is a Christian now, but still wonders why he is here and what his purpose is. So, I started teaching Him the Second lesson about the Plan of Happiness/salvation. We explained to him that we lived with our Father in Heaven before coming to this earth and he presented a plan that would allow us to return to live with Him again and at the center of that plan is Jesus Christ. God loved his children so much that he would allow His only begotten son to come to earth and atone for all of the sin, heartache, and sorrow of the the world. So, that all of us could be happy.

We explained to him that the Book of Mormon would answer all of the questions he has and that it would bring so much happiness into their life if they read it and prayed about it to know if it was true. We talked a little bit about the creation of the world, the necessity of the fall of adam and Eve, and about living eternally with our families after this life if we have done all that we can to do what Jesus Christ has asked us to which includes: having Faith in our loving Heavenly Father, repenting of anything wrong that we may have done, being baptized as Christ was baptized by the proper authority, and then enduring to the end. This really peaked Vitors interest and he wanted to know more.

So, we started teaching him the first lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about Joseph Smith. The Spirit was soooo strong. I was telling him about Joseph Smith praying to know the truth and our Heavenly father and Jesus appearing to him and answering his prayer. I was reciting Joseph Smith History, when he tells us in his own words what happened and the spirit was sooo strong, I teared up big time and I could see in his eyes that he felt it too.

We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, and he said that he was going to and he was so excited. Meanwhile, Sister Lasley is tearing it up with Luarte bearing testimony--POWERFUL!

They left so grateful and curious for more. It felt soo good to be able to teach and see even a little fire lit. I promised them that if they read and prayed to know, then they would not be denied an answer and their lives would never be the same. They would find so much happiness in that book.
I LOVE being a MISSIONARY!!!!!! This is incredible! I can´t wait to get out and do this everyday!

I hope everyone is doing well...I love you all and this gospel is so true, I love it with all my heart!
Please keep me in your prayers...especially so that I can speak Portuguese...not all my investigators will speak english :) You are most definitely in mine!

Can I offer a family challenge??? I would like to extend the same challenge I offered Luarte, Vitor, and Rodriguez...Will all of you read the book of mormon and pray about it before I come home? The blessings are the same for everyone.

I know you won´t regret it. Besides, if you want to support me on my mission, this is absolutely the best way to do so because you will be supporting the whole reason why I am out here. I know this will bring our family closer and we all will recieve incredible blessings if we do this. Besides, 3 nephi is AMAZING!!!!

I love you all soooooooo much!!!!
Love,Sister Scott