Hello all once again! General Conference was such a great experience! Being able to serve is even better. This week Elder Rich and I had set some high goals so we have tried to fill up our time as much as we possibly can. Something about goals is this “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”–President M. Russell Ballard Talk given to Salt Lake Area young adults, Oct. 18, 1981
It is there to help me stretch and grow as a person. As I make mistakes or fall just short of my goal it is even better knowing the power of repentance is real. I have learned a lot from general conference and I'm grateful for the guidance from our prophet.
Monday--I got myself a Brazilian Flag from a shop. Usual preperation day fun of buying food. Contacted a couple referrals and worked on our goal.
Tuesday- we had interviews with President mavromatis and we made plans for how we can make Marlborough a more productive area. By that I mean I have a high possibility of training a new missionary next transfer. Splitting our area to have 4 Portuguese missionaries in Marlborough. Oh boy do I have mixed feelings about that.😅 After figuring all of that out we spent the day working our tails off. Contacted a ton of our friends and tracted. One miracle I saw is someone we were starting to teach disappeared on us in Marlborough, walking to dinner in Framingham we make eye contact with this person and talk with them. No way in a million years that was a coincidence the area is just too big for things to happen like that. It really adds to my testimony.
Wednesday - we had a couple great lessons with our friends and they are working towards baptism. Also went after some more referrals that we received. One in particular her name is Yvonne. We knocked on her door and she wasn't home. Before getting in the car I had the impression to knock another triple decker right next to it. Low and behold someone was prepared to receive us. His name is Paulo and he is very open to the Gospel. I am excited to see how we can help him on his path of discipleship. We then had a great dinner with a member who invited someone we are teaching named Claudia.
Thursday--weekly planning and service. Once we were able to get weekly planning done we ran to get back to work. Here is were my skill comes in. Street contacting is not my absolute go to but it is important. Turns out I'm really good at contacting Jehovahs witnesses and we chat for a little bit and continue on our way. The other thing is for some reason people around here like to stare at us like we are crazy monster. I was typing something into my phone and and some guy drove by and flipped me off. I just stood there and went okay then.
Friday--district council and work. Next Monday is the Boston Marathon and it runs right through our area which is super cool. Today was more of a day of contacting. I don't know how many people we contacted but what felt like forever no one really wanted to talk to us. We had an opportunity to talk about the Restoration with a seminary class of Brazilian youth so not the whole day was rough.
Saturday-- got up to the church and tried to set up general conference in the stake center to no avail. Instead we watched the sessions in an area where we had wifi a club house of sorts. Between sessions we went to see if we could contact anyone and got minimal success. We drove to Leominster to have dinner with a member family and we returned home to watch the Priesthood session.
Sunday-- Elder Rich and I decided to cook a Dr. Pepper Crock pot roast. Got it prepared in the morning and it cooked for over 6 hours. Ooohh it was like Sunday dinner back home so great. The sessions were fantastic and it was we got right back to work after. There is no such thing as rest in missionary work. Sorry for the lack of pictures I just don't think anyone wants a continuing list of photos of trees and streets.
Something that I liked about the sessions was having an eye of faith. That we have one perspective, but God has another and because of that he knows all. So being patient and having that eye of faith will lead us onto the strait and narrow path. Até mais!!
Com todo o amor--
Elder Terry
Photos
1/2 spring weather, lame I know.
3- the pot Roast and potatoes
4-waiting for Conferência Geral