We had a long week. The Leadership Conference was
really amazing and we actually weren't “burned” as much as I thought we would
be ("burned" as in disciplined or castigated? I’m not sure if
castigated is the right word but in Portuguese it's
"castigado"). We had some amazing trainings that I will
definitely put to work in our area as well as use to help the other sisteres
here.
This week I am heading back to Abolição (same area I served
in) on a division with Sister Cunha and Sister Pereira will be coming over here
to Urick Graff to spend a couple days with Sister Francis. I talked with
minha filha on the phone the other day and it seems like she has been missing
home a lot recently.
Originally the plan was that Sister Francis would head over
to Abolição, where she started her mission (she has been really anxious to go
back to visit everyone there), and I would stay here with Sister Pereira, but
when Sister Francis talked with the AP, he said that it might be better if
Sister Francis stayed in our area with Sister Pereira and let Sister Dyer go
back to Abolição.
This week we had two baptismal interviews planned.
However, Friday morning, when we went to look for our investigators L. and E.,
we bumped into the adversary (as usual).
We found L. lying on the ground in front of his house (I
almost thought he was dead) out like a rock after drinking the entire night
mourning the loss of his wife, who passed away seven years ago. He
proposed to her the first time he saw her and eight days later they were
married civilly. They were married for 40 years until she passed away
and, as he constantly reminds us, he never traited her (I don't think
that makes sense. What’s the verb for "traitor"? [comment from Sister
Dyer’s dad – that would be “betray”]).
He has told us their story every single day since the day we
met him and constantly shows us photos of her. He always kisses them.
It's really cute. In this world, where many do not believe in marriage and
don't believe that men could ever remain faithful to their wives, it is so nice
to find a man who is so dedicated to his wife, even seven years after her
death.
When we went to find E. and bring him to the chapel for his
interview, he told us that he had a bunch of doubts about Joseph Smith.
We tried to answer his questions, but it seemed like every time we answered
them he would go back to the beginning and ask the same question over
again. He then said that he had to go give a cell phone to his nephew's
wife who had a baby the other day and that he would talk to the Elders
later.
Elder Findling and Phillips, who had come to our area to
interview E. and L. were forced to go back to their area. When we
returned to see E. after he finally returned home, we told him that the Elders
would meet him at the church to interview him. E. then said that he
didn't want to go to the church and that the Elders would have to come to his
house to speak with him. His house is pretty far away from the
church. We tried to reason with him, but to no avail. We called
Presidente Soares and he finally said that the Elders could go over to E.’s
house for the interview.
Like I mentioned before, E. has epilepsy and takes
medication at 7 p.m. The medication will make him fall asleep. So,
at 5:55 p.m., the Elders finally arrived at the church. We were still at E.’s
house (far, far, away). Sister Francis almost didn't believe that the
Elders could make it here in time. We just ran for it. We ran, and
we ran, and we sweated, and we ran almost all the way to the church. We
made a 30 minute walk into an eight minute run. (I timed it). And then we
couldn't find the Elders.
After searching for 10 minutes, we finally found them, and
then we ran, and we ran, and we sweated, and I fell and scraped my knees good
while trying to make it up a hill to the freeway (vou cair antes de meu batismo
vai). But, we continued to run until we finally made it to E.’s house and Elder
Findling started the interview. Then, Elder Phillips and Sister Francis
and I started teaching the Restoration to a bunch of drunk men while we were
waiting.
An hour later, Elder Findling came out and told us that E.
had passed the interview aside from a grave crime he had committed 30 years
ago. Elder Findling tried to call Presidente Soares, but Presidente
texted back (in English) "I can't talk to you right now" (Presidente
Soares loves speaking English. It's really cute listening to him.
My first interview here in the mission was in English.)
Saturday, Elder Findling called us and told us that
Presidente had said that E. would have to attend church for three months, after
which he would send a letter describing what he did to the First Presidency and
President Monson would decide if he had repented and could be baptized at this
time.
We went to visit E. yesterday and told him what Presidente
had said. E. reacted by saying that he couldn't repent, that he was
feeling horrible ever since he spoke with the Elder and that he would just wait
until death, which was the only way to end his misery. We tried to
explain the miracle of the Atonement of Christ and show him that going to
church would help him in the process of repentance, but it seemed like he just
didn't want to hear us and accept this. He said that it had been 28
years, and he still remembered what he had done and felt shame. How could
going to church for three years take away this shame that he felt?
Finally, after trying to reason with him for a while, we had
to leave to visit with someone else. Yesterday, I was filled with sadness
as I listened to this man, desperate, yet feeling helpless, filled with shame
but with no faith. Our ward mission leader had a meeting with us
yesterday and told us that we were experiencing just a little bit of what
Christ experienced. Christ wanted to help all of us so bad, yet there
were many who would not accept him, many who would not believe in his atoning
sacrifice, many who could not accept the fact that by small and simple things
(going to church for three months and being baptized), great things could come
to pass (forgiveness). I have come to understand the miracle of
forgiveness and the amazing power Atonement of Christ on my mission. It
is a miracle I will treasure and share my entire life.
Love y’all,
Sister Dyer
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