Querido Amigos e Família,
Fall/Winter
have officially arrived here in Guarapuava just in time for transfers
this coming Monday. Thursday night as we taught our recent convert,
Karina, I just about froze to death because it rained a ton, during the
day and because of the super high humidity and the cold front that blew
in, I was freezing. Two months ago I never thought I would say I want
the heat back, but when you leave your house like we did Thursday
morning thinking it would be warm, and not taking a coat or a sweater,
you pray for the heat to come back. From what I hear from the locals
here it will only get colder, sometimes below freezing but it very
rarely snows, everyone just freezes. With transfers this next Monday
maybe I´ll get transferred back to the warmth of Paranaguá. I am super
excited to see where the Lord wants me. If I leave Guarapuava I´ll be
super sad because I love my companion and the people here, but I know I
will go where the Lord needs me most.
Friday we had a miracle happen. Marilda, a woman in her mid 50´s,
who we´ve been working with for over two months has been trying to stop
drinking coffee for about two months now. However, in these past two
months the longest she went without coffee was one or two days, but she
returned to drink coffee everytime. She always used the excuse I am
still drinking coffee, but it is only a little with almost a cup full of
milk. Every time she said this we explained to her we can´t justify
super big or super small sins, that fact is that coffee is a sin and no
unclean thing can enter God´s presence. Throghout this whole time of
teaching her we truly felt she had the desire to change but she was so
caught up in this addiction that it was super hard for her to leave
coffee behind. We had offered her to buy her cevada when we first taught
her the word of wisdom in January, but she told us she tried it in the
past and didn´t like it, so it wouldn´t do any good. After not much
progress with her, this past week we felt impressioned to buy cevada for
her on Friday. When we arrived Friday night at her house we arrived at
just the right time with the cevada, because she was heating up the milk
on the stove to make her coffee that she´s been addicted to these past
50 years. Elder Nunes, my district leader from São Paulo, then talked to
her and helped respond to her duvidas and questions. When we ended the
lesson and gave her the cevada as a present. She happily accepted it,
and in that moment I had a prayer in my heart that the cevada we had
given her would help her give up coffee. About an hour later as we
talked to her sister Maria next door, Marilda entered the house to grab a
few things and made the comment that she drank cevada instead of coffee
and said that it was delicious and doesn´t have the desire to drink
coffee anymore. As of yesterday morning she only drank cevada and not
coffee. We are planning to have her baptism this weekend before
transfers on Monday. I attribute this miracle with Marilda to personal
revelation, and her daily prayers, reading the Book of Mormon and going
to church almost every Sunday this past month. As we strive to obey the
commandments the Lord will truly prepare the way for us to keep them as
Nephi famously is known for saying in 1 Nephi 3:7. Put this scripture to
the test and I promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ that
miracles will happen and the Lord will show you how to obey the specific
commandment you are struggling with.
Tenha uma semana maravilhosa! Eu amo todos de vocês! :)
Ame,
Elder Jonathan Hokanson
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