General Conference

October 6, 2014

General conference was wonderful as always! I thought is was really cool how some of the speakers gave their talks in other languages; it was especially neat when Elder Godoy gave his talk because it was in Portuguese and didn´t have a translator! Other talks I really liked were President Uchtdorf´s Sunday morning talk about how to get answers to prayers, Presidente Eyring´s talk Sunday morning about the work of salvation and the sealing power of the priesthood, and elder Bednar´s talk at the end addressing people who are not members of the church about why we share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week we focused on inviting everyone to go and see General conference! Actually for the past several weeks we have been focusing on the living prophet that talks with Jesus Christ face to face and how we have the opportunity to listen nad hear him and the apostles talk about what the Savior wants us to do with our lives.

The two families that came to conference really liked it! :)

Also this week we replaced the roofing of a members house and ate churrasco. Our district meeting was about how the Savior prayed with those that he taught, thus we should pray with those that we are inviting the spirit to teach.

Also we gave a blessing to an aged man between conference sessions and he passed awaythe next day; we only know that he passed awaybecasue I had a feeling we should call the man´s family to see how they were doing. I know that the Lord uses us to console peopel and answer prayers.

As always there is always more to the week than what I can write and I am super excited for everything! :)

Love ya family! Com muitos sorrisos! ;) :) :) :) :) :):) Sincerely, Elder Vernon :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

October 13, 2014

This week there was a zone conference so we went to Santa Maria one day for it. It was really cool because President Parrela taught us about how we should use the spirit of Elijah with the Book of Mormon and showed us the article in the new liahona magezine that Elder Bednar did.

Also Elder Müller and I found a full family that we are starting to teach. It was a rainy day and it was the evening quickly turning into night. But we decided to clap hands in front of one of the houses closeto where we are teachign another family. The kids of the family answered the door (we thought on of them was the parent) so we entered and started talking to them. Later their parents showed up and everybody was happy to talk about how becasue of Jesus Christ and the power of the Priesthood we can be with our families for forever.

Also I am reading in the portuguese index to the Book of Mormon all of the references about our Savior Jesus Chrsit like President Boyk k. Packer recomended during general conference. I am just starting, but it is still amazing how much the scriptures tryuly bear witness that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :)

SIncerely,

Elder Vernon

Hello!

:) This week we had a family home evening where I made cookies and we shared the restoration with the pepper and water analogy that I learned in Utah to explain baptism and the priesthood. We also ate another dessert that is common in Brasil which is called Torta de bolacha (Cracker cake) it is made with crackers and whipping cream and other stuff and is yummy.

Also, with General Conference coming up we have been inviting everyone to go to General Conference like crazy. I am super excited to hear the Prophet and Apostles talk again. 

One cool lesson this week was we started talking with a guy and he began to talk about how important and awesome prayer is. We bore our testimonies and read James 1:5 about "If any lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not" with him and then shared the rest of what we know about Joseph Smith, the priesthood, and the Book of Mormon! He said he would pray and also prayed with us after we talked with each other.

Irmão Gabriel is doing well too and is excited for his baptism coming up, he says that there is a peace and happiness that he feels when he is in church and talking with the missionaries and because of these feelings he wants to be Mormon too by following Jesus Christ´s example. His mother made a really tasty lasagna for us too because Gabriel is doing better than before he started meeting with the missionaries.

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :)

Atentamente,  Élder Vernon

( Irmão significa Brother and Irmã means Sister.) 

Here is a note from Tina Cory's Mom.  Brent, Ellaina and I went to a ward in Nebraska and people were so friendly it was really wonderful.  The ward was near Chimney Rock so we got to see that too.  Here is what Cory wrote:

 I know that I have heard about chimney rock before, that is cool that the ward you visited talked to all of you. It really helps the missionary work when members take the initiative and talk to people that visit church. I use sunscreen everyday, but pretty soon it will be hot enough again that I sweat it all off and will get sunburns even though I use the sunscreen. 

Cory made cookie cake (it is extra thick) for his old Mission Training Center Companion who just arrived in Brazil.  It was Elder Hull's Birthday. 

Cory says his feet were wet but his feet look pretty sore, I know he walks alot.  Hopefully it doesn't feel as bad as it looks.