September 17th letter

Oi Família! Mais uma semana de loucura! [another crazy week!]

In answer to your question, the Palavra de Sabedoria [the Word of Wisdom] is a very difficult obstacle for many pesquisadores (investigators) and new members. That and the Lei de Castidade [Law of chastity]. Just like in the States, many many people smoke, drink beer and coffee, and a bunch of people do drugs too. There are a lot of stupid fathers and husbands who go drink every day and neglect their families - believe me, I've seen it many times already.

Family Night with ____ and his family

We do have another investigator, 'I', who I may have already told you about [referenced in my August 29th letter].  I included a picture with his family from Noite Familiar [Family Night] we had with them last week.  We made pancakes, maple syrup, sort of that buttermilk syrup but with some powdered juice thrown in, and whipped cream (yes, they have whipped cream here...it tastes a lot better than in the States, but you have to whip it up yourself or spend a ton of money on the ready in-the-can version). It was a lot of fun and they loved the pancakes! I ended up giving them a pancake recipe and the buttermilk syrup recipe.

'I' still drinks and smokes occasionally (we've been working with him almost two months).  Everybody who has these habits indicate they want to get rid of them (except for those who have completely given up on themselves), and some people try and fail, but it takes a true conversion, a real resolution to say that's enough, to completely stop and leave those things behind. Fortunately, we can help these people because what we have to offer is a conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ, an opportunity to repent and become clean again through the ordinances of the gospel. It's no coincidence that the attitude needed to kick the habit and stay clean, is the same attitude developed through application of the gospel, especially application of the Atonement through repentance.

'I' is an awesome guy, he understands the doctrine very well, he likes going to church, he's actually told us he knows the church is true - but I don't think he's quite gotten to that point of resolution of saying to himself "ok, I'm going to quit right now". He's had a sign from God already. We went over to his house last Wednesday with M, that guy who went through rehab and is active now. M gave him a ton of encouragement, and we talked with him about getting this one medicine to help him stop smoking. He agreed to start using the medicine (his idea actually) and completely stop smoking from that moment. After we left he got really nervous. He smoked the one cigarrette we left with 'emergência' written on it. He got in the shower and began to pray, asking if this is really what God wanted him to do, to stop smoking. Right after he finished, he heard a 'beep beep' of the delivery guy in front of his house with his medicine (yeah, they deliver medicine here on motorcycles. They deliver everything here on motorcycles. They even have motorcycle taxis). So after telling us this story, he said that he knew it was a sign from God. It helps when these things happen, it reminds us that we are not battling in vain, we have God on our side. But like I said, he hasn't had a real determination yet...when the medicine ran out he started to smoke again, and he was going to be baptized yesterday. I really hope something hits him this week and he decides to take charge of his life.

That's it for now.  Eu amo vocês bastante!! Beijão!!
Elder Bradford