Diamond in the rough

Hello everyone!  Seja Bem-Vindo ao blogo de Elder Forsyth...

We just received our new rules from our new mission president and we only have 1 hour to email home. Alright, I will get to writing really quick.

A couple days ago, Elder Bastos, the Ward Mission leader and  I (in the spirit of member missionary work) decided to set up a meeting with all of the newly called ward missionaries. We got each of them a fresh Preach My Gospel beforehand. The ward missionary companionships here are generally all married couples. It was an awesome meeting and everyone was super excited to get to work. The role of the ward missionary is to teach the recent converts the five lessons over again. The Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Commandments, and Laws and Ordinances. The purpose of our meeting with the ward missionaries was to instruct them in basic teaching skills. Like, how to actually begin an official lesson, teaching with your companion in unity, asking questions, and listening. I was in charge of teaching "Asking questions" and "listening". Two things that are still a little difficult for me since I am not a native Brasilian. To say the least, I was pretty scared. I had a segment of 15 minutes. And I had to fill the whole time with worthwhile information guided by the spirit... in Portuguese. My first question to get things rolling no one understood except for the Bishop. The thought rolling through my head was, "oh, no....no one understands me!"  But afterward something miraculous happened. I said a little prayer in my heart for help, that my tongue could be loosed and I could say something that would touch the hearts of the couples in my ward. After I prayed I received an extreme boost of self confidence and taught with all the power in my heart. This meeting was a turning point in my language skills because now I feel comfortable teaching principles of the gospel to several people not just one or two investigators. Afterward, I received a lot of kind words from the ward missionaries, which has given me new confidence. You can find these topics in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel.

If there was one word to describe the town of Osternack, I would immediately say rough. All in all, it is rough. People have rough life styles, the homes are rough, sometimes family situations are rough for the people. But we found a diamond. Yes, a diamond in the rough. This art has to bring a smile to anyone who passes it. It for sure did for me. Good thing I had my camera to document my happiness. Elder Bastos will send them to you because of my faulty computer. Spiderman, my childhood hero and hero still, is in Osternack.

I am out of time  so I will have to include my awesome story about my guitar contact next week.

Stay sweet, everyone.