And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

YUP you guessed it : WORD OF WISDOM!!!!!! This week weirdly enough really strengthened my testimony of the word of wisdom. 

It seems like ALL of our investigators have problems with the word of wisdom. Two drug addicts that are FIGHTING their addictions. One family being destroyed by the bad drug habits of the dad. One investigator who wanted to become a professional bartender. One family whose parents are chain smokers. I have never seen so many bad effects of breaking the word of wisdom. 

We had an awesome lesson with Italo (investigator who wanted to become a professional bartender)! We taught him about the plan of salvation and marked his baptism date for the 2nd of March. Then when we taught the word of wisdom he ACCEPTED it so well! And has now stopped drinking alcohol and coffee!!!!! 

We started teaching another drug addict who is truly sincere about changing. He has cut down so much. He went from using drugs almost every day to once a week. And he told us that when his dad told him to have a beer at the bakery (yes here the drink at bakery´s...) He ordered a COKE!!!! 

Shout out to all of you for being such great examples when it comes to the word of wisdom. I have luckily NEVER been tempted to break the word of wisdom. But up until this week I also had never realized how big of a blessing it has been in my life. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THE WORD OF WISDOM!!!!! It truly blesses us in all aspects of our lives. Health Wise, Knowledge Wise, Saftey Wise... ALL ASPECTS even money wise if you think about....

If anyone has any good ideas on how to break an addiction let me know!!!

Desi 

"Our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off, and move forward."

Dear Family,

We had a great week!!!! A LOT went on. We stayed pretty busy throughout the whole week. 

We taught a lot of Restoration lessons! It was great! We had 11 new investigators and we have started to teach 2 new families :) 

One of the families we are teaching is really accepting! One problem. The dad of the family is addicted to CRACK. We taught the first lesson with him drugged up. It was an interesting experience because his week is SUCH A GOOD INVESTIGATOR. She had so many good questions, and she is so sincere in her desire to know. She felt the spirit so strongly. The dad wants to stop he told us that he did. He recognizes that its destroying his life... It was really sad to see what he was giving up, and to see the pain that he caused in the life of Sandra, his wife. I know it will be HARD, but I know that he will be able to!!!! 

Saturday was the baptism of Megara!!!! It was SO SWEET. I am so happy for her. She had been waiting for this day for so long, and her mom who isn´t a member went and really liked it as well. She may still be saying that she is not interested, but I KNOW that Meggy is going to help her whole family through her example. 

We taught Italo again this week and he accepted the invitation to be baptized :) He is SOOOOOOOO AWESOME. He works so hard in life, and he really just wants to know peace and wants to know how he can get rid of the guilt that he feels. He read the chapter we left him in the Book of Mormon 2 times, and he said that he felt good when he prayed!!!! 

Happy Valentine´s day this week to everyone!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Desi 

Do You Think God Puts Good Things in Our Path? I Do!!!!

Dear Family this week was a HOTTT one. We were told that this summer has been the hottest ever recorded here in São Paulo.

This week we WORKED hard. A lot of walking in the hot sun, but it wasn´t all in vain. We did a lot of contacts, and now have a lot of not only new but also potential investigators. 

Next Saturday is the baptism of Mégara. She is so awesome, and excited for her baptism. I made her little invitations. She has been waiting for soo long for this. It´s going to be a really special day for her.  I picked a sheep on her invite because she is entering into the flock of Jesus Christ :) 

This week we also had interviews with President Ferrin. It was a GREAT interview. He showed us two pennies a bronze penny and a steel penny, and asked us which coin we would want to be. I of course picked the steel penny because I had never seen a steel penny before and I thought I would want to be the different one. But then he told us that steel rusts a lot faster and other facts about steel that made me want to change my answer. Afterwards he showed us a silver coin and then a gold coin... A pure gold coin... It was SOOO pretty. By this point I definitely had changed my mind. He told us that the truth is that there is very little pure gold in the world. And that we are like the gold coins. There may not be a very high percentage of members in the world and an even smaller percentage of missionaries, but we are UNIQUE and of GREAT WORTH. We need to show the world that our message is worth more than gold :) I have learned so much from President Ferrin, I hope that I can be a light in this world and help many people enjoy the gold that I have (THE GOSPEL :) )

Sunday we had a VERY interesting experience.  We were walking to church and this random guy came up to us and asked if he could ask a question. I of course answered Sure... He proceeded to ask ``Do you think God puts good things in our Path?`` I answered yes.... He then started talking anddddd it didn´t take long to realize that he was a little drunk. He told us that a girl that he had met the night before sent him a message saying that he needed to let Jesus enter into his heart. So what did he do? He walked into the nearest church... A Igreja Universal... The Universal Church... He stayed there for about 5 minutes got uncomfortable and left. That's when he saw us. We invited him to go to church and he did. And he stayed all 3 hours and LOVED it... and I think the alcohol had even worn off by the end... I´m hoping we can help change his life and his families life!!!!! I know that Heavenly Father loves him regardless of his poor choices. I hope that he is willing to give up worldly things and search for the kingdom of God. 

We also found 2 new investigators. Rosangela and Italo. Mother and Son. They are just two really nice people. And Italo had a lot of great questions. After we taught the Restoration he asked us how he could know if Joseph Smith was a real prophet or a False prophet and we explained that he could read the book of Mormon and pray!!!! And he told us that he is looking for PEACE in his life. We promised him that he would find peace through the BOOK OF MORMON and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the book of Mormon is true and if Italo really reads it he will know for himself as well!!!!!!!! 

I know that God puts good things in our Path!!!!!! He did after all put all of you in my path :) We just need to look for the good things and make sure to share them!!!!!!!