Monday, December 29, 2014

What a Week

Hello Everyone!

Because of time this will be shorter, and pictures will probably have to wait until next week unfortunately because the computer I am on doesn't have a spot for an SD card.

So this week I learned lots of things, and lots of things happened.
1st-
So we showed up on Christmas eve at the house of a member, and one of her grandsons who is 12 told us as we walked in that he wanted to be baptized on Christmas day.  He has been coming to church for a long time, but never had parental permission, but they had been praying and fasting, especially his grandmother who is the relief society president, and had received permission, so we had a long review everything about the gospel lesson, and he was solid, and then the District Leader, Elder Gooch, showed up and we told him to do an interview right then, and then we called President Mathews to get special permission (because normally the interview has to happen the week before) and he gave it!

So Christmas day we got up, and went to the beach and Giovanny was baptized.  He was saying how he wants to work in Gods office now that he has given himself as a present to Christ, and is super excited.  He will receive the Aaronic Priesthood next week and will start passing the sacrament so we will have 2 people to pass instead of just 1.  It was a real miracle.

Speaking of sacrament meeting, we hit a new high this last week with 52 people in sacrament meeting, and 12 of them are investigators!  The struggles in this area are really different than my last where I went for 5 weeks without a single investigators in church.  We dont teach very much though, which is mostly our fault, and I hope we will be able to change this week.

I am learning a lot from Elder Manga, because he is happy Always.  He runs and skips and jumps (kind of figuratively) as we walk, and is a friend to everyone.  I love him a ton!

This week I learned again that if we are miserable or unhappy, we just need to follow the Holy Ghost.  If we are courageously following the Holy Ghost, we can know with a surety that we are okay.

I love you all.
Please have a good end of year and don't do anything stupid.

I know that the Lord also hopes that we give him a present this Christmas even if it is a little late.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Haha.  I wrote 1st but never got to 2nd or 3rd.  Haha.  Next week maybe.

Monday, December 22, 2014

There went out a decree...


Dear Everyone,

Life is good here in the very different land of Sal.

Everyone here is fantastic, and I love them all.  The church has been here for about a year, and we had like 46 people in church.

We dont have any worthy melchesidic preisthood holders though, and Elder Gooch, who is in his last transfer who is from draper is the acting branch president because the branch president has been in portugual for 6 months trying to recover from something.  He should be back hypothetically next month though which means that people can get interviews and callings and stuff.

Also, next month our building is suposed to get renovated.  The building here is the worst or second worst one in cape verde.  It is just this big open space mostly.  We are excited for that.

Elder Zuniga also lives in my house, and he has been in Santo Antao for a long time (he came in right after me) and so it is awesome to hear all the updates on the sucess there.

Sal is flat.  The only thing that I have to climb at all is stairs.  Pretty much everyone lives in appartments.  It is like Euorpe in a lot of ways.  There are tourists all over, and you can rent bikes an ATVs and segways and stuff.  The people in general have more money and better financial circumstances.  There are a lot of people that come here and to boa vista from other islands because, although there is not any farming at all, there are tons on europeans that bring lots of money.  Everything is more expensive though.

Speaking of Boa Vista, they came out for our Christmas party on Saturday, but the flight was on thursday morning, so we had 8 elders here for 2 days, and did lots of divisions, so I spent 2 days with Elder Conway who was in my last district.  He came out with Elder Wallace.  We found many new people.

We have 2 families that are progressing for marrage.  Leila and Renny are one of them.  They have been coming to church for a few weeks now, and are progressing well.  Leila is stronger in the gospel than Renny.  He just recently started progressing.  They have 4 kids, and we are also teaching leilas mom, siblings, aunt and her family.  20 people more or less in all.

The other is Simone and Artu.  They live right by the church and Simone will have their first kid in january, however Artu is still deciding what he is going to do.  He is 23 and simone is 29, and so is a little less seasoned than Simone, but both are awesome!  They were Mary and Joseph at the Christmas party of our branch.  That was on Saturday, but we had practices all week for it.  It was well attended  There was tons of food and investigators.

Our mission Christmas Party was the same morning, and there was also lots of food.  We had a turkey dinner, and tons of desserts and stuff.  I have been sickish for 3 days because of all the food.  It was in Espargos.  There are 18 of us in the zone.  4 here, 4 in Boa vista, 4 elders in espargos, 4 sisters in espargos, and The Demkes who are awesome.  They are helping us with our families.

Elder Manga also is awesome.  He is always happy.  We are still getting used to each other, and many things are changing but I am learning a ton, and I know the Lord will allow us to work miriacles as we teach and work together.

I will talk to some of you on thursday, but for the others, I will talk maybe one day.

Please dont get too caught up in the spirit of comericalism.  Worldly fun ends way too fast.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Monday, December 15, 2014

Short




This will be short unfortunately because of lack of time. 
 
Because the airlines dont run around Christmas, transfers happened a week early.
 
I have now seen all 10 islands of Cape verde, and have served in 5 of them.  I am now on the flat and touristy island of Sal.  I will try to send pictures next week.  Sal means salt, and this island is just lots of sand. I has tons of tourists, and pretty much literally no agraculture.  I saw grass today for the first time from a far, and longed to go lay on it.  :)
 
I am serving with Elder Manga who I have known for a long time.  This is his last transfer.  He is from Gunea Bisseu but was living in Praia when he was baptised.  I am super excited.  I am in the city of santa maria, which is just built around this 5 star resort.  Sal has tons of beaches and stuff.  
So, that is pretty much it.
 
I left Ribeirao Manuel good, and am super sad to have left, but I know that the Lord has good things in store here.
 
On sunday we had 43 people in Church, and 5 investigators.  Sys brother Helton finally came to church.  He has changed so much.  On tuesday he was cooking and we just sat outside over a small fire and talked for like an hour and a half, and by the end he became super excited to live and try the gospel.  It was amazing.  He will be baptised on the 27th.  Elder Wallace stayed in the area and will cary on the work.
 
I am working right now on diligence, and I am confident that that will bless my life. 
We all have to work for many things in this life, and choosing something is one thing, but after choosing the right, we have to act with diligence.  Diligence is a consistant and persistant action to achieve.  I am grateful for Preach My Gospel and for this new area.
 
Please serve others this Christmas.  Many need our help.
I love this Church and know that it is true.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Monday, December 8, 2014

Another Amazing Week


Dear All,

Before I forget, I don't know how many of you have seen the Christmas video of the Church, christmas.mormon.org.  He is the Gift.

We have been sharing it here, and we have shared it with 30 people so far, and if you live somewhere where you have a smart phone, and everyone has internet, and you think you can share it with more people before Christmas than I can here with just my flash drive it Africa, bring it on.

The video itself is less than 3 mins, but every time I see it I am filled with the Spirit, and have a greater desire to do what is right, and to give to Him what little I have.

This week at church was also fantastic.  The branch is starting to pick it up, and the relief society had a great activity saturday, and so we had 50 people in church which is the highest it has been in the last 6 months since i've been here.  However, the atonement is helping me keep a good perspective.
We are so indebted to Christ, that even when we acieve a little thing, we still owe everything.  If we think about that it isn't hard to forgive others.  There is the parabole if the man who owed his master 100000000000000 dollars, and was forgiven all, and then another that owed him 5 dollars he threw into prision.  This gives us great perspective.  We had 50 people in church but there are another 50,000 or more people in our area.  So, we have a tooooooon more to do.  Here we go.  I think I am getting transfered next monday, so I have been trying to take advantage of this last little time here, and I love the area and don't want to leave more every day.

The Lord has been blessing us a ton even though we are worse some days than we were before, and I am incapable of acting in complete faith, but that is okay, because I know that I will get it before it is too late.  Repent me Repent me!

We had a solid zone meeting this week.  We were told that it was going to be the best training of our missions... and it wasn't.  :(  But it was still really really good.

We talked about the focuses of this month, and about what the member, investigator, and missionary need to feel to be converted.  Desire is a big factor in all of those cases.  So, study your scriptures and act in faith.  count your blessings, and serve.  Be good members.

We had house inspections today, which went good.  It was really fast which was nice.  I did tons of deep cleaning this morning, and was soooo sick of cleaning by like 12 but that's okay.  Most missionarys only clean the surface, so under stuff, or in stuff, or on the sides of stuff doesn't really ever get cleaned so I did a lot of that.  My arm was tired from scrubbing.  We almost had an emergency because the power was out from when we woke up until like 8, but then it came back, so we were able to have water more accessable to clean.  Carrying water from a tank to the sink to wash dishes is not the greatest.  I am grateful for what we have though, and that we have running water which most people don't have.  We don't have to go carry in water every day from farish away.

So,
Have a good week, but more importantly, help others have a good week.

I love you all!!!!

Elder Sampson
Other picturesAttachments areaPreview attachment DSCN8645.JPGImageDSCN8645.JPG
Jared SampsonAttachments9:07 AM (2 hours ago)
to me On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 10:05 AM, Jared Sampson <jared.sampson@myldsmail.net> wrote:Other picturesAttachments areaPreview attachment DSCN8646.JPGImageDSCN8646.JPG
Jared SampsonAttachments9:12 AM (2 hours ago)
to me 
Attachments areaPreview attachment DSCN8644.JPGImageDSCN8644.JPGOther picturesAttachments areaPreview attachment DSCN8645.JPGImageDSCN8645.JPG
Jared SampsonAttachments9:07 AM (2 hours ago)
to me On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 10:05 AM, Jared Sampson <jared.sampson@myldsmail.net> wrote:Other picturesAttachments areaPreview attachment DSCN8646.JPGImageDSCN8646.JPG
Jared SampsonAttachments9:12 AM (2 hours ago)
to me 
Attachments areaPreview attachment DSCN8644.JPGImageDSCN8644.JPGPreview attachment DSCN8642.JPG

1.  If you want to send Elder Sampson a Christmas card, you can send an envelope to:

Elder Jared Sampson
Missão Cabo Verde Praia
CP 420
Praia, Ilha de Santiago
CABO VERDE

You can send an envelope with a letter or pictures or whatever for $1.10 (international postage).  Or, you can send a package to this address.  This is the international mail option.


2.  Pouch address:

Elder Jared Sampson
Cape Verde Praia Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City,  UT  84130

This option only allows one piece of paper, folded into thirds and taped closed.  If you send an envelope, or anything other than the piece of paper, it will be returned to you.  But, this just requires one stamp to get to SLC.


3.  Or, you can always email him at jared.sampson@myldsmail.net

Monday, December 1, 2014

What a great place to be


Hey Everyone,

The gospel is great!

I love you all, especially Brad and my new sister Leslie!

There was a large party we had to hide from here on the day of the wedding too, but they were worshiping a saint, instead of celebrating eternal families.  :(   We're working on that.
So I don't really talk that much about who we are teaching, but will mention a few today.
1. Fernando-  He is the cousin of one of our strongest members, and lives in the same house as her.  He is 30 or so, and his super strong cousin didn't believe that he was worth teaching.  We started talking with him, and he is getting a new light.  He came to church for the first time on sunday, and loved it.  He was participating and stuff.  Awesome.

2. Helton and Nadini- Helton is the brother of one of our other super strong members, but we also contacted him alone and not through his brothers.  Nadini is his woman.  We talked a lot about marrage with them this week, and he asked her and she said yes, but not until after they finish school which won't be for a while, so we explained about the power of families, and having faith and she left very much pondering about the things that we taught.

3. Eloisa- Lives with a man, and just had a baby 2 weeks ago.  She now has 2 kids with another man, and 2 kids with the guy she lives with right now.  She suffers from effects of not living the law of chastity, and we have been trying to help her build her faith, and yesterday finally had a the Lord delights in the chastity of women lesson, and about how if something keeps her out of the kingdom of God, that thing is not needed, no matter what the cost.  She is praying and pondering and we will do so with her.  We hope to help her husband understand that he can not serve 2 masters when it comes to familiy (or anything else).  It was was a good lesson, she has very much been humbled.
So one great blessing that we had this week was that because of the volcano, Bruna, who was serving a mini mission, came home early, and is super excited and ready to finish her papers, and also the first thing she said is that she has realized what it is like to be a missionary and especially how hard it is when there are no members to help.  Also, we had a missionary come home from her full time mission in Brazil, and she is full of fire ready to work too.  She didn't want to come home, but they made her, and she is a very powerful tool in the Lord's hands and will help this branch work a ton better.  Also, her boyfriend is our ward mission leader, so we are hoping for a wedding here soon.  She is so on fire though, that he is seeing how much better he needs to change and how over time after the mission his habits and stuff are not as strong as they used to be.  So, he is working to be more converted too.

That is the kind of relationships we need to develop.  That is the relationship that we need make with everyone.

A relationship that makes both people, because of the other, have a greater desire to do what is right and follow Christ.

This is the relationship that members and missionaries have to have.
This is the relationship that couples need to have.
This is the relationship that companions need to have.
This is the relationship that family members and friends and missionaries need to have.
This is the relationship that we need to have with God, so that every time we pray or think of Him, we are elevated to a higher level of commitment to become as Christ is.

I like the words of the verse in D&C 132:7
 Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings.

I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that by the power of Love, we can figure it out.  We can develop and stregnthen our relationships, especially in our families.

What does God do all day?  He does what he can to stregnthen his family.

This week I also had the chance to ponder more about what we believe that others don't.  It is such a blessing to know what we know, and to have a prophet.  The things that I have learned since my youth are real blessings that others don't have.  The majority of people here don't know what they believe, and so when we say stuff, they just nod and say they believe that too, but simple things like learning about who God is makes all the difference in our prayers and our families, and makes the Law of Chastity make sense.  It was a blessing to be able to teach people with more clarity the importance of families because we know who God is.

I love you all, and wish I had more time.
Please do better to do right.
I promise I will.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Monday, November 24, 2014

Livin' on the wrong island


Dear Earthly and Spiritual Family,

So yesterday, the volcano on fogo started errupting.  My dream was to be there when that happened, but unfortunately, I am a bit far away, but from here you can see smoke comming out.  All the missionaries there are good, and the people too.  A few had a literal emergency transfer, but the magma is moving slowly, and isn't super dangerous at this point.

So this last week was great.

We lost a few days because of a medical trip to praia and zone conference, but we were still blessed, especially with new people to teach.

Zone Conference this week was amazing.

We talked about first the importance of developing the relationships within the branch with the Branch President and Ward mission leader, and then the members.  We do this following a pattern that can be used whenever there are relationship or other problems.  That is:
1. Love Them
2. Serve Them
3. Teach them the Doctrine

There is a big thing that goes on here where people think that we just need more activities and that will help people come to church and stuff, but activities never converted anyone.  Doctrines, simply taught out of Love will change hearts.

We also talked about the power of talking with people about the gospel, and the ablility that we have to feel the spirit and show and develop faith as we talk with everyone fearlessly about the gospel.  Many do not want to hear it, but if we do it out of Love, it will all be okay.

-One thing that happened this week is that I felt prompted to talk with a family of adventists of the 7th day, or whatever they are called in english.  Normaly we avoid that because they just want to fight, but we were able to share the restoration with them in the middle of all of their attacks.  We walked in and the dad said, Let me go get my sword (the bible).  Listening to their doctrines makes me so grateful for the gospel where we aren't making frantic attempts to interpret the bible alone.  We invited them to read the book of mormon and pray about it, and were told by the Dad that the book of mormon isn't a blessing, as he got more and more irritated as the visit went on, but we never acted really in a way to fight or without a sincere and loving desire to share the greatest blessing that we have.  We were told that because we worship and sanctify on sunday instead of saturday (this doctrine is especially difficult in portuguese where the word for Saturday and Sabath are the same, so in Portugues it reads, Remember the Sabath, to keep it holy, and also means remember the saturday to keep it holy), we weren't candidates for salvation, but thats okay.  Some of the things just made me laugh a little actually.  I hope one day their 15 year old son will obtain a copy of the book of mormon and read it.

Also in zone conference we talked about one of our focuses for right now, which is concecration.   That is, leaving behind everything that isn't 100% complaiance to the laws of God, with not just avoiding commiting sin, but also avoiding not ommiting the things of perfecting.  I recieve more corage to act in accordance with the knowledge I have of what is right, even when it is very hard to do so, and many times it is very hard.

What a blessing it will be to have Brad and Leslie's marrage tomorrow.  I am so excited for them, and althought it will be a bit sad that I can't be there, it is a greater blessing to show my devotion to the Lord, and for my absance to act as a reminder to all of you of how special it is to have the temple of God here on the earth and that families can be forever.
For Thanksgiving, I hope that we can all show our thankfulness acting instead of just making lists.

I know that this is the Lord's work, and he well help us be like Christ.

Love,
Elder Sampson

It has been Said about President Monson that he is the Prophet and has so much faith because he "does what the rest of us just think about doing"
I hope too that we can all be more like him, and when we know something right that we must do, that we can more frequently do it.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Rougin' in in Africa






Dear Everyone,

I have attached a picture because I think in some casses many still think I am Roughin´ it in Africa.  That is the case in a few minor ways, but since I left my first area in Fogo that was roughing it a decenter bit, Life is pretty good.

I love being a missionary.  It is so amazing.  I hope that everyone can serve a mission.  If you don´t believe me, start doing it with all come an addict too.

This last week we worked hard, and even though some days we felt like we were going to "grow a foot or two" before we found someone else that was home, we were really blessed with an eternal perspective.  I want to share with you some of the stuff that President Mathews shared with me about that love, explained using the law of consecration.

President Hinckley described what happens to the heart of every missionary who commits his or her life and work to the Lord when he talked about his own missionary experiences. It was early in his mission, and he was discouraged. The work was hard, and the people were not receptive. However, there came a time when discouragement turned to commitment. For him, the beginning was a letter from his father in which he read: “Dear Gordon, I have your letter. … I have only one suggestion: Forget yourself and go to work.” In describing what happened next, he said: “I got on my knees in that little bedroom … and made a pledge that I would try to give myself unto the Lord.

“The whole world changed. The fog lifted. The sun began to shine in my life. I had a new interest. I saw the beauty of this land. I saw the greatness of the people. … Everything that has happened to me since that’s been good I can trace to that decision made in that little house” (in Mike Cannon, “Missionary Theme Was Pervasive during Visit of President Hinckley,” Church News, Sept. 9, 1995, 4).

Elder D Todd Christofferson
As the Savior demonstrated, the consecrated life is a pure life. While Jesus is the only one to have led a sinless life, those who come unto Him and take His yoke upon them have claim on His grace, which will make them as He is, guiltless and spotless. With deep love the Lord encourages us in these words: “Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (3 Nephi 27:20).

Consecration therefore means repentance. Stubbornness, rebellion, and rationalization must be abandoned, and in their place submission, a desire for correction, and acceptance of all that the Lord may require. This is what King Benjamin called putting off the natural man, yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and becoming “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord” (Mosiah 3:19). Such a one is promised the enduring presence of the Holy Spirit, a promise remembered and renewed each time a repentant soul partakes of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (see D&C 20:77, 79).


Right now we are teaching and trying to find many new people.  The focus of this month is planning, finding, and church attendance.  What blessings.  We were blessed to get back in contact with two people this week who can very soon be strong members of the curch.  The are both very smart and will have to learn to rely on faith better, but they are awesome.  Their names are Felis and Djú.  Dju was trying to get a competitive job in Praia, and didn´t get it but because of the spiritual growth that he made before we lost contact for 3 weeks, he was able to realize that the Lord has a different plan for him instead of being angry or frustrated.  The other plan clearly is that he needs to be home and have time to get to know the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Felis also has been taught in the past, but we had a good restart visit with him, where we just skipped all the mish mosh and went straight to the baptismal invite.  He has good questions like Why does God have a chosen people, and why did he tell people to destroy other people and all of their innocent animals too (2 Kings).

The problem now is that we have investigators committing to do things sincerely.  The have a real desire to do it, and the spirit testifies, but that something always comes up.  They need to keep being strong when we aren´t there, especially Sunday morning.  Next week on the wedding day is a huge party in all of the north part of the island.  I hate Catholic Saints.  It is not okay to drink and break numerous other commandments and the say that it was done in the name of God.  It will be a trial for many many people.  Please pray for those whose faith is on the boarder, that they man make the right choice.

Another blessing this week was this morning.  We played frisbee.  It was soooooo good.  I miss frisbee and running for hours and stuff.  It was awesome.  Elder Wallace is the best out of us at soccer, and you can tell, but when we play frisbee, there is someone else that knows what he is doing :)  .

Well, it is really hard to type on this old crappy keyboard at this new cyber that we are at today in Praia, so I takes way longer and I have to type like a two year old pounds piano keys, but that doesn´t diminish my love for all of you.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Monday, November 10, 2014

Re-Reminder

Dear Everyone,

this is what I asked for for Birthday and Christmas, and here is an example of how to do it, using the example of my dear sister Summie.  She Chose
Mosiah 17-
9-10. And Abinadi said unto him:  I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that i have fallen into your hands.
Yea and I will suffer even until death and I will not recall my words, and they shall standas a testimony against you.  And if ye slay me ye will shed innocent blood and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day.

18:9-- Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those than stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life --

Nephi said and my father dwelt in a tent.  if we dwell in a tent for a long time, we can feel like Lehi did. If we Stand up for what is right and dont recall our words, and if we morn with those that mourn and have experiences, we can understand what it means to do that too.  That is the thing I would love for Christmas.  Is to hear about how a scripture that you picked has come to mean something to you.  I know that this experiences will stregnthen your testimony of the truth, and diminish your doubts of falsehoods.

This last week was great.  We still had no one in Church, and we are really struggling, but I am learning and working on getting a fire lit within me that seems to have been lost after a long while of many dificulties.~

One thing I learned this week is the power of repentance to animate and motivate us.  The most powerful thing in a lesson is when someone makes the decision to truely repent.  When they accept to change and live a gospel principle, or truely be baptised.  That is powerful.  That is because on of the fruits of repentance is the spirit in more abundance.  It doesnt matter what we are passing through, repentance will always bring the spirit, and if it is true repentance, will always animate us and give us fire to do what is right.

This last week we have been trying harder to achieve our goals, and the standard of excelence, which are goals set for certain things every week like 10 investigators in sacrament meeting, and 12 lessons taught with members present, and 10 new references recieved and contacted and stuff like that.  It is not easy usually to achieve these things, but I am learning better how to be motivated and work to achieve goals.  To go the extra mile and stuff.

As part of our mission plan, this month we are focusing on teaching the 4th part of the 3rd lesson, the commandments (helping people repent), revelation through church attendance, and the chapters on planning and using time wisely, and on finding people.  That is a great blessing and are things that we really need this week and that are inspired.  Please pray that we may be able to more abundantly apply to our max these principles so that we can have success.

Oh also, transferes were yesterday, and we didnt get a call, so Elder Wallace and I are together for another transfer.  It is going to be good.  I love him and am ready to win.

We also had stake conference yesterday which was broadcasted from Praia to our branch here, which was great.  The stake is really focusing on self reliance, so there were some good talks on that.
I know the church is true, and that the Cabo Verde, Praia mission is the best mission in the church.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Monday, November 3, 2014

Happy Birthday Summer

Dear Family and Others,

Happy Birthday to the best Codê in the world.  (That is what they call the last kid in a family here)
So for my imidiate familiy, for Christmas this year, and for my birthday I want something from you.

 The Following
Choose in a spirit of prayer a scripture.
Study and ponder about this scripture every day until christmas.  This will probably have to include memorizing it.
Ask yourself repeatedly What does this scriputre mean to me?
When we skype at Christmas, share with me how that scripture has come to have a profound and lasting meaning to you, and what that meaning is.
Go.

So this week was an excitingish one.

I was a bit sick during the week but am mostly better.

I made some delicious fluffy dinner rolls to break our fasts with too.  See picture attached.
This week we worked hard to have people at church, and still didn't have anyone.  We need to work harder I guess.  We have the potential to have a lot of people there.

This last week we had a good experience working with some less-ish actives named Ady and Monica.  They were married and then were baptised, and they are in and out of activity, but we started working with them to help some investigators, and it has been great for both of them.

We are helping the members to do what is right, especially in working with us with references.  One thing we did was with a member named Bruna who is preparing to serve a mission.  We taught her and then she put down 14 names on paper of people that she wants to share the gospel with.  Then we talked to her about how it is her responsibility to work with those people to help them get all the way to conversion.  In the past when we get references from people, they just sort of gave us names, and now we are really buckling down to get the members to do their part.  I know that the Lord is ready to bless us as soon as we do our part.

I love monkeys.  This one's name is New Baby.  See attached photo.

This week I understood a bit more of the importance of repentance.  Most of us have had times in our lives where we were on fire to work and to do the Lord's will to fulfil all righeousness, but Satan works a lot to stop us.  The key to overcoming this is repentance.  A full and lasting repentance lights and feeds our fire.  We can all have a happier life, and a heart more full when we repent.  I know that repentance is a process that we must live always.  It is a process ot the heart and not of the mouth.  I am greatful for the blessing of repentance in my life.

Love,
Elder Sampson