What an Interesting Week

So,

This last week started out with our apartment flooding when our water heater, which has been dripping 

for a few weeks, broke open and started gushing water out while we were out teaching.  Luckily, it broke 

like 10 or so minutes before we got home, so the appartment was only partially flooded, and although it 

took 2 and a half hours to get all the water cleaned up, nothing important was damaged, and it sent an 

important message to the owners of the house who replaced our water heater that has been bearly 

working a little for the last few months with a new one that works perfectly!  So, we have lots of Hot 

water again, which is a blessing.  I have been blessed on my mission to have lots of hot water.  Only 

about half of the missionary appartments here have hot water, and every house I have served in has had 

hot water.

I learned many things this week.  I learned that when we take up our crosses and follow Christ, we 

must be willing to pay a tolken of the price that he paid, and suffer a part of what he suffered.  When 

we go, we sometimes have to go alone, and sometimes have to learn to go with others.  As Neal A. 

Maxwell said at BYU once, that sometimes if God were to take away our pain and our trials when we 

ask Him to free us, it would destroy all progress until that point.  Sometimes, we have to have a new 

peak trial, which can not be removed until we get over it, which can only be possible in relying on the 

Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I know that this work is His, and that he lives.

I invite everyone to go and see http://www.mormon.org/easter this video, and ponder about what it 

means that He Lives.  I know that we dont understand all of the implications of his love, but we can learn.

This week we also had a training just for our district from President Mathews.  It was done in a half 

completed part of a half completed building, but it was still fantastic.  He talked about making goals, 

and working for them.  My life just got a lot more controled because of goals.  I know that the doctrines 

of Goal making are true.

I am soooo excited for general conference.  I literally cant wait.

Love,

Elder Sampson

Wonderful Week One

English is weird.  One.  Won.  When you need a triple W there is no good way to do it.  Why One and Won sound the exact same, I knowith not.

But, nevertheless, week one of the transfer was pretty great.

On monday I taught one of the, or maybe the best lesson that I have ever been in.  For sure it was the best I have ever taught people and not lessons.  We taught this to a family where the husband came to church two weeks ago, and his woman wanted nothing to do with us after she found out that we weren't just there to teach people the bible.  It has been a struggle to get to talk with her.  We went in, and she was home and not busy and we just started talking, and morphed into teaching, and just discussed the gospel, and we shared the gospel with them, and the spirit was super strong.  Things aren't instantly better, but it was a solid force of the spirit the whole time.  That is what happens when you have a good comp study and then apply what you learned.

This week was Edgar's baptism.  In his house, there are now just 2 that aren't members.  He is 17, and when we first got to the area, he had no interest, and just sort of shoved us off, but over time, every so often, he warmed up a bit.  Then we felt like we should invite him to read the bood of mormon, because he likes reading.  And... He started going really well, and has been picking up everything.  A few days ago, we taught one thing, and he said, Tell Me More, and so we taught him another and he said, tell me more, and so we kept going.  He is going to be fantastic.  I am super excited for him.

This last weekend, as part of our zone plan, we had a sacrament meeting focused on missionary work, and the three older of us in our branch spoke because Elder McMullin, who is new, spoke two weeks ago.  Elder Zuniga spoke on why we do missionary work, Elder Chevalier spoke on the responsibilities of members, and I spoke on references.  I talked about the 3 principle doubts for giving references.  1. They are of another faith. 2. They might not want to hear, and 3. I am afraid to talk with people about the gospel.  Then I slashed, figuratively, the doubts to ribbons.  Mostly the first and 2nd ones.  The third one just needs a good exercise of faith to see the blessings.

So, that was the week in a nutshell.  I don't really know what to write these days, but I'm super excited for next week.
2 Weeks to Conference!

Love,
Elder Sampson

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Another Brief Week

Hey everyone!

This week past quickly!

Transfers came, and all 4 of us are still here the same.  It is going to be a good new transfer.

This week was branch conference.  Because of the construction, we had to go saturday and sunday before church to clean up everything.  When they do construction here, they just go instead of planning it out and stuff.  The conference was great though!  We had 60 people there which was a new reacord!!!

The big family with like 20 people had 6 that showed up.  Miricles everywhere.
It is normally very difficult to baptise older people, but the mom of this big family is awesome.  She is friends with the relief society president, and had a dream the night we asked her to pray.  She still has lots to learn, and it goes slowly, but she liked church.  She can not read, so we need to help her get a testimony of it through reading it to her.

One of her daughters is also progressing super well.  Full of Miracles.  She made a big financial mistake a bit ago, and so prayed and asked God to punish her, and He did immidiately, and so she asked for a way to change and get out of her suffering and we showed up.  After one of our lessons we went to leave and I went to give her 2 nephi 31 to read which talks about baptism, but felt inspired to leave 3 Nephi 11 so we did.  The next day we asked her what she learned.  She said she had learned about forgiveness and doing things not to be seen of men.  We were a bit confused because 3 nephi 11 talks about Christs visit, but she had read chapter 12 as well that talks about the sermon on the mount.  She told us she can´t be baptised yet because she still needs to forgive someone, and can´t be baptized if she isn´t willing to forgive.

Got to go,
But this week was full of miracles and suffering!

The Church is true!!!

Love,
Elder Sampson

And... a Papaya

Sorry to those who wrote me and I didn´t have time to respond this week!

So this week, we got back from teaching and there was a cut papaya on Elder Chevalier´s bed.  The story 

is fantastic.

So there is a small market here (a big inclosed building) that sells fresh produce.  When we need it, there 

is a bathroom there that we use.  Elder Zuniga and Elder McMullin (reminder, elder Zuniga is training Elder 

McMullin) went in there because Elder Zuniga was using the bathroom, and when he does that, he gives a 

card to Elder McMullin, and tells him to go and share the gospel with someone.  So, Elder Zuniga comes 

out of the bathroom, and Elder McMullin is standing there with a papaya and a bag of 7 unripe pears.  He 

was very confused and asked where the fruit had come from.  Elder McMullin had gone to contact a lady 

right next to the bathroom, and had asked how much a pear is.  She just started piling pears into a bag, 

and in his first transfer portuguese he tried to tell her that he only wanted one.  She informed him that it 

was okay and he could buy the one now, and then come back the next day to pay for the rest.  To try to 

get out of it, he asked her how much the papaya was.  He was given the price, and she put it in the bag too, 

and he didn´t know how to undo what he had done.  She said 500 excudos (6 dollars) and he gave her 400 

(all he had) and then Elder Zuniga came out.  The next day they went back and found out that just the 

pears were 500, and the papaya was another 400, so he ended up, just wanting a pear, spending 10 

dollars on fruit.  

It was the first papaya he had ever tried, and found out immediately that he didn´t like it, so I enjoyed a 

large papaya this last week.  Also, Elder Zuniga and Elder McMullin like to joke alot, and Elder McMullin 

didn´t know how to eat a papaya (cut it, pull out the seeds and then eat the inside) and so when he 

asked how to eat it, Elder Zuniga told him to eat it like an apple, so there was a big bite mark on the 

skin of the papaya.  haha.  

This week was super good.  Actually like a roller coaster.  One day great the next pretty bad, etc...  We 

are working with tons of new people, especially a family of like 20 people that life in the same close area 

but not in the same house.  They are all super receptive to hear the gospel which is awesome.  Some 

of them came to church with us this week, which was fantastic.  We are back up to consistently breaking 

50 for our church frequency as well.  I am super excited to be working here.  Transfers are this week, 

so we will see, but I think that all of us are staying here.

This week I learning about the importance of preparing.  If you look at all of the scriptures under the 

word prepare, you can see that God doesn´t do anything without preparing first.  The Lord givith no 

comandment unto the children of men without Preparing a way for them (I don´t know exactly how it 

goes anymore in english). God prepared to create us and the world.  We need to prepare to keep the 

commandments and the mission rules and for the stregnth of youth, etc... because if we don´t we will 

get there and it will be too late.  Then it will be imposible to do everything good.  We will have to choose 

a good thing or a bad, or maybe a good thing and another good thing, or a bad and a worse, because 

we cant do both if we don´t plan.  Planning is good.

Love,

Elder Sampson

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Really Really Short

Dear Everyone,

Something came up so,

This week will be really really short.

It was a stellar week except we were stuck in the house for a few days with Elder Chevalier sick.
This week Mariza was baptised.  She is doing really well.  We had to do her baptism really early before church because she was at a doctors appointment that went long with her kid on saturday.  We are super excited for her though.

We are working to make miracles happen here though.

Quick spiritual though.

Faith, in the words of a member after the study with left her with, Is the path that leads us to a certanty.  I know that is true.  That we can become what the Lord wants us to become through faith on Jesus Christ.  I invite Everyone to read the last 4 verses of Alma 13 and the last 5 of 3 Nephi 13.

Love you all.

Elder Sampson

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