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