Monday, April 27, 2015

Dont Let Go of What Matters Most


I have branded into my skin and my heart an eternal reminder of a gospel truth.

 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

This week we were making a cake.  It was chocolate.  It smelled soooo good as it neared readiness.

I grabbed a fork to go and see if it was done.  It is very important to pull the cake out at the right time.  If you insert the fork and the fork comes out gooey, it needs more time, but if it is clean, it needs to come out immidately to preserve its moistness.  The fork is important.  It has to be clean and dry to make sure that it shows correctly the doneness of the cake.  I was crouching down to see into the oven of the cake was done.  I rested the essencial tool on my knee.  The silver fork.  Freshly washed and dried.  It gleamed a little.  With my left hand I carefully opened the oven door.  The aroma was breathtaking.  Now just to check.  With the hand not keeping the oven door from springing closed, I, with a towel, started pulling the cake out of the oven.  Then all of the sudden the fork started sliding from my knee where it had rested.  I adjusted my stance to keep it from the dirty floor, but to no avail! The four pronged key for delicous happiness was leaving. It was falling.  Everything would soon be over.  BUT NO!  It was falling just within the grasp of my bottom hand, and so, in a frantic go I went for it.  It appeared that I would make it.  Time went slower and slower, and then...WHAM!!!!!   

  OOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!  With my right hand still on the cake pan, the burning oven door sprang closed, branding my right arm forever.  

So...  What did I learn?

2 Nephi 9:51
 51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

Niza was also baptised this week.  It was fantastic!  She said that she feels like a great weight has been taken out of her and that she wants to stay like this forever.  We read with her about how in the ordnances the power of divinity is manifested.  She has a strong desire to help others, especially in her family, come unto the fold.  She will do it too.  There are many other prepared souls in her family.  Cris is still waiting on permission, but she will get there.  They brought a cake to her for her birthday even though she isnt a member yet.  

I also gave a talk again this week because they thought I was leaving.  It was really long because they left me 30 mins.

And...  I am leaving.

I got transfered yesterday.  All the things I had predicted about our district 
happened including who was leaving and where they were going.  Elder Zuniga and I are leaving.  Elder Zuniga is going to Tarra Fal on the island of Santiago which will be his first time on the south islands and he will have to deal with a completely different creole than he has had his whole mission.  I am excited for him.  I am going to the island of Sao Nichalou.  There are only 2 pairs (4 missionaries) on the island.  It has been opened since I have been out.  I remember when it was first opened and it is still very new.  I am super excited though.  I fly out in a few hours. 

  The elder that was there is replacing me.  He is about to go home, and I hope that he does some good work here.  I am serving with Elder Barrus who is from my MTC district.  He is from Wyoming.  It is going to be fantastic.  It is another super beauitful and green island, so I hope I get to enjoy that a bit before I go home.  I hope I wont have to pack my bags any more before I go home.  I hate dealing with weight limits at the airports.  
So, that was this week!
Pray that I might have Charity for everyone on this new island!
Love,
Elder Sampson

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Monday, April 20, 2015

The week that the Earth Shook



The earth didnt actually shake this week, but it seemed like a good enough title for the weekly letter.
This week was an adventure I think.
I was definately a great week to fight on the Lords side.  Whos on the Lords side who?  Lots of learning to get better on the Lords side this week.  Lots of things learned.
So we have been working with Leila and Reny forever.  Almost litterally.  During that time, the rest of Leilas family has been baptised, and stuff, and she wants to a ton as well, but Reny has some doubts about marrage and commitment because he never really grew up in a culture of... doing that.  But, slowly sloooowly he has been coming along.  They have been coming to church for a while now, and Reny is getting better at getting up in the mornings and stuff, and this week, we discovered the part in Preach My Gospel about creating a plan for investigators when you get them a baptisimal date marked, and then share that plan with them, so we marked them a baptisimal date, and created a long term plan for like the next 7 weeks to help them focus on the basics like family prayer and then individual prayer, and then family scripture study, and then etc...  And so now they are working for that, and we hope that slowly and surely we can win the race.
So this week has been great to listen to conference every day that I downloaded.  Conference is fantastic.  I love it sooo much.  I am super excited to read all the talks.  Preisthood session was my favorite.  If you havent heard it yet, get it and read or listen to it.  Sooooo good.  My favorite is Elder Eyrings talk.
So President Rodrigues, the branch president is fantastic.  He also had an accident a few years ago, and so is in a wheel chair.  This week we were walking by his house, and we stopped some of our investigators, and they said they had seen the branch president sitting by himself a few blocks away.  It turns out that his electric wheel chair had died in the middle of the street, which was great.  Haha.  He was stuck.  Luckily his tablet had internet, and so he used it to call one of the members.  We found them a few moments later, coming down the street, with the member, Alex, pushing the back of the electric wheel chair.  A fantastic sight with our branch president in grand spirits.  Haha.  I love our branch president.
So these days I have been learning courage and confidence.  I still have a loooooong way to go to be couragous, but I made some good steps this week.  Taking risks is good.  Usually.  There is a great talk I read about the difference between sin and weakness which was great. 
We also took charge of integrating night to get it back going this week because people have stopped coming.  We had a good turnout.  Maybe 30 people or so.  Lots of new faces.  We blew up baloons, and then everyone tied the baloon to their shoe, and then tried to pop others without theirs being popped.  Inside the baloons were scriptures and stuff.  If your baloon got popped, you could get back in the game with another baloon if you memorized the scripture and passed it off.

So.
The Lords work is great.  It cant be stopped.
Love you all!!!
Elder Sampson








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