Elder Gurksnis Goes to Brazil

So this week was kinda a crazy week in Brazil. I dont think it showed on US news but the truck drivers here went on a huge strike this week and everyone kinda went without gas this week (especially here in São Paulo). I know it got pretty serious in some parts, but nothing to bad here just strange. I think gas should be returning here in a couple days so thats a good sign! This week our ELITE Felipe was baptized. Such a stud and good example. So the amazing miracle of a story of Felipe- Well a couple weeks ago he was praying to God out of no where to have more direction in his life and for some answers to questions he had had. The next day he typed in "gospel films" on youtube and magically came up on watching the church film of the Restoration! He said he felt the spirit like no other and knew he had to get to know this religion. After, we received a text out of no where from Salt Lake to bring a Book of Mormon to him. He accepted everything we had to say and baptized ye...

So Tuesday we headed to the registry (i think thats the translation...) to mark a date for Pamela and Rafael to get married. We were sent back super quick because one of the documents was missing (reminds me of the Mckinney TX DMV lol). We returned pretty bummed out and they even started to fight a little bit over where this document was. I was pretty down when we got back to their house but decided to just say a sincere prayer in my heart to find this document. We started to turn their little house upside down to find this document and after about 30 minutes we found it! Our ride had already left so me and my comp ran to buy bus passes so we could make it in time before they closed. We ended up being able to mark a date for the 6th of June and I will still be here! I know no baptism is firm and that the devil will really start to work really hard on them now, so we will be visiting them lots to keep strengthening them.  SO many other things happened this week! We recieved a re...

So this week I was able to attend the Leadership Meeting for the mission. I learned a ton and especially loved the phrase that was said "I may not be capable, but God is." There will be many times in our lives when we dont feel like we can do everything that is asked of us. God can wipe away our weaknesses and make us strong with His hands. We may be at point 0 of 100, but our Heavenly Father is always at 100. When we rely on Him and put forth our best effort, we are immediately at 100 as well because 0+100=100! Only through Him are we capable! Our couple Pamela and Rafael are doing great. They talked about how much better their week went after going to church. They have officially commited to being married legally so they can be baptized! We will go with them to the place tomorrow with a member to mark a date for their marriage. Now we just have to hope for an available date as soon as possible. They truly are a special family I feel like I was sent here for. Praying to ...

So this was a quick 5 week, weird transfer and as expected I will stay here in Jardim Simus to finish out the training of Elder Jairo. We are getting along super well and im really enjoying the time here. The cool news is I'm a District Leader now. It pretty much means that I'm the leader of a couple companionships nearby, will give a training every week, and have the opportunity to do baptismal interviews now! Im once again humbled and know that I'm a weak missionary without the constant relying on my Heavenly Father. I know with his help i can really improve every day here and be more in tune with the Spirit.  So literally every one of our main investigators got sent to the hospital here this week. Its been kinda crazy but I think everyone is recovering now. But the greatest news is our couple Pamela and Rafael were at church this week with their 4 KIDS (very rare here). They seriously enjoyed church and already are talking about how they will raise their kids in the ...