Elder Gurksnis Goes to Brazil

WOW soooo much has happened and sadly i have such little time to write. But i will give the main stuff. So we marked a marriage date with Lucianno and Alessandra for October 20th! I loveeee being able to bring families into this gospel. Nothing that makes me happier. The baptism will probably be that same day. We started teaching their neighbors and 2 of them already went to church and have baptism dates for next weekend!  We have another miracle from our English class. We taught this woman on Saturday night, and even though her son tried to bash on us a little, she was super firm and loved church on sunday. She said that she told herself a couple years ago that she would never enter into a church again. This week she entered and said she felt something completely different than anything she has ever felt. We told her this was the spirit testifying to her that she was in the right place. She has accpeted a baptismal date for THIS sunday! Today we went to the temple ...

Well this week I got my new comp who is Elder Rodrigues! He is a Brazilian, but from the south which is a little different from here. So I'm at 6 companions now, all brazilians, all from different states haha. But he is a cool guy. He is a little shy but I feel like we fit each other well and have been able to teach a few really great lessons. We are happy with our work here and ready to get lots done this transfer.  This week we were on Cloud 9 when we taught Lucianno and Alessandra. We were about to talk to them about marriage and how it is a commandmant of God, when they started to say stuff like, "If we want to be baptized, do we have to be married?" hahah it was so great and we explained it all to them and they are super down to get married and baptized! We need to finalize the details tonight, but we will try to get to the place that marks marriages here in the next week or two and pray they have a spot open during this transfer. They are truly amazing people. T...

Well this week I hit the big 365 mark! It was a good day and it feels super weird knowing Ive got less than 11 months left here. It will fly by so fast, so I'm just looking to take advantage of this time while I have it! Probably was the fastest year of my life.... So this week was also transfers! Elder Hequer is leaving to go train and I'll stay here and receive my new comp tomorrow who will start his first transfer as Zone Leader with me. I'm super pumped to show him the area and set good, smart goals with him for this transfer.  This week we found an awesome couple that came down from the land of my boy Elder Opfar in Bahia to São Paulo. The girl always looked down at the floor in our lessons and I thought she wasnt paying attention at all, but she started to ask some amazing questions that we were amazed by. It was an awesome experience to teach them this week and to see their excitedness about the Gospel. The guy told us one night that even though he hasn't...

Another week out on the grind. Our goal this week was to do 20 contacts every day and Elder Ballard promised us that we would be blessed and see our teaching groups grow. We have totally seen that promise come true! We met lots of great people this week. Even one (its crazy this has happened a couple times on my mission) where she said she was praying literally THAT DAY to find a new path in her life. Its crazy how the Lord prepares His children for our message. But certainly like there always are, we faced some trials this week. We had a tough time following up with these new people that we found and on Sunday we didnt see the results we wanted in church. Its tough to see cause as a missionary, I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help peoples lives. But the IF is that they have to allow it to affect their lives. Just gotta trust in the time and plan of God for His children.  Something cool we got to do this week is as Zone Leaders we are meeting with the stake president...

Well sooo much happened this week. and lots of reasons for me to be happy. Things are going well and I just felt super glad this week for how things are going on my mission. We baptized Amanda yesterday! So turns out she came to know us from our English class! And she had lots of interesting trials that I really enjoyed helping her with. I feel like we made so much progress with her and I love to see how much she has changed. She truly seems like someone who was prepared for us at this time by the hand of the Lord.  This week I was also able to return to my stomping grounds (my first area in Freguesia) and do a split. It was the coolest and strangest thing to be back there. I was tried so much in that area and truly feel like I came to know my Savior a little bit better and trust in Him during those 4 months. And turns out the Lord is blessing all my recent converts there! Carlos (my very first baptism) is marrying a returned missionary soon, Elaine is giving freaking lunch to ...

Awesome 2nd week here in Parada Pinto. We have been teaching an English class with the assistants who share a chapel with us. They have been going soooo well. We have like almost 50 people sometimes for me and Elder Peterson to teach. Its kinda crazy haha. Buttttt a TON of them are interested in the gospel after they see the church and see the way that we teach and stuff. We have got a ton of them to visit this week and even have a baptismal date set with a girl named Amanda who has always been in our classes. Praying everything works out with her this week! She came to church and yesterday and loved it. She has said that ever since we started to teach her, she has felt the Holy Spirit have a huge impact in her life. The spirit is always strong teaching her, and she has a great desire to get her life back in order spiritually.  The streets are pretty crazy here and sometimes very packed. We have been approached by so many drunk people its crazy. One of them was walking dizzily...

So....I went to talk with President last Tuesday and was told I was being transferred here to an area called Parada Pinto as a Zone Leader! I was super pumped. So pretty much this means that instead of taking care of 2 companionships, me and my comp take care of 8 or 9. I was super humbled by the call and know there are things I will learn here because of it. I am with Elder Hequer. He is a cool guy. 26 years old, born here in Brasil but lives in Portugal, and was baptized only 1 year before his mission! He is super knowledgable and ive loved the chance to teach with him. We have lots of work to do here in this area and am excited to tackle it with him. This week we had meetings and stuff but were still able to get out in the favelinha and work a little bit. It is totally different here than my last area, but im getting used to it. SO many people in the streets. We were able to find a cool RECENTLY MARRIED couple (of 2 months) this week and they liked church yesterday. Something te...