Elder Gurksnis Goes to Brazil

Nothing makes me happier in this life than seeing someone who I have helped here in Brazil continue to progress on the gospel path. This week I have received lots of great news of converts from my mission. I have been able to follow up a lot with the couple Rafael and Pamela that I baptized in the middle of my mission. They are doing so well. Certainly, they have plenty of difficulties, but I've been able to help them progress to get temple recommends so that one day they can be sealed as a family with their 4 kids. Also, another woman I helped in my last area will be going to the temple tomorrow and also receiving her patriarchal blessing! If there has been one thing that has constantly been in my prayers as a missionary, its that I could be able to see the fruits of my labor as I go forth with my mission and with my life. I thank the Lord each day for blessing me with the chance to meet these people and learn so much from them and be humbled as a person.  This week we wor...

So yeah...the executive secretary here on our mission hasnt renewed my visa and today it finally did me a little wrong. We were having our pday as a staff with President and out of no where our friends Paula and Cristiano called us telling us they wanted to go to the registry to mark their marriage right then. Haha so we ran to the place and actually everything seemed to be going right (this is rare). It was only me and my companion to be the 2 witnesses to the marriage and I had my passport with me, but the guy realized that my visa was expired. So sadly, after a lot of running around we werent even able to mark the marriage date today . But it'll all work out tomorrow morning and we will bring another Brasilian elder with us to be the other witness. But dont worry, my visa is in the process of being renewed so theres only a small chance that I'll be deported from Brasil... This week we had some great experiences like always. The most special, and one I certainly will reme...

So this week was a great one. The baptism went through with Paula! She actually already knew 2 people in our ward already so it was great to watch her be integrated in our ward. We're gonna get her involved with institute, church dances, etc. and I wont even be worried. Shes gonna stay super firm and I'm excited to see how the gospel will continue to change her life.  There were lots of other cool things that have happened this week. We saw some awesome things happen, people that may not end up making the choice to be baptized, but were nonetheless affected by our messages. Here are 2. 1- So we are teaching 2 people on the same street. They practically are neighbors. And one of them told us that the other one had out of no where decided to stop drinking cause she realized the bad it was doing for her body. I felt so proud in that moment knowing that she had made changes in her life that will help her be more in touch with the spirit.  2- One night we were knocking door...

I loved this quote from President Nelson during general conference this weekend. It really shows how important it is to not procrastinate our repentance and shows that truly today is the day we need to execute our labors here on earth. Its one of the things I have grown to have such a strong testimony of during the mission.  I'd like to share some of my favorite parts and quotes with you guys. - I love when Becky Craven asked us how are we "marking ourselves" to show that we are disciples of JC. How will people know through the way we live who we are? - Neil L. Anderson quoted 6:68 when Simon Peter said "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." What else could we put in front of the Lord if he has the recipe for us to return back to our heavenly home? - Sharon Eubank said "No, it isn't logical, but nevertheless, its true." talking about the Lords atonement. I loved that because sometimes its so hard to understand how tru...

Sorry for not writing last week! Its been two eventful weeks so ill try to get everything in here.  First of all, some great news! This week we were able to bring 8 people to church. We brought Paula and Cristiano who are a couple who are super interested in the church. Paula had already been 2 times, but she brought her "husband" this week and it was so great. They arent married actually (just live together for 17 years), but we will work on this with them. Paula has already received her answer! We had a great experience with her this saturday at a baptism the sisters had in our ward. She had tons of studying to do, but decided to go anyway. The spirit was very very well present in the baptism. An irmã gave a message before the baptism that could be perfectly applied in Paula's life. Then afterwards, me and my comp and the two sisters sang that primary song "i like to look for rainbows, whenever there is rain..." (When I am Baptized). Paula was teary eyed i...

In our ward there is us 2 and also another companionship of sisters, and this week we decided we would all stand in front of the chapel (its on a pretty main road) and literally invite EVERYONE who walked by to enter in and see how the church is. Almost everyone here in Brazil has heard of our church along with many crazy things they think that we do, so we knew if we could people inside the chapel to see how beautiful and Christ centered it is, they would have a better idea of it all. It actually went way better than I thought. We were able to do tours with lots of people. The sisters were even able to mark a baptismal date. We met some great people who are interested in getting to know the church a little better.  We also went to the church headquarters here in São Paulo for a day for a training with a financial analyst from the church. It was way cool and we were right next to the temple and the new visitors center. And of course, we ate really well at the bbq place next to ...

This week we definitely had some ups and downs. We had lots of struggles with our recent investigators which made the week a little tough. It was hard not to feel a little down, but we are always blessed with high points when we continue to trust in the Lord in these hard times. One of those high points was last night. We went to try out a new area and kind of just knocked doors the majority of the night. But the result was actually amazing. We ended up marking like 9 return visits just from one street! We found a lot of interesting people who were really interested in hearing about the restored gospel.  The other high point has been getting to know Luis. Luis is the dad of a recent convert here in our ward. His son is actually an amazing story who was taught by missionaries in the US actually, then returned home, was baptized here, and went back to study at BYU Idaho already. He is a stud from what I've heard. His dad has always accompanied him to church and has grown his own ...