Pedi, e recebereis; batei, e ser-vos-á aberto

In all of the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we find a scripture that says
 Ask, and ye shall receive Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

 In this last blog entry, though I have many miracles of the week to tell, I would like to simply bear my testimony that this scripture is true.

   When I came to the mission, I knew it would help me, I would help others, and my testimony would be strengthened. But I really had no idea of the depth of any of this.

   When I came to the mission, I was knocking. Throughout my mission, the Savior kept His promise and opened. The mission opened my eyes. Before, I knew the Gospel was true and would help people. Now, through my day-to-day contact with the worldliness of the world, I see that it is in a desperately sick state. Lives are being literally destroyed by alcohol, drugs, and fellow humans. Babies are being created thoughtlessly and abandoned desperately. Marriages are ending. Children are killing their parents, and parents their children. The world is sick, and we missionaries and members of the church have the only cure. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer, and through Him there is always hope.

  The mission opened my mouth. Perhaps my biggest fear, before deciding on a mission, was of talking to strangers about the church. I never even dreamed that I would learn to approach a complete stranger, call him to repentance, and challenge him on the spot to be baptized. Much less in a foreign language. It was never my nature to talk to strangers, or even my friends, about the church. But on the mission I learned that my comfort is not important compared to the salvation of a soul. When I open my mouth, God fills it.

 The mission also opened my ears -- my spiritual ears. I learned that the Lord truly can guide our every step -- in fact, He wants to -- but we have to show Him that we are willing to be completely obedient to what He asks us to do. God will never give us guidance until He sees that we will act on it. On the mission I learned to trust in the still, small Voice.

Finally, the mission opened my hard heart. Like soil that needs to be broken in order for a seed to take root, my heart needed to be broken in order for the Savior to work inside me. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma teaches us that there are some who need to be compelled to be humble. I was one of these. I am so grateful for the many hard things the Lord pushed me against in order to break me. I know that humility is the gateway virtue, and, as Elder Richard G. Scott once said, the "essence to righteous character."

 I will continue working the rest of my life to grow more and more humble each day. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly the kingdom of God on the earth today. Joseph Smith was God's chosen prophet to restore the keys of the Holy Priesthood of God, the only power through which families can be together forever.

    I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and that ANY person who truly wants to know of its veracity can read, pray, and receive a divine answer. This Book is the most powerful tool of missionary work. I hope that all of us can work hard each day to not only go back home one day to live with God, but that, miraculously, we can feel at home there. I pray that all of can work hard to bring about the salvation of our families and friends and communities, and at the same time rescue our own souls. I'm grateful for the mission.

When I knocked on this door, the Savior opened up to me....and opened me. I know He lives. This is my testimony and my prayer that I leave with my love and gratitude in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Truth Can Make Us Free

One more power week in Abrantes, Bahia, Brazil!

This week we really did talk with EVERYONE on the street. It was invigorating.

On Thursday, we stopped by a group of young men who were sitting outside a tire-car-fix-place. As we always do, we invited them to church. "We'll see, maybe," the more outspoken man said with a smirk. "We generally start drinking on Saturday afternoon, so I don't know how things will be Sunday." 

"Can I ask you all a question?" I said to the little band. "Have any of you heard of the term 'agency'?" A couple of them had. "Pois é," I said, "It's a precious gift from God." They all nodded in agreement. "However," I pressed on, "When you drink, or use other bad substances, you are giving away your agency. How you do you feel when, the day after a party, you hardly remember what you did?" 

They all laughed a little, looking back on bad or embarrassing memories, and all agreed that it wasn't a good thing. The outspoken one volunteered, "Yeah, well it'd be easier if I was linked with some religion." It was the perfect transition for us to talk about the power of the Atonement and the blessings of baptism. We invited them all to be baptized on the spot. 

This week we saw, as always, many examples of the horrible consequenses (sp? "consequências" in Portuguese) of breaking the Word of Wisdom. Sunday afternoon, however, was too much for me. One of our sweet investigators, a young mother, we found stretched out on the grass of the public park, solidly drunk and unwakeable. This, among several other encounters with drugged, drunk, and horribly addicted people that day, was the last straw. I broke down and had to sit and sob for a couple minutes, overwhelmed with the sadness of so much "death and destruction among men" (Alma 28:14). 

But there is hope. The Gospel of Jesus Christ offers a way out. I know that ANYONE who decides to put their faith completely in Christ, who fasts and prays for strength, can overcome their addictions, experience a mighty change of heart, and begin a new life. Their joy can be as sweet as their suffering was bitter.

I love the Lord and I am so grateful for the transforming, enabling, redeeming power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That all of us never forget His power, nor what He can do with our life is we give it up to Him, is my prayer.

Sister Petty

In Which I Arrange Marriages, Challenge Strangers to Baptism, Teach a Latvian Atheist, [She meant agnostic] and Learn About Attitudes (October 9)

Actually, the marriage arrangements and baptism challenges are normal. The Latvian Atheist, [agnostic]not so much. I'm loving Abrantes. I'm loving my patient, sweet Tongan companion. I'm loving the mission. I'm loving my life. I'm loving how much the mission is changing my life.

A sweet, humble couple we met through a street contact now has a paper hanging on a nail on their wall: "Meta: CASAMENTO, 26/10/2012, e meta: BATISMO, 27/10/2012." Woohoo! They are excited to work together toward marriage and baptism. They have five beautiful children. I'm excited for them. Has anyone heard of Latvia? It's a little country close to Finland. They speak Latvian and English there. Yesterday, we taught a young Latvian exchange student who has been coming to church with a member family here in Abrantes, and it was a very neat experience. It was the first time I've taught the Restoration in English. I exaggerated in the title, she's not actually athiest -- she just doesn't affirm the existence or non-existence of God. It was poignant to be able to testify to her of the existence of God, and that if she read and prayed about the Book of Mormon, and got an answer, she would know that He does exists and that He loves her.

 I love being a missionary. If we worry about things, we will find lots to worry about...and we will live miserably stressed. But if we look ALWAYS for the miracles in life, we will find lots of miracles...and we will live blessedly happy. Then, God will trust us with even more miracles. The Church is true.

Youth -- go on missions.
Sister Petty

Cliché lines are cliché for a reason

"The best two years."

 "You'll work like you've never worked."

 "I learned so much. I became a new person."

 "The hardest thing you'll ever do. The best thing you'll ever do."

 "I truly gained a testimony."

 "Now I'm starting to understand what the Atonement of Jesus Christ was."

 "This will change your life."

 "Amazing."

 "Just go."

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hear these lines so much that they've almost lost meaning. We hear them from people getting home from missions, from people encouraging us to go, from people trying to describe what is was like. Wow, missions must be great, we say.

Well, I'm here to tell "all ya'll" that missions ARE great. Every one of these phrases is cliché for a reason: they're all powerfully, deeply, and personally true. But to really understand, you just have to go. As my dear friend Lydia told me once, "There's a huge club in the church that no one except the members know about, nor could ever understand what being a member means. It's called the Returned Missionary Club." My desire to be a part of this club, to understand WHY everyone says "My mission was the best two years / eighteen months of my life," pushed me into deciding to go myself.

I don't have words to describe what it's been like, what I've learned, or what I've become.

 If you want to know...go.

Pictures (:

Living with a Tongan, tears on the street, and the power of desire

Living with my new companion, Sister Kalamafoni, has been an adventure. Her parents are from Tonga, and though she was born in Oregan her family speaks Tongan at home. Her English is perfect, but she tells me Tongan is still much easier for her to speak/understand. She's calm, extremely patient with my wildness, and powerful in her simple testimony. I'm proud to say that we didn't speak one word of English until our fourth day together! Then we decided we could speak English at night, after daily planning. :-) This is only my second American companion on the mission, so I still am a little weirded out with the whole English-speaking thing.

This week was intense. Three experiences that stuck out: In a street contact-turned-lesson, a faithful young woman told us of her mother's recent death, and of all that she had learned from her mother about God. For the first time in a LONG time, I cried in front of an investigator -- thankful that it had gotten dark during the conversation. As she talked, though it was the first time we had met her, I could already imagine myself coming back to Brazil and seeing her be sealed to her deceased parents.

I learned about the power of desire this Sunday morning when a struggling family with five children stuck to their decision to go to church, even though they were without water. We helped and watched as they carted buckets and buckets of water from the neighbor to bathe everyone and go.

The church is true! I love Brazil! No time!

Alma 26:29

"And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their [churches] and their [bars] and taught them..."

This week, as all weeks are for miracle-watchers, was full of them.

BAPTISM! A young worldly youth of 16 years went to church for the first time last Sunday with his recently-baptized friend, read and prayed about the Book of Mormon, and felt that it was true. After this simple but powerful answer from God, he was willing to accept all the commandments of God, repent of his sins, and be baptized by one who holds the Priesthood of God (his friend).

The Book of Mormon is the missionary's greatest tool in teaching and conversion, wisest friend in time of need, and most powerful weapon against the enemy.

This week, we taught a young man inside his church (this isn't actually recommended...but he lives in the church. He invited us in). We were also summoned to talk to the pastor of another denomination in his office -- we're teaching and baptizing some of his members. Fortunately he didn't want to bash Bibles, he just wanted to make friends. We used several scriptures from the Book of Mormon in our relaxed discussion with him, and he was very impressed. He asked for a signed copy.

Another day this week, we were passing a little open bar (probably the only things here that are more frequent than churches are bars. But I'm still not sure who wins) when a well-dressed man called us from inside. Usually we would NEVER stop when a man calls from a bar, but this time was different: "Excuse me," he asked politely, "is that book a Bible, or another book?" He was asking about the Book of Mormon -- this month President Hart asked us to walk with the Book in hand. We stopped and gave a super-quick summary of what the Book of Mormon was. "How much are you asking for it? I love to read," he said, pulling out his wallet. NO! we said. It's free. Learning that he lived in the neighboring city, we told him we'd pass his name and number to the missionaries there, and they would give him a Book of Mormon. "But...is there any way I could get one now?" he said. We were touched by his earnest desire. We knew he was feeling something different about us and about our message, and the importance of the ancient record we held in our hands. We handed him a copy, bore our testimonies, and challenged him to be baptized on the 29th of September if he felt from God that it was true.

He accepted.

The Church is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and everyone needs to know it.

TRANSFERS -- I have a new companion, Sister Kalamafoni!! Her parents are from Tonga! I love Abrantes! I will work like never before this transfer, I love the mission!

Sister Petty