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