A Message From Elder Belo (Week 75)

Hi Everyone, 

All of us with Sister Stasevskas (Mission Pres. Wife)

Sorry for the late email. I actually didn't get my p-day until today (Wednesday), because I spent my whole actual p-day (Monday) on splits with the AP's. The AP's and I got to visit all my investigators and it was awesome. We got a lot done. My zone even got a training this week with the mission president. He wanted us to spend a day with him getting trained since we are so far away from him. 

Spiritual Experience:

We had a baptism! So his name is Vincios. I spoke about him last week in case you don't remember. We found him by a member named Fabio. He was baptized last Saturday. 

This week (on Monday) Vincios went to a good friend of his that always made fun of the church and gave her a pamphlet. The pamphlet was of the church. He told her "I know it is true, because I prayed...so you need to pray too!"

Vincios is also helping Nadie, who said she would read a pamphlet, but still hasn't done so. He said to her "You still haven't read!? You are never going to know the truth if you don't read. I read the fist pamphlet the first day!"

Vinicios is truly converted, he knows the truth! 

The Zone

People To Pray For:

pray for 

liza 

iryana 

dima 

diana 

mraivonal 

nadie 

Section Added By Amy:

Also, this was something Elder Belo (Kevin's companion) (picture below) said about the baptism they just had with Vincios. He wrote in more detail but also in Portuguese. You can use the translator at the top of this blog post to read it in your preferred language: 

Olá pessoal,

Elder Arevalo & Elder Belo

É com grande amor, que agradeço e sinto a orações de vocês. Gostaria de relatar uma história. Vinícius sofria de solidão, vivia dormindo, e dentro de seu quarto, nada fazia muito sentido em sua vida. Até que ele conhece o evangelho restaurado de Jesus Cristo, e realmente aprende sobre o seu verdadeiro propósito que é de ser feliz. Não foi fácil para ele saber disso. Mas eis que com fé, ele pede uma confirmação a Deus, para que respondesse se o que falávamos era verdade, através de um sonho com sua avó que amava-o tanto. Eis que Vinícius sonhou e teve sua resposta. Através da leitura diária do Livro de Mórmon, logo obteve um testemunho de sua veracidade. Após ter sido batizado ele disse "Estou palavras, mas estou feliz". Vinícius o primeiro degrau, e continua subindo, hoje, seu desejo é de compartilhar essa felicidade com outros a sua volta. Ele realmente passou a amar o Salvador Jesus Cristo. Como o Vinícius outras tantas pessoas, abrem seus corações para ouvirem a mensagem da salvação.

Amo este evangelho. Amo o Salvador, e sei que sua Igreja está nessa terra novamente.

Com amor,

E. Belo

A Dream (Week 74)

Hey Everyone,
For those of you who don't know I was in Belem for a little bit last week. It was pretty cool to see some elders I haven't seen in a while. We even got to see touristy sites, and overall...church yesterday went well. We had 4 new investigators with us. 

Spiritual Experience:

 
So there is this investigator named Vinicios. He wasn't getting his response. So his friend, that is a member, told him to make a deal with God. Vinicios decided to ask God for a dream that included his grandma in the dream as a response. That night he got a response and had a dream with his grandma. Now he is working to get over his addictions of coffee and I couldn't be happier for him.

There is also another investigator João. We are teaching João's sibling Taylor, and his mom knows a lot about the church and she knows it's true, but doesn't want to stop smoking. When Taylor said he wanted to be baptized the mom was very serious and said okay that's what you want. Then she yelled and called her son Joâo and said if Taylor is going to get baptized so will João. We laughed a little but we found a new investigator just by trying to help one person. So we are now going to try teaching João. 

Investigators to pray for:

• Vincios

• Ines

• luisa

• Luana

• João

• Camilia

• Irlan  

Until next week!
Love,
Elder Arevalo

Back to Belem (Week 73)

Hi Everyone, 

My week was really busy this week. We had 26 lessons total these past couple of days last week, and we are hoping some of these will lead to baptisms. 

Flying to Belem

Arriving in Belem with Elder Belo

I also am going back to Belem today around 1 pm. I will be flying on a plane and will be meeting with another zone leader and my mission president. I've only had one meeting with him like 4 months ago when I was with Elder Ferriera. He was just interviewing everyone, nothing big. He asked how I was doing and if my parents are going to look for me at the end of my mission. 

Investigators

Overall the members are great. The investigators are great. We have a possibility of a baptism this week and 2 the next week. I have found that when we focus on one thing and act with all our force we are blessed even when things seem impossible.

My comp and I worked a lot this week and we had some of the most spiritual lessons that I have ever experience in my entire mission so far. I can feel the spirit testifying of my words to Vinicos (investigator) when we where teaching him he felt the spirit really strong, 

That's all for this week. Thanks everyone for alway supporting me in every way! 

Love, 
Elder Arevalo 

Leadership council on the mission