Exact Obedience Brings Miracles.

This week our President of our mission challenged us to sacrifice something for the Lord for Christmas, which is Natal here, and my companion and I chose our own will. We left the house an exactly the right time, came come at exactly the right time, and tried to use our time most effectively at every opportunity. We saw an incredible increase of miracles that could only have been designed by Heavenly Father.

Right now we are working with three men who are progressing towards baptism soon. The first is Rafael who is developing a testimony so quickly I can hardly believe it. He's definitely an elect of the Lord's people here. We're also working with Amaral who is from Angola and before we met him he said he was sitting in his house thinking that he needed to better his life, especially with religion and his knowledge of God. Then we knocked his door looking for a contact who had moved away two years ago. He listened intently to our message about the Restoration of the Gospel of Christ and priesthood authority and his first question was "Am I allowed to come to church with you?" and his second question was "What do I need to do to be baptized?" Yeah. I know. Where in the world did he come from? haha. We're also working  with a guy named Ezequeil who we found the same way as Amaral. He's very friendly and wants to have a religion. He has two adorable dogs as well! 

My message for this week is John 3:16

 16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is a scripture that you guys have probably heard a hundred and seven times but I was thinking about sacrifice this week and how so many of us and the people here in Portugal say"Oh, Christ suffered for my sins, I love Christ. etc" but once we ask if they know why Christ chose to give his life for a bunch of sinners each person has to think a little bit. This week I studied about this and the answer I found is that he loves us. If he had to die and suffer just for you, just to help you alone return to the presence of God, he would bleed at every pore and be crucified all over again just because he loves YOU that much. He suffered so that he could stand by our side on the day of Judgement and say, "Father, I know that they have sinned and deserve to be punished but I'm willing to suffer for them. Please accept my sacrifice so that they can have eternal life." And then, because the laws of justice are satisfied, Heavenly Father will smile and say, "I am well pleased." Christ has already suffered and felt every pain and hardship that each one of us has felt and the price he has asked of us in exchange for relief and rest is that we believe in Him. That we believe Him. 

This Christmas, try to have More Christ. Sacrifice something for the man who sacrifice everything for you. There are some ideas on lds.org or mormon.org with a video that is called Light the World, or in Portuguese, Seja A Luz Ao Mundo.

Awkward moment when your investigator's door has been bricked over. "Gosh dang it, foiled again..."

This is probably the most demented looking statue ever. it looks like someone sat on his face....

Have a great week!

Sister Ellsworth
​

PS

Also one of the Elders in my district have me a riddle that i need help to answer... There are 3 men who stay at a hotel that costs $30 for one night. They pay in dollar coins, 30 coins. Each man pays $10. The owner of the hotel liked the three men so much that he gave 5 coins to a worker to give to the three men. The worker thought that he couldn't split 5 between 3 men so he pocketed two coins and gave each man $1. So each man paid $9. And the worker has $2. BUUUUUT $9 from each man is $27 and the worker has $2 which makes $29!!!! Where is the missing coin??