Nov 27, 2013 Scripture Study is the Best Thing Ever

Oi todos!

Como estão? Me manda emails eu gosto escutando sobre suas vidas! (send me emails i like hearing about your lives). Well today is pretty awesome because it is TEMPLE DAY!! Our P-Day was moved to Wednesday this week because of that, so I get to go to Recife today and do some sight-seeing, shopping and hang with other awesome Elders. The best part about going into the city today is that we get to visit he Temple here. I just love going to the Temple, the spirit there is so strong. I know it is the House of the Lord. 

Well, nothing really huge happened this past week. The work is moving forward and more people are learning about the message of the Restoration. This makes me super excited. The crazy part is that our area is huge and has hills everywhere. The city of Cavaleiro is pretty much San Francisco in how the roads are super steep. picture that, and then realize that I walk that every single day. Não legal (not cool).

One thing I did learn a lot about was how much I just love studying the scriptures! Everytime I read I just learn so much. The words of the prophets in the Bible and Book of Mormon truly can enlighten the soul, because they are the words of God! /he is our loving Father and he has given those words for us to learn about him and his great Eternal Plan. The scriptures are the window for personal revelation. Whenever I have a question pressing on my mind, and i study the scriptures prayerfully about those things, i always receive answers and direction from my Heavenly Father. If you have developed a habit of daily scripture study, kudos! Keep it up and I promise blessings will come as well as answers to your personal questions. If you have yet to develop the habit or have slacked off, start today! I promise that the moment you start, if you do so with faith, you will begin to receive personal revelation.

Well everyone I have to head out, its time to go to the TEMPLE!

Tchau tchau!

Elder Dimmick

Nov 18, 2013 Being an Instrument in the Hands of God

Olá todo mundo!

Goodness its great to be able to write to you all once again. I love having this time to send this big email to all of you and let you all know of the wonderful experiences I am having. I know that this is the work of God and I feel honored to be a part of such a work. 

This past week was tough, but there was a pretty rewarding experience that I wanted to tell you all about. So my companion and I have been struggling to get people to keep commitments and come to church. During our planning session on Friday, we decided that we needed to have a special fast for the people we were teaching that they would develop the desire to come to church and have the spirit touch their hearts so they would want to be baptized. When we started the fast an amazing this happened. We went to go see an investigator who we had only seen once before and who we had struggled to see again. Her name is Rosemary. As we taught her the Restoration the spirit was so strong and the lesson was powerful. Towards the end, she said something I will never forget. Even in Portuguese, I could make out that she said that she knew this was the path that God had intended for her. She then told us that her life is a wreck right now, everything that could go wrong is for this woman, and she decided that she needed to pray for help. She said, in effect, God, please send me help. Not a moment later she said, we knocked on her door, and she said the whole time we were there she felt closer to God than ever and a feeling she wanted to have with her always. We then bore testimony of the truthfulness of our message, and challenged her to baptized, and she accepted. If all goes well, she will be baptized the first weekend of December. 

There is also more to this story. Sunday came along, and as we were continuing to fast a miracle occurred. 4 investigators came to church with us! They came and stayed the whole time, and have all accepted to learn more. one even wants to be baptized as well. None of this would have happened without faith in the power of fasting. The powers of heaven are literally accessed when fasting occurs. Whenever we fast, acting in faith, and stud the words of the prophets in the scriptures and seek out the will of God, answers o prayer are received and divine help is given. IT is an act of humility to fast, but doing so with a willing heart and mind will bring blessings, this I know and bear testimony to. 

As always, I know that this work true, because Christ stands at the head of it. Already I have seen lives begin to change because of this gospel, and it reinforces my testimony that it is true and that God lives and is literally our father.

Keep on keepin on everyone! I love you all!

Tchau tchau!

Elder Dimmick

Nov 11, 2013 Fear Not What Man Can Do

Hallo tudo de meu amigos e familia, 

So for starters, my apologies for not having a bigger message home last week. I lost track of time with other emails and reading the mission journal, but I took extra time out of my already short opportunity to tell you guys of the mish in Brazil. 

I'll start by saying, we had our first baptism last week here in Brazil, and i had the opportunity to perform the baptism. What an experience. His name is Guilherme and he is 11 years old, and already is growing fast in the gospel. As I raised my arm to the square and said the words, Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, even though in another language when I did, I felt inside me an assurance that I truly had been called of God and a verification inside my soul that the priesthood authority that I hold comes directly from the Savior of the World and not from any other means. 

Well now about Brazil. The people here are seriously the most carefree people that exist on this planet. As someone from a completely different culture, first glace makes it seem like everyone here is just oblivious to everything. Nope, they just realize that we are all human doing human things. They know when to be serious and when you don't need to be serious just kick back, relax and live life. This is completely opposite of me, because everyone who knows me knows that I'm all about taking things seriously and not messing around. For example, yesterday being Sunday my companion and I came home from a great time at Church. I felt spiritually rejuvenated, and sat down to stud the scriptures. Well it just so happens that directly across from our casa is a DJ, and Brazilians love American music. So in the middle of me studying the scriptures the song Sexy and I Know It starts playing super loud. Yea, I'm not sure that song is the most appropriate song to hear when reading the scriptures.

So pretty much everyday, as I have said before, we walk...and walk... and walk. when we don't walk we take the bus, and that is ALWAYS an adventure. Pretty much taking the bus here is like riding on the Night Bus from Harry Potter. The drivers pay no heed to speed limits so we just fly through neighborhoods and take turns at who know how fast. Yes there are bus stops, but the buses only stop for pick ups if someone sticks out their hand, so you could like I said be going 60 kph and then the bus driver will slam on the brakes. Yet somehow in the midst of this being so crazy, the bus system is super efficient. 

So this past week we had a huge spiritual experience. Our area is very slow, the people here are very set in their ways and really don't like listening to us because they like where they are, the whole idea of complacency I saw in the US. On one particularly rough day, we had every appointment fall through. To make things worse, it was already dark, and in Brazil if you are not where you need to be, especially in the area where we are serving, things can get dangerous, or perigoso. As we were walking i saw what happened to be a family sitting outside of their door, and I felt impressed to go talk to them. I kept thinking, how? I barely know the language and I need to talk to these people, what can I even say to them. I decided to just do it, to open my mouth and speak, and that is exactly what happened. I opened my mouth and the words came to me. We had a powerful lesson about the Restoration and now a whole family is being taught about the Restored Gospel of Christ. What the Lord says about giving us in the very hour what to say is true! This applies to everything in our lives. If we just press forward with faith and don't have a fear of what others will do or say, God will strengthen us and allow for all things to become possible. A fear of God is not necessarily fearing his judgements, it is obeying his commandments with faith, because once we do he will immediately bless us. 

Well everyone, I have to get going. As always, I wish I could say everything, but time is short. Yet all the experiences I am having I know everyone can have and can feel of the same spirit in their lives. What do you need to do? Ask the missionaries. 

Tchau tchau!

Elder Dimmick

Nov 4, 2013 New Country, New Life, Same Gospel

Oi todo mundo!

Como vai meus amigos e familia?! Goodness once again it feels so great to write to all of you. I feel so close to you even though I am so far away. I don't think i have gotten over the initial shock of the fact that i am in another country at the moment. it just feels like Ive been doing this for a long time. 

So my time is not very great today, but I wanted to share a lesson that was learned this past week. I have learned, that no matter where you are in the world, the church is still true! Why? Because Christ is at the head of this church. We are all children of the same God who loves us more than we can ever come to comprehend. the spirit teaches us in the same language, because he always bears witness of truth. no matter what the language is, he will bear witness that the message of the restoration, and the Book of Mormon are true! At times our faith is tried, but don't let that shake you. Hold to the faith that you have and know that God loves and is mindful of you. 

next week Ill have more time to say more things, but until then, Até mais!

Tchau tchau! 

Elder Dimmick