Oí mãe e pai,

As Elder Pinheiro and I were studying this week we became overwhelmingly impressed with the example of Nephi and of his faith in the Lord.
´´ And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto them that they should murmur no more against their father; neither should they withhold their labor from me, for God had commanded me that I should build a ship.
And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.
And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?`` (1 Nephi 17: 49-51)
Recently President Tanner raised the standard pf excellence to 2 BAPTISMS PER WEEK. Everyone in the zone and I would say in the mission was a little overwhelmed with the new standard and well as the other new standards. This week was not the best one in our zone and Elder Pinheiro and I were praying and pondering about what we could do to help the zone. We remembered Nephi.
The lord commanded Nephi to build a boat. He had never built a boat. Not only had he never built a boat, but he had never navigated one, let alone navigate across what appeared to be and endless sea of water that nobody had ever crossed. But Nephi doubted not, he knew that if the Lord asked it of him that the Lord would provide a way.
His brothers, whom he loved, doubted Nephi ´´Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship; yea, and he also thinketh that he can cross these great waters.`` They had the eyes of the natural man and saw only what was before them, they let the facts of the present rob their faith, they did not believe that God guided Nephi, they thought he was crazy. But Nephi doubted not, he continued diligently.
I thought about how this story is so much like the new standard that president gave us. It is challenging, but if the Lord through his chosen servant commanded us to baptize two people a week, then we can do it. It is just a question of our faith. We watched a video at our district meeting on Tuesday about Nephi and the boat and we bore our testimonies to the missionaries that if God asked for two baptisms per week than we can give him two per week.
We are feeling good and we are excited to baptize two a week, I know it is possible or President Tanner would not have given us the standard.
I love you and I hope you study and search the scriptures everyday. I have learned to love the scriptures, to draw strangth from them. They give me more faith in Christ. They give me more love of God. They give me more virtue and they help me remember who I really am and why I am here on this earth. ´´Remember who you are!`` is Dad´s catch phrase, but I needed to find out who I was first. Now I know who I truly am and my real purpose on earth. This comes from scripture study.
abraço. Elder Nothum

Today was good p-day. We went out to a beautiful house in the middle of the forest, there was a huge lake surrounded by giant trees and next to the lake a huge soccer field with a goal on each side.
We started out with the whole zone playing a game of soccer in the hot sun and then we ate a whole bunch of pasta. After soccer me and three other elders decided to go fishing. It was Elder Leguizamón (from Argentina), Elder Teles (Brazilian), Elder Sean (Indianapolis), and me. The fishing rods were sticks with lines and hooks and the only bait we had was super cheap Brazilian lunch meat. We went 30 minutes without a nibble and then we decided that the pieces of lunch meat were too big. We put smaller pieces on the hooks and managed to catch two fishes. Each one measuring in at an astounding two and three inches. It was relaxing to just sit in the shade of a tree and go fishing with a few good friends.
On the bus ride home to downtown Jundiaí Elder Sean and I started talking about our lives and some of the plans we had for after the mission. He mentioned that he was going into film. He was the first missionary I met that had the same dream/desire that I had. Even though I had basically given up on directing films the thought popped back into my mind, I think we would make a good duo Elder Sean and I, we could keep our standards and make great and inspiring films. I just need to convince him to go to BYU.
This week was a faith tester in the area. We worked our brains out and once again everything fell through and nobody went to church. I was feeling a little down and I mentioned my feelings to my Heavenly Father and I felt much better and I felt a reassurance that he was preparing something for us. After Sacrament Meeting Irmão Sandro Aranha came over to us and asked us if we had plans for that afternoon. We responded no.
He told us that his brother-in-law was moving and that they needed help to make the move. We decided to go. We went and helped them load everything into the truck and then afterwards we helped the unload everything into the new house. They were very thankful for our service and they invited to go to them home the next night. The father of the family is Rubins, he is an inactive member who was baptized a long time ago when he was young and fell away because he didn´t like the church lifestyle and didn´t like the ´´restriction`` of the commandments, but he never let go of his belief that the Mormon people were a good, loving, true people. His wife is Ketlin, and he has two daughters: Rita and Michelle. The mother and daughters are not members.
Ketlin expressed to us that their family was passing hard times. Lots of fights at home and a big lack of love and unity. We taught her and her daughters the restoration and the mom cried when we invited her to baptized. The next day we taught about faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. The mothe and three daughters accepted baptism for the 31st of this month and they are very excited to receive the blessings that come from following the Savior.
When we are at the end of the rope the Lord always prepares a way to deliver us, if we do our part.
I love this work and I some happy that I have this honor to grow through this service, they is no place I would rather be.

Abraço.
Elder Nothum

Hey family,

   I have learned a lot of great lessons this week. The main one being humility. 

     For a while Elder Pinheiro has been pushing us to raise our goals and teach 10 lessons a day and do 20 contacts a day. I was kind of giving him a ´´I have more time in the mission and I know how to work effectively´´ vibe when he brought this up. He also just seemed kind of down. He then brought up the subject again this last week.

     He started out by saying ´´I want to teach more, I want to give more, I want to.... I....I.....I`` 

  I said if we are going to set a goal it needs to be something we discuss and that we decide together. So he expressed his points and I made mine and I started to humble myself to see that everything that he was saying was right, he had the perfect vision of missionary work. So we were off with our new goals, 10 lessons and 20 contacts everyday.

   I put it to the test yesterday and the result was amazing. I was with Elder Suertagaray from our zone and we got the goals and had an amazing day. In one day we taught 11 lessons, marked 7 baptisms, and found 17 new investigators.  Elder Godoy from the Seventy visited our mission last week and I was really touched and impressed with his remarks. 

   He mentioned his conversion. He said that he was a shaggy haired punk looking kid who looked like he would never have any interest in the gospel. After being baptized he went in-active because nobody in the ward talked to him or tried to be his friend. He had a strong testimony, but felt like an outcast at church so he stopped going. I hope that never happens in a ward where I go. Elder Godoy said that you can never judge anyone by their looks to decide if they will accept or not, but that we must talk with all. I gained a testimony of this yesterday.

    Yesterday, Elder Suertagaray and I were walking to an appointment when I saw two rough looking guys. They had big coats on with fur around the hood and had a peircing in his chin. They both had mean looks on and they just looked sketcy. Due to their looks I almost didn´t talk to them, then I remembered what Elder Godoy said and I went for it.

   I told them that we were missionaries and that we had a message about Heavenly Father´s plan for our families and that it would bring them peace.

  One of them looked at me and said ´´Peace is the one thing I need more than anything right now. My father died this morning and we are going to the viewing here in a little bit.´´ We went to his home and taught him, his wife, his cousin, and his sister about the plan of salvation and about how through the savior they could feel peace and comfort in this moment. We read Isaiah 53:4 and they were all in tears, they all accepted another visit and we will go there on Thursday. 

    To think I could have missed that great opportunity to comfort those in need of comfort is unbearable.

  I can really say that we are working hard now and I can´t wait to teach all of these wonderful people we found. Elder Pinheiro is a great missionary and he is teaching me a lot.

 

    Abraço Forte,

                     Elder Nothum