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