July 4, 2011 (First Letter)

Dear Family,

Thank you for the advice. Something that has shocked me is how young the church is here. There are members, and it is growing, but it is so young. A lot of the members don’t have strong testimonies and fall away often. A lot of people believe also that every religion is correct, that they all lead to God. This to me is the biggest challenge that they could have. Because we have several members in our ward that believe the church is true but so are all the others. I showed an investigator with this belief Ephesians 4:5 which states that there is one Lord, one faith and one baptism, but when someone’s mind is set upon its own traditions, it is hard to break through. We now have 4 investigators, a family of 3- Marcel, Bianca-and Mateus who is about 11 years old. Bianca is late teens and the mom is single and is pretty set in her own ways, but that just means it will take time, or the spirit will touch her sooner. I guess we just have to wait and see. The last one is Vito- he is a cool guy in his 50´s that was a referral from a sister in our ward. He has
a large family and I can see us going far with him. I am really excited about him.

We have a area book now, our area was split with the sisters and we took half of their book. So this is good news. Tracting-we have been tracting all over the place, but sometimes i feel like that is all we are doing… walking. My companion is awesome- love him.

As I said before, the Church is very young here. I remember what you said to me before I left and I believe this to be true. I was raised in the church watching responsible missionaries; I had the best examples in front of me every day. I believe I am partially here to, through example, show how things should be, this feels right to me and the spirit testifies of it. I am so grateful for the opportunity and know who the Lord calls, he qualifies. And most importantly, he will help along the way, it seems daunting right now, but then i remember my Savior, and that He knows what is happening here, He has experienced this and will bless us through the spirit, prayers, and diligence.  Sometimes we just need to take a step back and look at the big picture and see what needs to be done. We need to get in and out with the members, say hi, share a message, set up a family night with referrals, and leave, starting and ending with prayer of course. I am thinking about asking the Bishop if i could speak on missionary work and get some excitement in our ward. Thank you for all the ideas and reminders.

There are two Ipanemas in Brazil, the famous one in Rio de janeiro and one in Porto Alegre .

I love you and am so grateful for you, Dad and Mom in my life.  I still have your father’s day letter; we don’t have a post office in our area. In my blessing it says I have been blessed with you two so that i could learn from your examples. I see that more now than ever. Still loving the work and especially my personal study.

Love,

Elder Dawson