A Sweet Experience

Hi my family!

So, my companion is CHILEAN, he is from Concepcion, Chile. He is brand new on the mission from the Missionary Training Center in São Paulo, Brazil. Luckily his Portuguese is pretty good already. He can already speak well, definitely a lot better than me when I got here. So, I picked him up last Wednesday in Recife, and I brought him back to Goiana with Elder McFadden and his new companion. Elder McFadden is training a missionary from Peru and is District Leader here in Goiana. So we are super excited to get things going!

The first week of training was pretty crazy, a little stressful because I have never trained before, but there is a first time for everything! Yesterday was the highlight of the week. We went to a member’s house, and his wife is a member of another church. We brought some other members with us. It was a sweet experience. The wife started asking questions about our Church, and the member we brought just started bearing powerful testimony and answering her questions so well. It really made a difference because she saw that Mormons are normal people, and that we are happy! I was shocked to hear some of the doubts and rumors she had heard about our Church. With every doubt that was cleared, the more light and understanding she got, and the more interested she got by the minute! Then I shared my testimony and a scripture about the Atonement from the Book of Mormon, and afterwards she asked how I learned to speak so fast, and the member that was with us just lit up and said, this is the true gift of tongues, and bore his testimony about the Spirit. It was just an incredible experience to see her asking more and more, and the member just loving it! So, that was a great part of the week.

I am so excited to see the vision Heavenly Father has for His work. I love this opportunity! I feel like training is going to be kind of tough, but that’s I what I felt like when I first got here. Now I have another mountain to climb! I know I have the assistance of Heaven by my side. The key is to have the faith and the power to do it! No matter how difficult it seems, we will always be able to overcome. I love you all so much! Have a great week and keep up the great work!

Love,
Elder Hoyt