Cumprirei

Oi,

Transfers are tomorrow and I am in a bittersweet state right now. Last Saturday we had a really cool charity activity here at the church. It was an event to donate church provided wheelchairs to handicapped people. It was a great reminder of the pricelessness of this life and the blessings the Lord grants to each and every one of us. I have been in this ward for over 5 months and have come to know and love so many people here. Yesterday the bishop invited me to share my testimony in sacrament meeting. Looking over the congregation, it was blissful to see all the familiar and all the new faces that have joined our ward recently. This morning, I was notified that I will leaving Ala Barreto tomorrow. I was hoping to stay at least one more transfer, it is so hard to leave all that is happening here. But I know I must go. I am excited to head off to a new area. Bangu (aparently to hottest area in the mission) will be a new adventure with new members, new contacts, new everything. I know this is an opportunity to stretch and grow as much I possibly can. This will certainly be a transfer of miracles!!

 

"Eu irei e cumprirei as ordens do Senhor, porque sei que o Senhor nunca dá ordens aos filhos dos homens sem antes preparar um caminho pelo qual suas ordens possam ser cumpridas." - 1 Néfi 3:7

 

Partiu

 

Élder Hamilton

Missionário de A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias

Ala Barreto - Missão Brasil Rio De Janeiro



 

Transfer

We received a quick email that Alex is transferring this week to the Bangu area of Rio de Janeiro.  Looking forward to details next week!

Depois da Prova Vêm As Bençãos

 Oi,

After many challenges and complications and mayhem and such, the Lord rewarded me, my companion, and the ward with a blessing: Mateus' baptism. He has attended the church a really long time but hasn't shown interest in being baptized until now. This week he made that great convenant: to follow Christ and do everything he needs to do to live with Him again someday. I am so grateful for Mateus and the example he has shown me by being willing to change to inherit eternal happiness with his family. The week ended with a really cool opportunity to bring the sacrament to a couple in our ward who are sick right now. Participating that intimate experience reminded me how significant and important our baptismal covenants are. As we come to the Lord humbly and become born again, the gates of Heaven are opened unto us. I am so grateful for my baptism and the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father while here on this earth. There is nothing more importante than to enjoy this mortal experience while preparing for the glorious day of our return.

 

Élder Hamilton

Missionário de A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias

Ala Barreto - Missão Brasil Rio De Janeiro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never Enough Time!

We received a brief email from Alex this morning that everything is well.  He planned to send a pictorial and must have run out of time before hitting the send key.  Something to look forward to next week!

Alvançar por Cristo

Oi pessoal,

 

For those of you who missed my email last week, sorry.  I took what I thought would be a short call from an investigator and didn't get back to the computer before my time expired. With the little time I have today, I will try and mix the email from this week and last week together... Vamo lá!

Well it's official, we have two sets of missionaries here in Ala Barreto!! Along with me and Elder Cassimiro, we now have Elder Le Sueur and Elder Klein. Both of them are from Texas, Le Sueur has over a year in the mission and Elder Klein just arrived in Brazil. They are awesome guys and are great missionaries. It's been a pretty crazy week getting everything settled in the area, moving houses, dividing the proselyting area and orienting the other missionaries with the area and work. It's been a bigger sacrifice for me than I thought it would be giving some of my favorite investigators and members to the other half. But all of this is so worth it.

 

Thursday (the week before) we had an activity here in our ward called "Capela Aberta" where all the missionaries came to our area, inviting everyone in the close neighborhoods for a tour in the church. It was a day full of miracles and we have found a great group of new investigators, even with baptismal dates!

 

This week we had zone conference. It was such a powerful meeting, and I walked out with many ways to improve my work and  efforts in the ward. The conference focused on personal revelation and making the most of the Lord's time. Between this conference and my experiences with investigators, I have learned a lot about free agency and the power of living in acordance with the will of God. For example, there is a young man here, about 14 years old that has been attending the church for a long time now. He lives with his aunt and cousin who are members (the cousin is active in the church and the aunt isn't), and he has  many friends in the church. In the past, he hasn't shown any interest at all in being baptized. But after some good lessons with him and powerful experiences with the book of Mormon, he will be baptized the coming month! It's awesome to see all the joy and change that is coming into his life because of the decisions he is making to live and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ!

It's incredible how quickly things are changing here for the better. Literally twice as many lessons are being taught here and there is so much excitement. It's a great blessing for me to be part of all of this. I love this work to much.


I've got to run.. Tchau!

 

Élder Hamilton

Missionário de A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias

Ala Barreto - Missão Brasil Rio De Janeiro



 

No official email from Alex this week, just a couple of answers to Michelle's questions

On Feb 17, 2014, at 7:34 AM, Alexander Hamilton <alexander.hamilton@myldsmail.net> wrote:
bom dia!

 

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On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 7:36 AM, Michelle Hamilton <michelledhamilton@yahoo.com> wrote:

Good morning. How are you doing?
How was the move?
Did you get everything into your new place okay?
Do you like your new apartment?
What is it like? Send pics.
Where are your new comps from?

Mom

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On Feb 17, 2014, at 7:47 AM, Alexander Hamilton <alexander.hamilton@myldsmail.net> wrote:

The move went fine. The house needs some work and the electrity and water are out right now, but it will be nice once everything is up and running. Both of the new missionaries are from Texas. One has been out for a little over a year and the other one just got into the mission.

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On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 7:49 AM, Michelle Hamilton <michelledhamilton@yahoo.com> wrote:

How do you like living with three other missionaries?
Are the other missionaries great?
Where are you showering at?
Is it miserable sleeping at night with no electricity?
Do you feel like the area is safer? 

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On Feb 17, 2014, at 8:02 AM, Alexander Hamilton <alexander.hamilton@myldsmail.net> wrote:

The lights and water just went out yesterday and should come back before we finish p-day. The foursome is pretty complicated right now, but its a great group of missionaries. It feels a little bit safer, but someone did get shot and killed Saturday in front of the supermarket close to our home :) 

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On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 8:09 AM, Michelle Hamilton <michelledhamilton@yahoo.com> wrote:

A bystander got killed or a drug dealer/gang member ? Yikes. :/
Can you give us the address so we can look it up?

Will it be a better location for proselytizing? 

How does your ward like it?

Did you get my email?  I just sent you a picture. Did you get it?

 

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On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 8:16 AM,  Alexander Hamilton <alexander.hamilton@myldsmail.net> wrote: 

 

I don´t know the house number. Its on Rua Pio Borges close to where that street changes into Rua Marchal Floriano Peixoto. I got the emails.

 

I sent Jack an email last week. Can you let him know that? 

 

Élder Hamilton

Missionário de A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias

Ala Barreto - Missão Brasil Rio De Janeiro

 

 

 

 

Não um batismo, mas muitos!

Oi!

Everything is going great with my new companion Elder Cassimiro. He is nothing short of "show de bola" (insanely great). He is from São Paulo and is 24 years old. He's been a member for about 6 years.  His mom who was baptized a couple years after him. He is the most positive person I know, it's awesome! Just when I thought I had that attribute down, I realized how much better I can be and am excited to learn from him and change. He is very devoted and we work well together.

During district meeting this week, we got a phone call from Assistant Elder Knotts. He told us that they have a new set of missionaries and will put them in our ward. It has been up to us to coordinate with the ward to split the proselyting area, find a new house to move in, and prepare to receive these missionaries by today! I can't even describe how happy I am about this new change. It's something that I've always thought would be good for our ward but never thought would actually happen. It's going to be hard to split my families in half, but I am so grateful for all the miracles that are happening here in Ala Barreto.

Tô vindo, tchau!

Élder Hamilton

Missionário de A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias

Ala Barreto - Missão Brasil Rio De Janeiro