Bishop, Thatcher PT

Hello Everyone! This week has been super weird because Elders Roque and Tafisi had to go to Luanda for MLC, so I ended up with Elder Tafisi's companion for most of the week. That was interesting but here's the real kicker, his companion was a brand new greenie. First transfer in Angola and only one transfer in Brazil. It was a bit rocky sometimes but we ended up having some great lessons and I got some training experience, so pretty great all around. We had the opportunity to baptize the Mateus family on Saturday and it was super amazing! We've been working with them for a while and after the first lesson, they started expressing a desire to be baptized! They were learning the lessons so well, we wanted to take our time teaching them and answering all their questions. They are super strong in their faith and I'm so happy that we could help them to this point. Our Saturday baptisms were also especially fun because I got to baptize them on my birthday! Which is also my Ba...

Hello Everyone! This week was really interesting because an elder in a nearby area was sent to Mozambique a few days early, so for the last five days, I've been in a trio taking care of two areas. Two areas that had a bunch of baptisms planned and needed to be finalized, so we were running around São João and Santa Ira like crazy people. Good thing that the elder we joined had a car, because otherwise, I don't think we'd have been able to fit all the lessons in. Something odd I noticed this week as I've taught the Restoration a few times was how much I like teaching about Christ's ministry and the Great Apostasy. It's a bit of an odd combo, I know, but I really like these points. Christ's ministry is fairly obvious; I love to talk about Jesus! It is why I'm here after all. But I also like to talk about the organization of His church. We talk of His miracles, His teachings, His disciples and followers. It's just a great beginning to an understanding o...

Hello Everyone! This week, we found this amazing family! At first, we thought they were amazing because the parents were legally married (an almost impossible find here), but after coming to church a couple of times and receiving a couple of lessons, some members of the family mentioned wanting to get baptized! Without us inviting them to be yet! We are super pumped to keep teaching and preparing this family for baptism, and we know that they are super excited too! Half of our week was exchanged, and it was really great to teach and learn with some other missionaries. Watching other people teach helps me find gaps in how I teach or new ways of explaining things to help people understand. It's amazing how much we learn from the companions in our lives, and that means it's super important that we have the Spirit as our companion! We can learn how to better direct our lives and live with the will of God as we learn from spiritual moments in our lives, not just experience them! We ...