11 Aug 2014 Happy Fathers Day

Man he´s Awesome! Can´t wait till we get back and room together! 

HHHHHAAAAAPPPPPYYYY FATHER`S DAY!!!!

it´s father´s day here, but I think it´s the same...

I love you dad,

Elder Padilla

Dear mom,

Geez!!

​Everybody is leaving! Holy cow! I can´t believe he got his call to México! Que legal! What?! Since when are they moving?

It´s gonna be sad in Virginia without them, but The great part IS that i´ll be in Idaho..closer to Utah..hint hint. Closer to everybody..cough cough..haha.

I´m so excited for him...We´ll see who´s tanner when we get back...haha.I think it´ll be really bad for us both when we get back because of the weather!!!

Anyways, This week was difficult, I Iost some of my enthusiasm during the beginning of the week, but we worked hard the last couple of days. We are living with two other missionaries right now and we´ve had some weird and scary stuff happening. We know the investigators of the others who was in her house and a black figure entered the house as if falling from the ceiling fast. This figure grabbed the investigator and so that she couldn´t see or speak. and then he left. The other elders went there and commanded that all the bad spirits leave with the arm to the square. It was legit. There were also some other weird stuff that happened in that house.

 Yesterday, Elder Claro told us about a gift he has. This is a very special spiritual gift which he has. I won´t say exactly what it is, but he told us about an experience which made him cry because of the power of this gift. He bore testimony of what happened so strongly that i knew what he said must be true. He told us, but it´s so spiritually sacred that I can´t describe it. All I can say is I don´t doubt that Jesus Christ was resurrected. I know that He lives and Loves each one of us so tenderly. The spirit was so strong I couldn´t hold back tears. I was filled with the spirit so much that physical weaknesses, such as hunger and thirst, were temporarily taken away. I read a talk on The Atonement of Jesus Christ by David A. Bednar and It taught that the Atonement of Christ wasn´t just to take away our sins, but to strengthen us in our weaknesses.  I know this church is true. I know Jesus Christ is our loving savior and went through everything so that he could lead us through our afflictions. 

I love you all,

Elder Padilla

18 Aug 2014- The Spirit and Coca-cola

Dear mom,

Yeah Dad´s probably not AS tired though as when we went "Across the Country in 32 & 1/2 hours!" boa sorte! That´s funny that everybody is liking it.That´ll be sweet when the KIRK-ster gets let loose on the streets!

 I found out that I have more "scorpions" in this area than expected. I had an investigator, grown man, make a kissy face everytime he shook my hand....vish!!! This week was better. We had interviews with the President this past week and I don´t know what it is, but the spirit is so strong with him that I always cry with a personal interview with him! But there are really only two things which have made me cry on the mission... The spirit and Coca-cola. The way we drink it, your throat will burn intensely until you´re forced to cry. so gooooood!   But I went on a division with my DL and my investigators all liked him..maybe even more than my  comp..hahaha..but yeah we went to "centro" to start a marriage process for our investigators and we saw the beach ...It was like 35 meters away! ...so close, yet so far...haha! I got a sweet hammock and every other night I like to sleep in it! But everything´s going! Have a great "trip"! see ya not this one ,but at the end of next "fall"..hahaha :)

Grande Abraço,

Com amor,

Elder Padilla

25 Aug 14 GOOOOOAAALLLLL!!

Dear mom,

That sounds like a blast!! I can´t wait to come back and chill with all them kids! I´m so psyched for everyone! I can´t wait to see pictures of Jessie´s baby! Yeah... how old are those girls now? hahaha..Man! josh got his G´s!! In the hot, I prefer spandex because it doesn´t chafe. But I like a top  made of dry-lux..because I´m already used to that feel from white undershirts. 

Mesh isn´t horrible. 

Yeah so I had some disheartening experiences this week. We knocked on some doors and the first one was a guy who thought that every american was a communist. He said, " you´re an american and I hate you!" (translation by yours truly). So ...yeah we left that house without another worry of helping him come unto Christ. And then our baptism fell through...We taught him everything and then in the interview he said he drinks coffee, but didn´t bother to tell us. Had my hope crushed..but I think he´ll be baptized next week.

So Elder Alves de Souza, another elder, gave the funniest message the other day to a member!! So he likes to burn people with the bible because so many people use the bible in their own interpretation of what it means..and he´s really good at it. He asks the member if she wants to hear the "word" or the "truth"..and she asks what he means. He says the bible is the "word" but the Book of Mormon is the "Truth"!! Gosh! I could stop laughing!

And then we were in a small restaurant and a man was watching a game when his team scored. He nearly fell out of his chair and then ran out yelling, "GOOOOAAALLLL!!"  It was soo funny!

Yeah So Jefferey R Holland has got to be one of my favorite apostles...AH Man!! I found out why Jesus Probably called James and John "sons of thunder"!.. it says this in Jesus, The Chrsit..one time Jesus was rejected hospitality by someone and James and John want to call fire from the heavens down upon his house!!!Dang I love the scriptures!!

Love you all!!

Elder Padilla

4 Aug 2014- Blonde?????

Dear Mom, 

That´s way sweet! I can´t believe that Kirk got to help out and Josh too! Yeah, I think that Luke and I are just in it for the totally unreal glory! Or braggers rights...one of those haha..Half of the Elders sleep in hammocks and the others beds...it´s really just preference, unless there´s 6 Elders in a house..then it gets a bit crazy. I´ve already slept in a hammock for like a week straight...it wasn´t bad...I rocked myself to sleep like a baby! :)  but, it´s not that hard to pass out after walking and sweating all day. Yeah so Brazilians don´t like vegetables...they like chocolate. CHOCOLATE. 

Oh, but my comp and I were bringing a bunch of people to the church yesterday so we missed the sacrament. We got home and we asked for permission  to do it just for us from the Bishop. The only thing was we were out of water and the other elders had a little bit of juice in the fridge, so I got to bless the juice for the sacrament yesterday! haha totally sweet!

We usually have to do lunch by ourselves on P-day, but we scored big time because our investigators wanted us to come over for lunch. We had steak, chicken and fish! Love this area! Oh yeah and we were talking with our investigators until about 9:25 pm one night and I said we needed to go. We ran back home none stop and slid (literally) through the door, on the floor, as the time hit 9:30 pm on the cellphone. Mission accomplished! I was drenched in my sweat. 

But until next time,

Love you all,

Elder Padilla

P.S.- Isaiah 28:8 ;D

Iguana hanging out...

Brazilians don´t like vegetables...they like chocolate. CHOCOLATE.

. I think my hair is turning really blond...