This week I have been thinking a lot about how God prepares people for the gospel. It is really amazing! This week we decided to follow up on some references–addresses of people in our area that ask for a Book of Mormon, or that meet missionaries in another city. We got everything ready and went to the bus station, only to discover that no buses were leaving for Ribeirão for several hours. So we went to a different city, and returned to the bus station another day to go to Ribeirão. We had two references there, so we walked around asking people if they knew either address. Everyone said, “You have a reference point? I don’t recognize these street names!” But finally we found some people who pointed us in the right direction for one of the references.
We clapped at the door [similar to ringing the doorbell in the U.S.] and then we waited, and waited, and called again, and waited, and finally someone opened the door (We’ll call him José, pronounced Jo-zay). José is a history professor who is super interested in American history and loves to read. He read about “Mormons” (nickname for members of our church) and was intrigued by our emphasis on education, families, dressing respectably, etc. A couple years ago he found a moth-eaten Book of Mormon on a friend’s book shelf, but couldn’t read much because of the damage. Then he ran into missionaries once or twice, but could only speak to them for about two minutes. Finally, he found a little more info online, and asked for someone to send him a Book of Mormon.
And then he waited for months (Someone did not contact their references quickly. Bad missionaries!). Finally we showed up on Wednesday afternoon, the only time he’s free the entire week. The rest of the week he’s either working or studying for his doctorate, so he is literally never home except for Wednesday afternoons. Usually he doesn’t answer the door, but this time he decided to see who it was. It was amazing — he is super knowledgeable about religion, but that does not get in the way of his spiritual abilities. We gave him a picture of Joseph Smith’s first vision, and while we were explaining it he turned it over and started to read the text. Then he said, “Wow, this scripture really touches me.” It was Moroni 10:4, a scripture we often share with investigators. But he beat us to it! I invited him to follow Christ’s example and be baptized once he had received confirmation by the spirit that our message was true, and he agreed immediately — just completely nonchalantly as if it was the obvious next step. It was a miracle!
Love you guys! Hope you all have an awesome week!
Headed to Recife 