Day 455

Quick update:

New transfer, I'll be staying in the area with Elder Cox and I'm being called as District Leader.

We're gonna have to take it a bit slower with Fatima, I think we've been putting a little too much pressure. We're trying to be more creative to help her quit smoking for good. We'll try the 12 Steps program (thanks Sami) and Elder Tabosa from our district is asking his mom to make a short video to show Fatima (she also had to quit smoking to be baptized.

We had lunch with Rocky and Elisete again:

I know that Jesus Christ is my friend, the perfect example in all things. While I was assigned to Santa Maria, a Brasil area seventy, Carlos R Toledo, gave a talk at Stake Conference where he explored the deeper meaning of the sacrament, detail by detail. For example, even down to how the bread is torn apart piece by piece in front of the entire congregation. Every Sunday we remember His death, and also the pain He suffered in Gethsemane. Elder Toledo suggested that we could always remind ourselves,.. "I did this!" while we watch the bread being broken as a symbol of the suffering caused by our sins. I've tried to do that since then and it really helps you to feel more like a participant than an audience member. The resurrection deserves more emphasis than his death. I know that He died and that He lives. And I'm especially thankful for Mom and Dad for building such a strong foundation of faith for me. Thanks to their examples I don't remember ever *not * knowing these things, and I know them for myself, for sure. Love, Elder Hopkinson