Nossa minha mente tem muitos coisasa que eu gostaria falar mas eu não sei onde eu preciso incínar. mas tudo bem vamos lá. kkkkkk Well what a week family and friends. It flew by faster then my mind can comprehend. So many things happened this last week that I dont know where to start, so I pray the spirit will guide my words to in someway touch your hearts. First thank you everyone for the emails mom, dad, my beautiful sisters. Sister Chester-Stewart (Thanks for Miguels emails) Heidi, Aunt Karen. It was so amazing as my brother Matt once said to read how all my friends are doing on their missions. I often picture the Stripling Warriors as they were fighting in the midst of those terrible battles with no fighting experience whatsoever. They were fighting men with ALOT of experience but not one was lost or killed because they remembered that it was their God who gave them strength. The mission is alot like that sometimes. We are 19, 20 with little experience, knocking on doors of people whohave an education, married with a family...or a Pastor of another church haha We are fighting hard to defend the truth and help others come unto Christ and each of us are having our own experiences to make and mold us into the men we should be. Elder(s) Doggett, Stewart-Chester, Sommer, Buck, Manwaring, Hastings all of us are facing the front lines and giving it our all. IM so happy and grateful for my friends and their dedicated service to this work... I know this mission is changing our lives forever... and I know "our mothers did teach us in our youth to walk uprightly before God." Thank you mom sincerly from the bottom of my heart and also I would like to say thank you to all my other moms (You know who you are. :) Once more thank you for the emails and also the birthday wishes. I cant believe Im coming on 20 years, so many memories are running through my mind. Its crazy to see how fast the time is flying by. I love this mission and this country of Brasil. The Lord has been so good to me over my 20 years and I give Him praise for His infinate goodness. I not always gave Him the honor and attention I should have during my teenage years as I lived my life and missed out on many growing oppurtunites but please know that I know without a doubt He is in fact my strength and I will go and do whatever He asks of me because He knows me best and knows exaclty where and what I need to be doing at this point in my life. Once more I love you all and thank you so much for your words of inspirtation this week.
Well as I mentioned before many things happened this week and it really was an emotional Rollar coaster for me. My family is aware of the wonderful blessing the Lord has promised me during my mission from my Partiarchal blessing and also from the dangers I will face here in Brasil. My father shared a story from his mission experiences in which the Lord protected him in a time of danger. (Dad it was pure revelation that you shared that story with me this day) I testify that the Lord in fact with protect us. He is looking out for us and we cant forget the blessings He has given us. In 4th Nephi we read that just in 300 years the people completely turned from God and His son Jesus Christs and His teachings and we read in 4th Nephi 1: 38 that "They intentionally rebeled against the Gospel of Christ; and taught their children not believe." wow, thats pretty crazy. (They werent like the srtipling warrior moms haha) but in all seriousness they forgot all the blessings and miracles that they had witnessed... They forgot that they had seen the Chirst and heard His voice and yet WILLINGLY REBELED. Why? How? There is a srtong lesson to be learned from 4th Nephi and its pages. Im so grateful for the blessings the Lord has given me throughout my mission and the new out look I have on everything in my life. I know of my potential and that all things are possible in the service of my God as long as I remember Him always through Prayer, Scripture study and complete obedience to the commandments. I know His blessings will come we read this in D&C 58:1-4 "That after our trials come the blessings." (Read those verses) but during those hard times and dangers, during the times when we forget our Savior and begin to allow pride into our hearts and allow the difficulties to swallow us how can we remeber Him?... Hope. Hope is defined as the feeling that.... "Events will turn out for the best." When we excercise hope we, "look forward with desire and reasonable confidence." (Elder Steven E. Snow) Hope ,though, works together with Faith, and charity as Moroni taught in Moroni 10: 20-21 "Wherefore, there must be faith and if there must be faith there must be hope; and if there is hope there must also be charity. (21) And expect ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if you have not hope." Dieter F. Uchtdorf added this brief decspiction of these 3 points of Moroni, he said, " Hope is one leg of a three legged- stool, together with faith and charity. These three will stabilize our lives regardless of the rough or unseen surfaces we might encounter at times."
These 3 things are so important in out lives and will in fact carry us through any part of our lives good or bad. This last week I was struggling a little bit with the work. I have been working so hard to try and praech the Gospel here but this area has been tough on me. Every door I went this last week they were either Catholic or just didnt even want to talk to us. I was really down because I know the joy that comes from this Gospel. I was trying so hard to help them realize that this message we have will in fact change their lives forever... but were having little success. I was discouraged and worn out. I was walking in the road with my companion and the rain was pouring down on us. (I was actually shivering here in Brasil if you can believe it.) The rain was coming down hard with deafening thunder in the air. I was drenched and driping from head to toe. All our appointments fell and I knew my companion was just as bummed as I was as I watched him kick a soda can clear through the air haha. I felt prompted to say a pray right then in the street so I stopped my companion and began to pray. I remembered the pray of faith we need to exercise and then felt the prompting of this message today. "Ben have hope that all will be well" Family friends have hope that all will be well in the end. As we contiuned on I was just smiling and even began to laugh and my companion soon began to join in. When we returned home I gave a prayer of thanks and gratitude for this lesson I had learned in the pouring rain as I knew all would be well. The next day we met a women in the street named Claudia who told us she had been thinking alot about religion in her life and where to find the truth. We went to her house and there taught her whole family. Everyone listened so intently to our message and everyone felt the spirit. I was amazed at how well the POrtugese came and how I was able to teach and respond in such a way as for them to understand. I knew the Lord was guiding me in every moment. As we left the house my Companion turned to me and said "Elder Doggett they are the reason we are here in Botucatu." I felt the same way. That night I thought about the previous night and if I had allowed my hope to fail and to not carry on if I would have encountered that wonderful family today. If I had been like the Nephites and forgotten that in my God all things are possible would I really have been ready to teach and listen to the promptings of the spirit. Family and friends there is so much I would like to share with you as I always mention. So many mission experiences that have shaped my life forever. My birthday is this week and i think in just this one year alone I have grown in so many ways I never imagined possible. I am so grateful for the Lord and for teaching me so many vaulable lessons this week as I know He has a plan and purpose for us all. Never forget that Christ does in fact live and HE loves you all so very much. In the thick of it all there is hope and always will be no matter what life throws at you. Always remember He is with you and will never abandon you... I love you all and thank you once more for the support and love you all have given to me this year here in Brasil and thoughout my life. MAy God bless you all this upcoming week as we all search to increase our hope in the future, or love for our fellow men, and faith in the Atonement of Christ our brother, savior and reedeemer is my prayer and testimony to you all this week. LOve you all and may God be with you till we meet again.
Ama Èlder Benjamin B. Doggett
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