"His Plan is Absolutely Beautiful and Perfect Because He is Perfect..."

I can't begin to tell you how fast these days and weeks are beginning to go by now. It seriously scares me how quick things are going to go by, especially once I'm out in the mission field and doing the real work!

This week has been absolutely great. I have learned a ton in the gospel and have even started getting back into the swing of learning Portuguese. I kind of hit a wall for a while and needed to get back into it or I would have been in big trouble with the natives... I still probably will, but I will be way better off than most of the rest of my District!

We are teaching 4 investigators right now: Germano, Michel, Xavi, and Morgan. This week, we have committed all but Morgan to baptism and even though these are practice scenarios, the Spirit is just as real as if we were to be teaching true investigators! Helping them overcome their struggles and to gain faith and teaching by the Spirit is such an amazing experience and I can testify to all of you that this is truly Christ's church!

I also was able to finish reading The Book of Mormon all the way through today and let me tell you, there definitely is not a more true book on this earth that can bring you closer to God. Please, if you aren't reading it now or if you have never even read it in your life (non-members included), just take a few minutes out of your day to read it and experience the pure happiness that comes from it! I know it's the word of God and He will bless you for reading it diligently, seeking to learn! Moroni 10:3-5 says it all!

I got to host the new missionaries again this week and only got to host one and he was from Tahiti and spoke purely French. It might have been one of the coolest experiences I have had here with another missionary because even though he was miserably cold in the 5 degree weather and couldn't communicate with anyone, he was so excited to be here and doing the Lord's work! He is a convert of just a year and in the little English he did know, he told me that he wanted to meet the missionary who baptized him (I guess he works here at the MTC) and thank him for the best gift he has ever received in his life. That touched my heart so clearly and made me so much more excited to bless the lives of others by bringing them God's true word.

In other news, I think we might have broken the freezing point today because the snow is FINALLY starting to melt and I was able to walk outside in shorts and a t shirt. So if you'd like, go check Provo's weather for the day and tell me how crazy I am for thinking 30 degrees is a nice temperature.

I want all of you to know that I see the hand of the Lord in my life each and every day and feel His love more than ever because I have dedicated myself to living according to His word. Having experienced the worldly happiness and this true happiness, I would choose the spiritual side every time! I want you all to share this love and joy with me and I invite you to change whatever you need to change in your life to be in accordance with Heavenly Father's word! His plan is absolutely beautiful and perfect because He is perfect.

I testify that He loves each and every one of us equally and desires that we submit to His will by seeking true forgiveness of our sins, big or small, and doing all that we can to show our love to Him. We can all return to His presence through His great and eternal plan!

Eu amo voces muito and miss you tons! Please keep/start writing me! Have an amazing week and go do some good in the world! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.Org

"Have Faith That He Hears and Answers Your Prayers..."

It has been one crazy week here at the MTC and time is really starting to fly by like nothing else. 

Well on Saturday at TRC (a small thing where we get to teach members lessons like family home evening) I met a Blake LeSueur from Arizona who met Grandma LeSueur a little while ago randomly and then I taught a guy named Patrick that had a photography class with Chelsea not too long ago, and he was super excited to meet me! I have found it's easier to speak Portuguese when you have something in common with someone and it just flows! 

So that was cool, then Sunday flew by, Monday was nothing special, and then Tuesday was insane. 

We were privileged to have Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak to us and he completely blew us away. He spoke about staying active [in the gospel] when we return from our missions, and how Preach My Gospel came to be for that reason of keeping RM's active. 

He went on to speak about the Son's of Mosiah and all the great missionaries in the Book of Mormon and how they taught with power and authority (turns out thats the most used phrase in the book) and how we can maintain that power and authority. He also talked about how everything that has ever gone on in the Church up to this point has been building to this time and we are responsible for carrying out the plan Heavenly Father has for us. 

Even more than that, all the prophets of old knew that their time wouldn't end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In other words, they knew that their dispensation wasn't the chosen one for having Christ come back to cleanse the world, yet they still carried on their work and fulfilled their responsibilities because they knew what we would be doing exactly at this moment to hasten the Lord's work and bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Seriously, everything connects and its so awesome to think about and make those connections and have a personal witness of the truth of everything! 

f you haven't had a witness yet or you want one, I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray about receiving a witness that the words spoken in it are true. I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and you will become closer to Him upon reading it and by gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you can know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true as well. I promise you all that I wouldn't still be here if I didn't know that what I was doing was true! I love you all so very much and I want you all to have the peace and joy and TRUE happiness I have in my life! 

Another cool part from that was when he said the dedicatory prayer for the new buildings on campus. He blessed them to be protected by angels that nothing would ever harm us or these facilities. Such an awesome blessing and it meant so much coming from a man of his stature! 

Other than that, I got to host new missionaries this week on Wednesday and they were kind of funny. They were a little culture shocked, but nothing different from me! I know they're in the right place and they will get along just fine. 

I want you all to know that I know this Church is true with all my heart. Heavenly Father loves us and knows each one of us individually and all of our struggles. He is waiting for us to humble ourselves in prayer and ask Him to bless us, once we do that, He will! I promise! Put your trust in Him and have faith that He hears and answers your prayers. If you don't have faith that He will, what would it hurt to try?

 I love you all so much! Please keep writing me! Be happy and share love with all those you meet! 

Love, 

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.Org

"Do Good Things and You Will Be Happy..."

Hello all my amazing family and friends! Have I told you lately that I love y'all so much? Seriously, I can't explain how grateful I am for each and every one of you! This past week has been absolutely great, I have gotten more letters than I know what to do with! (I still expect more from those of you who haven't written me though...) 

As a quick Provo update, we had a couple days of record breaking highs of about 35 and 40 degrees this week! I know it sounds horrible to most of you, but it was nearly shorts and a t shirt weather... And now we're back to the dang snow and freezing temperatures. 

A little news from the week: Elder Ginez had to get glasses, so we were able to abandon the MTC campus for about four total hours on Monday and Thursday. I was so excited! Seeing real people, and real cars, and real magazines and newspapers that were from last November. It got me so much more excited to leave the bubble I live in here and get out to Brazil! Anyways, I know I'm here still for a reason beyond what I can know at this point, so I will just keep taking life as it comes and doing everything I know I'm supposed to be doing! Other than that little adventure outside of the MTC, we have basically been doing the same exact thing as we have always done here. I think that's really helping the time fly by because it feels like I have a P Day every other day! 

So my Spiritual thought for the week is something we heard from Elder Enrique Falabella at the Devotional Tuesday night. He spoke to us about charity and making changes in our lives and one thing he said which I'm sure most of you have heard before but could always be reminded of is, "If we keep doing things the same, we will get the same results. If we do things differently, we will get different results." This can be applied in several ways. First and foremost, if you aren't happy for whatever reason, make changes! Whether it's the people you're hanging around, the things you do in your free time, or whatever you notice that isn't helping you out. I can promise you this: Wickedness NEVER was happiness and never will be. Do good things and you will be happy! I promise! That's one of the benefits of serving a mission. I am continually doing good and therefore I am always happy! Study the scriptures, serve people, PRAY. These are a few of a million things you could be doing to be happy! Please seek true happiness and not the vain, temporary happiness the worldly things has to offer. 

Another quick note he shared with us was that repentance leads to charity which leads to a desire to share the gospel. Repentance is a gift, even though we tend to give it a negative connotation. How cool is it that Christ paid for our sins so that we can be cleansed of them? But it's not automatic... It takes recognition on our part and a true, sincere desire to make the CHANGE I was talking about earlier. Charity is a necessary characteristic for salvation, so please work on that and then you will WANT to share the gospel with others because you WILL be happy! 

I testify of the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the peace and happiness it brings you afterwards. I love you all so much! Be happy and share your love with those in need! 

Love,

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.org 

"We Have the Potential to Become Like Him..."

It has been an absolutely crazy week! I just want to start off by saying I love you all and miss you so much! This past week we experienced a flu outbreak which kind of caught me for a day so I was stuck in bed all day Wednesday wishing I could be doing something productive, but it was also kind of nice to be able to sleep 20 of the 24 hours! It was tough because I was having really weird dreams and kept waking up feeling like something was wrong and then I was just so vulnerable to thinking about everyone back home I got really upset and really homesick.

I want everyone to know that those feelings (any bad feeling we get at all) are from Satan himself and he is working so hard to discourage us and make us feel like we can't live up to the potential we have as God's children. Think about it... We learn from our parents and eventually become like them because of the observations and everything we have of them. Now apply that to Heavenly Father. As His children, we have the potential to become like Him! How cool is that?! I challenge all of you to find out for yourselves what you can do to become more like Him and have all that He has. 4

We have also been dealing with the coldest consistent weather I have ever felt. It was 0 degrees this morning on our trip to the temple and that made the ten minute walk feel like an eternity! As soon as we stepped outside it felt like I couldn't breathe because it was so cold and so dry! Miserable... But that just makes the entrance into warm buildings all that much better! I have been feeling so great the last couple weeks and I know its because all of you are praying so fervently for me to have all that I need, so THANK YOU! Please keep the prayers coming ;)

I was reading in Alma 26 the other day and came across the scripture about why he was boasting in God. Verses 10-12 and 27 summed up to me says that we are nothing in our own strengths, but with the help of the Lord we can have success by bearing our afflictions with patience. I know this is true because I have been dealt some pretty rough things already! And whenever I've complained or felt like I was being wronged, it was so much harder to be happy or gain blessings from it. But when I was willing to accept it as the Lord's divine plan for me, I understood the lessons I needed to learn and how it would help me in the future.

For instance, yesterday we were teaching one of our progressing investigators, Fabiano, and the lesson ended up being the last lesson we would teach him because he had stopped progressing. What I learned was that when Elder Ginez and myself were not teaching in unity (the most important key of teaching), we didn't allow him to be taught by the Spirit and everything fell through. There's a lot more that I learned, but I'm running short on time.

I just want all of you to know that the things you deal with in this life are preparing you for the future and giving you knowledge you must know for the next life as you become like God!

To finish off, I have some awesome news... Drum-roll...

People are starting to get their visas from Brazil! The district that is just one week ahead of us started getting them today and Elder Christensen of my district got his too! AHH its so exciting and so much more motivating to know we are finally so much closer to being where we are going to be proselyting! I'm so excited to get to Brazil! Even though I won't be able to get letters and packages as easily, its still way exciting.

Speaking of letters and packages, SEND ME MORE! I'm really wanting to hear from all of you about your lives! I know its time consuming and I cant be a hypocrite because I never really wrote missionaries, but I would love it :) I gotta go, but I love you all!

I know this gospel is true and I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us individually and knows us personally too!

I look forward to your letters :) Be happy and go share something with someone in need! 

Love, 

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.org