Fwd: Liberdade, Salvador, Bahia

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Seraphin Decker <seraphin.decker@myldsmail.net>
Date: February 1, 2016 at 11:58:59 AM PST
To: Robin Decker <robinlynnd@gmail.com>, D Decker <7halcon@gmail.com>
Subject: Liberdade, Salvador, Bahia

Hey mom, hey dad :) If it seems like I'm not reading your emails I am, I mean it's not like I have a lot of emails to read haha but I didn't comment about Brayden and Heather because i wasn't sure if it was official or not since he hasn't asked her to marry him yet but it sounds like it is so that's awesome ! She was already pretty much a part of the family already so adjustments won't really have to be made ha. Oh and about Coleman and David....I don't really know if there's much to say. Unfortuantely they made a mistake and have to pay for that. It sucks though because now everyone who knows about that is gonna think that they're bad kids but there's really nothing we can do. I talked to Elder Teasley and the Harris' family too. I'm always adding them in my prayers. Has there been anymore news about them that I don't know about ?

Has Colby already filled out his mission papers ? I'm super excited to see where he's gonna end up even though it means that I'll have to wait 2 more years without seeing him :( it's okay though we have eternity. 

Heyyyy have you guys spoken to the coach from SLC yet ?????????

I'm leaving Amelia Rodrigues tomorrow morning by the way ! I guess President needs me to be Zone Leader in Salvador so I head out tomorrow morning. I'm back to Salvador for Carnaval -_- this week is gonna be crazy there because of Carnaval, we'll see what happens, if we're gonna have to stay home or maybe go home earlier. It sucks saying goodbye to everyone when you're transfered. You'd think it'd be easy but it's always a little sad knowing that you might not ever see these people again. I feel like I still have so many people to help but...oh well...The Lord needs me in another place. 

I gave a talk yesterday in church about faith. There's a less active kid in our ward....his name is Eivid ( like David) and he reminds me a lot of myself. anyways... his girlfriends family has been putting a lot of things in his head, saying things about Joseph Smith and that we're not going to have eternal families and things like that. It bothered him to the point that he came home crying (He's 19) because all his life he's learned that he would be able to see his brother again and to have a bunch of people try to prove to him that that's not true really got to him. Ever since I got here me and Eivid have had a cool relationship and it hurt me to see him like that. He always defends the church and stuff but there's no way he could gain a true testimony about the church because of his actions but anywayssss.....So I spoke about faith and simply believing. I used some things from Elder Holland's talk "Lord I Believe". A lot of times we're not gonna know the answer to a doubt or a question about the gospel of Jesus Christ but what we know will always trump what we don't know. and we must always stand our ground and be true to the faith that we do have until that faith becomes knowledge. I don't know everything in fact there's A LOT that I don't know, but I do know that God lives. That He loves all of His children. He made a plan that would bring us joy and Jesus Christ made that plan possible. I know that this is the true church of God. It's an honor to share this message with the people of Brasil that i love so much. 

i love you all so much and my prayers are with you 

- ed

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Élder Serph Alain Decker

        Missão Brasil Salvador 

A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos

            Dos Ultimos Dias