Sunday, June 7, 1970

This morning in priesthood meeting I led a discussion of the purposes of the Church and everything done therein: to perfect the Saints and to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. From here we talked of the three missionary responsibilities of the Church: (1) for the people who do not yet know the gospel, (2) for the members of the Church, and (3) for the dead. We amplified number two in an effort to evaluate our problems in Maceió. We spoke of the need of loving each other and having understanding. Purposely, I was directing the discussion in Aldo’s way, but I’m not certain he fully benefited.

In Sunday School I taught the children’s class as a substitute. We talked about prayer. I asked them if they wanted to bear their testimonies in the following meeting. Most of them did. I love children. Testimony meeting was good.

We dined with Aldo’s family and stayed to watch the first half of the Brazil–England game. During halftime we, the elders and Aldo’s family, went to the home of José Sanchez to attend the daughter’s birthday party. There we watched the rest of the game. Brazil won. The Sanchez family is American, originally from Peru.

This evening we held a preparation meeting for the branch leadership, a new experience for them. Following opening exercises, I met with each organization individually, counseling with them concerning their programs and problems. Opportunity presented itself to call Irmã Zezira Versteegh to be a home Primary teacher.  As we met with the Sunday School board, which Aldo superintends, he voiced his disanimation and dissatisfaction. He feels everything in the branch is on the shoulders of him and his family. He feels imprisoned by the Church because he has to stay in town on Saturdays. He feels we are maybe running too fast in organizing the branch and its organizations. We had a good talk but without resolving anything. The discussion helped clarify last night a little better. I feel that Aldo’s vision is being too narrow and that he lacks the ability to love people. He is quite disanimated right now and some family problems are resulting.

Once again as we reached home we held another district council to discuss developments. Since the stewardship over Aldo is mine, I am being particular in searching for inspiration and guidance.