Pedir vs Pedar

Background about Portuguese: Pedir vs Pedar. So they have two words in Portuguese that are very similar. The first we use quite often. It means to ask. We definitely ask people a lot of questions so we use this verb a lot of times. Pedir means to ask and also Perguntar. Perguntar is more for information and Pedir is more for a service or favor. So when we tell people to ask God if this is right, this would be a time when we use the verb Pedir. So this lady was telling us this story about how she has a lot of faith and how she asked God, or Pediu a Deus. Then she asked me, «Élder, how do you think I got this help from god.» In my brain I knew the right answer, but just like my glory days in high school, my brain got the best of me and I switched the two verbs. Instead of saying the correct «Tu pediste a Deus» (which is that she asked God). I said «Tu pedaste Deus». The verb pedar signifies to fart. I told her «She farted to god». Definitely not want she wanted to hear or what I intended to say. I thought those stories only happened in films like «The Best Two Years», but oh no, they happen in real life.

Fatima: So way back when in Portugal, 1914, there were these three kids. They were praying and then appeared to them Mary the mother of Jesus. This happened here in Portugal. These three kids were canonized by the Catholic Church this year in May. But that is the reason why everyone hear is named Fatima. Because of Nossa Senhora de Fatima (Our lady of Fatima). In the Portuguese town called Fatima, where this occurrence took place, they have a church that people go to. A lot of people do a pilgrimage to Fatima every year because a lot of people are Catholic here. Also if you run into to anyone name Fatima, you can probably guess that they are from Portugal. Apparently every country has an our lady of something. Here it's Fatima. Interesting.

Spiritual: As I was reading the Book of Mormon during sacrament meeting I was reading in Alma 32, the great lecture on faith where Alma compares the faith to a seed and how the seed will grow. Here I learned from the spirit that this is true. Lasting conversion comes line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little. When we take the time to grow our own testimony everyday, it will become precious to us. We will value the Testimony we have because we «paid the price», we worked hard to obtain it. We will be more stable than if we were just handed knowledge. Knowledge is important. Knowledge is how we grow. But knowledge is not a testimony. Testimony is understanding, applying and faith. Knowledge turns to understanding only through time. We will be lead to the edge of what we can see. We can grow our testimony by using our faith by experimenting on what we know to learn and understand what we don't know. When should not give up because we have doubts, we always will. We live in a fallen world. We are not God and not supposed to have his knowledge right now. His thoughts are not our thoughts.  Only acting but faith trusting in the only being who can give us the knowledge is the only way we can grow our testimony to a greater understanding.