Monday, May 5, 2014

may 5, 2014 amor verdadeiro‏

here i am folks... 
yes... here i am:)
good
the past weeks have mostly just been hard, but now they are hard with more tender mercies and miracles. it makes it all worth it :)
during testimony meeting i got a shout out for harassing one of the young men to study preach my gospel to prepare for the mini ctm. what can i say??? ... i do what i can. 
get to a house with a less active.. they made us cake. #3slices #longday #wheninbrasil #cominghomechubby #itswhatever
miraculous lessons with members 
bad
being trunky as i was thinking about my family this weekend and my dad’s release as stake pres. it’s hard to miss important moments in my family’s life but i know this is exactly where i need to be right now. 
mom said she wonders if I still walk alot. just know i walk A LOT. like 45- 60 minutes just to get home some nights. other nights its 30 minutes or so. 
mom also wonders how many lessons i teach. ok well, i’ll be real... not that many, or as many as i want because we spend a lot of time walking, but it’s quality not quantity guys.. 
awesome
testimony meeting yesterday turned into testimonies about missionary work. the longer i am here in santiago, i am really learning to appreciate and love this ward. they are trying! yesterday we had less than 50 people at church because of the rain, but the members are trying to help in the ways they know how. 
one of our progressing investigators comes from really really humble circumstances. her life has been so hard, and i am loving watching her grasp this gospel and let the happiness it brings into her life and feel more of her Savior’s love. we picked her up for church yesterday with a member. it was raining like crazy! her clothes that i watched her hand wash yesterday were already soaking wet. when she came out of the house in the same shirt as yesterday. she looked really cold and was without a coat or jacket. the member stopped by her own house before we went to church, i wasn’t quite sure why? but she’s crazy, so i didn’t questions her :) she returned to the car with a jacket for our investigator, and told her it was hers to keep. what an example to me and a really sweet moment! our investigator doesn’t talk much but i knew she was so happy. 
less actives opening up to us about why they aren’t going to church. after months of working with them i have finally earned their trust and now we can help them based on what they really need. 
here's some pics from a zone meeting:)



awkward
…that i don’t have anything to put here right now. now that’s awkward itself 

this week was good! after testimony meeting yesterday i was so happy. i felt the love this ward has for missionary work… finally! it has been hard because the missionaries in the past here where I’m serving hadn’t been that impressive, so why should they trust us? but i feel like we are making real progress, with members, less actives, and investigators. and now that they are starting to get to know us better and work with us more their testimonies are growing too. how can they not? this work is amazing and when we take part it changes us for the better. as we teach others and watch them grow, we ourselves grow. we realize how important this gospel is and why literally EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD NEEDS IT!

i just want to give a shout out to my parents. one: my dad who was released as our stake president this weekend. i am a better missionary because of the example of Christlike service he set for me. i am happy to come home and have more time with him, but i know our family was SO BLESSED because of his service and time. i don’t know what it will be like without those blessings? thank goodness isaac will be serving soon enough and maybe he and i can make up for those blessing. 
and obviously a word for my mother. :) and all others out there. where would we be without you? my mom’s support on my mission has helped me so much, but more importantly how she prepared me before the mission. she has always taught gospel principles in such a loving way in our house, but also through example. her thirst for gospel knowledge is inspiring. AND I CANT WAIT TO SEE HER BEAUTIFUL FACE IN SIX DAYS ON SKYPE!!

this week is big. there’s a possibility of a baptism. not for sure though. could be my last week here. they say when you learn to love your area you leave.. and i’m loving it :( but it’s been three transfers here which is usually the norm. let’s see :) whatever happens will be for the best. 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo love you 
ash aka sister faldmo 

No comments:

Post a Comment