•had
zone conference this week to mix things up
•showing
off my advice/letters book that friends gave me to my companion and telling
stories about my friends in provo #missyou
•manicures
from my investigator (with awkward nail art… but I’ll take what i can get.)
•first
lesson on the L of C if you know what i mean (law of chastity) and it went SO
WELL! they’re getting ready to get married now!
•getting
to be crafty-- i made a cute little paper for one of our investigators with
their reading goals and she loveddddd it… and i love her.
•happy
missionaries are the ones who always have a little chocolate in their bags
(this may be why they gain weight...)
BAD
•not
taking any pictures because I’m afraid I’ll get mugged and i don’t want to lose
my camera… so it has stayed home mostly this week.
•walking
an hour each way to the same house as last week… and them not being home AGAIN!
•experienced
my first straight up rejection while knocking/clapping doors.
My view of the world in Santa Maria, Brazil
•this
weather hates me… when i dress for rain it’s PERFECT outside and when i dress
for sun it POURS.
AWKWARD
•seeing your breath in your apartment
•stray
horses walking around anyone? #truestory
•getting
a call that we’re having a cleaning check of sorts… ten minutes before he gets
here. it’s amazing what four sisters can do under pressure.
•when
people want me to prove myself and talk in portuguese but I’m not quite sure
exactly what they want me to say.... i give a mean first lesson though?
•last
night my brazilian roommate said- sister it’s not that cold anymore.. you don’t
need 6 blankets… #oops
•trying
to cut my lettuce at lunch with a member and the dang lettuce was so slippery!
my fork and lettuce went flying.
•finding
out that one of the missionaries on “the district” married his convert....
AWESOME
•snail
mail! i feel so loved! and some dang good letters if i do say so myself (S/O to
the fam + Elizabeth)
•missionaries
are so protected. nothing happened to us or even almost happened to us this
week but seriously…our work is important and thus the Lord protects us.
•CONFERENCE
IS NEXT WEEK!!
this
week went by so much faster and it may be bad but i am a bit grateful for that.
It’s never like i don’t want to stay on my mission… but there were times when the days just
dragged on! our area is verrrry big. especially since we only walk. (shout out to
all you spoiled missionaries in the states that have cars and can drive to your teaching
appointments.) jk, every mission has its own challenges. we don’t have a ton of
baptisms here like the rest of brazil. we have people we are teaching right now
that are ready… just a couple things standing in their way. the work requires
more effort. but that’s fine! we’ve got this.
the
members here are good to give referrals too- which everyone in the church
should be dong (hint hint)… the work moves much faster when we have people who
are familiar with the gospel and have good thoughts about the church and its
members and want to know more. it doesn’t have to be anything big-- here we do a lot of noite
familiar (family nights) and it’s really fun! it’s not anything to be scared of…
just an uplifting night with your family and friends.
i
want to tell you a story about thaiane. She’s a gem. She’s 16 and married to
douglas (married in the catholic church, not legally-- that’s the problem here. people
are married in the church but they aren’t legally married by law, so it doesn’t
count. it doesn’t really make sense but it’s just the thing to do i guess.) oh…
and also yes he is 16. that’s also normal. but i really love her. she is mature
for her age and cooks dang good. she makes fun of my accent but we get past
that. last week they came to church and really loved it. they, specifically
she, has been taught for a while but never went to church. they went together
and really enjoyed it. we had good lessons this week and she knows she wants to
get baptized, she just wants to learn as much as she can before she does. we
taught her the law of chastity this week and she totally got it! it made sense
completely to her and she said she wished she would have learned about it
sooner. then… come sunday... we call her and she said she and douglas are tired
and won’t be going to church. we were soooo sad/disappointed. we thought all
day about what to do next- -do we continute teaching?? what do we teach about??
do we need to be more direct, etc??? then that night she called us and said she
talked to douglas and her mom and this week they are finding out what they need
to do to get married legally so she can get baptized!!!! ummmm. what? alright.
that works!!! now, we dont want to get
too excited because she doesnt always keep her word but she at least has the
desire to do what's right.
it
made me think about us. i think that the more Christlike emotions that i had when
they didn’t come to church… love, worry, caring are what God thinks about us
when we let him down. we know what’s right, we know what choices we should be
making, but yet we just do something else because basically were lazy. i must
be so frustrating to deal with… my poor Heavenly Father. Here I sit so lucky
and blessed because i have so much truth and knowledge, but sometimes i just
don’t do what i should. i don’t read my
scriptures, i don’t say my prayers, etc. after feeling so confused i think i
understand a little bit of what i have put my Heavenly Father through. not to
mention my Savior... who suffered for all of my sins and sacrificed everything.
but that’s the beauty of it. through the
Atonement we can improve. it is NEVER EVER too late to be better! this is why
the gospel is HAPPY! there is hope and love and so many good things.
anyways…
that’s my soap box for now.
i
love you all. i miss you all for realz but at the same time this sacrifice will
be worth it i know it!
com amor- sister
faldmo.
