May 27, 2013

 I am doing well.  Sunday we had the baptism of A.  She is a super special young woman we have been working with.  One of her friends has been bringing her to church.  After our first lesson with her, we invited her to pray about the things that we had taught.  When we came back,  she told us about the response to her prayers.  It was super sweet.  She said she prayed and felt peace in her heart and felt that God said that "yes" it was true en her heart. It was so cute. I love her!

This week has been an interesting one...... Without light in our house. Before we got here, there were two months of electricity that had gone unpayed and so it got switched off on Wednesday, I think...... and well, its been payed since them, but they still haven´t gone back to turn the lights back on!  It has been interesting though, taking cold showers, putting the iron on the stove to heat it up and pass our clothes, trying to be creative to figure out what to do with our here, and etc.... But I´ve also felt super grateful and blessed.  I can really tell how the Lord has been looking after us.  We have water and gas to cook food.  And our neighbors are wonderful!  There is a member who lives upstairs and a family of investigators of the other sisters that live above them and they have been absolutely wonderful to us!!! and our other neighbor as well!  They have brought us food, let us use their emergency lights and etc.  They are awesome! :)  We really haven´t been in need of anything!  And I can tell it is the hand of the Lord.  

 This week was transfers and I will stay here with Sister O! :) yes

This transfer was only five weeks and so it was a little bit shorter than the others, but yes, it has gone by way fast!! 

May 20, 2013

Yesterday we had an interesting experience.  A miracle, in reality.  Yesterday we had lunch with a sister in the ward and when we got there, we found out that she was married, but that her husband was inactive.  We spent the whole lunch talking with them about the gospel, their daughter that is on the mission and well - spiritual stuff to help him.  After lunch, I left the message, inviting them to prepare be sealed in the temple and inviting him to come back to church.  It was really interesting because he kept saying no, that he needed to prepare himself first, that he would go next week, but not today.  And so..... we kept talking to him - teaching and testifying - and the spirit was really strong.  Anyways, all in all, we invited him to pray then and there and it was funny cause we just sat there with our eyes shut (praying for him as well) for a couple minutes.  He finally started with our help, but pretty much said the whole prayer on his own after Dear Heavenly Father.  He prayed for his family. And after that, the spirit did the rest of the work.  He hopped up and said. eu vou! i´ll go! Then he went and grabbed clothes and got ready and we went with him to church.  It was awesome!  We talked to him after church and he said that he felt good, relieved, peace etc.  And that he would come back next week.  It is amazing to me how the spirit works on people.  It touches the hearts of the individual.  And I can also testify to how the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses the lives of all it touches.  :)

May 13, 2013

zone photo 1

haha.  Mom - you don´t need to worry about the food that I eat - we actually eat pretty healthy here :)  We eat soup, toast, fruit smoothies, etc.  Depends on the day.  (Mary Ann was answering the question about what the missionaries eat for breakfast and meals that aren't at the members homes)

And yes, we do only drink filtered water.  The mission reimburses the filtered water that we buy and it usually works out pretty well...  So no, you don´t need to send one.  Also, the blanket I have i super warm - they also keep more in each house so there are more if I need them.  I´m doing pretty good on bug repellent and sunscreen - I still have a lot left.  As for a coat - I wanted to ask you about that - do you think it would be better for me to buy one here, or for you to send one?  The one that I´ve seen that´s actually good, is about 100 reais or fifty dollars.... what do you think?  But I do still have my coat at home too.... but yeah, the only other thing I can think of that I would really need is clothes - shirts and skirts!!! and maybe an undershirt.  but yeah, besides that, I can´t really think of anything.  just maybe some church shoes....

Weeellll....  To answer your questions:

Tell us about the nice, thoughtful things members or investigators  do for you. 

This ward is really awesome!!!  Our first Sunday here, the two wards that meet in our building were combined and we had a couple people come up to us and ask us which ward we were in - and then give us a bag of food!  They gave us milk, crackers, and bread!  And they do the same thing every Sunday   What they give switches, but every week, someone from the ward gives us something! Which is super nice and thoughtful and helps us out a ton!  I am so grateful for his ward!  They are awesome :)

Tell us about the nice things the missionaries do. 

So this is only the second transfer that I´ve lived with other sisters, but it is turning out to be really awesome! The other sisters are great! Everyone works together and helps each other out.  Someone´ll usually make breakfast everyday, and we all kind of switch off without really having anything decided, everyone just helps and works together! :) It is super sweet! I love these girls!  ha we even share clothes at times! :) as you will see in the photo! haha.  

Tell us about when you feel the spirit in a lesson and what you were teaching the people. 

So the other day we were teaching a lesson to a family that needs to get married in order to get baptized.  It was a really good lesson and as we were bearing our testimonies about temples, he received an answer in that moment.  

Tell us about the reactions people have to your message and their commitment or lack thereof to change. 

haha... This question has such a varied answer!  It really depends on the situation.  For example, we do contacts everyday in the street and there are plenty of times when people don´t even give us the time of day.  Others when they listen politely, but really aren´t interested.  But then again, there´s been some instances when we´ve started to talk to someone and they start to cry and say that we were an answer to their prayers.  Ha. I had one time when I talked to a girl and she declined respectfully, but then about three minutes later, she came back and told us where she lived and when she would be home for us to come and visit.  I think that when the people really let the spirit into their hearts, they become committed to follow the Lord.  

And the way they overcame their struggles and the testimonies that they share. 

I LOVE the testimonies of recent converts.  We went to visit a family of recent converts the other day and well, the spirit as they shared their testimonies was SO strong!  The dad went from smoking and drinking one day, to getting married and being baptized.  They feel the spirit and have the desire to share these same blessings with others.  They´re working to go to the temple.  It is absolutely amazing the change the gospel has on the lives of everyone who lives it!  It brings so much more peace and happiness to our lives :)

oh and the pictures attached are from the zone conference that we had.  One is just our zone of Juiz de Fora and the other is our zone with the zone of Volta Redonda.  These are the other sisters that we are working with and doing splits with :)

zone photo 2