Mon, 10 Aug 2009 : QUE semana, minha nossa

Dearest família,

First off, I LOVE getting fotos from people!!! Thank you everyone who has sent me some. Just try and shrink them down a little, so that they're under 1MB, because my mailbox does not have much space, and it gets filled up really quickly!!!

Also, don't send me forwards.

Anyway. Wow. What a week. Minha nossa. I´ll go chronologically to preserve sanity

MONDAY! We went to SERRA NEGRA!!!!! (observe fotos) Oh man, it was SO fun! It was Sis Lemos and I, the Elders in our ward (Stewart and Lucas), the elders in the other ward (Flaith and Halverson) and Elen, a recent convert and her sister Cris. It was a couple long bus rides and a beautiful hike and an absolutely breathtaking view (once again, look at those fotos!) Wow. We had a lot of fun, and i don´t think i´ve laughed that hard thus far on the mission. Elder Stewart and Elder Flaith together are absolutely hilarious.

TUESDAY! Was Zone Conference, and I got lots of letters from people, so that was great =] We had a lot fo good training and I gave an imprompteu talk in Portuguese and everyone was like “What the... Sister, you KNOW portuguese!” And we had a great lunch at the churrascuria after also. It also POURED, like it has the past two conferencias.

THURSDAY! We went to a members house to help her clean out a room in her house as a service project. Oh man, it was hilarious. It was full of JUNK, and me and Sis Lemos and Elder Stewart were like “JOGA TUDO!!!!” or “Throw it all away!!” and she was having a REALLY hard time letting us, because her husband died only a month and a half ago, and to her, this junk represented the sacrifices he made for her and her familia. But really..... it was junk. We’re talking old water bills from when they lived in Germany and puzzles that were missing half the pieces and things like that. She got really upset about halfway through and left.... And we just threw everything into the trash really fast and organized the rest into boxes and put it back in the room. It was pretty funny, because she came back and was like “You’re right, its junk, just chuck it” I wish I had before and after pictures, but I forgot my camera. We also found some hilarious old clothes that we had fun trying on. I’ll try and get those from Elder Lucas.

The rest of the week was filled with some awesome experiences. Sis Lemos and I discussed what we need to do to be better missionaries, and we decided Obedience is the key to everything. Its the key to having more faith and the key to getting blessings. We’re pretty obedient, but one thing we’ve been slacking on is getting home on time at night. So we prayed and said basically “we´re going to do this to be more obedient, we ask thee to bless us with this work”. And boy does the Lord bless people who truly seek his blessings. We were able to get the marriage papers for Joana and Leandro done and just so many other little things.

We´ve also noticed this week how much we’ve been guided by the Spirit in who we need to visit and what we need to say. Especially with Joana and Leandro, our cute little happy family. My goodness, we love that little family. Leandro is having a hard time because his mom doesnt like Joana, and at first she was fine with them getting married, but now she thinks its too rushed (even though theyve been together three years and have a baby). Its amazing HOW HARD the devil works against us. But we have God on our side, and with Him, we can´t fail. But Saturday night we had na appointment, but we randomly decided to go see Joana and Leandro. And we arrived right after they had a fight about Leandro’s mom. We were able to talk to them and help Leandro a lot. He really wants to get married, but he’s afraid of his parents. We also helped calm Joana down and smile. The Elders are helping a lot with Leandro, talking with him “Man to Man” or whatever. Its good =]

Also, we´ve been working with the members more this week. Last night we again randomly decided not to go to an area and went back to near our house. Sis lemos asked if there weere any members nearby, and at first I couldnt think of anyone, but then I remembered Dona Dora, who loves having the missionaries for lunch and is always anxious for the little spiritual message we leave after and is always quiet at church. I never really talked to her much except at lunch. So we went by, and again, arrived in the right houe—just in time for FHE! And her non-member husbannd, who usually doesnt participate, stayed, and really liked the message we shared. Dona Dora was sooooo excited to have us. She told us we’re welcome at any time to come by. I felt really good about that, and I know that the Lord guided us there too.

Então, familia, keep being great, keep reading the scriptures and PRAYING. Its those small things that make the difference between who is baptised and who isnt, and ultimately, who is saved and who isnt. I know that this work is a sacred work, and Im so happy to have a small part in it.

Fotos:

1 and 2) Sis Lemos and I being cool

3) Sis Lemos and I at Serra Negra!!!!!!

4) Elders Stewart, Flaith and Halverson

5 and 6) The view. AMAZING. I love beautiful green Brasil!

7) Elders Stewart and Flaith believing they can fly

8) The group (E. halverson, sis lemos, me, Elen, E. Lucas, Cris, E. Stewart and E Flaith)

9) Warriors of Zion

Until Next week, love you!