Oct. 12, 2015
Well, I made it to the field!!! I absolutely love it here in Cotia, Brasil (pronounced Cochea)
I didn´t think I would love being a missionary/teacher this much, but I really do!!
As for my surroundings, the streets are more like mountains I get the fun opportunity to climb up and down every day.
Let´s just say my calves get quite the work out every single day, so I use my physical activity every day to stretch! On top of that, it´s spring time, and REALLY HOT, so I´m burning calories every minute!
Also, many of the homes are colorful, and the apartments are white.
The people here are amazing, my companion is the perfect trainer for me, and the food is to die for (yes, I know, a bit of a problem...).
My companion is
amazing! She is from Rio de Janeiro, and she is exactly obedient, and organized
in every way. I am her first American companion, so I´m pretty sure that´s
probably a bit of a challenge for her. But she is absolutely patient with me,
and we laugh about several things throughout the day together. She is amazing at
giving analogies during lessons that are applicable to the people we teach, and
she always teaches with sincerity and love in her heart for others; she never
fights over doctrine, but defends the truth with grace and integrity.
We have
three elect investigators named Leonardo, Bianca, and Geovana who are about 16
years old, and have accepted baptism for the 25th of October!!! I absolutely
love them! They have a strong desire to read the Book of Mormon! My companion
and I only had one book of mormon to give them the day we taught them about the
Restoration, and they practically raced to grab it out of our hands because they
were so eager to read it. We´re going to give each of them their own pretty soon
haha. It´s so interesting that whenever I teach Brasileiros, they sit forward in
their chairs and really have a desire to listen to me....it´s probably because I
struggle a bit with the language haha, but I like to think it´s the Spirit
touching their hearts.
This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to bear
my testimony in our Ward, Cotia 2, and I felt so much love in my heart for the
members there, that I cried. The Spirit touched my heart, and I knew that
the Church is the same everywhere. MANY members shared their testimonies in our
ward. It´s incredible how strong their testimonies are here!!
During my first or
second day here, we taught a man named Ivan who has always rejected the help of
missionaries to teach him in preparation for baptism. He also has a smoking
problem, and it´s very difficult for him to quit. A scripture came to my mind
when my companion told me about him before we taught our lesson, and I shared it
with him one night (my first lesson with him). In 2 Nefi 31: 5 (i think that´s
the reference), it talks about the importance of Christ being baptized even
though he was without sin, and how much more need we have to be baptized because
we are imperfect. Anyway, he didn´t commit to a date for baptism, but he
committed to let us help him in preparation for it!! BREAKTHROUGH!! We´re going
to eat dinner/share a message with him and his family tomorrow night about the
Plan of Salvation, and we´re going to create a Quit-Smoking calendar for him as
well. Oh, and here in Brasil, we eat lunch every day with members--it´s
amazing!!! The people here are so loving and kind, and I am loving every moment
being here.
EU AMO VOCÉS!!! I hope you
are all doing well, and know that I pray for you every day!!!
MUCH LOVE!!!!
SISTER HARRIS
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