"I Will Go and Serve the Lord!": Patience and Faith in Moving Forward

Sept. 19, 2016
Hi Family!!

We had our spelling bee for English class and it went great!

I want to share a couple of pictures...

Sis. Hall and I directing our spelling bee.

I think our English class really enjoyed this fun activity.

Crazy story!! Last night after a family night with a less active family, it was raining really hard, and we hadn´t brought umbrellas during the day because it was super hot in the morning and we figured it wouldn´t rain. It almost always rains after a really hot day, so we should have known. Anyway, the Irmã who we taught offered to give us a ride to our house because I wasn´t feeling very well (I got a little cough and cold and don´t really have my voice AGAIN haha), so we were planning on going home early. We then left her house and walked in her garage, and the Irmã told us to be careful because it was really wet and slippery. Immediately, right after she said that, my crocs slipped on the ground near a little staircase, and I lost my balance, and fell hard onto my right side on the step. I fell pretty hard near my hip/right tailbone, and I was just thinking--what other trials could I possibly go through? Sister Hall´s foot had been hurt, and I have been sick and, now I have a huge bruise on my side.

Anyway, Sister Hall and I just laughed about it later, and I´m grateful for the trials that I go through in the mission, because I just know they make me stronger.

As for Sister Hall´s foot, she got an x-ray recently, and President Thomas looked at it, and nothing was broken, just there was a lot of bleeding inside of the foot, so it´s still pretty swollen. However, it´s getting better, and she´s been walking on it a lot.

On Thursday we had a wonderful Sister Training meeting at Sis. Thomas's home. She led the meeting and it was so spiritual. It reminded me of our sweet experiences at Girls Camp. I love serving with these wonderful Sister leaders!

This past week, Aline told us that she still wanted to be baptized, but she didn´t know quite when, after her marriage, Leandro and her would be baptized. She wants to go to church more in order to prepare, but for some reason, she chooses not to go each Sunday because Leandro works on Sunday, and she wants to go with him. Please pray that they will be able to come this next Sunday!!

As for Elis--she hasn´t smoked one cigarette in 6 days!!! She bought a more expensive pad that you put on your arm or chest that helps take away nicotine from your body, and it helps her not have the desire to smoke. She said it´s been really hard to hold back the addiction, but she´s been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon to help her. She´s already finished the book of 1st Nephi, and is still reading more!! Yesterday, Natasha and Junior came to church with her, and they got all ready for church with dress clothes. They looked so cute!! I wish I had a picture to show you all, but they really looked like two mature adults who wanted to do what´s right in their lives. We gave the mission office Junior´s address, so hopefully they pass it to another mission so missionaries can teach him soon!! Also, Marcus now has his own Book of Mormon, and has been reading it. Each one of them treasures their Book of Mormon as if it were plates of gold. Tonight, we are going to try to mark Elis and Natasha for October 9th to be baptized.

As for Valeria and Fabio, they came to church yesterday, and Valeria doesn´t feel ready for baptism quite yet. We testified of repentance, and told her of the power of repentance to help us feel ready for baptism. Hopefully the next time we teach her, she will accept a date.

These families in Ferreira are so elect and we are excited for them to move forward and be baptized. We are learning to be patient and have faith that it is in the Lord's time frame.

LOVE YOU ALL!! Have a wonderful week!!

Below are photos from our Sister Meeting (all the sisters of the mission)