Feeling so blessed in our new area!!!

                                                                                                           October 17, 2016
OI FAMÍLIA!!!!!

Sooooo, I will just say that I love Vargem Grande!! It is the complete opposite of Ferreira, and a lot like Cotia, but even more of a rural area. The people here are super receptive to the gospel, and they actually stop to listen to you on the streets instead of just saying they´re in a hurry or not even looking at you.

My new companion is Sis. Salles. She is serving here while waiting on her vista to serve in the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission. She is super sweet, and from Bela Horizonte, Brasil.



Sis. Salles and I visited a family that owned baby rabbits.

You can see them here in her lap. They were adorable!!

We live with two other sisters in our house named Sister Nunes and Sister Pereira--all Brasilians.

We made a yummy stroganoff meal for lunch one day.

 We also made an amazing dessert that´s called Palia Italiano.

 

One day we got lost trying to find our lunch appointment. We were practically in a jungle stepping over rivers. haha 

So yesterday, I got to talk in Church AGAIN on the first Sunday haha. This time, I had less time to prepare--2 minutes to think about it before sacrament began. It´s a blessing to talk in sacrament, but because it happened to me AGAIN on the first Sunday in a new area, I feel like I´m cursed haha. I actually should have seen it coming because I had asked the Bishop in the morning if there was anything else that I could do for him, and so I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting.

 

I spoke about personal revelation and the Holy Ghost because next week we´re going to have Stake Conference (in cotia--so I´ll see some members I know!!!!), and he wanted to prepare the members to receive revelation. I felt the Spirit as I spoke, and I shared with the members a few experiences I´ve had in the mission receiving answers to my prayers. 

One of them, was this past Wednesday. Sister Salles and I had prayed to find a family. That day, we were doing contacts on the street, and talking to everyone we saw. We decided to talk to two women who were sitting on the street talking to each other one afternoon. One of them, is the wife of a member, and has already been to the Church. Her name is Wanda. The other woman´s name is Daiane, and she hasn´t ever been to the Church before. We talked to them, and got their addresses, and marked a day to visit Daiane. We marked the following day to visit her, but, unfortunately, it rained, and we weren´t able to visit her because we got lost trying to find a member´s house for lunch one day. The next day, we found her daughter on the street (we didn´t know it was her daughter at first), but we talked to her, and she said we could visit her and her mom the next day. The following day, we went there, and Daiane told us that she had stopped going to her church because she had been offended by some of the people there. She said that she also really wanted to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost because she wanted to find more peace in her life. She told ust that the day we had talked to her on the street, she was talking to Wanda about our church, and wanda, who had already visited the church, had been talking to her about the church, and how she could find so much peace and comfort there. It wasn´t just a coincidence that we found her that day after she was talking to Wanda. 

At the end of the lesson, Sister Salles said the prayer, and asked that Daiane could feel peace in her life. Daiane began to cry during the prayer. Tonight we are going to visit her entire family, and we are going to invite them to be baptized. Miracles are real. She has a wonderful family, and she´s already married to her husband. 

 

Here are a few more pictures I want to share:

There are tons of frogs on the street
when it rains at night. (yuck) 

 

A picture of me with an Irmã in the Ward
named Taiana who is a hairstylist and
will soon cut my hair. I liked her shirt. 

Me with Vinícius and Maria Rita, two cute kids
of a family we are working with.

I´m loving Vargem Grande because it´s SO BEAUTIFUL!! I get to have an adventure every day here in this area. I love working with Sis. Salles! She has such a desire to baptize in this mission. She´s super optimistic, and together, we are seeing so many miracles in this area!!