Christmas miracles!!!

                                                                                                           Dec. 19, 2016

 

Hi Family,

So, this past week, I lost my voice again (I think it´s the third time in the mission) because I think I´ve been working too hard that my body can´t take anymore, and my immune system shuts down. However, I learned a lot after losing my voice. 1) I can sing a lot lower when it happens, and 2) I can´t stand not being able to talk in the mission. 

I feel as though I´ve changed a lot from the beginning of my mission, because I normally didn´t say anything at lunches to get to know the members, but at the end of the mission, it´s such a burden to lose my voice and not be able to share the gospel with others like normal, or find out more about their personal lives. I don´t think I´ve realized how much I´ve changed until now.

Also, please pray that I´ll be able to sing well this Wednesday in the mission talent show and regain all of my voice back. It´s almost completely healed, but it could be better. 

 

This past week, I saw so many miracles. I think that it´s only when we are most weak in our lives that we see Heavenly Father´s hand constantly extended out to bless us. This week, because I had a small cold, I really depended a lot on my Heavenly Father for strength. I saw so many miracles because of it. I could feel the Spirit testify to me of the love that He had for the new investigators we taught, and I could see them as He sees them. 

 

One new investigator we are teaching is Francielle, a young woman who is 22 years old. She was a contact that we made one day on the street, who happens to be the friend of one of our past investigators. One day, we hadn´t planned to visit her, but we had planned to visit someone near her, and she happened to live right next door. We clapped our hands and called out for her neighbor, but she told us her neighbor wasn´t at home. She then said, but if you want to visit me, you can. We then marked a day to visit her (this past friday) and walked away, knowing that she was prepared to receive the gospel. On friday morning before lunch, we visited her, and she told us that she was looking for Heavenly Father in her life because her mom had passed away suddenly in January, and her dad had passed away when she was 13 years old, and she was wanting to make things right with God in her life. From her appearance, she doesn´t look like someone who really wants to obey Heavenly Father´s commandments. She has a lot of piercings on her ears and nose, and mouth, and you can tell she smokes because she has really large bags under her eyes. However, the Lord doesn´t look at our appearance, but looks at our heart.

We taught her about the plan of salvation--how one day she could reunite with her mom and her dad, and how Jesus Christ knew exactly what she was going through. At the end of the message, she accepted baptism, and she said, with certainty, that she would prepare to be baptized on the 7th of January. She told us that the message we shared brought a lot of peace to her heart, and she gave a sweet closing prayer at the end of the lesson. She told us that she was anxious to go to church on Sunday. 

After walking away from her house, I felt the Spirit confirm the truth that she was being prepared to receive the gospel. Her brother is evangelical, and had been telling her that the only way to find hope in her life was to look for Heavenly Father, and gain a relationship with Him. She had humbly asked for our help to search for God´s love the day that she asked us to visit her. She needed to know that she was not lost. That there was hope. Natalia, her friend who was a past investigator of the church, had told her about our church and what a good place it was, and her friend had planted another seed in her heart. 

After many seeds planted, she had decided to change. She had decided to turn her life around, little by little, and depend on the Savior for strength. It´s the only option that gives us hope. 

 

Unfortunately, Francielle wasn´t able to come to church this Sunday, but we have hope that she will come this next Sunday. We are going to visit her soon to discover why she didn´t come because she had promised us she´d be there on Saturday night. 

 

Also, this past week we had a wonderful Christmas Ward activity and a lot of less actives came!! Bruna, and her whole family, including her Dad, who isn´t able to come to church on Sundays because of his job, came to the activity.

 

We were able to get a picture with Aurea, Bruna's mom, who looks so beautiful and modest in her new dress. 

Here is a picture of our Ward Christmas activity, where we are doing a skit. The Bishop's wife, Leticia is in pink and the man sitting near the pulpit is the Bishop, Bispo Oliveira.


 

Also, Ivone, an elderly woman who´s 84 years old, who isn´t able to come to church on Sundays as well because of her health (she fainted the last time she came to church) came to church with her sister who isn´t a member.

Also, Cida, another less active member who hasn´t been to church for 6 months, came to the activity. The family that we have been integrating with Bruna´s family (Alessandra´s family) came to the activity and came to church this Sunday as well. Alessandra´s husband hasn´t been very active in the church, but he came to the activity, and then came to church on Sunday in a tux, and talked with Rogério, Bruna´s dad, in the Christmas activity.

Here is a picture of me with an Irmã in the Ward named Marlene
who has such a strong desire to share the gospel with others.

 

 

Unfortunately, Ernest and Eder won´t be able to be baptized because they really want their soon-to-be-wives in Haiti to come to Brasil so they can get married, and then be baptized. This is what´s truly right, and this is what means true conversion. Technically, if they commit themselves to living the law of chastity and getting married as soon as their ´´girlfriends´´ get here to brasil (because it takes a long time to receive a passport), they can be baptized, but this whole time we´ve been teaching them, I haven´t felt right about this. I´m glad they made the right decision to be married before getting baptized so that they don´t fall away from the church. They both have one 4-year-old daughter, and they really love their families. 

 

UNTIL SUNDAY!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!





We have the greatest message in the world!!

                                                                                                          Dec. 12, 2016

 

Hi Harris Family!! So, I´m super excited for this Christmas season!! It´s pretty hot here in Brasil, and it rains a lot, and I´m pretty tan, so it´s not my ideal Christmas season with a lot of snow and ice on the streets, but I´m loving it.

This past week I had the opportunity to go to the temple, and Heavenly Father told me that I had to be more unified with my companion and with the members in our Ward. This past week, I tried to see from the perspective of my companion. We decided to work more as a district to share messages with the members at lunch, asking them if they could strengthen less actives in the ward because we have been noticing that the visiting teacher program and home teacher program hasn´t been functioning as good as it should be, and that many less active or completely inactive members aren´t being visited by members, but only by missionaries. We are trying to change that.

This past week, I shared a message with a woman in our ward named Alessandra after lunch, who has been helping Aurea (bruna´s mom) come back to church, and has been integrating her more, being her friend, and always sending her invites to conferences/church.

I shared a message about service and how it is our responsibility to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and serve as he would as members of the church, and then invited her family to think of someone who is less active in the ward, or who sits alone in the ward without talking to anyone, and is just going through the motions. I then asked them if they knew anyone who was going through difficulties staying on the strait and perfect path to eternal life, and they mentioned some names. The mom, Alessandra, grabbed pieces of paper, and had her children (her son and teenage daughter) write down some names on a piece of paper, and she invited them to send them a message on their phone that same day, saying how much they missed seeing them in church.

In that lesson at lunch, I learned a great lesson. We have to encourage one another, in unity, to unify our Wards and Stakes and world as members of the church. Enduring to the end, as Aurea told us this past week, is one of the hardest steps because it includes a sincere desire to change, and it includes the courage to stand up for what is right in a world that stands for what is wrong.

This past week, we had a mission tour with Elder Aidukaitis, one of the members of the quorum of the seventy, who is working here in Brasil. He visited our mission, and told us what we could do to improve. He focused a lot on just having courage and being bold. We have the greatest message in the world--that one day, if we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and accept His restored Gospel, we can have eternal life and enter into the Kingdom of God. We can´t be afraid to open our mouths on the bus, or in any place we may be in. We have to be courageous in all that we do, and we have to stand for that which is true. This is the only true church on the face of this Earth, and I know it because Heavenly Father has told me so, numerous times through the Holy Ghost.

I love you all!! Fun fact: I´m preparing to participate in a talent show this Christmas in our mission Christmas activity! I´m going to sing with another Brasilian sister, Sister Pereira (who lives in our house here in Vargem) a medley of the two hymns, Come Thou Fount, and If You Could Hie to        Kolob. Our Christmas activity is on the 21st, and our ward Christmas dinner is this Saturday. So many exciting events going on!

Also, Ernest and Eder are preparing to be baptized on Christmas Eve. We are trying to work hard with them so that that can happen.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Never forget I pray for you all often!!

Heavenly Father answers our prayers!

                                                                                                               Dec. 6, 2016

Hi Family!!! So, I don´t have too much time, and I´m sorry I didn´t write you all yesterday. I forgot to warn you all that today is my P-day because I will be going to the temple. Because the temple doesn´t open on Mondays, we had to switch work days. 
















This past week Sister Salles and I saw so many miracles!!

5 of our investigators came to church, and we´re hoping that they keep coming!!

 
I have such a strong testimony of prayer!! If there is anything that I´ve learned from my mission, it´s that Heavenly Father answers our prayers when we pray with real intent, and with faith that he is going to bless us in whatever way he thinks is best for us.

 

This past weekend, I prayed so hard that our investigators could come to church. I prayed specifically for each one of them that we invited. I knew that Heavenly Father would provide a way for them to come, because they weren´t able to come last week. One of our investigators, a woman, we talked with on the street, named Maria, came because she was curious about the church, and, because she´s older, and doesn´t have the best of health, we arranged a ride for her from a member that lived close by, and she came.

 

Another investigator named Wilson is a man we taught only one time late at night, but that had been impressed by our willingness to leave behind our families for 1 year and a half just to serve the Lord and do His work. We found him on the street one night again, and talked to him. We had taught his wife as well, but he told us that she was really catholic, and that she didn´t want to change her religion. He told us that he wanted to visit the church in order to see how it is, and we invited him to the meeting. He told us that he would come if God wanted him to come. Heavenly Father certainly wanted him to come. He came with a huge smile on his face, and then realized that he knew a member of the Ward--a lady who cuts hair in our ward named Tai. He also met the Bishop, and told the Bishop that it seemed as though he already knew him--that his face was really familiar--yep, he already knew him from the pre-mortal life :) These two investigators had come before the meeting had started, but we had also invited Ernest and Eder (the Haitians) and Luis to come to church, and they told us they would come. I had prayed they would come and I knew that Heavenly Father wouldn´t let me down. He would provide a way. As I partook of the Sacrament, I continued to pray and pray and pray that Luis and Ernest and Eder would be able to come to church if it was Heavenly Father´s will. Shortly after the sacrament ended, Ernest and Eder walked in and sat next to me in white Sunday dress with big smiles on their faces. After the sacrament meeting, Luis walked in with a smile on his face. He didn´t have money on his card to pay for a bus, and he lives really far away from the Church (40 minutes by foot), and said that he came late, because he walked to church. Even though he knew he wouldn´t be able to make it for the whole meeting, he came on foot. He is one of my favorite investigators because of how little he has, but how big of a heart he gives to the Lord. 

 

Family, I wanted you to know that Heavenly Father ALWAYS provides a way for us to be happy in this life and to receive His numerous blessings. We have to trust that he is providing a way for others to keep the commandments just as he provides a way for us to accomplish the things which he has commanded us. 

Here are a few pictures taken on our visit with the Kostura family, a wonderful family in our Ward.




 



We have been finding a lot of new families to teach because we have been talking to everyone on the street about the church, and the light that Jesus Christ offers us :) Don´t be afraid to share with others your testimony of His goodness.

 

Funny fact: during the night this week, my companion heard me talk out loud in Portuguese this phrase: At the end of the lesson, could you all share your testimonies about eternal families? 

 

I didn´t know I dreamt in Portuguese haha