Week 30

HEY YALL!

Oh my heck. I am a bundle of TONS of emotions right now!!! BECAUSE TRANSFERS!!!!!  (When we switch companions every 6 weeks)  and your Sister Councill is going to train!!!!!!  AHCK.  Oh my heck. I am excited and nervous and excited and nervous all at once!  Basically what this means is that I´ll be the companion of a new missionary, so I´ll be teaching her how to #mission haha 🙂  Prayers. Lots of prayers for me pleaseeeeeeee

Well this week was great! I am going to miss Sister Ferreira a ton.  She was a really fun companion :D  This week we finally carried our cameras with us for a few of the days, so I have TONS of photos to send to yalllllll.

But this week (and actually the last few weeks as well) I learned two main things:

1.  People have their own agency, and God has His own plans

2.  Missionaries CANNOT be successful w/out help from the members

So we have an investigator named Eliane. Sister Ferreira and Sister Martinez started teaching her before I arrived in Fazenda.  She´s had a really hard life.  But she is an incredible person. Sister Ferreira and Sister Martinez tried marking a baptismal date for her two times before I arrived.  And we marked a date for her as well. Everything was great, but then she didn´t pass her interview.  (To explain, everyone who is going to be baptized has to have an "interview" or a conversation with an Elder to make sure that they really are ready to be baptized, because baptism is something very important that can´t be taken lightly) And now, Eliane doesn´t even want to think about baptism.  It makes me really sad to see how everything has turned out, BUT I´ve learned from this experience that everyone has their own agency, and that God´s plans are bigger than ours.  

I´ve also been learning that all the work I do as a missionary goes to waste, if the members don´t help in the conversion process.  Something to think about is that, most times an investigator will only give church ONE shot. And that one time can make it or break it.  Sister Ferreira and I have three investigators who aren´t willing to go back to church because they didn´t feel welcome.  SO please please please, whatever church you belong to, when you see a face you don´t recognize, go up and introduce yourself.  Say hi, make a new friend.  Because this really does make a difference 🙂  Also, for all of you that own a copy of Preach My Gospel, you should read ch. 13, because it´s AWESOME.

Last night we had Ward Council ( a meeting with the Leaders in the church here) and I just got this GREAT feeling of awe and gratitude for missionary work.  To me it´s incredible to think that there are literally missinoaries, members, leaders, Bishops in all parts of the world, who are working to built the Kingdom of God.  I have no doubts that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Lord´s Kingdom here on the Earth.  And I am SO happy to be living my life right now in Brasil as a missionary.

Eu amo Meu Salvador.  

Eu amo Meu Pai Celestial.  

E eu amo a Igreja verdadeira- a Igreja de Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias. 

Eu sei do fundo do meu coração, que esta Igreja é VERDADEIRA. 

AMO VOCÊS,

xo Sister Councill