Tuesday, July 15, 2014

July 14, 2014

This week was awesome!!! Bittersweet because I got transferred! but I know there are great things ahead for me! Monday night we got invited to go to family home evening with the bishop. We brought Aldenora with us and it was wonderful! We are trying to help her make new friends, so having that family home evening was really good for her. The other sisters had an investigator there too and there was a ward member so it was a lot of fun! Tuesday was a good day! A little rough since Brasil had a game but we still got to teach one lesson! We taught our investigator Francealda. She didn't read the chapter we asked her to because she didn't remember what it was, but she read the intro to the Book of Mormon and a few other parts, so it's still awesome! She has a strong desire to learn and is really starting to change. Wednesday was awesome! In the morning we had zone and district meetings which were great! After lunch we had to drop Sister Lugen off at the Mission Office to do some visa stuff. While she did that we had a lesson with our investigators Elvira and Clara. We basically ran from the office to our appointment, so when I got there I was SOOO sweaty!!! I was really embarrassed, it's probably the sweatiest I've ever been on my mission haha! But the lesson was great! We taught about the Lord's Law of Chastity. After that we had another appointment with an investigator who the other sisters in our ward have been teaching a little. Her sister is leaving in a week or so on a mission. It was a good lesson and she will continue learning from the other sisters serving in our ward! After that lesson we had a lesson with our investigator Eylla. She is super awesome! She is engaged and we haven't met her fiance yet, but we really want to teach him too! They have a super strong relationship which really isn't common here in Brasil! Eylla said that her fiance wanted to date her for a whole year before she ever considered dating him, but once she really got to know him she liked him. It would be awesome if they joined the church because we need strong couples like them here in Brasil! After that we stopped and saw Hymudinha. We talked with her about agency. She is understanding better the more that we teach her but we still have to teach very simply, sort of like we are teaching a child. After that we saw Aldenora! We went over some of the vocabulary we use in church to help her understand more! She is still super strong and doing awesome! Thursday was good! A little rough in the afternoon but it all worked out! We walked and walked FOREVER and no one was home!!!! We were finally able to see Marlene, who was baptized in May. The sun was so hot that day and Marlene's apartment was nice and dark with a little breeze. We were all struggling to stay awake. I really don't think I've ever been that tired before in a lesson!! After seeing her we saw Francealda! She's doing really well. We read a little from the Book of Mormon and it was great! Her husband's Aunt, Maria Teresa, was there too. She lives with them and is pretty old and doesn't hear very well. At the end of the lesson I asked if we could pray. This is how the conversation turned out: me: ´´podemos orar?´´(can we pray?) maria teresa: ´´sim! chorar.´´ (yes, cry!) missionaries: ´´nao maria, ORAR.´´ (no, maria, pray.) It took us about 2 minutes for her to finally understand haha! She is a cutie. After that lesson we saw Thais and Aldenora. We talked about agency and responsibility. Thais is 16 and is a really good girl. We are trying to help Thais see the purpose of why we are here on earth. She understands what we teach and always loves what we share, but she also loves her friends that have different standards and its hard for her to change when she is hanging out with them. We´ll see what happens! I hope she can choose what is best for her! After that we took Aldenora to a lesson with us! It was awesome and she was able to share her feelings about her baptism and share her testimony. We then had a meeting with our ward mission leader and afterwards had a little party for one of the Elders birthday's! The Bishop's wife made a ridiculous amount of food and we had a blast! Friday afternoon was worse than Thursday teaching wise, but thanks to my awesome companions we had a blast! We were only able to teach 3 people but that's better than no one! Days like that day help me realize how important it is to have a positive attitude. Friday could have been miserable but we just all talked and laughed and enjoyed the moment! If we let the things around us determine our mood and our happiness, we will never be happy! But if we choose to be joyful and have fun we will have true happiness and life will be way more fun! Saturday was awesome! Especially for a day with a cup game. We taught one of our investigators, Sandra. We were thinking she wasn't super interested, but she was just really busy. We had a good lesson with her and then tried to see Francealda. When we stopped by, Maria Teresa told us that Francealda was in the hospital with her youngest son! So we went back to our apartment during the World Cup and after it ended we checked on Francealda again. Thankfully she was at home and her son is doing better! Sunday was crazy!! We talked to Thais earlier in the week and asked if we could wake her up for church on Sunday because whenever her mom tries to wake her up she doesn't! But when we went to go wake her up Aldenora told us she had been out until 5 in the morning so it would be pointless to have her come to church because she wouldn't have a good experience! So we went and picked up 2 other investigators and headed to church! We had lots of the people we are teaching come to church, which was awesome! Afterwards we taught our friend, Priscilla. She was baptized in March but stopped coming to church for a bit. Now she's coming back! The lesson with her was super cool. She asked us about the atonement. She hears the word a lot in church but didn't actually know what it meant. When we explained to her that Jesus suffered all the pains that all of us have she couldn't stop crying and she was just in shock that he would do that for us! It was really powerful for me because I grew up with this knowledge! It's definitely still amazing to me, but to see her reaction was so powerful! I am grateful I get to teach people the gospel because it reminds me of how blessed I am to have the knowledge that I do!! After that lesson we were able to see a few more people and then we had to come back home for transfer calls. We found out Sister Twitchell and I would leave the area and Sister Lugen would stay! So that brings us to today and where I'm at now! I'm serving here in Jardim Guanabara with Sister Downs! Shes an american too! She's been here for about 8 months but served in Denver North while waiting for her visa! I'm excited for the adventures that I'll have here and for all I will learn!! Portuguese is still pretty rough, but I do feel like I'm improving! It's weird because sometimes I feel like I can understand and speak just fine, but other times I'm just completely lost!! I love you all sooo much and hope your week is great! tchau! Sister Pehrson

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