15 days until I come home!! I´m so excited and happy
and scared and sad all at the same time! I can´t believe how fast time has
gone, and how fast it´s still passing by. These last weeks of the mission are
amazing, but really challenging too! this last week was awesome! Full of fun
adventures and amazing spiritual experiences like always!
Monday night when preparation day ended we had the great privilege of
teaching our 19 year old investigator about God's Law of Chastity. As soon as
we said chastity he started cracking up!! But once he calmed down we began
teaching and he had lots of questions like, ´´Can I still kiss girls?´´
The best part was at the end when we invited him to obey this commandment.
He didn´t respond and gave us this weird look like he wanted to say something
but he wasn´t sure. He finally mouthed something that we didn´t understand and
once he saw that we weren´t getting it he whispered ´´Sisters. I´m already
obeying it. But don´t tell ANYONE!!´´ hahah I don´t know how Sister Cabana
and I kept from laughing out loud! It´s always an adventure teaching people.
The next day we taught another investigator. He was telling us all
the doubts he has about being baptized and we shared with him some scriptures
and thoughts to help him out. He´s from Rio Grande do Norte, which is about 6
hours north of Pecem. He left Wednesday to visit his family and he got
back Sunday night. We´re going to teach him tonight and he told us Tuesday
that he´d pray and think a lot during his trip and give us an answer tonight if
he will be baptized! I really hope that he got his answer because he´s
genuinely seeking the truth. After that we had an amazing lesson with Elizabeth
and Roberto, a couple we´re teaching. They both really loved church! He said the closing prayer and it was
so powerful. He is really changing a ton!
On Wednesday we taught our investigator Marquilene. She´s
doing well but that was the only day we got to teach her and we haven´t seen
her the rest of the week. We´ll try again tonight! We met a new investigator
that day, Nescy. she´s really sweet! She is a single mom and is struggling a
lot right now, but she wants to learn more about the gospel. She had a daughter
that passed away when she was about 2, so she has lots of questions about where
her daughter is and things like that. It still amazes me that there are so many
people prepared to hear the gospel that haven´t had the opportunity to talk to
the missionaries! We stopped and said bye to our iunvestigator before he left for his
trip and he said he´d read the Book of Mormon every day that he´s there! After
that we had a meeting that is caled Leitura, which is kind of like Institute (religious instruction).
Thursday was sooo awesome! Since Pecém is the interior of
Brasil, our area is HUGE! It includes more than just the city of Pecém. So we
went to this little city nearby called Taiba. It's right on the beach and is so
pretty! The people there are so sweet and open. The first door we knocked
on the lady just let us right in and was so excited to have us there! The
people in Taiba have never heard of the church and have never talked with
missionaries, so its like heaven for us! It's hard for the people there to get
to Pecém for church, but if we teach enough people, they could start a group
there. I think the church would grow a lot over there! When we got
back to Pecém we taught Elizabeth and Roberto. I thought seeing the ocean would
be the best part of my day, but the ocean didn´t even compare with how amazing
our lesson was with them! We watched The Restoration with them. I know
I´ve watched it about 8 thousand times on the mission, but it never gets old
and always brings the spirit! We bore testimony to them of how the Book of
Mormon will bless their lives and that they will receive answers to their prayers.
Elizabeth said the closing prayer and that was my favorite part. She asked her
husband for forgiveness and prayed for him to have the strength to make good choices. She said some really funny stuff too like ´´Help us to keep
being the great couple we are. I know I´m a great spouse for Roberto (long
pause...) and he´s a great husband for me too!´´ haha I love them. I
left their house and I was seriously on cloud nine! I love the
moments on the mission when I get to see people truly change their lives.
Elizabeth and Roberto are so much closer now! They are so much happier! I love seeing
the joy the gospel brings to peoples lives.
Friday was a little rough. It was a holiday here and everyone
and their mom was down at the beach for this big party. All our
appointments were falling through! But it was all a part of Heavenly Father´s
plan because we ended up finding some awesome new people to teach! We met this
lady Marta who is a hair dresser. She is awesome! Her daughter is a
member of our church, but doesn't attend very often. She´s going through a lot right now and said that before we got there,
She was praying and feeling really down, but that our visit really lifted her
spirits! At the end of the night we taught Nescy. She told
us about her experience when her baby daughter died and how she knew it was
God's will. She said that when we visit her that she feels
a lot of peace. We told her that that´s God telling her what we´re teaching is
true! I´m so excited to teach her more, especially the Plan of Salvation.
On Saturday the holiday continued so a lot of our plans fell
through again, but we were still able to meet some great new people and we
taught Roberto and Elizabeth again. We brought this magazine of the temples
with us and talked to them about eternal marriage. Roberto still isn´t sure if
he wants to get married, but Elizabeth really wants to. We talked to them about
how important it is that first they get married legally, but that the most
important part will be when they get sealed in the Temple. They promised to
talk more about marriage and we´re going back tomorrow night to follow up and
see what their plans are! We had a Branch activity that night at the Branch
President's house but there were only a few members that came. I wish more could have come!
We ate a delicious barbeque and made the best of it!
Sunday we spent the afternoon doing our round up for church,
but because of the holiday everybody was too tired to visit church or was
visiting family in another town. We had one investigator who came to church but
he ended up leaving early. We are not sure why he left. At the end
of the night we visited Roberto and Elizabeth. They were both tired and decided not to go to church, but they already promised to go
next week! I really hope that they do.
It's so weird how fast the time is going by. Today I woke up
and it was December! This week is my last ´´normal´´ week on the mission. Next
Friday I will leave Pecém and go to Aldeoata for my final
interview and stay there for the weekend. So crazy! Please keep me in your prayers. Have an amazing week!!
Love,
Sister Pehrson
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