Tears and a Transfer.

I hope that this past week was great and that everything is going well for everyone. Transfers were yesterday, Sunday, September 23rd. I learned that I will be opening a new area and training a new sister coming from the CTM here in São Paulo. Also, I will start working with Sister Acosta as an assistant in the area of health  at the mission office in Vargas. I will be in the mission office tomorrow to meet the new sister missionary who will be my companion in Vargas. Opening an area means that the  missionaries are sent into the new  area with very little information; maybe an area book or binder that will contain some addresses and related, often limited contact information. This contact information was possibly left behind at some point prior, if and when the area was assigned to missionaries; new missionaries to the area will use that information the best that they can at first to hopefully seek out those prepared to accept and listen to their message. Thus, we will end up using maps and trying our best to use the addresses to navigate, and contact people. I have been told, and interesting enough that it rarely happens that a missionary, somewhat new gets to open  an area, and be a  trainer at the same time. Wish me luck!

I mentioned last week that our current house got flooded due to heavy rain. Well, we both feel very fortunate, blessed and a bit lucky that the flood mainly stayed in the kitchen and bathroom with little damage. Both of those rooms have tile so that worked out in our favor. We have not found a new house yet, however.

It has been a while since we have been able to talk to Vinicius and Joao Victor. They didn't or were not able to go to church yesterday but I have faith that Sister Linhares and her new companion will be able to continue to help them prepare for baptism soon. Guillherme is doing well but still is not committed to be baptized. Good news is that we were able to baptize this past week a young man named Alvaro. He was super excited and is an amazing young man! He is twenty-four years old and loves soccer and video games like many twenty-four year olds 😃. He takes care of his sister often. She has cerebral palsy and he does whatever it takes to care for his  family.

Alvaro's baptism, standing dressed in white.

It's super hard to say goodbye to everyone here because I spent so much time here and got to know many wonderful people. It's interesting because before your mission you know that you will come to love the people but you don't realize how much until you are here in the mission field. I have many great experiences and love all those that I have got to know. There is a particular young woman in our ward that is one of the sweetest people I know. She gave me tons of hugs and thanked me for everything. I will miss her and the many others that I grew to love so much! The kind of love you have for the people can only be described as the kind of love, to a degree, I imagine God has for each one of us.

Lots of responsibility for me now; however, I do have some doubts yet I know that I can't do this alone but I know that God can and will provide a way for me, with faith reach and rise-up to my potential! Best to each and  all of you! Thanks for your love and support.

Faith, Prayer, and Tender Mercies of God.

My first transfer here to Cursino to serve with Sister Lara we were teaching a young man named Vinicius. He was almost ready to be baptized but he and his family had to move all of a sudden. As a result we lost contact with him. During a recent missionary "blitz" the Sister missionaries from Maria Estela made a contact with a woman. She passed the missionaries what we thought was her address, however, she ended up giving them an erroneous address; it led us to the house that Vincius lives in now. Amazing! As Sister Linhares and I passed by another day to talk with Vinicius, his brother, João Victor opened the door. He is about twenty years old. As we started talking with him he began to ask questions that connected with the discussion of the Plan Of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. We stayed there and answered all of his questions and bore our testimonies. He then looked directly at me and asked, "What makes your church so wonderful? ...and what is one bad thing about your church?" I answered him with a few scriptures and bore my testimony! After we visited him, he said,  "I will go to your church."  He said that maybe one day he might serve a mission like us!

Yesterday, we felt a need to pass by the house of a teenage boy named Guillherme. We went there in the moment that his mom needed us. Her marriage is very difficult as her husband doesn't let her go to church, it makes life very difficult for her. She said that we brought a lot of joy and peace to their house. Her husband was also there and we are working with him to help him. I told her that everything has a purpose and I knew she and her husband needed our message. She said that she knew it was God that helped us know they needed help and to hear our message.

Sister Linhares and I being goofy.

I have thought of this recently, we will have trials, darkness, and "bumps in the road"; so we aren't always going to be happy but that living after the pattern of happiness we will eventually lead us to that true joy found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the Savior, Jesus Christ taught, “I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”

On a sad note, our house got flooded with all the rain that we recently had here. Also, there was an emergency transfer so two additional Sister Missionaries will be staying with us and working in our area this week. Mission transfers are this coming Sunday the 23rd;  so we will see what happens. All the Best!

"Your Heavenly Father knows that you will make mistakes. He knows that you will stumble—perhaps many times. This saddens Him, but He loves you. He does not wish to break your spirit. On the contrary, He desires that you rise up and become the person you were designed to be.

To that end, He sent His Son to this earth to illuminate the way and show us how to safely cross the stumbling blocks placed in our path. He has given us the gospel, which teaches the way of the disciple. It teaches us the things we must know, do, and be to walk in His light, following in the footsteps of His Beloved Son, our Savior."

(The Hope of God’s Light, Talk By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, April 2013 General Conference)

Two Weeks of Awesome!

Another couple of weeks flew by with lots of joys and a few downs 😃. There is always a lot to do and we are extremely busy - yet that's a good thing. Two weeks ago we were able to attend the São Paulo Temple  which was super awesome and a great blessing! However, all the missionaries were very tired to begin with;  we woke up at 4:30 am to get to where the buses were. As a result, we were exhausted that entire week - it was worth it though! We also had our interviews with President Acosta - I love him and his wife, Sister Acosta! He shared some great wisdom that I have written down; It has been a great strength to me as I have pondered and thought of his counsel.

Also, many great experiences these past two weeks! One day I was writing in my journal and a small paper that had an address fell out of the back of my journal. We visited this woman named Italia at that address and found out that she was baptized and grew up in the church but had lost her way after her daughter had died of cancer. She said we came in the right hour because she feels completely alone. Crazy enough she lived in the states some time ago. We will have lunch with her soon.

This past week we went and ate lunch with Italia. It has been difficult and hard for her because she lives alone. She has had some difficult trials for many years and we are trying our best to help her. We ate lunch with her and stayed there with her for about three hours. We joked and ate but most of all just listened. One of the many things you learn and strengthen while serving a mission  is patience, a lot of patience and love. I know that the short time we were able to spend with her made her feel happy and she came to know that she is never alone. I know that with continued faith in the Savior all that her burdens and trials will get better. We will be calling her in the next few days to make sure she is doing okay. She is an amazing woman! I can see her being a young women's leader one day!

We also received a reference and met a lady named Francisca. She said that her nephew went on a mission and has family members that are of our church. She said that she is still looking for the truth and the right church but nothing seems to be speaking to her heart. She said that in the very hour she was praying for God to orient her we knocked on her door.
Also, Francisca works a lot and lives really far from us so we call her to check up and see how she is doing. She said that she is praying about our message to know of its truthfulness and power. I know that she will receive an answer with continued faith because God always answers prayers in his due time and is always listening.

Another of our investigators has been burdened with some trials and has not wanted to talk with us or listen to our messages but I am not going to give up on her because I know that Christ would not. She needs our message more than anyone and I want to help her feel how much God loves her. He has a purpose and plan and more joy in store for her than what she knows or expects.

Patricia was confirmed and is now a member of the church! She said that she felt happy and light after she was confirmed. On Tuesday it rained a ton and I mean buckets and buckets of rain!  We were soaked but were able to talk to many people and they listened to our message; even stopped what they were doing just because they admired our courage to spread the gospel while doing it in the rain!  We also had a "blitz" in our area which means that the Sisters and Elders in our district stayed in our area and helped us find new people to teach. We did this for two hours. We were able to find a lot of amazing people and found twenty-eight new people to teach which is more than our goal! We found a teenager that is eighteen that wants to be baptized, and another teenager that's seventeen, whose name is Daniel whose ready to be baptized, and and a man named Jurandi that is ready to be baptized - truly amazing!

I learned this week that none of the blessings we receive are ever deserved, because we as humans are incredibly imperfect. But our Father in Heaven who is one-hundred percent perfect loves us perfectly and blesses us despite our imperfections. When we are trying our best and trusting in the Savior he will always help us. Miracles really do happen and the Gospel changes lives! Even though the mission is very, very difficult at times it is a once in a life time experience to learn more about the Savior and walk with Him side by side. I realized that the miracles on the mission are the people and how the gospel changes ones life. It's hard at times to keep all the stories and experiences and names and responsibilities straight but they are all so unique. Each persons story changes me and helps me to see God's hand in all of their lives. Each of us truly are miraculous!

Sister Acosta also said that probably the next transfer I will be helping her and Pres. Acosta as an assistant to the health organization here in our specific church mission. So I will be working directly with Sister Acosta and a medical doctor here. I will do two weeks of training to be able to address the possible health difficulties missionaries might have. They will call me directly if a missionary is sick or needs to go the hospital and I will direct them to the treatment or help necessary. I also teach English to members here. I will be busy, for sure.

Recently we had a family night that was a ton of fun with Patricia and her brother Naldo! We shared a message and played UNO© with the Elders as well and was a blast. Reminds me of all the game nights we had at home and playing Skipbo©!

Another investigator shared with us how hard it was for her when her mom passed away when she was younger. She recognized us as servants of God because my name is Marissa and her mom's name is Marissa. We talked with her of God's Plan of Happiness. Also, we are trying to get her to start praying and exercising faith. She has two adorable little kids and only needs to see the little miracles and love God gives her. This may be a long process but I know in time she will feel and recognize God's love again.

We are very busy but loving it! Thanks for your love, support and prayers.