Naceu um Batizador!

WOOOOHOOOO!!! This week was awesome!!! On Tuesday, last week, we finally got our investigator to commit to baptism!!! After 70 years of being a strong Catholic and her son being a member we were the missionaries that were able to help her make the first step towards being an eternal family with her son. I am soooo excited for her to be able to go to the temple and experience all of the wonderful things within! Her name is Terezinha and she was just baptized last Sunday and her son got to baptize her! It really was very very special to watch and experience the spirit that was permeating (English, I still got it) throughout that meeting. This past week a lot happened actually, but that was just the highlight! We also had a black out here in Brazil. 70% of the country! It was super duper scary during the night but nothing bad happened. I just tripped a billion times which wasnt that bad. My companion and I bought a giant box of Açaí which is delicious and I never saw before I came here, but apparently they have it in California. Its super good and like a snow cone kinda...I dont know, but its delicious. Also my "mom" on the mission Sister Oliveira made me a planner which is THE COOLEST planner in this mission! So I took a picture to share. I also came to realize this week that I got my cooking skills from my mom...which was really funny cause I left chicken on the stove for a SUPER long time and it was super dry (thanks mom). Anyway,  this week was awesome and seeing the Lord blessing families and me realizing the blessing I have in my family is just about the best thing that I have experienced in my life. It really is a blessing to have been born in the church and I truely do love this gospel and all it offers, especially to families. Also, the Relief Society President made me a Gluten Free cake that was SUPER DUPER good, it was amazing. You're welcome mom for all the pictures <3 

Ohhh I forgot!!! General Conference is next week too and I am SUPER Excited to hear the prophet and apostles speak! More than I ever have! Hope everyone has a great week and listens to the modern revelation thats coming this next week! 

Love you guys! Tchau

1. Blackout

2. My good side with açaí

3. Baptism

4. Outside of my planner

The Weasley's

I can't even start to explain how much this next analogy I feel is true. The people here have accepted me into their world and helped me to understand their culture and their language, just like the Weasley's accepted Harry and helped him to understand the wizarding world. It's so crazy how much love I have already felt from the people here. Last night we were invited over for dinner with one of the families in the ward and the mom made us some gluten free fried chicken! ITS BEEN SOOO LONG SINCE I HAD FRIED CHICKEN!!! It was awesome! This same mom makes me some gluten free bread so I can also partake of the sacrament without worrying about the bread. For those of you who don't know, the sacrament is a way (in our church) for us to renew covenants and remember the Savior every week by partaking of water in resemblance of the blood of the Savior that he shed for us, and the bread represents his flesh in which he willingly sacrificed to make it possible for us to overcome sin and to return to our Heavenly Father again. This woman in our ward has helped me so much and has made it so easy for me to remember the Savior in my life. 

In other news, my companion and I put on THE BEST ACTIVITY EVER!!! We went around the church hiding tiny slips of paper with small verses on them that led to other parts of the building. We had 2 teams that were competing to see who could finish the treasure hunt first. At the end of the treasure hunt was the baptismal font and we talked about the importance of baptism. BUT it wasn't us who made it the best activity ever. It was the people participating. Everyone got SUPER excited to go and do the treasure hunt. They ran from place to place trying to win and get to the end first. I felt like a parent on Easter watching kids run around and find eggs or something! The best part was that it was almost all adults looking for these little scripture marks! Sometimes I think our pride gets in the way of us having fun back in the states... I feel like a lot of people don't let themselves get excited about small things like that. I think this was a good reminder for me especially to enjoy the little things and let myself be excited like a kid every once in a while! So, I hope you all can do that too and let this remind you not to take everything too seriously and don't forget to let yourself have fun! Don't let your pride get in the way and let yourself enjoy life! Until Next Week Tchau! 

The Mirror of Erised

Man, oh man! The metaphor for this week is for those who know Harry Potter really well! But, don't worry, I will also explain so everyone can understand and follow along! So, this week I've been thinking about where I want to be in the future and who I want to be. This week we had a man who had served a mission and understands the gospel and understands the principles within with his entire heart and soul. It is very apparent that he loves his family so much. Anyway, he approached us this Sunday and was talking about his mom as a referral to give us...which was super important to him because its his mom. He came to to ask if we would teach her because he feels as if she is ready to learn the gospel. We had already visited this woman and she was very respectful and had spoken with missionaries before, but had never been baptized. The man who came to us shared with us what he most desired to have an eternal family. So, we are going to go by and visit her again to see if things have changed. The point of me sharing this story is that, for me, seeing this man's faith and seeing what he desires most (that's where the mirror of Erised comes in...it shows you what you most desire) really made me think of my priorities and what the sincere desires of my heart are. This helped me a lot in the past day-ish of self reflection. Just to figure out my priorities and where they lay. I invite all of you to do the same thing and to reflect on what is truly important to you AND if you need to change then change. If we truly desire to become something, then we will put all of our efforts towards being that thing. Self reflection has brought about a lot of good changes in my life and I'm sure will continue to in the future. 

Other than this experience, my week has been full of lessons and contacts like normal. We have one investigator that is SOOO close to baptism! We've gotten so close to her that she calls us her grand kids! It's super touching to feel that close with this investigator. Hopefully we will be able to baptize her before this first transfer is over! The next transfer happens in the next 2 weeks! Not a lot has changed though. We are working hard and trying to reach out to everyone we can! Talk more next week!

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