21 YEARS OLD 👩‍🦳

Oiii

QUE SEMANA MILAGROSA!

I had an exchange with Sister Harmon this week! We are the same age on the mission and it was sooo fun. In the morning of the division we were walking to a random less active members house we had found in our area book (sorry they changed the name of the app and now it's called Preach My Gospel). Our DL had invited us to do more less active member work this week! and as we were walking down the street of the house, we started talking to this cute Brazilian lady heading the same direction. We talked to her and found out that she had just moved here with her family!! She was super interested in the Book of Mormon, and so we gave her a copy and we are going to go back to read it with her!! She walked into her house and the house she walked into was the address of the house were the supposed less active lady lived. We were kind of like The Lord really wanted us to talk to Jane today. We started walking up the street and this other nice looking Brazilian lady (I swear all of Brazil is moving here.) walked out of her house onto to her patio. We asked her if she knew the less active lady we were looking for. She said "no, but let me tell you something." She then immediately started crying. She said "I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I have been less active for 33 years... but I want to come back. We have lived in Portugal for 3 years now and the past couple weeks I have been trying to get my husband to go with me but he wouldn't. Ao ver vocês na rua, sei que Deus nunca nos abandona." We went up to her and hugged her and went inside and taught her and knelt down and blessed her home and left. I love these people. I love this gospel.

On Wednesday eu fiz anos I'm so old!! It was literally one of the best days of my mission. For lunch we went to the house of some of my favorite members in the whole world, Helena and Manuela, and I love them so so much. They had this fancy meal with brazilian lasagna and also brownies and ice cream it was so tender of them Im so grateful. And in the afternoon we had some of the most amaaaazing lessons. I love teaching!!

When I was serving here back in April, Sister Cornell and her comp found and started teaching a friend they had found because we works at the Burger King next to the chapel. And then I don't know what happened, they stopped teaching him and I left enfim. and then last transfer Sister Nielson and her comp passed him on the street and started teaching him again. A couple weeks later, he got in an accident and was hit by a car and has been in the hospital for the past month and a half and will stay there for at least one more. Sister Nielson said that his car accident has chaaanged him and now he wants to do all that he can to put God first in his life. We had a lesson with him and taught the doctrine of Christ and it was the easiest baptism invite and acceptance ever. "Will you be baptiii... "Sim!!" ...on dayy... "Sim!!" We marked his baptismal date for December 9th, praying that he'll be out of the hospital by then enough to go to church two times, because that will be the week before I go home

and then, we had a lesson with our friend Carlos!! and with our member friend Cicero!! Carlos is real life living proof of the power of Jesus Christ's Atonement!! I've seen the power of the Savior's Atonement work so many miracles throughout my mission, but I don't think I've ever seen this fast and drastic of change as I am seeing right now in Carlos' life. Carlos was a self on-line reference that the Elders in Porto started teaching but then passed him to us because he moved. In our first lesson with him 2 weeks ago he told us he needs a new life, a new life in Christ. And ever since then, he has been meeting with us every other day. That alone already shows how ready he is for the gospel. Our lesson on Wednesday was amazing because that was when I began to recognize the change that was taking place in his life. We taught a part of the plan of salvation up until the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit was sooo strong. You guys I can't wait to be in heaven so I can go back and relive this day I hope that'll be allowed one day. As we were all sitting there, the Spirit almost tangible, he told us how he absolutely loved church for his first time and that the whole rest of the Sunday, he could not stop crying. Not tears of sadness, but of happiness, because of the truth he felt while he was there. He told us he was so frustrated with himself for not being able to stop drinking wine 100 percent right away, but that after learning about the Savior's Atonement, he has a bigger perspective now - an eternal perspective. And I just sat there so amazed at his desire!! and determination!! to change and grow because very few people have that - even members of the church who have already made covenants with Heavenly Father. We read the baptismal covenant with Carlos in Mosiah 18 and asked him if this is the desire of his heart, and he said yes com certeza Right now, he is preparing himself for baptism on November 4th!

and then, we had a lesson with our friend Egon!! and our member friend Johnatus! Egon is a tender Brazilian guy we found on the street a couple weeks ago. When we met him on the street we talked about faith and read Alma 32 and then he went home and that night he ACTUALLY read the whole rest of the chapter and met with a couple days later saying that it was so inspired for the Lord to put us on his path. He applied the scriptures to his situation saying that we stopped and preached to him on the street (Alma 32:1) and that the chapter "enlarged his soul" (Alma 32:28). After having taught him about the doctrine of Christ, on Wednesday we finally got to teach him about the restoration. He finally understood the importance of the restoration of the priesthood and said to us after we recited the first vision, "Every time I am with you guys, I feel a burning in my heart. (I'm not kidding you guys that is the exact description that he gave.) I want to do things with the right authority." Egon accepted a baptism invite and is now preparing himself for baptism on November 11th!

This weekend we are supposed to have 3 baptisms!!! Guilherme and Josue Gonzaga and our old Portuguese friend Duarte! It's a looong story but we are very stressed and worried that the baptisms won't happen. We still need to teach Josue a lot of things but its hard because they live far and their phone is broken and Duarte is really old and can't remember who Joseph Smith is even though he really really wants to be baptized and we don't know if he'll pass the interview.

Soooo please pray that we will be able to teach everything to Guilherme and Josue before their baptism! Pray that Duarte will remember all the things we have taught and will pass his interview! Pray that Ed will recover and leave the hosptial asap so he can be baptized! Pray that Carlos will have the strength to keep the word of wisdom and be prepared to make a covenant with our Heavenly Father! Pray that Egon will remember the Spirit he felt and will go to church on Sunday!

Before I left for my mission, Mal showed me this song by the Nashville Tribute band and I love it and it's so cheesy and I cry every time I listen to it and it helps me appreciate how sacred this time is on the mission especially with all of the super amazing lessons we've had this week

"The hardest thing I ever loved to do

was letting go of everything I ever knew

19 of dreams left in my room

as I buttoned up the jacket of my suit.

The hardest word I ever learned to say

was goodbye to my mom and walk away

choking on my tie and on my tears

as I walked down the hall into those years.

The hardest tears I ever loved to cry

fell as I opened up my mouth and testified

between the tiny walls of strangers living rooms

the spirit told their hearts my words were true.