April 30, 2012

So this week was another kinda rough week, but also a good one. The rough comes from the language and how I am not really able to speak to anyone or really express myself. But at the same time I am able to say most of what I want to say during lessons and I can see that they have had an impact in the peoples lives that I am teaching. This week we had two investigators express to us that they felt the spirit touch their hearts as we taught them and they were so excited to learn more and to hear more. Sadly it is difficult to have them keep their commitments we give them. One investigator called Raimunda said she knew what we were teaching her about the restoration was true and that she really wanted to read the Book of Mormon. We made a commitment to her to go to church on Sunday. Sadly she did not show so we went to her house and she was not home. This is hard especially when they show so much love and interest in the church. But we will continue to keep working with her for baptism. Another good story happened yesterday. We went to a members’ house planning to show them a video about Christ coming to the Americas. One of the friends of the member was there and she watched the video with us. She was touched by the video and desired to know more. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she said she wanted to learn more for her and her two daughters.
It is also amazing to see how the Lord gives us the gift of tongues. During regular conversation I cannot usually follow most of what is being said (especially in church), but when we teach a lesson I am usually able to understand almost everything and I can understand where each person needs help and I am usually able to help them and touch their hearts. These small moments make this mission so amazing. As I said earlier this week was still a rough one. To be honest I have not gotten a full nights’ sleep in over a month and it is starting to take its toll. I called the doctor and he was able to suggest some medicine that would help for the next few days until I can talk to someone and see if I can work over my anxiety so I can get some real sleep (don’t worry the pills aren’t sleeping pills and non addictive). I took some last night and I was able to sleep through most of the night, thankfully. One more thing I learned this week is people have agency. Often times when we would make a street contact and if a person said they were interested they would then give us a false phone number and home address. We would schedule an appointment with them and when we went to their house there actually was no house or street. This is frustrating cause often times the houses are really far away and sometimes up really big hills (there are a lot of really big hills here). But still the lessons we do actually get to teach are amazing and it makes it all worth it.
Another great thing that happened this week was we had a meeting for all new leaders in the mission as well as for all new missionaries in Sorocaba. We were able to have our mission president speak to us (he is super smart). It was in Portuguese though so I did not understand all of it and I still have a lot of questions I want to ask him next time I see him. But one of the things I did catch is that the law of obedience and the law of sacrifice are one in the same law. For we cannot be truly obedient unless we sacrifice something. Every action we take requires some form of sacrifice, and to be obedient we always have to give up something whether it is time, money or effort. But when we are obedient is when the Lord can truly bless us, in fact it is the only way the Lord can bless us. For we cannot be blessed if we are not obedient. There was much more said about that subject in the meeting but again I couldn’t understand it all. I will talk more about it later once I know more.

Now this next part is very important and everyone must participate if they want to talk to me on Mother’s Day. Now the best time for me talk has been changed to around 4 or 5 my time. From what I can see there is a two hour time difference between here and SC in that I am two (2) hours AHEAD of you guys. Therefore for UT I am four (4) hours ahead. Therefore when I can call it will be around 2 or 3 SC time and 12 or 1 Utah time. Please respond and let me know if this is ok or not or if we need to change the time. Also since I cannot really check this myself can you guys go online and double check to make sure my times are right. I want to talk to everyone and I don’t want it to be because we got our times wrong. So please check and send me an email whether or not you can talk to me. The day will be SUNDAY the 13th. It will be through SKYPE. I am not 100 percent sure on what my Skype name is but Kyrie and Christy should have it, so get in touch with them about it. I want to talk to everyone. Anyways I hope you all have a good week and I will do my best to have a better one this week. I love you all and I am looking forward to talking to you all. Tell Ella congratulations on her baptism. I really wish I could be there to see it! Love you all!!!

Oh and about the pics. The first is me in my room with my friend from Chile; the next is with my two new Brazilian roommates. And the last is with my friend from Cape Verde an island chain off the coast of Africa; he worked as a dive master for a motel there and has a bunch of other cool stories. He is the only one in his family who is a member and has been in the church for I think 3 years before he decided to give two years of his life to be a missionary. Anyways Remember to EMAIL ME about TALKING.