Oi, familia e amigos!!

 

This week was great and full of lots of stuff. Always too much to stuff to write about! But here are some highlights:

 

WE GOT TO GO PROSELYTING THIS WEEK. Yeah. Me and Sister Heck and the other missionaries got to talk to REAL PEOPLE. And give away 4 BOMs!! We had so many great experiences in those three hours, but let me just share a couple that really struck me while we were proselyting.

1. We were speaking with this man who had no teeth (he said he had gotten in a fight), and we couldn't really understand anything he was saying to us. But we knew he loved God and the Bible...after speaking with him for about 20, 25 minutes...I just felt impressed to bear my testimony. I told him how much his Heavenly Father loves and cares about him, and that he is also loved by his Savior!! I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. He was tearing up a little bit...he asked how much to pay for the book. Such an amazing thing to tell him that it's FREE, a gift for him. <3

2. On the bus back to the CTM, me and Sister Heck sat on opposite sides of the bus because it was so full. I sat down by this gentleman who seemed kind of quiet. I felt impressed to talk to him...so I started making small talk, in my oh-so-horrible Portuguese...we got some communication going, he works in downtown Sao Paulo, was just heading home. I told him that we're missionaries for the Church, a great way to start convo about religion is to ask them if they're ever heard about the church. Anyway, I learn about this man that he believes in God, Christ, the Bible, everything...but doesn't belong to any specific religion because there is much confusion, so many different churches...sound like anybody familiar? (hint: Joseph Smith!!) I loved this man, I felt such love for him. I talked with him about the church, how we believe God is our loving Heavenly Father who loves him and knows him personally...I talked about he restoration with him for a little bit. He asked if we worship Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ (this is a common belief in Brasil), I told him Jesus Christ. I loved saying that!! We believe in JESUS CHRIST! It's funny, so many things we share out here are in the Articles of Faith...read the AOF!! They're so true, they're so simple like our gospel is!! But I loved talking with him about what we believe, why we're different...I gave him a Restoration pamphlet and a card to get a Book of Mormon (we had given all of our BOMs away, I bought some passalong cards at the Distribution Center).

It's so hard for me to plant these seeds and not see where any of them go...it's hard!! But I know that's how a looooot of my mission is going to be. So I gotta get used to it, right?

 

Here at the CTM I'm now known as the Sister who can play piano...seriously, people have come up to me and are like "Oh, so-and-so told me you play the piano amazingly!!!" So Sister Heck asked if I knew how to play a specific song, the topic came up that I can play any song by ear if I know it, and just improvise to make it sound good...long story short, one song turned into 45 minutes of taking requests from 30 different Elders from three different districts. Music is definitely one of the hugest things from home I miss every day, so playing the piano for me is the highlight of my day. <3 <3 <3 I love it.

I'm also practicing the flute to play for a devotional coming up!! Sister Hale had one and asked if I'd play it. I'm grateful for my talents here:)

 

Have a wonderful week!! Muito amor de Brasil!

 

Sister Hill