Monday, September 21, 2015

Sharing Our Gifts

Olá, pessoal :) Esta semana foi difícil mas foi boa!! Sister Amaral is awesome and I love her, we're drinking (drinking? would that be the right word to use?...weird... #tomando) lots of chimarrão these days, today I bought my own cuia :D Excited to use it <3

This week we've been looking for lots of new people to teach. And also preparing the future leaders of the branch here :) We're excited because the sister of some converts recently moved here, the converts are going to move to our apartment building this week so we're planning on baptizing their sister ;) they're super excited haha 😉

This Sunday was a super spiritual day for me. I conducted the hymns (the usual;) and the night before Elder told me that they wanted me to sing a special musical number to bring more spirit to the meeting...and as we are just in a little white house with no piano, and you can't play the guitar in sacrament meeting...I took a hymnbook to the pulpit and sang Creio em Cristo (I Believe in Christ) with no accompaniment. A super spiritual experience for me to be able to stand at the front of the sacrament room and see all of the people I love so much sitting together...with our investigators who came to church too <3 That they were a miracle! ❤

We found Alex and Hilda and their family this week. Their story is incredible to me. When we entered into their home and sat down with them, Alex said "These Mormons found me again???" that just made us laugh :) Alex has already met the missionaries in São Paulo, Piauí (other state), Brasília and now Cristalina. The Elders have already visited them some times, but they never went to church so the elders stopped visiting them. But this day we talked with them and he truly seemed interested, said he would come to church on Sunday. We read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with them and they promsied to bring their whole family to Church on Sunday. We said we would go pick them up before church.

Sunday morning we had 3 different houses to pick people up, making our routes to take everyone to the chapel... and it didn't work out to pick up Alex and his family because they live far away from the others. So we called them on the payphone (out of credits;) to see if they would come to church. He said they were already on their way. Sooo yeah we didn't believe they were actually going to come, right?

But they came in during the sacrament and sat down...and every time this happens I just look to the small painting of the Savior that hangs on the front wall and it just makes me cry to see how good God is that He really does touch His children. <3 I know that this work is truly His! 😊

We visited Cleia, it's been almost 2 weeks since we've been able to teach her since she went to Brasília to be with her brother who was going to do a surgery. We went to see her on Wednesday, and it was definitely one of the most interesting experiences I have ever had. As we clapped outside her gate, she popped out of the house in the front and invited us to come inside, that they were praying...it was a prayer group of the Catholic church. So we stood quietly watching them praying, holding their crosses and saying their prayers. I think we must have waited about 7 minutes before they stopped praying enough for us to have time to go and compliment everybody and sit on the couch. We introduced ourselves as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explained a little about the work that we do...and they started right into the scriptures #apostasia again, something in Luke. We commented when she opened it up to comments. But to make the story short...in about 30 minutes, we talked for about 3 minutes total. At the end of the 'prayer group' I asked if I could offer a prayer. I asked everybody to kneel with me, and I gave a heartfelt prayer hoping that somebody in that room felt something. Especially Cleia, since she was progressing so much before she went to Brasília.

We visited her on Saturday, and in these past 2 weeks she's really felt a part of the Catholic church again. I know that the enemy works on people. Because when we met her, she told us that she had been born in the Catholic church but that she didn't go to church and didn't participate or anything like that...but the enemy really has been working on her lately. Because now she tells us about the 'responsabilites' she has again in the church, that she just went to church with us that time because she felt like she owed us for the visit...but I know that she felt the Spirit and that she was really starting to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.
But we taught her a super powerful lesson of the Plan of Salvation, she had lots of questions and was super curious, she said that she believes in everything because we're able to show her everything in the Bible. And that she feels the Spirit when we're there. She said that she would go to church on Sunday but had some niece's birthday party...anyway. We're going to go there later today to see how she's doing and if we're going to keep visiting her.

It was hard for us to find our investigator drunk last night, that he had promised us that he would go to church and we even went to his house to pick him up (and yes, of course on foot;) and he told us he wouldn't be able to go. He was in pretty bad shape. But we told him that if he wants to change he can through Jesus Christ... the life of a missionary is sooooo crazy to me I love it :) ⌚

And after church on Sunday we had a meeting with members of the High Council, we met our new Bishop Rodrigo (the Jardim Ingá Ward) he is a super good man, super humble. I love his wife, she's one of the greatest ladies I've ever met :) Sister Amaral is going to be an assistant to Aline with the young women, and I'm going to help Paula in the Relief Society <3 Paula with about 3 weeks of being baptized has already received a calling in the RS, I'm so excited for her. I know that it's going to be a stretch, but she is SO capable and is going to bless so many lives!!!!
I've also been 'called' ;) to be in charge of the music on Sunday, I'll get to choose all of the hymns :D so excited. And now we have permission to use the CD player in sacrament meeting so we'll have accompaniment now during the music, such an exciting change for our little group! 🎼

I love talking with people about their spiritual lives. I love helping people. I love this work. I know that I have been called of God to invite them to know their Savior. I know that I was set apart by someone who holds authority. I know that everything that I am learning here is preparing me for something else. <3

Thank you for your prayers and your support. I truly feel of every single prayer that is said in my behalf, I am so so grateful 💜

Muitos amor (e beijos!)
Sister (Braz)Hill 🌎

No comments:

Post a Comment