You could definitely say that
I learned some stuff.
Jóse and Luca:
So we have this recent convert
Jóse who just received the gift of the Holy Ghost and he mentioned how he
wanted us to teach his little 9 yr old son Luca - who is SO COOL. It has been
really interesting to be able to change and adapt the way we teach the gospel
in a way that Luca would understand and connect with. For example we were
teaching about prophets and Sister Soares related it to superheros and asked
Luca about his favorite superpower. She connected it with the fact that god
calls these men and gives them this amazing power called the priesthood to act
in His name and do miracles to help people. Needless to say he was totally
engrossed and excited about every part, it was the coolest thing!
Ok. Now about Jóse himself -
this guy is just the happiest person who loves traveling and adventures and
Tereré (which is kind of like mate that you drink with limão), but I mean this
guy is REALLY friendly right. So we get a call one night from our district
leader and it turns out that Jóse has actually been earnestly praying about
which of the 3 of us Sister missionaries he should choose as a WIFE. And the thing
is, at a first glance this guy totally looks like he is 30 maybe, but
he is literally 49 and has a daughter who is 21 (!!!). It's so
funny though because he is always giving us things like flowers he made from
palm leaves or bracelets de amazonia (Sister Carvalho got this beefy knife I'm
sure would make any boy scout jealous). It's seriously the funniest thing
sometimes how different the culture is here and how something like 10, 20,
THIRTY years age difference really isn't that uncommon.
So you're beggining to
understand how crazy my week has been right?
I really gained an
appreciation this week of the power of seeking the lone sheep that has wandered
from the fold. I really wanted to earnestly search and learn about all the
people who have been taught by missionaries in the past and also those that
were baptized but don't ever come to church anymore. Luckily missionaries are
really organized and we had a lot of information about these people like
addresses and an occasional phone number. So
with list in hand, we started knocking doors and really seeking the
sheep one-by-one. We found grandmas that are really too sick to stand let alone
walk 20 minutes to church or men that enjoy church well enough and the messages
there but choose to work a lot on Sundays to support their family. The sad
reality is that sometimes, the missionaries are the only people that ever
really showed an interest or love for these people and when the missionaries
leave and are transferred, these sheep fall by the wayside and are forgotten.
With every person, we shared our love and testimonies about the importance of
having continual faith on a daily basis, that we have to ACT on the faith that
we have and make sacrifices to show God that we really love Him, and the
importance and strength that comes from taking the sacrament each week. Wow it
was just the most profound experience I don't even have words for it.
It is so important that we are
aware and loving with every person we see. Every person on this earth in one
way or another has wandered from the fold, whether they need a friend, words of
encouragement, or someone to simply acknowledge that they are there and are
aware of them. God needs us to be His shepherds, to gather and love our
brothers and sisters, to really be disciples of Christ.
Try to think about a person
this week you can reach out to or a small sacrifice you can do to show God how
much you love Him, I promise that it will just fill your soul and give it a
warm squeeze :)
As always, sending my love
from Brasil (oh and pray that Jóse picks a
different sister please)
MUITO AMOR,
Sister Staheli
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| 9 yr old Luca |
