Every day I am appreciating more and more what it means to
be a missionary. It's funny because I was looking back at my old journal
entries and they all start with
WOW THIS DAY WAS SUCH A BLESSING.
or
WOW I'M TIRED.
or
WOW I MISS VEGIES.
(for real it's actually impressive at times their
pasta/rice/meat to vegies ratio, but they make up for it with their quality of
cocos (coconuts), guaiabas, (guava) and mangas (mangos) so
I guess it evens out somewhere ;)
But this week was really amazing in different ways - with the
people we taught and conversations we had, the amount of times I was able to
just laugh at myself and the situation I was in, and just the joy that comes
naturally from always striving to recognize the hand of the Lord in your
day.
BLESSING OF THE WEEK: We were able to get 7 (!!!!!!!!)
people we have been teaching in church yesterday!! Ok so maybe 4 of them were
under the age of 8 and were adorably crazy and restless during the Sacrament -
but what does that really matter?
1. So the biggest group was this family with a mom Aparacida
and her 15 year old daughter Alycya (who has a smoking addiction that started
when she was 11 YEARS OLD), and 4 youngin meninos (little
boys) Luiz, Pedro, Benjamin, and Itsãlo. Oh my gosh it was the funniest
thing. So we passed by their little home to grab them for church and the girls
were still getting ready so my companions say take the boys to Jóse while we
are waiting (who if you remember was the recent convert that prayed about us
). So I am walking, just me with these 3 little
boys all soaking wet from the rushed shower and I'm asking them what their
names are and how old they were and such right. So we pass this group of people
that are sitting eating and when they see me with all these kids without their
mom, they kind of freak right because this street is almost like a family -
everyone knows everyone, and they see the missionaries EVERY DAY and they are
already a little weary of the fact we are all from different
states/countries.
Oi, where are you taking them??
Where's their mom???
Where's their mom???
Which agitation only INCREASES when they see me round the
corner, herd them into the waiting running car with Jóse and return to check on
Aparacida, SEM CRIANCAS (without kids). Oh my
gosh never before had I really felt like I was legit kidnapping but man this
got pretty close. Imagina - the innocent Americana robando (stealing) toas as bebês (all
the babies) heh heh... #watchoutBrasil. But just imagine sacrament with
all these little boys who have never had to sit for so long - hinos (hymns) being destroyed left and right, "I
haven't had the water yet *drinks second cup*" and crawling underneath the
pews AHHH it was just the purest form of content chaos, but after much noise
and tearing of paper and thrown airplanes, we finally figured it out and each
missionary had her arm around one of the boys who were intently drawing or
focused on pictures of Christ in our panfletos (pamphlets)
and their sweet mom was finally able to actually listen to what was
being said.. ahh filled my heart amigos <3
One of the other people in church was GABI. And she really
is the most amazing, prepared person I have ever met. She is the neighbor of a
family in the ward and after the first lesson she goes, oh sorry I didn't have
much time to look at your panfletto and the scriptures in the Book of Mormon
because of school and work *pulls out 2 pages of annotations and questions and
proceeds to give a complete summary of the story of Joseph Smith and of Moroni
chapter 10* #dying. But she really has been prepared by the Lord and during the
lessons it was one of the first times that I actually didn't feel inhibited by
the language. Something this week that has really hit me is how apparent the
hand of the Lord is in the work of bringing His children home. He knew that
Gabi needed to hear these words and he enabled me to be a simple conduit of
those simple truths and the simple statement that she was loved, that God has a
plan for her. Wow there are just no words to describe the miraculous nature of
it all.
There's nothing I am more sure of than the fact that God is
a part of every aspect of the lives of His children. Every day the love that He
has for them grows in me and I just can't get over how much I am grateful for
Him and for families.
MUITO AMOR AMIGOS. (much love
friends)
Try to write down a tender mercy of the Lord every day this
week!
Sister Staheli
Tried a variety of fresh native fruits this week including the fruit of a cashew and fresh coco verde (which is kind of squishy and wet). It's funny how the fruits that are so common in America are the delicacies of this country - like honeydew and strawberries!!
I love living in a house with 4 other girls because its like you gain 4 new sisters (with 4 new wardrobes #whoopwhoop! #allwearingclothesofSisterStaheli #shoutouttoKIMRA)
Silva, Soares, Staheli <3
