OH MY GOODNESS.
I AM STILL KIND OF IN SHOCK OF ALL THAT HAPPENED THIS
WEEK.
Wow okay first of all, want to say a late Feliz dia da
Ação das Graças (Thanksgiving)!! We were walking on the street at night for a compromisso
(teaching commitment) and I remembered that it
was Thursday and that it was the 3rd week of November and it was like, ´Woah..
IT'S THANKSGIVING.' And I just got so giddy and excited because I remembered
all those years and that TODA FAMÍLIA (all my family) was
together at my grandparents and probably already playing ultimate frisbee in
the barn and I just got so ridiculously happy. Man I love them all - shout out
fam, YOU ROCK.
Ok so this week, my companion was returning home after
finishing her mission and so we headed for the mission office to drop her off
and pass transfers there. As we are sitting there, one of the assistants to the
President goes "hey Sister Staheli, you're going to be happy with
transfers today' with this kind of mischievous grin which immediately puts me
on the defensive like what does THAT mean right. And come to find out that not
only was I to be the SENIOR missionary (meaning the most time on the mission),
but that I would be TRAINING A NOVINHA (brand new
sister) FROM THE CTM (missionary training
center).
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| Sister Mendonca |
Her name is Sister Mendonça and she's from Rio Grande do
Sul, which is funny because that's exactly where my trainor was from
#ironicright? But let's just say she's amazing, burning with a powerful testimony
and great ideas, everyone thinks she's American
(#someonemorewhitethanme), and I definitely feel like I am learning more
from her than I am probably teaching her :)
ahhhhh needless to say I was stoked and also scared out
of my mind (and definitely still in disbelief), but this week has been one of
the happiest and most fulfilling weeks yet on the mission. One where we really
worked our hardest every moment. And where the Lord really came through and
delivered some pretty amazing miracles. I don't have time to tell you guys
about everything (neither do you probably want to hear) but let's just hit the
funniest/highlights of the week shall we?
PRIMEIRO DIA DA FILHA: (which of course was ANOTHER
holiday #literallyoneeveryweek)
We've been having recurring problems with this leaking
shower head in one of our bathrooms so we called to have one of the men in our
ward come fix it, which at the time seemed like a good idea because he would do
it for free and he lives relatively close. But the maintenance man said that in
order to turn off the water for our apartment, he would have to disligar (switch off) the water for the ENTIRE BUILDING and
that it wouldn't work today. Unshaken Irmão Julio goes, hey let's do this
anyways.
Okay beleza he knows what he's doing.
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| soaked with the spirit (or a spewing fire house you choose) |
Enter the bathroom, he starts tinkering and then things
get a little out of hand. He starts by pulling the knob that activates the
water out of the wall to replace a part inside, but because of the fact we live
on the 2nd floor and the water starts from the top of the building, the water
pressure in our apartment is RIDICULOUSLY strong and as he pulls off this knob,
a FIRE HOSE of water starts spewing out of the bathroom wall and starts going
everywhere - ceiling, floor, and especially all over poor Julio. So he's
shouting for us to turn on every faucet in the apartment and the other shower
and we run around turning everything on, but absolutely NOTHING is stopping
this torrent of a geyser right and soon every sink is overflowing and the
bathroom and kitchen are sitting in pools of water. He asks me if I'm prepared
to 'tomar banho' (take a shower) and soon I am in the shower helping him try to
shove this little gadget back into the wall to stop the flow but literally NOTHING
is working. Before I know it, he goes hey I have another part in my house and
LEAVES FOR 30 MIN while I am still holding this knob and pushing with all my
might and my poor filha is just standing there like what is going on, is this
normal and I'm soaking wet yelling that it's okay for her to take a shower and
start studying, apologizing profusely that this is NOT normal and just dying of
laughter that it was actually real life. Needless to say it was quite the
experience.
THEN, we are walking 10 km to get to a restaurant of a
member in the ward whose day it was to offer lunch only to find them closed
because #holiday. Then walking the 30 min BACK to the house in the burning sun
where we didn't have ANYTHING, but luckily found a restaurant to eat.
Talk about 'welcome to the field - we don't have working
showers or time to study or food to eat' #whoopwhoop
#totallykiddingbutwow
Even with such a hilariously ridiculous first day for my
companion, the rest of the week was SO AMAZING. I finally had the ability to
work as I knew we should and we really poured every effort into meeting new
people, teaching lessons, and really striving to rely on the Lord to guide us
and man did He provide. I felt His guiding hand helping us know what to say to
people, putting people in our path that are really prepared which is SO
essential. Because sometimes it's easy to get in your head that it is
completely up to you to find these lost souls, the people who really are
seeking for something deeper in their life and who feel the absence of God, but
that responsibility is not completely in our hands. It's our Father in Heaven
who knows the hearts of His children and He is doing everything in His power to
put them in our paths, we just have to have the faith to search and find.
Working with members and less actives, as well as doing everything physically
possible to be His hands, we arrived to find our capela filled with 108 PEOPLE
(with a norm of 83) including 4 (!!!) other people we are teaching.
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| Irmã Raimunda (she always gives us jewelry and makes chocolate mousse) |
Added to that fact, this week the Lord has blessed us
with a baptism planned for the 30th for a woman named Erika who has two
adorable meninos (boys), a marriage for a couple
and another baptism for another woman, AND really amazing people including an
incredible woman named Socorro (who I promise to tell you more about next
week).
Wow I really appreciate that we can never be afraid to
take on a challenge or something unknown in our lives, because we always have God
at our side to comfort, teach, and guide us when we are uncertain and don't
know what to do.
Have faith friends and move your feet.
It really works.
LOVE YOU ALL,
Sister Staheli
