Wow what a week of miracles and tender mercies. Even though every last man, woman, child e
cachorro (and dog) all packed their bags for
Tibol (a nearby beach town) in
preparation for Carnival on Tuesday (aka dia 5 – aka the exact day that I’ll
pass 9 meses na missao (months on my mission) #reachedthepeak #whatthisispassingsofast), and there’s been
hardly a tumbleweed roaming the streets
God has still managed
(like He always does) to bring forth the miracles. Just a few tender mercies of the week:
- ---- Had a zone conference with our mission president
and all of the missionaries in the Interior #ricebeans&acaigalore
#inspired-words&answered-prayers-as-always
Meet the district.
These are all the missionaries that stay in the surrounding barrios of the
city! The first two in front next to me are the only other americans (I know - hard
to believe #blondhairblueeyes) from Utah but are
super cool! It's tradition that the person to go home first of the group takes
the pic holding flowers (because they will "die" first) - but I love this group with my whole
heart! Super solid, inspiring people
--- Our cute little amigo Juan (who goes alone by
foot to church and printed out the full-sized picture in color during our first
lesson) asked when was the soonest he could be baptized
-
-
 |
| $201 Reals |
----- This older man in our ward has this insanely
legit collection of money and old bills/coins that he’s been buying,
accumulating and trading over the years.
Brasil has changed their types of bills a few times – ranging from
Cruzeiros to Cruzados and now in Reals – and he has made it his life AMBITION
to seek out every last original copy, ranging in color and transparency and
equivalency to about $30 million reals.
Apparently there was a time when Brasil printed its money in the US and
so all the bills look almost exactly the same – complete with the label on the
bottom “Estados Unidos duo Brasil.”
But
the one thing his collection is seriously lacking …. Can you guess?
Yep
-
dollars.
He’s been dying to get his
hands on a $2 bill and has pestered every last American missionary that’s
passed through without even the SLIGHTEST success.
How to break the news that “Shoot Senior, yeah
I had about $20 in $2 bills but I caved when I saw Salagadis
(street food) for $1 real, I couldn’t help myself and
traded it all #worthit.
But somehow even
with lacking the appropriate goods for the trade, I walked out with an old $1
and $200 bill de cruzeiros (equivalent nowadays to $50-60 reals or $15
dollars.)
It meant a lot to him that
there was someone willing to sit, rifle through and admire something that was his life passion.
Because what good is a
collection without anyone to appreciate it and give value to it?
- --- The last tender mercy/miracle of the week was
our good old pastor Igor. If you
remember Igor was the one that walked in during the middle of our lesson and
made everyone feel like we had been caught red-handed doing something naughty like
when mom catches you mid stroke scribbling in sharpie on her beautifully white
washed walls or something like that. We
had gotten his contact information to meet up with him another day but my
companion wanted nothing of it. Apparently
she has not had the best of experiences with teaching pastors in the past – the
last one consisting of arguing and throwing scriptures down their throats, insisting
and ardently disputing exactly just how they were wrong, which sadly was a
terrible experience for her.
I don’t
know, but there was something different about Igor and I couldn’t get him out
of my head, and I called him to set up a meeting in the park. During my whole personal study I just kept
thinking about what he would say or how he would react, but in that first
encounter, I could see he had a good heart with just the desire to serve
God. I could see it in his eyes you
know? But I studied a lot about what I
thought might be his questions and what the apostles in the New Testament said
about this dark period on the earth without the fullness of the gospel. But really I was just saying a lot of
prayers, relying that God would help guide us in helping him understand. But man was I a wee bit stressed out. But as we sat down in that park, listening
about his life and getting to know him as a person – his family, dreams and
aspirations, past service in the church, his love of working with the youth….I
just came to really admire and respect Igor for his good heart and pure desire
to serve God.
We continued to teach,
explain and bear testimony of the truthfulness of our message – how God really
had restored His church here on earth again through Joseph Smith. I could see the hesitancy and doubt in his
eyes melt away with every scripture in the Book of Mormon. He could feel the power and truth in the book
sitting in his hands – doubt and resistance being replaced with light and
humility. The spirit was almost
palpable. It was so strong, leading and
guiding us in our words in what he needed to hear. He sincerely and humbly opened up to us about
his doubts, asking questions with a desire to only understand, not to find
fault. It truly was a miracle that I
can’t believe God had allowed me to witness.
The thing is, God knows how difficult it is to find the truth in our
world today. He knows how lost and
confused we are at times. Because of
this, He gave us our Savior to know what to do and where to find His
truth. He always beckons and invites us
to find out for ourselves with the promise that He would always answer the
prayer of those with a faithful and earnest heart. This was the amazing promise that we left
with Igor that morning as we sat on the park bench. I don’t know what Igor will decide to do, but
I know that the Igor that came and the Igor that left was a changed man.
I am still blown away with just how loving, merciful,
present and miraculous God is. I am
blessed beyond what I deserve. I love
you all. Thanks for the amazing people
that you are. Know that God loves you.
Love,
Sister Staheli
PS Sorry if my emails are too obnoxiously long – don’t feel
obligated to read if you don’t want to.
