Hey fam what a week! I’m starting to really feel my time here is flying by, which kind of scares me. I’m not going to lie. It’s like I'll just Wake up one day and I won’t be a missionary anymore and one of the most amazing experiences of my life will just be over and done with. How I thank my Heavenly Father for every blessed day He gives me to serve these people with all of my heart and to forget about myself.
I had a day this week that I think I can officially say was
'o dia das formigas'. (ants day) Why you may
ask? It all started at lunch and we had all finished eating and after suco (juice) and everything, I was thirsty and grabbed a
glass to drink some water. But what I didn’t know, was that this cup already
had like 8 GIANT formigas (ants) in the bottom,
which I only saw as I went to drink right. A little grossed out, I wasn’t
feeling super inclined to drink but, never underestimate what one may do when
desperate gente - but still I didn’t drink a ton right? PRONTO, then we headed
afterwards to a diferente house where I was SURE to quickly ask for a HUGE
glass of water. The cute senhor comes back with a filled cup and handed the
glass to my companion right, who holds it and then kind of turns her body
towards me with the cup. Thinking that she was in reality PASSING the cup to me
because I was dying of thirst, I gratefully grabbed the cup and went to put the
cup to my mouth. and THEN I saw her face and why she hadn’t already started to
drink. I don’t know if you have ever seen those fancy dessert Pinterest cups
where they wet the rim of the cup and then coat it with sprinkles, but it was
practically this right - but instead of sprinkles let’s imagine that it was 30
MIL FORMIGAS VERMELHAS. (30 thousand red ants)
I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING - IT WAS INSANE. Oh my gosh so we are dying and the senhor was
like hey why hasn’t she drunken it yet?
And my companions just go - ah she gets embarrassed super
easy and doesn’t like to drink in front of other people (it does not
help that I'm dying and turning red). And then he just goes, "good luck to
whichever fellow ends up marrying her one day"...and then goes after
looking at me, “she deserves a really good one.” #SeriouslyDied
An amazing thing that happened this week was that the man
God has chosen to be our beloved prophet, Presidente Nelson came to
speak to all of the missionaries and people here in Brasil. I definitely started crying with how
grateful I was to have a living prophet here to protect us and guide us in our
crazy world. And that was just when he walked into the room (all of the church
buildings streamed it live from São Paulo) before saying anything. DOES ANYONE
GET HOW BLESSED WE ARE? He had all of the primary children sing and I think I lost
it a little more.
One thing that they talked a lot about is how we should
really strive to eliminate ALL of the dissension that we may have in our lives
with the people we know. That when one
of our relationships with someone isn't good, it starts to affect OUR own ability
to feel and receive the spirit AND be in tune with what God needs and
wants us to know. Like the billboards on the highway that say "our goal is
ZERO fatalities" as a warning for people to use seatbelts. The scriptures are filled
with faithful people who made it their priority to have ZERO CONTENTIONS or I
like to say, ZERO GRUDGES.
It’s not the easiest thing (especially when we really haven’t
done anything wrong) but make an effort this week to really have ZERO
contentions so that nothing can come between you and your Heavenly
Father.
It’s just not worth it folks - He needs and wants to talk to
you JUST as much as you need to talk to Him.
Loving life and thanking you for all the e-mails - I really
love you all so much!
send a bday squeeze to brennan staheli - (he may or may not
have been the inspiration for my Fb password when I was 12 yrs old
#DeservesSeriousCreds #HesPrettyCoolTalvez)
LOVE YOU ALL,
<3 Sister Staheli
really gonna miss grabbing fresh coconut water and eating
fresh coco for 2 reals. Also she ripped this coco in half herself
#filhaforte #muitofeijão
we got to the church building only to find it completely
wrecked - #InitiateCleaningPowerOf3Sisters #CleanedTheENTIREchurchBuildingAlone
!! #MoTABjams
