Week 76 -- O Pai Celestial E um Deus de milagres

What?  I’m in the last week of my mission.  The last full week of being a full-time missionary and I think everyone got together and was like, let’s make the last weeks of Sister Staheli’s mission absolutely INSANE.

1)      I had my last leadership conference and “job Interview” via skype on the same day where I had to study and present a court case for BYU professors #InEnglish  #Yikes.

2)      I had 3 sick sisters camped out in our apartment (7 sisters in total) and sent 2 of them home due to knee and ankle problems and the other with a possible case of vermes (worms). 

3)      Zone choir practices because todo mundo vai cantar numa (everyone will sing in a) FLASH-MOB at the mall for Natal.  (Did I already mention that Natal in English means Christmas??)

4)      Gave a talk in one ward and played the piano for the primary program in another ward.   But I think this is the best of them all….

5)      Cleaning and taking all of the stuff out of our apartment because our mission president found a different place that they liked better!  Yep, so a majority of the last real p-day was spent moving boxes and lugging water jugs up 2 flights of stairs! 

But really, it still has not hit me that I’ll be headed home here in a blink of an eye and that I’ll be able to hug my family after 18 months.  God has been so good to me.  Really sometimes I just sit and marvel at everything He’s shown me and let me be a part of. 

O Pai Celestial E um Deus de milagres.  (Heavenly Father is a God of miracles.)

I have had many miracles, but I’d like to mention a couple from this week.

Pablos is I think the most elerto rapaz (righteous boy) I’ve ever seen.  He’s the friend of several youth in the ward and just showed up one day.  He said that after going to church for the first time, he felt so good afterward that he went home and watched videos about the church on You Tube for 3 ½ hours.  His family immediately started to ridicule him and throw around a ton of lies about the church.  To which he just gets super irritated and goes “You don’t know;  have you even gone to church before?”  And when we asked what he thought of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he just gets quiet and his eyes get all misty and he just shakes his head like “Woah, I never cry.”  He comes from a super well off family, but is honestly one of the funniest, humblest of people.  I can really see how right President Nelson was when he said that the Lord has placed some of the most special and elect spirits here in Brasil.

I know my mom already posted this pic, but Laura is the one in the red dress

Laura is actually a girl that was baptized about 7 years ago with her entire family.  But there were some family problems and her parents got divorced, and because of a mix up, her mom was hurt and took her children out of the church.  Their mom wakes up every day with the same pain and grudge in her heart against her ex-husband - even after these 7 years, she has been unable to forgive him for what happened.  Do you know what 7 years of built up, festering pain and hate does to a person?  I remember that the first time we went to their house, the tangibility of her grudge was so strong and heavy that after only about 20 minutes, my heart was banging in my chest and I started to feel completely consumed by her pain.  I was dying to get out of there.  But with every visit over the past few weeks, bit-by-bit, the climate has gotten lighter which has really been the effect of praying as a family and reading the scriptures.  And Laura, the youngest, has really suffered from the tension between her parents and her desire to go back to church.  She said a prayer that really touched me when she said, “thank you Pai (Father) for sending sister Staheli and Sister Sousa to us, to save my family and give us the hope that one day we’ll be able to forgive and be happy again.”

AND THIS WEEK SHE ASKED IF SHE COULD GO TO CHURCH WITH US.  If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is?  God is so amazing.  Don’t let one small misunderstanding or mistake sit and fester.  When we hold on to our hate and grudges, the only one who really suffers in the end is us.

LOVE YOU, 

Sister Staheli

The Oldies heading out

Week 75 -- a week in pictures

week 74 -- Voces foram poeira a prara Sisters

“Voces foram poeira a prara Sisters?”  (Have the sisters gone the way of the dust?)  To which we answered – “Nope, just the cemetery.”  It only took up until the last 3 weeks of my mission, but I officially got sunburned folks.  It happens when you space putting on sunscreen and stand 3 + hours in the blazing Natal sun.  This week may have been Halloween nos Estados Unidos (in the United States), Dia de los Muertos no Mexico, but here in Brasil it was the infamous Dia Dos Finados (or day of the dead).  (Which in reality is a super low key, but highly commercialized and slightly less exciting version of Memorial Day).  But ended up being a really cool experience as we were able to as a zone (14 missionaries) organize a table and talk to people, who were really suffering from the memory of lost loved ones, about God’s eternal plan of happiness.  We had 3 questions for them to think about:

1.       Where did we come from before our life here on earth?

2.       Why am I here and what is my purpose?

3.       Where will I go after I die?

Which in reality, really are questions that we all come to think and wonder about at one time or another.  Whether it’s when we lose a loved one or when holding the tiniest of newborn infants in our arms.  Our life here on earth really starts to change when we come to realize who we really are – treasured spirit children of our loving Heavenly Father. 

The coolest member in the world grabbing every person he saw passing by the cemetery to bear his testimony!! Love this VALEIRIO.

Our mission president’s wife Sister Miranda called us this week asking if she could accompany us for a couple hours wanting to help us teach the people we visit and share her story of how she encountered the church when she was just 17 years old.  She talked about how in reality, her cousin was the first to meet the missionaries and get a Book of Mormon, but was not interested and went to toss the book out. (gasp)  Being as she liked to read, she got a hold of the book and started to flip through its pages and began to feel struck by the power of its words.  But she said the moment that really changed her life, was when she finally understood that she was in reality a daughter of God.  The same God who is perfect, the creator of all that we see, and who has infinite wisdom. 

Her life changed when she realized that as His daughter, she has the potential to be exactly as He is one day.  All we have to do is follow His plan.  Being able to tell people all about Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of happiness for them and their families, sing hymns, (off tune) and comfort them with the promise of being able to see their loved ones again really made for a wonderful day.

Also we had the BEST DAY yesterday because Eduardo went to church and even though he swore on his life that he would not take the sacrament, (the bread and water that remind us of the sacrifice that our Savior Jesus Christ made for us and our commitment to follow Him), when the bread passed, I saw him hesitate and then grab a small piece from the corner of the tray.  Keep in mind that it’s been almost 2 months that we have been teaching him, and I think he’s finally beginning to feel humble and open the clenched fist he’s been holding around his heart for so many years.  And then because it was my last testimony meeting, I got up to bear my testimony with a prayer in my heart that God would help me to say what Eduardo needed to hear.  But when I got up there, I started to cry (embarrassing I know) and was able to just say something simple and short.  Slightly disappointed in myself I went back to my seat, only to find out after church from my companion that Eduardo had wiped his eyes at the end of my short testimony.  Maybe for me and for every other person in that room it was entirely simple, but God was only aware of one of His treasured sons in that moment, and answered the prayer of his aching and lonely heart.  I will really miss being a full-time missionary.

God is our Father and He loves us SO MUCH.  The moment we actually let that sink into our heart is when it all starts to change.

 I LOVE YOU ALL

Sis Staheli

Alexia gave me a late bday gift!! Man I love this 11 year old <3 #perfumeGOSTOSO

 The Jambo tree shedding its pink petals.