week 78 -- Why has tchau just become my least favorite word

Presidente and Sister Miranda

Missionaries heading home

Snow or Shine Sis Staheli's gotta have her Chacos

Wow, so this is the last one.

I don’t really have the words to describe everything that I’ve experienced on my mission.  But I think some of the most powerful lessons we can learn in life are stated with few words. So here goes.

Some things my Heavenly Father has taught me these last 18 months:

-         --  We are quite literally, in every sense of the word, children of God.  The same God who created everything around us - every sunset, rainstorm, mountain peak, and star in the sky.  He is perfect and all-knowing, loving and kind, just and fair, merciful and unending.  He is our Father.  And as His children, He wants us to grow and develop and one day be as He is.  That is undeniably our divine identity and purpose here. 

-        --  The importance of daily and earnest prayer. I am a different person because of the time I spent on my knees talking to my Father morning and night (and multiple times in between) . I know He listens and answers our prayers. Talking openly with Heavenly Father fills a void and brings such a different self awareness,  profound consolo e paz (comfort and peace) even when we don’t feel like we need it. 

-        ---Perfection is infinite not immediate.  I learned not to be so hard on myself and to see myself as He does.  I often felt stressed and overwhelmed, thinking that I wasn’t doing enough which prevented me from feeling His healing and enveloping love that He’s always had for me.  Don’t let the adversary make you be your own stumbling block to feeling the power of the Atonement.

-        ---  The Atonement is infinite and helps us not only overcome our sins and weaknesses, but heals us from our sorrow and pain. We can find peace of heart and joy in our difficulties because we know that we will never have to pass through it alone. I repeat - you are NEVER alone.

 (Alma 26:12  “Yea, I know that I am nothing as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things.)

-        ---  The Book of Mormon is living proof that Jesus Christ lives and that God is still a God of miracles and talks and guides His children especially in our days.

-        ---  President Nelson is a profeta (prophet) of God.  He is here to guide, warn and protect us and to help us not fail, if only we are willing to believe.  (Do we even get how much of a blessing that in and of itself is?) 

-        ---  Jesus Christ is my Savior and I will do anything to one day return to Him and wash His feet with my tears.  I know He lives.

Thank you for reading my letters and always sending so much love my way.  I am who I am because of many of your faithful examples.

I want to leave a special challenge for you all.  Please WATCH THIS VIDEO on the birth of Jesus Christ  ….

https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world/the-christ-child

and pay attention to how it makes you feel about the Savior and then write it down someplace you’ll see many times this Christmas season.  IT WILL SERIOUSLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE. 

I love you all and I loved being a missionary, representing and defending my Salvador (Savior) every day.  But I know it is not the end, and that there are still many good things to come. 

Wow, I don’t think I can cry anymore #ObrigadaPaiCelestial. (Thank you Heavenly Father)

AMO VOCES (I love you all)

(pela ultima vez – For the last time)

Sister Staheli

PS  I will report on my mission this Sunday (December 8^th) at 11am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at 7160 Bayou Gulch Rd., Parker, CO  80134 

Finally got the fam back together #wowmybodyforgotwhatsnowwas

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.

Week 73 -- Mosiah 2:41

Hey fam!

Don't have a ton of time to write this week but just wanted to show a SUPER real example of the following scripture: 

Mosiah 2:41

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. 

So there's this guy in the ward who's name is Caninde and he's literally one of the most humble and Christ-like people I have ever met. 

He is a simple baker and had a super hard problem of smoking (the one that started when he was 8) but has always treated everyone around him with genuine kindness - literally gives EVERYTHING he has, even if it’s hardly anything. 

So this is a picture of us in his house about a month ago - super simple, only had a rede and a stove to make food.  

Then enter the part about those who keep the commandments are not only ridiculously happy, but also blessed in a spiritual AND physical way. 

Caninde, although not having much, working EVERY DAY to be able to have the simplest of living, began to pay tithing. 

And man did the Lord provide. 

This is a picture of Caninde's house this past week – 

complete with a refrigerator, a brand new dresser, a better job that pays more with less hours, a GIGANTIC BED (did you SEE the size of that thing??), and is now on the lunch calendar to feed 4 sisters every month. 

Who can deny that this man was infinitely blessed by the Lord for his faith and obedience, even with his difficult situation?

TRUST IN THE PROMISES OF THE LORD AND HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. 

People who listen and obey God's commandments in humility really are the most happy of all His children. 

love you all!!

Sister Staheli

LESS THAN A MONTH #whatishappening?

Gorete <3

Week 72 -- Take time to listen

Birthday twins

I had a surprise this week!  Elder Patty in our district also had a birthday and this family in the ward wanted to do something for him and someone along the way said that he had this undying love for bolo de milho (corn cake) (which he does not not even like that much) and so everyone started giving him bolo de milho.  And there was a night that they invited everyone over to share it, but I wasn’t really interested about going because we had other commitments.  But my companion managed to practically drag me there and I get there to find that it was actually a birthday surprise for me too.  And as I sat there surrounded by these people that I love so much, I felt super loved as everyone shouted and sang to us and we all ate homemade bolo de milho.  Did I already mention how much they love corn here?  #PrepareYourselvesStaheliFam  #Anne’sBringingTheMilhoToColorado

I want to talk about a miracle this week which was Dilene.  So we actually were looking for a different house of a member but simply got super lost and confused.  I saw this little purple doorway of a house that looked like the type of place that sells acai (there is a lot here) but as we got close, we realized it was actually all alcohol.  My companion just gives me this – Are you sure kind of look? But the spirit was strong and I plowed on and bati as palmas (said let’s go) and proceeded to ask if she knew our friend.  And thus emerges Dilene – one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met.  

After talking for a little, she quickly calls us in and starts to open up and tell us her life story.  I think one of the most powerful ways to love and help someone is just to listen.  I think that’s been one of the strongest lessons I’ve learned on the mission – the importance of silence and letting that person release everything that they had been guarding for so long.  Sometimes you don’t even have to know what to say.  Just being there and taking time to listen is already more than enough to cure the wounded soul. 

And so with us there to listen, Dilene opened her heart about her 2 daughters who she loves so much but has stopped talking to for several years.  How her husband passed away and how she only feels less lonely in her empty house when she kneels by her bed to pray.  How she sometimes will drink with her friends but really would leave it all with the simplest sign from the Lord that He was there.  And she’s just crying the whole time.  And then in the end she surprised us by throwing her arms around us in a tight and strong embrace. 

I think it was one of the lessons that I said the least and felt the spirit the most.  Listening gente (people) is a gift God’s given us that I think we have come to neglect.  When was the last time we took time to see if someone really was doing ok or just accepted “fine” as being “good enough”  I know we get busy, but there are so many around us that are suffering so much.  My challenge this week is to not only take time but make time to sit down and listen to someone who really needs it.

It makes all the difference and is what the Savior would do if He were here!

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Staheli

Week 71 -- Power of the presence of the spirit

October 14, 2019

Ah, can I just say how much I love you guys?  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the love and birthday wishes you all passed my way last week.  I really felt loved and hugged a lot by reading your letters and eating my mom’s homemade granola.  My pday/birthday was consumed with a leadership conference and a trip to the Fed police station, but I did manage to talk to my parents the last 30 minutes of the day.  That was enough to make the day great.

You want to know what we did this week as a district?  Two words:  MATCHING T-SHIRTS #AlecrimDistrict.  There’s an elder in our mission whose art skills are legit and he drew a picture of us all!  It turned into a pretty awesome shirt.  But what we soon realized is that if you tuck the shirt in, in goes about half the district.  Imagining all the little floating heads sticking out of everyone’s waistline was enough to almost make me cry I was laughing so hard.   #GotToEnjoyTheSmallThings

I’m sure you are all tired of hearing this, but this really was a week of miracles.  I don’t think I’ll ever get over how amazing it is to see hearts being touched and changed by the power of the spirit and people earnestly opening the dark parts of themselves to let the light, love and peace of the gospel of Jesus Christ take away their pain.  Or even watching how sometimes the absence of the spirit is more impacting and shocking than the constant influence of the spirit we are able to feel.

We really saw this with Eduardo this week (the one that we chased down).  He has been struggling with one of the commandments ever since we started teaching him.  But when we taught him that it was wrong, he kind of laughed it off and continued on his merry way, without even the slightest sense of guilt.  But then he started reading the Book of Mormon.  He started praying and then asking questions in his prayers and he began to really feel the warmth and peaceful presence of the spirit, right?  But then in a moment of weakness, he fell into temptation and caved again.  And how did he feel this time that was entirely different from the previous occasions?  Angustra, (distress) overwhelming shame and guilt, absolutely the worst.  But what made this time so much worse?  Why would this time be any different when it was so easily and guiltlessly done before?  

Because for the first time, Eduardo had experienced how it felt to lose the spirit.  He felt how amazing and comforting it was to have the spirit with you and then how bare, vulnerable and empty it is without Him.  And wow, you don’t even know how he was seriously in the pits of the pits.  But that was his choice.  We asked him WHO had forced him to be there, WHO had made him feel that way, and I think because the answer was NOONE other than himself, made him feel all the worse.  And I get it – although his difficulties are different than mine, I know how he feels.  I think we all do – we are all human right?  We ALL have moments when we fall into the same mistakes and we ALL know how unbearable that pain is.  God knows us better than anyone, He literally CREATED our spirit and gave us our strengths and weaknesses.  And the most amazing thing He ever gave us is His son, our Salvador (Savior) Jesus Christ.

Alma 36:17-21

17  And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

18  Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

19  And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

20  And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

21  Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is real and has the ability to change us.  Turn our pain into joy and guilt into peace.  But it can’t happen by itself, we need to seek after it.  I’m so grateful for my Savior.  I know He’s ready and willing to forgive each one of us.  Trust in Him and do those things that invite the spirit to be with you.  I promise that you will be all the more happy because of it.

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Staheli