Tuesday: We got to go to the Sao Paulo Temple!!! Woohoo!!
Then, we went back to the dressing room to grab everything for our session, and Sister Rojas dragged me back in the dressing room after we left. I was all like, "What?? We are going to be late!! Why do we have to come back in here... you have everything..." And then she pulled me around the corner by one of the lockers, and I almost died of happiness.
Sister Goimarac was hurrying to get ready for the session!! Man, that was awesome. We embraced, almost cried, smiled so big that we nearly broke bones and then we all went to the session together. It was really neat. Especially because the names that Sister Goimarac and I had were sisters :) And afterwards, I got to sit by her in the Celestial room, and it was just perfect. Thats basically exactly where we were a year ago. It was neat to be able to look back at the beginning and know how far we've both come, and it was just really special and spiritual and I can't even find the right words to describe the moment.
That night, we taught Durival and Nelza, and that was interesting. Durival is more interested than Nelza, but hey. They both participated and asked questions and Elza prayed at the end! Very enthusiastically, Evangelical style.
Wednesday: I read the Consecrated Missionary talk by Tad R Callister. And you know what? I didn1t feel super unconsecrated. Not saying that I am the most consecrated missionary ever, but after reading it I decided to look and see what I still have to give up to become consecrated. And I am actually a lot closer than I thought! I still have a long way to go, but I was able to see that I truly have made a lot of progress towards becoming a truly CONSECRATED missionary.
Sister Rojas was sick that day, so we stayed in for a little bit so she could take a nap and let the medicine take affect. Then we went out, and it was rainy, and dark and cold and of course... Yupp. Everything fell through! Haha, thats the missionary life for ya.
But! We stopped a woman in the street, and come to find out, her aunts are active members in the church in another mission! So we had a really good discussion with her. At one point, she asked us why such bad things happen, to good people, and we were able to testify of truths and the Atonement to her. It was a good way to end a not so great day :) Plus, we ate popcorn that night. Because why not?
Thursday: Heavenly Father saw that we kept working and didn]t get discouraged the day before. Thats my theory for Thursday because ALL of our marked appointments came through and were amazing!!!
First, we had Vitor. He is just so darn cute!! We taught him about baptism, and about truly finding a response. Its kind of hard for him, but we testified that we really care about him and sincerely want to help him and want the best for him. We also promised him that if he prayed THAT NIGHT, sincerely, he would get a response. It was a really good lesson.
Then, we taught Maria, a nonmember grandma of an RM named João. Man, it was like he was the missionary and we were just there to testify!! Which was good, don]t get me wrong. But at one point, for like seven or ten minutes, the Spirit kept telling me to speak up and say something, but between him speaking and his grandma speaking and Sister Rojas speaking, it was hard to get a word in haha. So, before my heart literally broke out of my chest from pounding so hard, when Joao took a pause, I blurted, "Posso falar?!" So I testified to her about my testimony and about the Holy Ghost, and I don't remember a lot of what was said. But folks, something big happened.
I cried.
Yeah, thats right. ME, Sister Shell! I cried during a lesson, which I can literally count on one hand how many times that has happened to me. Because I'm just not a crier. But I cried. So that was a pretty big deal. I was like... "What the heck, am I Sister King now?" Which, by the way, would not be a bad thing to be.
Then, we taught Marcelo. He acknowledged that he needs to be better at daily prayer, so we taught him about prayer and wrote on a sticky not ORAÇÃO and how to pray, and he stuck it on his nightstand. We had some good laughs, he said that coming to church on Sunday felt really good, and said that he's not sure if he will go if he has to go by himself to church. So we set up to walk with him to church again.
Then, we got lost trying to find somebody. And apparently the road we ended up on was very perigoso but hey. We didn't die and we made it home safe and sound. :)
Friday: So, during the World cup we decided to teach English and Spanish classes at the church building on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. We had three kids show up to learn, and so I decided that I wanted to say the opening prayer in English so that they could really hear how English sounds. So I started the prayer.
"Heavenly Father...." and I blanked. For a good ten seconds, I literally couldn't remember how to pray out loud in English. Finally, and super slowly and awkwardly, phrases came to my mind and I said a short prayer in English. And I was super, super happy that I forgot how to pray out loud in English :) CELEBRATE, PEOPLE!! This is a big deal!!
I decided that I need to have more courage in speaking to people, so I studied about courage and found D&C 30:11, which I wrote really big in my journal. Because I love it, and its so true and is such a good reminder. Then!! I talked to a member who speaks REALLY FAST on the phone, understood and replied and had a conversation. Score!!
We also went on exchanges. Sister Carazas was in my area, I knew where we were the whole time, I was able to lead in our appointments, and we stopped everyone in the world.. but nobody wanted to listen. Agency and such.
We wound up at Luis and Santa's house, which is always a hoot haha. But Luis was super cute and told us that when he first saw missionaries in the street, and first had contact with them many years ago, it felt like he was seeing angels in the street. And when he finally made contact with missionaries again (us), he was so happy. He told us that when we extended our hands to shake his hand for the first time, he felt like God was extending His hand to him. Sweet huh? He thanked us for all that we are teaching him and Santa.
Saturday: We taught our second round of classes, and that was fun. Its kind of hard for them to understand the "th" sound and that words that end in "t" don't sound like tchee and the words that end in "d" don't sound like dgee. Plus, I am now learning Spanish from a Portuguese standpoint. Its pretty easy, actually. Not that I remember anything at the moment. But I pretty much understand everything. And the kids are like "Spanish is so much easier!!!"
Yupp, I know. English is so weird.
We were finally able to touch base with a less active. She recounted her miraculous stories about her triumph over cancer and about her son's SERIOUS miraculous triumph over cancer. We shared a thought from General Conference, which she loved, but she still isn't sure about coming to church and stuff.
Then, Elder Hales (our District Leader) and his companion Elder Gauldim came to our area to help us find some new investigators and knocked a few streets for us. We now have 8 references to check out! Woot woot!! And a few of them sound really promising.
Then, we knocked a street but didn't have too much success. Oh well! "Never give up, never surrender!"
Sunday: Well, when Irmão Robson opened the chapel for our first English class, he informed me that I would be giving a talk on Sunday. So, Sunday, I gave my first talk!!! It was about the hastening of the work of salvation, and the whole sacrament meeting was about that. Everybody said that my talk was good and that my Portuguese is awesome. Booyah for the gift of tongues!!
Our Ward Mission Leader spoke, and in his talk he asked the members to think and ask themselves questions like the following, "Did I pray sincerely for missionary opportunities today? Did I pray for the missionaries and their investigators?" Then, he got emotional and said, "I can guaruntee you with absolute certainty that four people here today did." And in my head, I started thinking... Who is he talking about? And I started counting the people that I thought prayed... Bispo, ele.. quem mais??? And then he continued by saying that we have four angels serving in our ward that have left everything behind and are deicated to the work, and that need help. And I realized he was talking about us, and I got all teary eyed with gratitude. People really look up to, respect and hold accountable us missionaries. It was a beautiful moment.
Plus!! In Gospel Principles, we finally had more investigators than members!! And Marcelo came to church with us again!! And cute little Vitor came too!!
Then that night we had a stake meeting about missionary work with all the missionary people and the Bishoprics.
That was awesome and now I am pretty sure everyone in the stake is PUMPED for the work.
BRING IT ON!!!
love,
Sister Shell
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