That I Might Bring Them Joy: And another transfer begins..

Well, it has been quite a whilrwind.

Monday: We said goodbye to Sister Rojas and Sister Laura! Man, I miss them a ton.

That night, I was with Sister Carazas, and we were doing some street contacting. We stopped one guy who is an atheist, and had an interesting conversation. It really showed me how much I have changed on my mission. Sister Carazas tried to prove to him that God exists, but I was able to hold my tongue and just simply testify to him. I told him that I know that God exists, that God is our Father, and that Hamilton (the atheist) is His son, and Heavenly Father loves him so much, that I could feel God's love for him. And I really could! I walked away from that conversation just feeling so sad that Hamilton didn't know that God loves him.

Tuesday: Bright and early, we headed out to transfer meetings. There, we had a big festa basically. Everyone was gathered together, and one by one each companionship was revealed. My new comp is Sister Duncan, 23, from Oregon! She is awesome!! She has just one transfer more than I do in the mission. She and I are so similar its ridiculous. We both love to read and write, we both waited for our visas in the States for a while, we both like movies, etc. Down to the shampoo we use even- John Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special. Can you say companionship unity?

We had a miracle! A kind member offered to take all the luggage she could fit into her car for us, so between me and Sister Duncan, Sister Carazas and her comp Sister Barraza (FROM SANTIAGO CHILE!!!) we only had to deal with one suitcase on the train, metro, and onibus. It was such a blessing.
We had kind of a rough start, which means that literally everything fell through and I walked poor Sister Duncan all over the place. Her area before this one was super small, and ours is kind of big, so she was so tired. but! We were able to visit Marcelo! we had a really good lesson with him, about prayer and marked another day to visit him.

Wednesday: We taught Vitor, who gave Sister Duncan a cute pen with his cute name on it. And he gave us some chocolate. We taught him about fasting, and he understood everything. He still doesn't feel like he has gotten a response yet though.
That night, we had a really good lesson with Fabio. We watched a video called "Graças A Ele." In English, "Because of Him." That video that Sister King and I were absolutely obsessed with back in Texas. The Spirit was so strong, and he handed us his pack of cigarettes! That he hadn't even had the chance to open yet! I was so happy to see his desire to truly change for the better.

Thursday: We stopped by Fabio and Natara again, and found out that Fabio had smoked 5 cigarettes. But! That was super good because usually he smokes 20 cigarettes in one day. So we were pretty happy.
We also taught Jurandi, a young mother of two. She really liked the Restoration lesson, and comitted to baptism when she gets her response from Heavenly Father. She is really sweet, and we are teaching her again tonight!

Friday: Everything fell through again, and so we went to go see how Fabio was doing. As we walked up to his house, we saw him sitting outside smoking. It was sad to see that even though he wants to quit, its super difficult for him. We went into the house and talked with Natara before he walked in. When he came in, he was super discouraged. He was talking like quitting smoking was impossible, and was just super, super frustrated with himself. Thats where the Spirit started guiding everything. I don't know what we said, but Fabio really opened up to me and Sister Duncan about some things that have happened in his life. We were able to testify about the Plan of Salvation and the power of the Savior, and use his experiences to help him. By the end of the lesson, he was saying, "I know it won't be easy, but I know I can do it." The Spirit was so strong, and there were even a few tears. Thats the first time Fabio has opened up to us so much, and I feel like he trusts us so much more now. He truly has such a big desire to change and be baptized, its amazing to see.

Saturday: Vinicius and Gustavo (13 and 10) had their baptismal interviews and passed! I was super happy. Predictably, everything else fell through that day as well. but We were able to teach Vitor, and he said that he is thinking about baptism!! I was super happy to hear that.

Sunday: BATISMO!! It was a really beautiful moment. Irmão Marcos was so happy his children got baptized. The Spirit was so tangible during the Baptismal Service. It was incredible. And the other amazing part? Fabio came to church AND stayed for the baptism!!! :D
I seriously was so happy. I love this work!

Then, when we got to almoço, it wasn't cooked completely, and the Irmã said we had time, so we followed our new mission rule and went out contacting in the rain. As we were walking down the street, I looked in one garage and saw this man constructing these huge, BEAUTIFUl doll houses. I stopped dead in my tracks and said, "Wow!! How beautiful!! Did you build all of these?" The guy looked up, a bit startled, and invited us in to see them. As we started talking more he says, "Where's the Peruana? You're from Georgia right? Where's your Peruana friend?" So immediately, I started thinking how do I know him, how do I know him, HOW DO I KNOW HIM? And I was so worried he was one of their old investigators or something. But as we talked more, and I asked him his name, I realized who he was. After we met his family, got some carrots from his garden, got a few people's contact info, and promised to return to help paint the dollhouses this week, I turned to Sister Duncan in shock.
"SISTER DUNCAN! Thats Hamilton!" She was all like... duh. "Thats Hamilton! That athiest that I was telling you all about earlier! I don't believe it!" I was seriously in shock. I had forgotten almost completely about Hamilton. Just goes to show how much Heavenly Father really loves his children. I forgot about Hamilton, but Heavenly Father didn't forget about His son. What are the chances of us running into him again? About zero. Definitely wasn't a coincidence. Heavenly Father wants his son Hamilton to know that He loves him.

Miracles happen every day! Coincidences don't exist.

Happy happy birthday to BRADY BOY! Oops, I mean Elder Shell... And T-man!! 19 and 12! And my friend, Elder Sears! Man, tudo mundo, parabéns!

com amor,
Sister Shell