Open Your Mouth!

Everyday Sister Shell discovers new reasons why Brazil is the place for her!!  :)

Time is just flying by. Sister Rojas is down to just two weeks left on her mission, and Brayden finally made it to Chile!! Saw some pictures and man. He looks like a consecrated missionary already!

Monday:Irmã Carmen bought us new shoes!! They are super comfortable. Oh, hang on. Let me take a pic of them real quick. Okay, I'm done. Just sent it to you.

Oh, and she also paid for lunch. I love her!! She is so sweet and hilarious and giving.
We taught Fabio with Natara. We read parts of the talk "Your 4 Minutes" from Conference and talked about how now is the time to act and to change. After that, we made a list of ordenances that each person in his family lacked. Matheus isn't old enough to be baptized yet. But, basically, everything that the family needs right now is hinging on Fabio. I think it helped him recognize the importance he has and of baptism, so he helped us set some goals. He is shooting for the 20th of July to get baptized. Sister Rojas and I have a lot of faith, and miracles are real, so we fully believe that he will be getting baptized!!!

Tuesday: We taught a woman named Vera, who we found tracting. She's more curious than anything, but she really liked everything we taught her. She told us that she likes her religion, but also likes to learn about other religions. We'll see what happens with her!
We also taught a woman named Jacira. She and her family loved the message, and we have another appointment with them this week.
Then, we stopped by Marcelo and man. That was so cool! He was different. He told us that he's on holiday, and now is the time for him to change. He wants to be more involved, he wants to help. He just wants to come back. So, we set up for him to visit Vitor with us and help out with an activity Saturday. He was so pumped!
After, we taught Maria again as she lives on the same street as him. It was a short lesson about the Book of Mormon. She is just too cute! She also sews for her job, so she reminds me of Grammy. Although definitely not as amazing as Grammy. Because she didn't make me four gazillion prom dresses.

Wednesday: Sister Rojas and Sister Laura went down to São Paulo for a leadership counsel, so Sister Carazas and I took charge in Utinga! We taught our recent convert, Nayara, about temples and the importance of family history. She is excited to be able to finally go into the temple!
After lunch, we taught Vitor with Marcelo! And we got there, and Marcelo was already there, laughing and talking with Vitor on the front porch. So cool! We were going to teach Vitor about fasting, but the way the lesson went and the way the Spirit prompted, we ended up teaching about prayer and the Priesthood authority. It was a really cool by the Spirit lesson that I loved.
After that, we visited a member who is coming back to church named Janaína. She is so sweet! We ate some sandwhiches and laughed together, with her mom who isn't a member. Then, she came with us to a family night with Irmã Alice and a few other Imãs in the ward. Irmã Alice taught us how to make some yummy dessert that has lots of chocolate, and some pineapple. Which, by the way, is pretty yummy.
Oh, and I dunno, BRAYDEN GOT TO CHILE AND STARTED HIS MISSION!!!!! :D

Thursday: Zone Meeting!! We discussed some new rules and standarsd, and got pumped for missionary work.
Well, lots and lots of things fell through. But! We finally had something that came through! We taught Fabiana and her family, and they really liked learning about the restoration of the gospel. We are teaching them again this week. They even fed us some delicious home made bread- not as good as Dad's of course- and some even better bolo. I don't even remember what kind of bolo it was. But it was good. And they sent us home with some.
Then, we taught Pedro with Irmão João. And oh man, after that lesson, I felt like "Oh yeah! Sister Shell is back!" Because Sister Shell in TX was more bold and spoke a lot, and wasn't afraid to answer hard questions. I kind of felt like I was at The Mission again with Sister King. He isn't trying to tear down our faith or anything like that, but he definitely has a million and five questions, is super skeptical, and knows the Bible like nobody's business. Irmão João definitely helped a lot with him. But one question he skipped over that Pedro asked was "Why did Jesus have to die? I mean, He is all powerful and God is perfect. So why was that the plan? Why did He have to die?" After they went on for a minute about a few other things, I pulled it back around because hey, thats the perfect time to testify of the Atonement. I told Pedro what the Holy Ghost told me in that moment. "Christ had to die because there was no other way. He had to die because afterwards he had to be resurrected. And how could he be resurrected and live again if he never died in the first place? And he had to be resurrected to conquer death, so that the rest of us could live again as well."
Pedro was listening intently and grinned, and said that everybody always pulled out scriptures to answer but never really answered his question, but I just answered it for him. I told him that the only way I knew the answer was because I have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost helped me know the answer and what to say. Then Sister Rojas testified and we continued teaching. At one point, Pedro looked at me after answering another question and asked how old I was. I told him 20, and he just shook his head and asked Sister Rojas. 22. He just shook his head and told us that he was impressed with how much we knew and how much conviction we had. We continued to testify and teach, and he accepted baptism when he receives his response from God.
It was pretty cool, and got me pumped. I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost, who definitely guided Sister Rojas and me in that situation.

Friday: I serenaded Sister Rojas with the Star Spangled Banner multiple times throughout the day. Because why not? I love my country! USA! USA! Haha

Kirsten sporting her Red, White, and Blue Thanks to Alyssa

 We also had weekly planning. Which is also crazy. Super important, but super long.
Our appointments fell through, but we were able to visit Santa and Luis! We laughed, like we always do with them, and then booked it over to Irmã Carmen's house. I have a video of Sister Rojas and I walking with literally no one in the street. Soccer is a big deal here, people.
We got to Irmã Carmen's house and watched the game! Presidente Broadbent gave us permission to watch with a firm member and Sister Rojas and Sister Carazas really wanted to watch it. That was pretty exciting, I must say. Even if I was super tired and just wanted to sleep the whole time. But, I also wore green and yellow to support Brasil!

After that we were supposed to have a meeting with our ward mission leader, so we marched over to his house amidst the craziness. To find out that he actually wasn't home and we weren't having a meeting. So we traipsed on home swiftly, contacting people along the way.
On our street, there was a woman talking through the gate to another woman. And I felt like I should stop and talk to them, so I did. Sister Laura hung back to talk to them with me as Sister Carazas and Sister Rojas had already passed them. In fact, I passed them last. Ivone, the woman inside the gate, talked to us for over half an hour. She even let us inside the gate to pray for her. She is just having some really tough trials right now, and told us that all she wants and prays for is peace. And she can't seem to find it anywhere. We testified of God's love for her, and testified that God sent us to help her find peace. Sister Laura and Sister Carazas will be visiting her this week, as its their area.
And after, I got to thinking. What if I hadn't have talked to her? What if I hadn't have listened? Thank goodness I don't have to find out.
What if you are the one person that can make a difference? What if we are somebody's last chance? We can't let any opportunity pass us by.

Saturday: We had a few lessons and contacts, but basically everything fell through again. Right before our activity that night, we decided to knock a house. A young woman named Janeira (if I remember correctly) let us in on the fly and we taught her the Restoration. She loved it and is planning on coming to church next week. She wants her family to be together forever, and she wants them all to belong to the same church. Halleluyer! We can help! Haha. She is really sweet and just amazing.
We had our activity and tons more people came!! Marcelo came with tons of games in mind and everybody had such a good time. Vitor came too! It was a good night.

Sunday: Irmã Deborah and Irmão Robson blessed their new baby girl and invited tons of their friends to come watch. So tons of non members were at church! It was a missionary heaven. I didn't know what to do with myself. And Vitor came all by himself! Marcelo told us he would, but didn't make it out. But! It was still an amazing day! Plus, the testimonies were all super powerful and amazing. The Spirit was so strong. We got a potential investigator and a few referrals for some of the other missionaries in our zone!
Then, basically everything fell through again. Dumb Satan.
We visited Natara, but Fabio wasn't home. So we talked with her about how we can help Fabio and shared a few scriptures with her. And I played with Matheus for a little while. Because we are amigos.

And today! Today we are going to do some shopping and I am gonna get me some world cup stuff!!

Remember to pray for missionary opportunities and to not let them pass you by when they come!! Love y`all!

Sister Shell

Another cool mural!  After all Kirsten is Mary Jane! :)

Another view of Sao Paulo.