Week 54

Fruit of Joy

Week 54—Aug. 1, 2016

This week was really good (: I can´t express to you all how much I see the Lords hand in our work.)  When we are being obedient, serving with all our heart, might, mind, and strength....Heavenly Father is just so incredible!  If I didn’t have him here with me....I don’t know, well I wouldn’t be here lets just say.

 Okay so some awesome news for you all.  Fabiana and Rafael were baptized on Saturday!  I am so happy for them and wish I could have been there, but you know that’s okay, I was there in spirit.  Yesterday at church there was a speaker from the other ward in Universitario where I served in Dec.  He´s giving a talk and says `` I don’t know if any of you have met Maura, Joao, or Estephany in my ward in Universitario but they have been baptized for 7 months and will be sealed in the temple this December.  My companion looked at me and just grinned because she knows Maura is my mom and that me and Sister Matos taught them and they were baptized and then I started crying!  Its something special when the people you teach get baptized, but when they continue strong and progress enough to be ready to enter the temple.... its like a cherry on top. AHHHHH!!!  I am so excited for them!

    

 Okay, so this ward here in Novo Mundo is AMAZING. The members are AMAZING.  We bring the investigator to church and I don’t even need to introduce them or ask a member if the investigator can sit by them in sacrament meeting.  The members literally take them, welcome them, sit next to them, and start teaching them about the Book of Mormon.  I’m like, Wow!  This is how all wards should be! This ward is huge and the members are truly all missionaries.  It just makes me so HAPPY.  Okay, so Jose Carlos was at church last week and we visited him and set a date for him to be baptized!  Then he introduced us to his sister and her 3 kids, 2 within the age of baptism!  We have been working with them and they will be baptized!!

So I got the wonderful opportunity to do a split with one of the sisters this week in Universitario.  To help her, give her advice, and to see how things are going.  So I’m working with her when we pass by Alessandra´s street and some other recent converts.  I asked her if she´s visited them and she’s says no, I couldn’t find their street on the map.  I’m like, sister, let me show you where they live.  Okay, so I don’t know if you remember Alessandra, Sister Matos and I taught her and she was baptized in November.  I heard that she has stopped going to church because she´s 11 and her mom doesn’t want her to walk alone or something.  I also heard she had moved but it wasn’t a for sure thing.  So we get to her house and I’m like, if she still lives here, and if she´s home right now, I’m going to cry.... it’s been 7 months and I adore this girl!  This kid opens the door and I ask if Alessandra is home and he is like ya, one minute....I looked at sister, and I’m like AHHHHHH!!!!  Alessandra walks to the door and sees me and we both start hugging and crying...it was a super tender moment for us both.  I was like, girl, why haven’t you been going to church?  How are you?  What’s going on?  We talked and caught up.  It was so special.  I told her she needs to keep reading the Book of Mormon and that Sister Rangel would pass by her home now and help her.  We called a member to pick her up on Sunday for church.  I don’t know yet if she went on Sunday, but I sure hope so. (((:

So after we went on splits, I get with my companion and she is like sister!  The elders in the office were at physical therapy and met this really cool lady!  They gave her reference to us because she lives in our area.  The Elders already gave her the Book of Mormon!  I was like, yes, lets visit her!  She lives an hour and 20 minutes away on foot, but hey!!  Gotta visit those references! (I forgot that word in English haha)  So we finally get there and she starts to tell us about her life.  She said, I am married, I have 3 kids, I have a house (a pretty big one if you ask me, it was nice)  She told us, “I work in the health care field, I have every reason to be happy, but I’ve always felt something was missing.  I thought I was depressed so I started smoking and drinking.  Then I felt worse and I have been praying for God to show me the way.  At work the other day I saw the Elders and I felt like I needed to talk to them.  So I did, and I felt this empty feeling starting to be filled.”  Sister and I started crying, we were like, yeah, we have a message that will help you with every problem you have and with the emptiness you have been feeling.  Then she goes on to say, “I had a dream about this fruit....fruit not of this world, it was different.  I ate the fruit and I felt so much joy I can’t explain to you how good it was!”  I was like, um lets read 1 Nephi 8, there was a prophet that had a dream about fruit too....WE ARE PLANNING HER BAPTISM FOR 27 of August!!  You guys, she is an elect!!

Okay so Thursday night we had family night with Jose Carlos and Fatima and her kids at a members house.  We stopped at a store to buy some cake and we were walking out, its was night time, and I’m putting the rest of my money away when I have this feeling “help sister with the cakes” and I’m like okay, let me just put my money away....and then bam!  Sister Ramona just about falls, but twists her ankle!! She did the exact same thing last transfer with her companion and now it happened again...the same ankle!  Poor thing!  So we spent the next day in the hospital taking x-rays and so yet again, another weekend in our house.  She couldn’t walk for 2 days, but now its a lot better.

God lives, this is His church, I know it and I know you can know if it’s true if you read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask God!! 

com muito amor, 

Sister Smith

Look who got baptized last week... Rafael, Fabiana, and Rafaella!!!!!! The happiness I'm feeling right now is beyond anything I can describe! I joked with them and told them they needed to paste me into their baptism picture because I wouldn't be able to be there...YEP, they did it hahahah!! I am so happy, in a year they said they want to visit the US and be sealed in the temple and have me there!! I'm like my DREAM COME TRUE!!!!  

Remember Jose Carlos I told you about? I talked to him one night and he came to church the next day! Yeah!  Now we are teaching his sister Fatima and her 2 daughters that are ages 10 and 8 (they are tiny, they don't look it) and her cute little boy, Edwardo, who is 5...I am in love with them! They will be baptized next week!! 

I love this pillow case my extended family gave me before I left on my mission.

Grandparents are Gifts

Grandparents are Gifts

I just want to take a minute and brag about my grandparents.  People always ask me about my family and so I always have the opportunity to show these pictures of my grandparents and great grandparents.  People are always so shocked when they see my great grandparents! haha.  They´re like, they are still alive?  What a blessing!  Are they members too?  I’m like yep, they are members and they are still living and breathing.  I am so grateful for my grandparents, I miss them all so much!  I’m grateful for the example they all have been to me in my life.  I am so grateful they all have entered into the temple and made covenants with our Savior and Heavenly Father.  I am grateful that I have relationships and memories with all of them! 

Grandma Smith, Happy Birthday a little while ago!  I love you and miss you!  I pray for you everyday!  Love you Grandpa Smith, thanks for all your support and love!  Thanks for always being there for me and being Christ like examples.  You raised the greatest son in the world as my daddy.  I’m excited to visit you in St. George when I get home!  

To my twinzie Grandpa Schauerhamer, who is one of my besties, miss you lots!  I’m excited to ride bikes with you when I get back!  I miss your jokes and laughing at you.  Happy Birthday to my Grandma Cindy who is just like my sweet mommy, the two women I look up to so much.  I love you and miss you!  

I love you Grandma & Grandpa Headman, you are both my pride and joy!  It’s not everyday you get to say your great grandparents are still around!  I can’t wait to see you again and get a hug and kiss from both of you!  Happy 88^th birthday grandma!  What an accomplishment!  I hope you have a big celebration!  Grandpa Headman, don’t worry!  I’m staying away from all the boys here in Brazil, always triple arm length away.(;  I love you all so much!!

Sister Smith

Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandma Headman

Grandpa & Grandma Schauerhamer

Grandpa & Grandma Smith

Week 53

Goiania…..I’m home!

Week 53---July 25, 2016

I am literally STOKED to be here in Goiania!  Last December I was in the Universitario ward which is right next to Novo Mundo...were I am now!  (: The people here are so receptive and I loooove it!!  They are so nice and are telling me that my Portuguese is so good!!! (: 

Okay, what an adventure this week has been!  It has been CRAZY, unlike any other week in the mission.  Let me start at last Monday.  I received a call in the morning while I was writing my letter to you.  I was told that we had to leave that night for Goiania.  This trip was for the people that were being transferred and for the leaders of an upcoming meeting.  We packed all P-day, and got a last minute call that our bus ride was canceled because there weren’t enough seats on the bus.  So, we had to stay a whole other day because the only bus ride to Goiania was at 9 pm Tuesday night.  We all stayed the full day, but it was fun and we had a meeting with our zone.  So Tuesday night we went to the bus station and I went to get my ticket that the elders in the Mission Office already paid for, and the bus people said, “your name isn’t on the list”...  I was like, what?  Let me see....  It turns out, the elders mixed me up with Sister A. Smith.  I called the elders and told them what happened.  We tried to switch my name but it didn’t work...   So I got to stay ANOTHER day in Patos while everyone else in the group left...  Luckily, the meeting was Thursday morning so I still had time to travel there Wednesday night and arrive at 6am and try to make it to the meeting by 8:30am.  Wowee!  I was hoping I would be able to stay awake during the meeting, haha!  

While I stayed that extra day in Patos, I was working with another sister and her investigator.  It was in an area an hour away from our house, (this investigator had a date for baptism and we had to visit her) and at 6:30pm I got a call from the elders saying that I would be leaving at 9:00pm by myself to Goiania.  Then, they called back 10 minutes later and said there was another problem….the bus is filled and your going to have to leave in one hour to Uberaba.  Elder Sneil and his companion will be waiting for you.  Elder Sneil used to be my Zone Leader in Rio Verde. He is from Spanish Fork.  The office told me to wait there with the elders and catch the midnight bus to Goiania.  What???  I have to leave in an hour, and I’m an hour away from my house?   I wanted to take a shower too, ya know?  Haha   

Only miracles people, miracles!  Long story short, we miraculously got a ride from a member.  I made it to the bus station on time and finally left Patos.  I met Elder Sneil and his companion (I’ve never been alone with elders--it was weird.)  We got to Goiania at 5:30 am.  I made it to the apartment, showered, and was at the meeting by 8:00 am!! 

The meeting was AMAZING to say the least!  I felt so honored to be there and to be a part of the meeting.  Sister T. and I went into a separate room and talked to Sister Bührer about the Sisters in the mission.  We talked about how we can help and be an example.  We also talked about going on splits with them, and yeah, we were all crying.  It was cool.  Then president talked to us and showed some videos that got us all pumped up.  It was awesome!  After that, we chilled and ate lunch.  

So, during this meeting, my sweet companion was sitting out in the waiting area.  It was just like me when I started my mission with sister Amaral who was also a training sister.  Ha ha flashback!!  But my companion was super sick.  We gave her medicine, but she didn’t get better.  We had to take her to the hospital Saturday because she couldn’t stop coughing and it looked like she had a sinus infection.  On Sunday we were only able to attend church and spent the rest of the day at home letting her rest.  

But guess what, with only 1 day in the area we had an investigator at church, and he LOVED it!!!!!  We are going to visit him today!  WOOWT WOOT!!   GOLDEN!!  

Miracles, only miracles people!! 

It was a great busy week!! I’m out of time!! 

-SISTER SMITH

The last açai with my companion  

 I'm going to miss my best friend Sister Cordeiro...we cried saying goodbye...we became besties in 3 weeks :(( 

Zone meeting in Patos...my last one...

I'm going to miss them! 

Thanks for an awesome 3 weeks!! 

 My district picture

The sisters of Patos 

Look at this pretty pond and the patos(ducks) that you can ride on

Dramatic shot looking at the water because                   I'm leaving

This is our investigator that makes the most INCREDIBLE CAKE IN THE WORLD...hehe and she gave me the recipe! 

THANK YOU WOMAN!! I will miss them! 

Saying goodbye to Patos..it's such a pretty city, look at this cool bamboo fence(: 

Waiting for the bus, that I couldn't leave on! ahhaa

                            Patos de Minus farm land (:

 Smashed in the car after not being able to travel that night (: 

I love these girls and miss them already :(

Saying goodbye to these awesome sisters and members at the bus station xoxoxox

After the meeting(: 

 My new cute house here in Goiania...

we live behind a members house. 

I love it, it's cute and cozy(:

Our meeting with President and Siser Bührer, the assistents, zone leaders, 

and Sister T. and me!! 

WOOT WOOT!!! MISSÂO BRASIL GOIÂNIA!!!! 

My new companion Sister Ramona!! 

She is Brazilian and is on her 3rd transfer! 

I loooove her!!

Week 52

Sister Training Leader?!?

Week 52---July 18, 2016

I am in shock right now!  I just got off the phone with the assistants and they called me back to Goiania and to be the new Sister Training Leader....OH MY WORD!!!!  I can’t believe it!!!!  WOWEEE!!!!!  I’m in shock, but I’m super grateful for this opportunity to serve with Pres. and Sister Bührer and to help out the other Sister missionaries!  This is going to be so awesome, but a huge responsibility for me!!! 

Okay I’m out of time but I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you guys.  This week was hard with investigators and bringing people to the gospel.  It’s not always easy out here in the mission field.  I feel like it just makes it that much sweeter & special when we do have success.  It’s not easy but why should it be easy for us, when it wasn’t easy for Jesus Christ, -Elder Holland.  When we are doing everything we can; fasting, praying, talking to everyone, we just need to have faith to keep on going, to keep trying, to not give up.  

This week we talked to a lot of people that had questions about what we do all day walking in the streets and talking to people.  Its crazy how people have so many questions for us but when we ask if we can pass by their house and explain what we are so excited about...they say no, no thanks.  It makes me think, don’t you want to know why I left my country, my family, my home, my friends, my comfort to be here??  Why would I learn a totally new language, Portuguese, so that I could talk to people in the streets of Brazil?  Don’t you want to know what in the world could be so important that I left everything to talk to you?  Do you not think about why we are here, what will happen when you and your kids die, don’t you wonder why this life is the way it is, or do you just go along with the pattern of the world, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, & party a little because we´ll die tomorrow....   IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO DO THIS PEOPLE....  There is a purpose, there is a God...  We are here for a reason....  Don’t they want to know what that reason is??  That you can find happiness in the darkest times of you life, that when someone you love dies, you can see them again, that your family can only be together after this life if you are sealed with the power of God???  

I wonder... do people have any of these questions...maybe they do, or maybe they don’t....  Maybe they are lazy and don’t want to change their lifestyle, or maybe they don’t think there could be anything better.  I don’t know, whatever it is...whatever the reason why they don’t want to know or want to hear.... I´ll tell you (or everyone that is reading this) God lives, he loves you!  You may feel he doesn’t exist or that he isn’t there, but He is!  He is aware of you and he wants you to return to live with him again.  That is why he sent his son Jesus Christ, that is why he restored his gospel on the earth today, that is why today we have a living prophet guiding his true church! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!

-SISTER SMITH