Oi familia! How's it going?
So I've done a really bad job keeping up on my journal. There is just to much to study, to many people to write, to many things to read. So it''s my journal that has been suffering. So this letter might be a titch short because I can''t really recall what has happened. My sense of time here is all screwed up. Things that happened this morning seemled like they happened days ago. The days are sooo long yet the weeks go by so quickly. I can''t believe we have already been here four weeks. Yikes. I am so not ready.
So this week Elder Nielson came and talked to us about the book of mormon. It was pretty awesome. One of the plusses about being in the provo MTC. He commented on the special edition of the ensign the one about the book of mormon it was very good. It was also a good realization for me that the BOM needs to be used the the lessons because the words found in the book of mormon speak for themselves by the power of the spirit in which they were written. I kept trying to find scripture references in the bible because the majority of Brazis are catholic. So I wanted to use scripture they already believed to help prove my points, but Elder Neilsen was right. The BOM needs to be used and it really does speak for itself.
An Elder in our district got his visa and is flying to brazil tomorrow.....I WANT TO GO TO BRAZIL TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a;sldkfj al;kj;ioe1@#(*$&@(#%* Aklsdjfaslkdjfa;slkdjl39. THis is the frustration I felt a long with a slight glimmer of happiness for this Edler. There are 400 of us Brazilian missionaries stuck here in the states for the moment. I pour out my whole soul every night that I will make it to Brazil soon so my portuguese won''t suffer too much. But this week I came to realize God will provide a way for me to learn portuguese even if I spend 3 transfers state side. The beginning of this whole MTC experience I was totally gungho about serving anywhere because I would be serving the Lord. But now, after hearing about Brazil, and praying for the people in Brazil, and talking with my Brazilian teacher, I''ve got my heart set on Brazil. I know I will love wherever I end up. But I feel like I was called there for a reason, and there are people there waiting for me that I can help change their lives and they in turn will change mine. Who knows....
So this particular missionary Elder Gleason is a miracle. My companions and I didn't really like him at first. He told us all these stories about how he egged people houses and how for fun he would drive around with his friends and throw tacos or twinkies or stupid stuff like that. And he was proud of it. He also was not very respectful to girls and we had one sister (not in our district) stand up and leave when she was sitting across from him at the lunch table. Over time, we've noticed a change. He started making really insightful comments and he started really using his studying time and he started trying to speak portuguese more and not complain so much. After anazlying all of the elders in our district we labeld him the butterfly elder because he has been slowly gloing through metamorphisis. This past sunday he taught us a lesson on prayer and talked about how he had never ever prayed to God before and he so on the mission he thought - well I guess I better start. At this point he started crying. And he just bore a simple and very beautiful testimony about prayer and how it has changed his life. It was so amazing to see this change! You could totally tell. I worried about him at first but he is well on his way to becoming a very strong missionary. I just hope the change from the US to Brazil won''t shake him up too much. I''ll sincerely miss that guy. Miracles do happen :)
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the mountain colors. I can''t tell you how bad I want to slip away for just a few hours and go on a hike. My companions and I discovered that we could. We had to change our gym time because our teacher couldn''t teach when she was supposed to, so we went outside and exercised while there wasn''t any gym time and we thought someone would stop us but no one did.....don''t worry I'm not getting any ideas....
Love you all so much! And you are all in my thoughts and prayers!
Sister P
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