This week was packed with awesomeness!
So on tuesday I was teaching a little piano lesson at the chapel to Ketelen, a recent convert. She suggested that we invite Josie as well, another member, so we called but thought she probably wouldn´t come. Suddenly, out of nowhere a giant group of youth from our ward shows up. We asked them if there was an activity today or something, and they were like, oh we´re here for the music lessons! Surprise. So if you know anyone who is interested, we are now offering free music lessons Tuesdays at 4:00pm. We are also beginning an english course on Thursday nights. There is a giant group of kids that we always come across on the street and they always call out "tia!" which is what they call old single ladies. Always flattering. Anyway, they are all interested in learning english and I think it will be a great community service and exciting adventure.
Igor and Lucimara (his mom) finally came to church this week!!!! We have been praying for them and we went and visited them this week (they are the ones that live really far away) and it was such a lovely experience! Igor is one of the most polite young men I have ever met. He is absolutely adorable and every time we see him we can´t believe that we are so blessed to be able to teach him. When we explained about prayer to his mom, he helped explain the steps and was like "mom, it goes like this, first you address Father in Heaven...etc" I also taught him a few chords on the guitar and his mom said he hasn´t stopped playing since then!
Lots of wildlife interaction this week, aside from the normal daily spider encounters. The other day we got back to the house and there were not one, but two giant frogs in front of the house! There is usually just one. My companion freaked out, but I scared them away without harming them so all is well. I also saw a salamander on the outer wall of our Ward Mission Leader´s house! It was adorable. I also came across the Bird of Paradise flower and thought of you papitos! Finally we saw two beija-flors (hummingbirds , literally means kissing flowers) helping pollinate the plants and make the world go round.
One more amazing experience of the week: a while ago, a lady stopped us in the street. Her name is Cristina and she said she is a less active member and used to live in Rio, and also Brasilia. She loves the pioneers and reading church books. We decided to go visit her at home. We rang the doorbell and .....nothing. Then we rang again and clapped (how you knock when there isn´t a door) and knocked on the garage door and knocked again and yelled her name and after several minutes, finally, someone came to the door. We had tried to visit earlier but no one attended the door, but this time we didn´t give up! She was so sweet and welcoming. She has an 18-year old son with Down´s Syndrome and three other kids. She and her husband served us watermelon and we chatted and invited her to come back to church. She said that she felt a strong pull inside of her when we invited her to come back and said that she would be there! We prayed and prayed this week that nothing would impede her from coming to church. For the first hour of the meetings (Relief Society) she didn´t show up, but suddenly, right after class got out, she walked through the front door! She said that everything had gone wrong that morning, but she had made up her mind and wasn´t going to let anything stop her from getting to church! The members were really receptive and we were so happy seeing her talking and laughing with everyone like old friends. Heavenly Father really does answer prayers. He is watching out for each of us and will always find a way.
Love,
Sister Smith
Pictures: Pday last week at the Feira dos Livros (book fair) put on by FURG, the local university. Also, picture with Nicielli, one of our amazing investigators! And picture with a sign saying that I went to the largest beach in the world (Cassino) which is a lie since we can´t go swimming, but I wento to the town next to the beach because it is part of my area. Basically the same thing.
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