30 June 2014

Dearest Friends,

This was a great week. Renata got baptized!!!!!! Woohoo!!!! It was a beautiful day. She is one chic lady. She got new highlights this week and to accompany the simple white baptismal suit she wore peach stilettos up until the moment of the baptism, a nice touch I thought. I got to play the violin and give a spiritual thought. Izabel, her less active mom, came and loved it! She even gave the opening prayer. I just love those two.

Rewind to the beginning of the week. Renata basically disappeared. She started working at her new job-the one that she doesn´t have to work Sundays! But that means she basically works every single other day late until the night and we just weren´t catching her at home or being able to get ahold of her on the phone. We passed by literally every day, usually multiple times and Thursday night we were about to give up. We needed to still teach her some things and finalize plans and it seemed like she just wasn´t on board.  We called and called and...nothing. We decided it was too late that night to call and cancel the interview and tell the ward it was off, so we went to bed sad and worried. But! Miracle! Izabel called first thing in the morning, we set up a time to teach her, the interview went smoothly on Friday and she was super happy and excited! She had had a crazy week but we were so happy that she was still really wanting to get baptized. She has been reading the scriptures daily and everything. She is an amazing lady. 

Other than that the week was pretty smooth. Dirceu´s new favorite hobby is to give us food. We ran into him on the street today and he gave us peanuts. Also Ana Grahl made us a cake and waffles and burritos because she knew transfers were today. Oh! Transfers! I will stay here in Ala 1 (yes!)  and I will be training. Pray for me. I am nervous. But the good kind. The anxious excited kind.

We had a Fest Junina (festival based on Catholic St. John but now is basically a hilbilly party with wassail made of grape juice. And lots of corn cakes. And square dancing of which I was tempted but did not participate. Tbt 4th grade square dancing in the Elementary School gym).

Well, thats about it for this week. Stay strong and never give up. When we are least expecting it, Heavenly Father will always surprise us with a miracle. When we are diligent, the miracles happen in ways that we least expect. The Bible dictionary defines diligence as "Consistent, valiant effort, especially in serving the Lord and obeying His word" Ergo, like Rome diligence isn´t built in a day. But with diligence, coupled with obedience, we will truly be able to "win the prize" (Mosiah 4:27) which prize is better than the World Cup (speaking of which, two Brasil games this week with U.S. and Brasil still in the tournament. I will have to choose loyalty soon...), better than a free handful of peanuts, and even better than cake or waffles. It is a prize that never ends. Eternal life. That´s what we are aiming for people.

Love you!

Sister Smith