January 12, 2015
This week I had a first- I got to be a witness in marking a wedding:) Here the weddings have to be planned with the Cartório way in advance, so we went with Eduardo and Fernanda to start the process for theirs. I brought all my documents and they let me be a witness! Now at the end of February they can be married! It has seriously been amazing seeing this process. Five years ago, Fernanda and Eduardo started investigating with sisters. When it switched to Elders, the process stopped and they went 5 years without coming to church. Now, they are back in the groove and enthusiastic and we saw the Lord guiding this process. For example, we had to get their birth certificates from the cartório where they were registered, which could be one of many in Pelótas, but the first one we tried, was right! And the other birth certificate was in a distant city, but we called the elders there, they picked it up, and they happened to be in the city the very day that we needed to mark the wedding. Thanks Elders!
Eduardo and Fernanda were so cute when they came to church yesterday. We passed by their house to see if they needed anything and we walked with them to church. They have two little kids (three but one is traveling) and their stroller is with another friend, so they put one on the back of a bike and the other in a little basked seat in the front and walked alongside the bike to get to church.
So Friday was exciting. We were just about to start a service project helping to build a house, but suddenly I stepped on a board with a rusty nail sticking up and got blood all over my heart sock that mom gave me and all over my converse. But lest anyone be worried, Irmã Michele took me straight to "Pronto Socorro" and they gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my merry way. The nail didn´t go in too deep and I was able to get right back to work the next day with only a slight limp!
And it was good that we were able to make visits on Saturday because it was one of the best days ever! We taught a man named Marcos for the first time and he said he would come to church. And guess what? He came to church! I gave Gospel Principles class and we were talking about how we, as children of God, have divine attributes, and we shared a bit about how we have some attributes of our parents. I showed my family photo (everyone is always very impressed with dad´s height) and Marcos happened to have a photo of his dad in his wallet. He said "I get my mustache from my dad..." His dad has one of the biggest caterpillar mustaches I have ever seen. The funny part is, Marcos...doesn´t have a mustache. But anyway it was a good lesson.
It was cool because Marcos always sits with some friends on a street that we always walk down and I have to admit I never would have guesed that he would come to church, but we always made a point to be friendly and say hi to everyone in the group. I think we talked to some of them a few months agod but no one showed real interest. But the other day, we were walking by and said hi and then one lady said "hey! What church are you from? I want to hear your message." So we marked a day and taught them (saturday). What a great lesson. I learned that if we are friendly and exude the light of Christ, people will notice and have a desire to learn more. Also, never judge beforehand because ALL children of God have immense potential.
We seriously saw so many miracles this week. It has been a week of many answered prayers and I am very grateful. D&C 78:18-19!!
Love you guys!
Sister Smith
Hello!!
Shoutout to the most wonderful little sister in the world! Happy Birthday (17th) Lysie!!!!!!!!!! Love you.
Julia got baptized! It was wonderful! She brought her friend and her mom and they both came to church the next day for the confirmation! Woohoo!!!
This week we taught her the life after death part of the Plan of Salvation and we talked about the judgment. When I asked her how she felt about the judgment day, she stopped and thought, and then said something that I think we all should strive to be able to say at all points in our life. She looked up and with a little smile said, "If I keep going with what I am doing now, I don´t think I have any reason to be worried."
Marcos also came to church again! After church on Sunday, he even came and joined the chimarrão group in front of Irmã Lu´s house, which is a big deal- integration with the members!
It was a super crazy week with three companionship exchanges, including traveling to Camaquã but it was fun!
We had lots of miracles, lots of new people to teach. We also had a zone meeting with training by the assistants about how to broaden our vision. How sometimes when we have super high goals and hopes, others think that we are crazy, but it is not the first time that that has happened. They talked about Nephi´s example, how Laman and Lemuel called him crazy for following the counsel of their father. They tell him, "thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolishimaginations of his heart..." (1 Nephi 17:20) which is meant to be an insult, but can really be taken as a compliment. Nephi is like his father, both heeding the counsel of the Lord, no matter how others might view it. But how great it would be if we could be told the same thing, that we are like our Father in Heaven and that we have the same vision as he does- to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men" (Moses 1:39) Not just some people, not just half of mankind, or a couple thousand, but all of us. He wants to save all of us and our vision should be the same.
I am so grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us. I know that He lives and that he leads and guides this church today.
Thanks for all your love and prayers!
Sister Smith
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