Querida Família!
I can already tell this is going to be a very hard transfer, but I´m just trying to stay positive. If you lose the excitement in missionary work here, it will just get worse and worse. One day was particularly bad, every appointment fell through and we one street contact that was so lackluster that we just had to laugh or else we would´ve cried. Jesus Christ never had an off-day where he just didn´t feel like talking to anyone. He gave everything, even for the people who wouldn´t give Him the time of day.
Dagna is pretty much just staying in place, she stood us up twice and didn´t come to church Sunday. Eduarda´s family didn´t come either, the dad is the only one who is really interested, so I´m still hoping for him to keep commitments and find an answer. Right now we are having the most success working on the street of two recent converts, Jaqueline and Eduardo. They know everyone and just keep giving us references. The only problem is that they´re almost all teenagers and kids and we have to talk to their parents.
I really am still doing well and am not complaining, I just think there´s something to be learned from every hard situation. I know Brasil is the place where I´m meant to learn certain things. Here, if you aren´t baptizing weekly, you know something is going wrong. There´s always a mountain of problems but the challenge is finding solutions that are doable and will help you slowly improve each day. I´m kind of an idealist, and this month I´m praying for patience. Awful thing to pray for haha.. but just because things aren´t immediately better doesn´t mean they aren´t improving. Sister Seal says I have a gift for finding problems, which can be good, but without solutions or patience it can definitely add up to tons and tons of problems. The thing that keeps me going is knowing that there is something I need to learn, that I need to change and DO in order to learn it. That´s why we have so many commitments and programs in the church that call for action; covenants, personal progress, priesthood.
In John 7:17, Christ gives the ultimate test to know if anything is true: DO IT. No one can know this Gospel is true through thinking about it, only through living it!
I don´t really have anything to take pictures of, I don´t carry my camera around. I do have some favorite scriptures that I´ve found on the mission! The beginning of Romans 5 is my favorite about patience. I guess the Romans were impatient people, because that book has a lot on patience. Also I love in the last chapter of Timothy II where Paul says ``I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith``. That verse just stays in my head all the time.
Finally, I love in Ether 6 when the Jaredites are crossing the waters for almost a year and they never stop singing and praising day and night. Being in that little boat for a whole year doesn´t really sound fun, but the wind never stopped blowing towards the promised land and the lights never went out. The symbolism of that whole story is so beautiful.
I love you all so much and am so glad you are doing missionary work! Dad, sometimes I can just see you here talking with these Brasilians. I really like your stories and your advice, so you should keep giving them. I can see now how this country has become a part of you and how it´s becoming a part of me. I love you!
Mom, I knew you were going to think I died when I wrote two days late ;) haha you are so crazy. But I love you and miss your hugs. Thank you for giving me this gospel!
Don´t be weary in well-doing!
Sister Moore
No comments:
Post a Comment