November 4, 2013

Oh my gosh since when are your Halloween costumes that legit? Jealous. Know what I did for Halloween? Fasted with my zone.. But seriously this week was infinitely better than the last!! The biggest miracle is the group of teenagers that are ALL getting baptized. Now I have some pride issues telling this story, Mom, because it has to do with seminary. So we have a recent convert, Jaqueline, who is completely obsessed with my companion and calls all the time. I haven´t talked much about her because I think we waste way too much time at her house and she is very, VERY manipulative. Even though I think it´s mostly to get us to come visit her, she spends all day calling everyone she knows to see who wants to hear our lessons and come to church. At first I was super irritated because I thought her references were all out of nowhere and that no one was interested and we were just spending all day talking to super noncommittal teenagers. Which was the case for a while. But then we taught this really cool 15-year-old girl Venis, and I was shocked at how much she actually understood and the questions she asked. Because of her, we have now been personally bringing 4 girls to seminary and counting. This really is a miracle situation. Everyone wants to go to seminary, like it´s the cool thing to do now. We participated in one class and it´s just so cool I don´t even understand it. We marked the baptism of Venis, Lais and Paula and I just know the rest are going to follow. Another cool thing is that they are starting to dress modest and no one even told them to. It´s the cutest thing ever. Venis gave me a sticker from her notebook (all notebooks here have stickers) to keep on the back of my name tag to always remember her. She really is something special and I know this is the start of something huge. One girl has already brought her whole family to church. FUTURE MISSIONARIES. Last night we also marked the baptism of a 16 and 18 year old, both boys. Man, the men in this church need to step it up because the girls are sure excelling ;) Also, I have this horrible feeling I´m going to be seminary teacher someday. It´s finally Christmas! Haha not really but it´s always Christmas in our apartment, and our ward apparently too because we´ve been singing Christmas hymns since September. So funny. The power went out at Jaqueline´s house one time and she lit candles and I started singing silent night in Portuguese and everyone joined in, even her crazy dad who sits in the same spot outside all day. It´s so hard to tell funny stories in emails.. I have a few nicknames that I think especially Dad would enjoy; Pequenina, Pequena Sereia, Bebezinha and my favorite, Ovelinha. One of our investigators called me Ovelinha and Sister Seal is Cabritona, which means little lamb and big goat. We were laughing so hard. Sister Seal does have a really intense and forcive way of teaching, which is good most of the time. I think she could breath a little more often haha and I think she knows that. Dad, I appreciated your letter a lot and those pictures. You´re gonna make me cry! I love you lots! You´d be sad to know I haven´t heard Bossa Nova here even once, it´s been replaced by either American or Brazilian pop :( There´s one member, Izaira, who loves classical music and jazz. I wish you could see how cool the members are here and how much the church has grown. It´s just like any other ward, but a little noisier :) Testimony meeting is the best, and everyone always says the most perfect things. I promise I´ll have pictures next time! Pray for the baptism of Leonice, Anderson, Fernando, Eliane, Dagna, Lais, Juliana and Venis this week. I know it´s always a ton of possibles and I think the ones who really are going to be baptized are Leonice, Lais and Venis. Cleonice was finally confirmed and I can breath a little! So much reason for rejoicing this week!! The Lord´s work is amazing, because it´s HIS work. All we really need is to be humble and obiedient! Well I´ve gotta go but I hope you all have an awesome week! I love you so much! Beijinhos, Sister Moore