Monday, April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014 (Hannah is halfway through her mission this week!)

Querida família!
 
April has gone by so fast, and it´s really been an amazing month.  We found out that this transfer is actually only going to be five weeks, and so it´s suddenly already ending!  I don´t really know anything yet about skype for mothers day but it´ll probably all be in an email that I´ll forward to you next week.  It should be actual skype, the facebook thing was kind of a last resort.  I´m looking forward to seeing you all!  About Christmas.. I thought I had already answered that question in the last email but I am feeling that I need to stay until the end.  I know the Lord will bless me and our family for staying another transfer to finish the 18 months I signed up for. 
 
It´s been a hard week, not in the way that we´re getting discouraged or sad, but in the way that we just have to laugh at all the things that just go wrong and God´s sense of humor in teaching us humility.  All of our good investigators told us they weren´t interested anymore, our ward is struggling a lot in all aspects, Valdemir´s car isn´t working still, and Cleide, the only other member who helps us suddenly moved away.  And the day ended with a cup of chá de burro, or in other words, corn water.  I hope you know I´m laughing as I write this...
 
I think the best part was Saturday night when our neighbors were playing their awful Paraiba rap, basically the same three songs, until 6:00 in the morning.  And when people play their music here, it´s loud enough to shake your house from the next street.  So needless to say we didn´t sleep or think very charitable thoughts that night, as clearly we are not representatives of Christ from 10:30pm to 6:30am...  but we still had to go walk 30 minutes away to the bottom of a hill to pick up our investigators who were all sleeping so they wouldn´t come to church.  So we get to church late, looking like we just got a bucket of water dumped on us which is really just sweat, but that´s the norm.  But here´s the lesson, I think; Christ really does love us.  If we think it´s annoying to do all that, what must it have been like for Christ when He sweat drops of blood for people who just have no idea of what He is doing for them or what He wants to offer them. 
 
We got to the church and one of our investigators we found that week was there, a woman named Maria who had been taught before by the Elders before us.  She had taken a bus by herself just because she had decided it was time to visit the church again.  She had tons of questions in Gospel Principles and we went to her house afterwards to teach her more.  She is a teacher and very smart and receptive of the spirit.  She told us she would be baptized already if it wasn´t for coffee. And cigarettes.  And the sabbath day.  And tithing.  But pray a lot for her because I think she needs to get baptized on Wednesday :) 
 
I think my most important lesson this transfer is that we are children of God.  The Lord calls us little children in D&C 50, and tells us to not be afraid countless times.  I love when the Savior immediately reached out to Peter when he walked on the water and began to fall, asking why he doubted.  We really know nothing, but we must learn to love God because He loves us SO much.  And that´s what we need to apply to our members and investigators as well.  We need to love them as little children.  They don´t understand a lot, but they will understand that we love them and are trying to help them be on the right path.  We always just need a little bit more faith and patience in the promises of the Lord. 
 
The Lord has been comforting me so much lately.  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior so much.  They are so patient with me.  They even love our stupid neighbors who play loud music.  I´m so grateful for every day of my mission, and the Lord has been confirming to me that He is accepting my mission, as often as I´ll ask for that confirmation.  I read a really good talk I think from April 2013 by a Seventy called ´´Accepted of the Lord´´.  Feeling accepted is a basic human yearning, and if we can´t get that feeling of acceptance from our ward or even our family, people will look for other ways to find it.  We only need to find the acceptance of the Lord, who says in D&C 97:8 ´´Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice- yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command- They are accepted of me´´
 
I love you guys so much and hope you have a great week!  I hope the Elders bring my package to the meeting tomorrow, but if not for sure I´ll get it at the next leader meeting the week after.  The church is true!
 
Com amor e carinho,
 
Sister Moore
 

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