Wednesday, August 6, 2014

August 6, 2014

Lindíssima família!

I love your pictures.  Haha it really looks like kind of a vacation, but obviously not because you´re already doing amazing things!  One Sister here who waited for her visa thinks that the church in the US will start to grow faster than Brasil because the members are getting involved.  Who can say if that´s true, but it´s so great to here about so many miracles!  It inspires me a lot.

ANYWAY... the reason I´m writing so late is that I got TRANSFERRED.  Already!  It was kind of sad because I felt like I was just getting to really know and love the members there.  But now I´m here in Santa Rita with Sister Cavalcanti and two other Brasilians.  One is like a foot shorter than me and it´s awesome.  I don´t know anything about this area because we´re opening it and it´s the first time they´ve ever had sisters.  Yes, that means we were left with an elder´s house.  Oh my gosh.  It´s horrible.  I feel like a homeless person invading an abandoned factory.  But that´s okay, opening areas that have never had sisters is the best.  We´ve spent the day walking around looking for a place to email.

It was a good, way to short, transfer in Ipes, and as always, we had a lot of good things happen right before I left.  We were going to mark the date of a wedding and baptism of a super elect couple, baptize A who´s been investigating the church forever and now doesn´t have to work on Sundays, and I was just getting to know the members.  It was a really cool week but it´s all left me now and I can´t think of anything but this new area.  

I´m in the same zone as Sister Sciammarella. All of my companions are dying. It´s her, Sister Seal and Sister Johnson´s last transfer.  I´ll get to see Sister Sciamm every week and that´s just a blessing for me.  Time is flying but now I feel like my mission´s just started again.

The biggest miracle for me this week was a personal experience with prayer.  I feel like the whole transfer I was just carrying this stress that I didn´t know the source of or how to get rid of it.  I just never felt like I was at peace with myself or my work, always doubting if I was doing things right.  I had already prayed about it, but I really just came to the point I had to know if I was trying enough or too hard.  I prayed with that kind of sincerity that you always tell your investigators to do.  The words of scriptures I knew just came to my head and I asked if I was just trying to comfort myself or if it was the comforter.  It was obvious in my head the answer, but a feeling of true peace just overcame me.  Like I never wanted to move from that spot.  Then I just told Heavenly Father everything I was worried about, the way I would to my own parents.  My answer was just to trust in the Lord and not in myself, and He will bring out my true best self.  And also that the things I want to change in myself won´t just change immediately.  

The next day was Sunday, when everyone loses their mind.  No one came to church.  A was sick and didn´t come to his baptism.  But I just kept thinking about that answer I received and nothing seemed to bother me.  I did all I could and people made their choices.  I just enjoyed taking the sacrament, listening to the testimonies of the members.  Our district sang at the Elder´s baptism and it was beautiful.  Afterward I also got to comfort two different less actives going through horrible things, people with no peace in their lives.  We sang hymns and listened to them.  It seems like it had been a long time since I´d just enjoyed the spirit like that, without thinking about what me or my companion is doing wrong, without thinking about our numbers, or when we have to leave for our next appointment.  

Never lose sight of the ´´why´´ of the Gospel, and your testimony will be that much more powerful, your work will be that much more efficient.  I know my Savior lives and loves me.  He died for me.  I don´t have any doubts.  If you feel like you´ve wasted time, or like your best efforts aren´t enough, or you´ve messed up, or you´ll try when a change happens, just STOP.  Right where you are is the perfect place to begin being the person the Lord wants you to be.  

I love you all so much!  I hope you have tons of success and miracles big and small!  Make it an awesome week!

Um abraço,

Sister Moore

No comments:

Post a Comment