This Baptism was NOT Ise!!!

Oh my goodness.  This week was seriously one of the most difficult of my entire mission.  I have NEVER worked so dang hard for a baptism in my whole life!  

Ok.  Time for the story of Ise.  So we taught her every single day this week to get her ready for baptism on Sunday.  Perfect, she was super prepared and feeling good and happy and everything was going well.  Until Friday, that is.  We go over to talk to her, and she tells us that her mom told her she doesn´t need to be baptized again and that her mom is SUPER against it.  Thus...we should put the baptism off for a little while.  But you know what happens when we re-mark baptisms? NOTHING.  They don´t happen!  Our hearts just kind of stopped when she said this, so we calmly explained to her how she needs to talk to Heavenly Father about this and get His opinion on the whole situation.  She said that she still wanted the elders to come do the baptismal interview though on Saturday, so that was a good sign. 

On Saturday, the Elders came early in the afternoon and we showed them around Gravatá, because they live in Caruarú, which is about an hour away.  We took them on top of this huge mountain where you can see all of the town and it is soooo pretty!  They almost died on the way up, but that´s ok.  Sweat builds character.  Anyway, as we headed over to Marilza´s house for Ise´s interview, we called Marilza, who told us that Ise was no where to be found!  NOOO!!!  False alarm though, she arrived about half an hour after we did.  Hooray!  Andddd she passed the interview!  So everything was all set and ready for the baptism on Sundaynight.  She came to church with her brother, who we are also teaching, and loved every bit of it. The baptism was marked for 6pm, and after choir practice (which was prettyyy painful), at about 5:50, we get a call.  She said that her mom locked her in the house and wouldn´t let her come to the church at all.  I am not even kidding, I almost cried.  The font was full, the cake was made, and everyone in the ward was there. My heart just broke, but then it mended itself again when she told us that she wanted to get baptized in the morning!  This girl has a desire that is SO STRONG!  She knows that the church is true, she feels it, and she is just an amazing example to me.

After the interview with Ise!  Isn´t she so pretty??

So, about 1 hour ago, we put a baptism together and I had my first baptism on a Pday!  It was beautiful.  Tarciso bore his testimony and made me cry.  He talked about how he knows that the church is true and that there is no way he would ever leave it, especially after going to the temple to do baptisms.  Ise came out of the water so happy!  Oh man, that is just the best feeling in the world, you know?  

I never had to work so hard...EVER. For anything!  The prayers, the fasting, the studying....everything is worth it.  Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and is just waiting to help us!  And He will always be there with us, fighting by our side.

Us with Ise!

With Felipe, who baptized her

With Jo, who introduced her to us

Perfect.... <3

Perfect.... <3

Perfect.... <3

Pure and Perfect!

Pure and Perfect!

I am trying to think of other things that happened, but like...nothing even comes to mind!  We were pretty involved in this novella all week, you know?  Sorry.  

Good luck on the trek to you guys!  I know you will have a great time...man, wish I could go!  Please take a lot of pictures to send to me!  Also, I am so sad that Brother Shumway died.  He was such a great home teacher!  Give a hug to their family from me, ok?  Obrigada!

I´ll send pics of the baptism.  Love you guys so much, have an awesome week and stay safe!

Love, 

Sister Dana

Me and Sister Bedke made couscous masks....this does NOT go on Facebook.

I Hope this Next Baptism Will Be Ise...

Pronounced "Easy".  Get it??  Probably not, because I haven´t told the story yet.  But I will right now!  Ready, go.  So Ise is this girl that is dating one of the less active guys here, Jonas.  Marilza, Jonas´s mom, is a recent convert that I adore.  I have NEVER met anyone with such a desire to share the gospel.  And that includes missionaries.  This lady is the best.  Seriously, you go into her house and you know who Joseph Smith is.  Her daughter, Jo, had a cold the other day and Marilza goes, "Jo!  Have more faith!  If you had more faith, you wouldn´t have a cold!"  Loveee her!  So anyway, she is so sad that her son, Jonas, is less active and wants to do everything that she possibly can to help him come back.  So when he got a girlfriend a few weeks ago, the first thing she did was call us over!  This week, we have been teaching Ise nonstop.  It is wonderful!  She feels the Spirit so strongly and says that she knows that God is listening when she prays.  When we taught her the Restoration with Marilza...oh man, it was so cool.  Marilza just was bawling the whole time and she said, "Every time I hear the story of this vision, I just cry!!"  Ise came to church with Marilza this week and we have her baptism marked for next week. Oh I am praying so hard that it happens!  I can only imagine what the work would be like if all members were like unto Marilza.  (BoM junkies will get that...) She is well known for saying, "These churches...everyone just doesn´t understand!  Why don´t they all just get baptized into the true church of Jesus Christ?!" I want to just carry her around with me in my pocket.  Also she makes WONDERFUL lasagna.

We invited our recent convert, Paula, to come teach a lesson with us this week too.  It was one of my favorite lessons of my mission, I think.  It wasn´t super profound, and the lady we taught doesn´t even want us to come back.  But Paula bore her testimony and I felt the Spirit SO STRONGLY in the room that I almost started to cry right there.  As we left, I just got this feeling of how much Heavenly Father loved Paula and how happy He was that she got baptized and got that much closer to coming home to Him.  She now has two callings and said the prayer in church yesterday:)  I think that we baptized an angel, I really do.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to stop teaching José Luis.  This makes me so so so sad, because he knows everything is true and has a desire to make changes.  The problem is that his natural man is stronger than his desire to change I guess.  He won´t come to church or anything anymore, which broke my heart.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation on Saturday night and I just couldn´t believe all of the deep insight that he had and the way that he understood everything so easily.  At the end of the lesson, he told us that he had a dream about us.  He said that in the dream, he walked into the church and we were there, but the inside of the church was different and everyone was all dressed in white.  He then proceeded to describe the inside of the Recife Temple and said thata guy in a suit came over to him and gave him a hug and said, "You are safe here."  I was pretty blown away by that one.  Another proof that this gospel is soooo true.  It just makes me sad when people are given testimony after testimony and...well, you know, now is just probably not his time.

In happier news, I WENT TO A WEDDING!!!!!  That´s right, first one of my life.  It was so great!  Gosh, I love weddings.  Nandara and Jadson got married!!  Oh goodness, I almost just cried.  They are so dang cute and I took a ton of pictures!  It was really simple, just us and their family in the Bishop´s office, but the Spirit was there and now they are preparing for sealing in a year and all will be dandy!  Have I mentioned how I love weddings?  One of the highlights of the mission, fo sho!

Amanda and Eduardo, the testimonies

Jadson and his mommy:)

Nandara and her mom

We got to walk too!

How precious...ohmygosh I am dying...

I <3 WEDDINGS.

I <3 WEDDINGS.

I <3 WEDDINGS.

Us with the newlyweds!!  Ahhh!!!!

Us with the newlyweds!!  Ahhh!!!!

Cooper, about the patriarchal blessing.  I have gained the biggest testimony of those things out here.  It isn´t some voodoo fortune teller garbage.  That stuff is not real.  Patriarchal blessings are given to help remind us of the potential that we have, not just in this life, but in eternity.  Our Heavenly Father knew us from the very beginning and knows our personalities and weaknesses.  He knows exactly how to help us and these blessings are a proof of that.  Many, many times, I have found so much comfort in knowing that when everything seems to be going wrong, I have a guide to keep me centered and focused on the real goal: the Celestial Kingdom.  Knowing my divine nature has given me a huge desire to help other people learn theirs.  Imagine how the world would be different if all of God´s children knew where they come from and what He has planned for them?  They wouldn´t make nearly as many mistakes, that´s for sure.  Also, Show Choir?  Oh man.  Well, we have to try out all sorts of stuff, don´t we?

Anyway, that´s my bit.  I hope that everything goes well with the trek and I can´t wait to hear about it!  I love you guys so much and hope you have a wonderful week.  Also. sooo glad that Cooper and Winn are better!

Love,

Sister Dana

At the Artesanatos Place!

Skyping on Mother's Day

So happy to stay with Sister Rodrigues!
(They found out neither of them would be transferred during our Skype visit on Mother's Day)

Promised Blessings :)

Hello hello!  Long time no see?  Not really!  Oh it was so great to talk to you guys last night!  I was way happy and it was good to see that everyone is doing relatively well.  Be sure to let me know how Winn is doing, ok?  And Cooper too!  I was worried about him!  Oh and those pictures of Reggie with Wynn and his family?  Love love love.  When is someone coming to Brazil to take cute pictures like that with me?  Jokes...kind of....

Anyway, I know that I told you guys this story last night, but I am going to tell it again just to get it out there in the world because it is so cool.  So this transfer was superrrr hard.  Like, definitely the hardest of my mission.  We have not been having ANYONE progress and it is just really rough stuff!  So I was getting pretty down on myself and wondering what I was doing wrong.  Was I sinning?  Did we not deserve having people come to church?  Did we need to work harder or fast more or what?  Sister Rodrigues is so much better about staying realistic in situations like this.  We decided to ask our District Leader, Elder Marlow, for a blessing to help us figure out what to do with our area.  He told Sister Rodrigues in her blessing that the Lord knew how hard we were working and this week, we would have people in the church with their hearts prepared to accept baptism.  I was beyond happy to hear that.  We went to work immediately, and tried to get in touch with all of our investigators and just teach as much as possible this week to help out with this blessing.  The whole week...nothing.  We found new people...that were not interested.  Taught old investigators...still not interested.  On Saturday night, we were pretty faithless, I hate to admit.  We were heading back home and decided to contact a referral on our street really fast with the little time that we had left.  As we searched for the house, we talked to a woman who was sitting out on her front steps.  Her name is Maria de Lourdes, and she had received the missionaries manyyyy times before, but never went to church.  My first thought was, "Oh great, an eternal investigator."  I am horrible.  We invited her to church, and she said that maybe, if she had time, she would pass by.  We told her that we would stop by her house on our way, and if she was ready, she could come with us.  Sunday morning, I was still pretty bummed.  I called all of our people....nothing.  Before we left the house, we said a prayer that the Lord would give us a miracle and Maria would come to church.  When we got to her house...she was waiting outside the door for us!  I almost cried right there.  I was basically skipping to church with her and Sister Rodrigues, and she adored the whole thing.  I caught her talking to Yoná after class, and she said that she had always passed by this church and loved it, but never had the desire to enter until we came to her house on Saturday.  She can´t wait to come back.  

Isn´t that so cool!  Ah, gives me the chills.  Anyway, other stuff that happened this week!  We had an FHE with a bunch of the members on Monday and I taught everyone how to do that one thing where you put a cookie on your forehead and try to use just your face to get it into your mouth.  I am basically a professional at this sport now.  It was so funny, and they loved it!  On Tuesday, I did a division with Sister Patiño! (look, I learned how to do that little squiggle thing over the n!  A million years later...) We had a great time.  She is an example of a missionary who really understands why she is here.  She has no reason to be out serving a mission, just because she loves the Lord.  She teaches so well, and I learned a ton from being with her.  My little duckling has turned into a swan!  

On Friday, we helped out with a presentation by the Primary for Mother´s day.  We sang for all the mommies in the ward, and holy cow, these guys go all out.  They had dances by the kids, ballet, poems, picture slideshows...it was a real tearjerker!  So cute!  Gosh, I love little Brazilian kids. They are so dang cute!

I am trying to think of other stuff that happened....and that is basically it.  We are happy, and Sister Rodrigues and I will be staying together another transfer!  4 transfers with this girl...the most I have ever had with someone!  Good thing that I love her!  

I love you guys too, and it is so good to know that Heavenly Father is taking care of all of you for me!

Love,

Sister Dana

Vai Para Igreja? Eh...Se Não Estiver Chovendo...

Estava chovendo.  MUITO.  I totally forgot what it is like to work in the rain, but this week brought that memory home real quick!  I am just glad that I am not working around in Sovaco da Cobra anymore where we had to swim to every lesson!  But I loveeee that place.  Anyway.  This week it raiiinnneeeddd.  And that only was a bummer because our house is not waterproof!  So we may not be swimming to our lessons, but we are swimming to our beds!  This week we will find a way to waterproof the windows, fo sho.

Even when it's been a cloudy week...God can still send a rainbow.

Ummm this week was kind of a bummer, and I´m sorry that I don´t have many cool things to relate!  Our baptism, José Luis, fell through, which made me super sad.  He should get baptized soon, because he is allllmost ready.  We just have a few little commandment issues to work out, and then we should be good to go.  

I also did a division with Sister Bedke this week!  I love her...she reminds me of myself;)  Jokes, just that it is so cool to watch someone learning a language. I had no idea how great it is when I was learning Portuguese, but just watching her trusting in the Lord, opening her mouth, and being surprised when the right words come out is a daily reminder of how involved Heavenly Father is in this work, and how He helps us so much!  Anyway, we had a great  day together and I love living with her!

Basically...that is all that happened this week.  I am sorry.  We are trying super hard, but the main problem is that no one wants to go to church.  We are planning activities and Family Home Evenings and doing all sorts of stuff, but the main problem really is getting them to make the commitmentes.  I got kind of down about the whole situation, but then I read about Alma and Amulek in the Book of Mormon this week.  I LOVE THEM. The way they work together and teach is so powerful and really helped me out.  And I was thinking about them a lot, and like....no one is coming to church, but at least they aren´t burning all of our recent-converts.  And think about this.  When Amulek was watching this, it was probably a lot of his friends, and the people he loved.  Can you even imagine?  But Alma had so much faith that he knew that all those people were pure in the eyes of God and they would receive glory when they returned home.  Then the chapter goes on to say how Alma comforted Amulek, and they went to another city.  There they found all of the people who had accepted their message and wanted to be baptized.  They were able to organize the church and help a ton of people repent and take that first step in returning home to Heavenly Father.  So, even though they were so sad, that sadness was replaced by joy knowing that all of their efforts were not in vain.  I also never picked up on the fact that Ammonihah, the city that didn´t accept them and burned the believers, was completely destroyed like, a week after they left.  God is a just fellow.

Anyway, that is my little scripture study of the week.  Love you guys so much, and I am so excited to talk on Sunday!  Also, that is some weird ward gossip.  But I knew that one was coming.  Tell Beau I say hi tomorrow!  And tell Cooper to step it up, because he will def regret those bad grades in about 2 years when he has to start prepping for college.  SERIOUSLY.

AND.  Mother.  Just because I send you a picture does NOT mean that it goes on Facebook!  Amanda, a member here, showed me my page this week!  What the....don´t do that anymore! Thank you:)

Us and Tarcisio :)

Love you lots!  Can´t wait til Sunday!

Love,

Sister Dana