Shoot. Haha I accidentally sent that before I was done. Sorry about that!!! Well so this week we also had to go to the mission home, which is still where it was, the office moved to our mission but the mission home did not because all the mission presidents and their families live in the same apartment complex because there is an English school there and their kids can go to school there. So it is like an hour ish by subway and two buses, but we (my comps and I) have to go there every time we have a transfer so that we can update and change the huge mission board that has all the areas and the missionaries and we can update their cards which say all the info about their transfers. It was super interesting and cool to do and see Sister and President Martins, I can tell that i will really love being able to get to know them better before they leave in July. Sister Martins was nice and gave us juice and ice cream, haha mom, I told her what you said about her and how much you like that she is always smiling. She was grateful to hear that, she is a super nice woman. Then we had to go and talk with some of the people at the Church Headquarters for the Brasil Area which is next to the temple, we work really closely with them, me with the financial department and Elder Irineu with the travel department. So that was good, then we finally were able to come back to the office and get some more work done. It has been so different working here, I am getting used to it, but part of me really misses normal missionary work! Haha but I am enjoying it and it will for sure be a wonderful experience for me to learn about the mission and grow as an individual.
We also had some GREAT appointments this week with our investigators! I´ll introduce you all to them! Emanoel, Heuza, Guilherme, and Breno, this awesome family that came to church for hte first time this last week! They are so solid. They read half way through 1 Nephi right after we gave them the Book of Mormon and then they watched the Prophet of the Restoration movie by themselves on youtube. Basically they are awesome. We really wanted to invite them to be baptized next weekend, but last night we found out that they aren't married legally, which is SUPER common here in Brasil. But after talking about it´s importance I invited them to be married legally so that one day they could have an eternal family. Haha it was kind of funny sounding to invite them to be married, but they said yes and that that had always been a desire of theirs!! Haha so woo hoo! Unfortunately here it takes about 30 days to be married, you have to mark your marriage with the government and the minimum wait is 30 days. But they are so solid and faithful and have such righteous desires to follow Christ.
We also have Allan, he is the husband of a member of the ward, he has been investigating for basically 10 years! Well they have been have a lot of marriage problems and it has made him super reflective on life an his marriage and everything. And he decided that what he wanted was to be sealed to his family. And to be baptized. So he came to us and told us of his desires (he already comes to church every week too) and we have been helping him these last two weeks get ready to be baptized! He already believes these things are true but has just been afraid to commit because he has felt he needs to know everything before baptism, something that just wont happen for anyone, even after baptism, and so now it has been so cool to see his faith grow and his desires to be with his family forever lead him to this decision. he is being interviewed tonight and hopefully baptized tomorrow!!!!
We also have two other couples that are great! Marcia and Flavio are awesome, she is like 52, and he is like 38... haha and they are way in love. It is an interesting couple for sure, but they are so great. He is a returning to church less active who served a mission and she had never known anything about the church. Well they too were not married but now they are going to get married April 5th and then she is going to get baptized April 12th!!! They are so great, unfortunately they work a ton (just like all Paulistas (people from São Paulo)), so we only get to meet them once a week, but they are great and she loves missionaries and wants to serve a mission with Flavio in the future.
The last couple are Thiago and Natalia, they also weren't married when the missionaries started teaching them but were married last fall! Thiago has a lot of doubts and questions, but he came to church two weeks ago (works every other Sunday) and loved it. He really felt the spirit which answered a lot of his doubts. Natalia is great. She already comes to church whenever possible and is calling this her church. They are really great and will be baptized soon as well hopefully!
I am loving this area so much. I love meeting so many different types of people and I truly have been able to already see the love the God has for these people. it is so humbling to me to see that these people are willing to make such big changes in their lives in order to follow our Savior. I love this Gospel. I love the commandments. Today during personal study I found a quote I really like in a Liahona. It is from President Packer from a talk he gave titled "Agency and Control" in the May 1983 Ensign. He says, "We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see." I love that so much. I have seen these people choose to be obedient to the commandments, not because they are ignorant or lack the understanding, but because their minds are being enlightened through the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Ghost. These people choose to follow their Savior because they see that it will lead them to happiness eternally. I see that too in the lives of members of the church and missionaries. We are here on the mission because we are obedient and we can see that we receive so many blessings by serving. i can see that through serving I can help others as well. I love this Gospel so much!
Also Mom yes I did remember about the green tie, haha don't worry about that one, but thanks for reminding me, I was actually planning on wearing one on Monday since that is Morgan´s birthday, haha because here everyday I get to wear a tie, but I think I will wear one on Sunday as well, I have a couple green ties. Also we eat lunch with the members sometimes, but because there are 5 missionaries here in the same ward, it is hard for the members to feed us, so it only happens occasionally. Also sometimes we have so many things to do that there isn't really time to go to lunch, so we eat here. We will still get t go to the temple regularly with the mission, the next time is in May! And we get all the ensigns here in the office, so thank you but we already get them!!! Haha I think I answered all of them! Oh and we work in the office until 5 pm, then we get to work in our area until 9! I love those four hours!!!! Tell Marty and Katy and the babies hi for me!!!!! Love you all!
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