February 4, 2008

Looks nice and warm--in fact, it looks like the heat has swollen their lips.

February 4, 2008

Hi Dad, How’s everything going? How is work and the new project. . . the house?

This week our Relief Society president gave all the ladies in the relief society a lecture on how they need to take care of us and make sure our lunches are good. She talked about how hard a mission is for girls and that we are representatives of the Lord. When she told us this I almost cried. She treats us really well and when our lunches fall through, she always lets us eat with her family. Last night she made us bread and brought it to our house. It is really nice to be in a branch where the members take good care of us.

This week has been a good week. We marked 5 baptisms but unfortunately not one of the people came to church yesterday. I was really, really bummed. We had fasted and prayed but no one came. We will have to re-mark all the baptisms and hopefully the people still have the desire to make the effort. But everything is good and we are meeting a lot of really great people.

I am growing so much and learning so much that will help me throughout my life. Thanks for everything. I love you and miss you.

Love Barb

Hi Mãe,

The only thing I have heard about the Prophet is that he died. We don’t really get much news and we don’t participate in other activities of the church because we are working. I would have liked to see the funeral or some of the programs about him.

It sounds like the new house is a lot of work but I think it is fun to work on projects like that. Alex is a good worker and will be a big help.

You asked about service. . . Our first service project we painted a school with all the members in the stake. It took a whole day to clean and paint. It was a lot of fun. Another time we helped wash our investigators dogs. Last week, we cleaned an old lady’s house and did her laundry. After, she made juice and doughnuts for us. Another thing we did was in my last area I recorded the tests in English for the English school in Maringa. Generally, it is just helping the members or the investigators.

Yesterday we had a funny experience. We were talking to some kids in front of their house, the same ages as Amy and Alex. They asked us to give them our message and we began. My comp taught her part and I began mine. The grandpa came home and started talking about his religion with my comp in the middle of the lesson. I waited for a few minutes and one of the kids pulled me aside and was telling me to say what happened with Joseph Smith when he went to the grove. I went to the other side of the yard with the kids and told them about the first vision. It was so cute…they got all excited and said, "And what did God tell Joseph? Which church was true?" I told them what happened and that the church of Jesus Christ is the only true church. One little boy about 10-years-old said, "Wow, I have been wondering which church is true because there are so many." They all believed it and wanted to come to church with us. When I finished the lesson I looked over at my comp and she was still listening to the grandpa talk about religion. After, she laughed and said that she was trying to keep him occupied so he wouldn’t distract the lesson. The mom listened to a little bit of the lesson but said she already belonged to the "true" church.

Also, we have been teaching a family for a few weeks. The first time we went there, the mom had a really hard heart and was not interested. But after some time her heart softened and she even became emotional in some of the lessons. She has begun to read the book of Mormon and is a lot more loving to her kids and the atmosphere of the house has really improved. They moved on Saturday and the other sister missionaries will continue to teach them. It is amazing how the gospel can bring peace into peoples’ lives.

We have time in the morning to exercise and one morning Sister Ferreira and I went to the church (across the street) and she taught me capoeira. It is a fight-dance here in Brazil. It was really fun.

Anyway, I love you so much and will write next week. Have a good week!

Love Barb