I Feel Like I'm in Zion, Seriously!

Me and  Sister Pina

Olá amigos!

Wow, I love it here. I feel so grateful to be companions with Sister Pina and to get to know this ward and to serve the people here. It is so fun, and tiring, and just amazing! I canºt believe Iºve already been here for two weeks. Time is really flying for me.

This week we contacted 44 people. It was good, but weºve pretty much exhausted the area where most of our investigators/less actives live. It is getting harder to find people new to contact, but Iºm really coming to enjoy it. About halfway through the week, though, Sister Pina and I got a bit stressed with it because we had been marking with almost everyone we contacted, and we were having a hard time finding time to visit less actives, recent converts, and less actives. We werenºt sure how we were going to do it. Then we talked to our district leaders about it at our District Meeting and asked them if they had any other ideas of what we could do to still invite the people we contact to repent and give them a chance to talk to us without marking appointments, or how to only do 20-30 minute lessons, including walking in between lessons, praying, etc. They gave us a great idea to use our pass-along cards to invite people to church(with the church time and "address" on the back), so then we can mark with them if they come to church. Wow, it has been so much easier, and so less stressful!

Some days are really awesome, and others are... not as awesome. But Iºm really learning that thatºs just the nature of the mission. There was one day when we couldnºt find any mulher who was willing to teach with us or let us teach in their house, and we only had appointments with men. It was really disappointing, but we ended up visiting some less active women in the areas we were in, so it was good. Hard, but good. And yesterday we passed around a sign-up sheet during relief society, asking the women to sign up for even just one hour if they were willing to go out with us or let us teach with them in their house, and I was amazed to see that except for Saturday and Sunday, almost every slot on the other days was full! Tender mercies. Members who will work with us... yay!

Let me tell you about some people here. The mini-missionary who was with Sister Pina left on Thursday to start her mission. She will be serving in Portugal, but she is waiting for her visa, so she is currently serving in Brava. On Wednesday, we had a little "chá missionária"... a little goodbye program. It was so awesome, and sad and exciting.  The people here really love each other. I know it wasnºt just her family that was crying. Really, everyone in the ward is like family. It is so awesome! Sorry, her name is Rosiane, but everyone calls her Nininha. She always would go out with the missionaries, and was super friendly, so we became really good friends even in the short time that I was here before she left. She is so awesome, and sheºs going to be an INCREDIBLE missionary!

Our apartment, we are on the second floor

The other person who always goes out with the missionaries is Clovis. He just submitted his papers, and he is so excited to go! He reminds me a bit of dad: he was baptized in March 2013, and he has been studying the scriptures and any church book he can get his hands on to prepare for his mission. Apparently he spends the day studying church doctrine and the scriptures until we call him and ask him to come teach with us. If he isnºt doing those things, heºs probably with his family, helping out family members. Man, I think he knows more "deep doctrine" than I do, haha. I wouldnºt be surprised if some day he is a general authority. Seriously though.

There are a lot of people like that in this ward. Clovis was only baptized a year and a half ago, but he has helped almost his entire family join the church in that time. And his little brother Steven sent his papers in recently, too, and studies just as studiously as Clovis. Their little sister Tatianna is only 16, but sheºs thinking about a mission. Man, there are some amazing people here.

And I have to mention Roberto. Heºs got about 4 different callings in the ward. Without him, the ward wouldnºt function, I donºt think. I donºt know if he literally has all those callings, or if he is just so willing to help that he does all those things. But wow, he is awesome.

Then thereºs Andira. She is going to be baptized two Saturdays from now. Sheºs pregnant with her second child. She is so excited about the Gospel and said she thinks Joseph Smith is a beautiful name, so if this baby is a boy that will be his name. :) Sheºs so honest and tells us what sheºs thinking, and she LOVES to learn the things of the Gospel. She just soaks it all up like a sponge. She has been experiencing abdominal pain, so she went to the hospital after some encouragement from us on Saturday. Apparently they didnºt tell her anything there or do anything for her. So yesterday, Roberto (her brother) and Clovis gave her a priesthood blessing. It was amazing, too, because Thursday we had just taught her about the priesthood, and she got to experience it! Please pray for her and this baby. Hopefully the pains will go away or the hospital will tell her something if she goes back today.

Letºs see... thereºs so many other people!

The pigeons that greet us outside our window

Iºll tell you about Lenine. He will get baptized this Saturday. He goes to every activity we invite him to, and he is trying so hard to keep the commandments and do all we invite him to do. He even told his girlfriend about the law of chastity! The last time we met with him, we found out he broke the law of chastity once after we taught him about it. It was incredible, but at the same time it was still sad because he had broken it. But we had a great lesson about the Atonement and about how Christ experienced even our temptations so He can help us overcome them. He is so excited to get baptized. He wasnºt at church yesterday, which was super strange, and we havenºt been able to get ahold of him, so hopefully nothing crazy has happened... please pray for him!

Oh yeah, and our phone rarely turns on and stays on unless it is plugged in. So thatºs fun. :) Hopefully weºll be able to get a new one soon.

Oh! And an appointment fell through on Saturday, but there was a member that wanted to talk to us. His name is Élton, and he is 14 yrs old and has been a member for 4 years. He wanted to teach us about PMG ch. 5. It was so amazing. He isnºt afraid to share the Gospel with everyone, and he studies the scriptures/PMG every day. He told us that he, another YM in the ward, and some more YM too go around every Saturday night to invite the less active YM to come to church the next day. How cool is that! Maybe heºll be an apostle, too. :)

Oh! I decided to start Personal Progress again. :) I want to try to finish it before I hit my 9 month mark on the mission... February 28. I am so excited! And hopefully it will help me have a little more structure to some of my study time.

Okay, I think thatºs it for this week. Thereºs a lot more people, but Iºm running out of time! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Zimbelman