Surprise!

My companion arrived Wednesday!

Her name is Sister Barros, and she is 21 years old. She is from Praia, and she has an afro. She keeps it fairly short, but itºs still an afro. Everyone here comments on her hair, haha. :) Sheºs the third of five kids, with two older sisters and two younger brothers. Her family met the missionaries and were baptized when she was 8 years old. Her family and her two older sisters (theyºre married) have all been sealed in the temple.

I am doing great. Wow, it is so refreshing to not be the senior companion to a mini-missionary! Itºs a lot of fun to not be in training and to be able to work more as a team... less as a teacher and student. Iºm still figuring it out, and figuring out how to teach with her, but I love Sister Barros already. Sheºs so fun, loving, and just genuine. I want to learn as much as I can from her during the time we serve together. She has a gift with people, which is always one of my more weak points: to get to know someone and show my love and let them feel comfortable with being open, even very soon after we meet them.

I love how she chooses numbers for some of the goals we make, and she teaches differently than anyone Iºve ever taught with. I love it. She is a very simple, clear, powerful teacher and she definitely follows the Spirit. I hope to become more still (so I can follow the Spirit more during the lessons) and clear in my teaching during my time with her. She is also very direct, but she does it in such a loving way. That is something that I love about her. I really hope I can become more like that. :)

Yep, Iºm doing well here. This week was pretty awesome because nothing crazy abnormal happened, besides Sister Barros arriving on Wednesday. :)

We had an awesome lesson with Nerr this week. We had a hard time getting him to sit down with us this week, but finally one evening after Sister Barros arrived, we were able to talk to him really quickly. He said heºs keeping some of the commandments, still, so probably he hadnºt really tried to change his habits. We reviewed the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom with him, and he said that he only has problems with the Word of Wisdom. His only problem is that when he is with his cousins, they will drink a bit to have fun. He was justifying it, because it wasnºt an addiction and it was just a little bit, every so often. Sister Barros shared Mosiah 2:41 with him, and we talked about how we receive this state of happiness through keeping the commandments... all of them, completely. It was a really powerful lesson, and the Spirit was definitely present.

Nadine's baptism from last week

Also, we committed a family to baptism this week! We didnºt get to talk to the dad, but everyone else accepted the baptismal date we had set. And the dad went to church yesterday, so Iºm excited to talk to him, too! It was so cool. The spirit was powerful in that lesson too, and it was probably the most simple I had ever taught the Restoration with someone. I love seeing how the Spirit will work through us and help us become better teachers. Such a tender mercy.

We also got to talk to Lara a few times this week. She is anxious for her baptism, and was feeling like she needed to confess to the Bishop. We explained that the Bishop doesnºt have the authority to have an interview with her, because she still isnºt a member. Then we talked a lot about repentance. We used D&C 58:42-43 (or maybe itºs section 59?), and Isaiah 1:18. It was really powerful. We talked about how a lot of the confession can just be between us and the Lord. We also talked about how we arenºt forgiven partially... thereºs no pink people. I think that has been her trouble in the past: feeling worthy to be baptized and feeling like she really has been forgiven. I think she really will get baptized this Saturday. Itºs so exciting! Sheºs excited to be clean and feel forgiven, and to start a new life.

Well, thatºs it for this week, I think. I know there were more exciting things that happened, but I forgot my planner at our house.

Oh! Itºs finally "cooling down" here! We can sleep with the window closed and the fan blowing without sweating! I still donºt use my top sheet, but I think I will start to soon. The day is still just as hot as always, but around 6:00 in the evening it starts to feel more like 70s/high 60s here. Tender mercies, haha. :)

Love you all! Ficam bem!

Love,

Sister Zimbelman