Meus amigos!
Well, this week was a reminder that miracles always come after trials of our faith. Seriously.
We found two different families this week (sadly, neither are married, but theyºre families!), and a less active that we started working with (Bilinha) said that they want to get married. The challenge will be to get these families married, but wow, it has been a week of miracles.
Bilinha gave us a friend of hers, Jorgina, as a reference before we even had the chance to ask for references. It turns out, Jorgina and her amorado Rui have been searching for truth, and Rui told us that if he feels like it is right, he will join a religion, especially to help his family and his kids so they can grow up in the truth. He walked into our second lesson that we were able to have with Jorgina (the first was while he was at work, and he returned from work late that night). He was a bit drunk, but we basically gave him a brief first lesson (we will definitely teach it again to make sure he understands and to focus on the First Vision as well as the Book of Mormon) and then focused on the power of the Book of Mormon and how the truthfulness of the entire church hangs on whether the Book of Mormon is true. We talked to them a lot about how we are here to invite people, but not to convince them... to help them learn the truthfulness of these things for themselves. I think that really struck home with Rui. He offered to give the closing prayer, after we taught him how to pray. It was so cool, because he was so willing, and the Spirit was so strong. After his prayer, he said, "hey, I felt something... something different. Lighter, more peace, happier." Man, it was so cool. We talked about how that is the Spirit.
Also, one of our investigators, Nerr, had a dream that he told us about yesterday. He is someone that basically every missionary has worked with since his brother joined the church a year and a half ago (Clovis), but no one has been able to get him to the point where heºs ready to be baptized. He told us that he doesnºt know yet if God has answered his prayers, especially about whether this is His church. It is usually really hard to agree to times when we can talk to him, but he accepted to talk to us yesterday and when we passed by earlier in the week he was really kind and offered for us to sit down, have some dinner (whoops... almost got some bad manner points for refusing, but he understood), and talk to him. It was really odd. Then yesterday we had an adult woman with us, so we could teach him! And he told us about his dream.
In his dream, there were people surrounding him, and they had lights... or they were glowing... something like that. And they were singing "a song of the stars" or about stars... my understanding of Creole is still not complete. :) Then he woke up, and that same music played on his phone. He told us this, and then said, "Iºm not really sure if it was all just in my head, or what. But if it was from God, I want to know what it means." Well, we asked him how he felt in his heart when he thought about this dream, because at that moment when he was describing his dream the Spirit came into the room so strongly. He said he felt something different. He said it was a good type of different, though. So we told him he was feeling the Spirit and talked about different ways we can recognize the Spirit, and how he now knows what the Spirit feels like. We challenged him to pray about his dream, asking God to let him know if the dream was from Him and if so, what he should do... how he should act. Man, it was so cool! The Spirit was so strong, and he said the closing prayer, which is amazing because it was really hard to get him to pray with us the first few times we taught him. His prayer was so humble. Something is changing inside him. Heºs beginning to repent and turn to the Lord.
Also, Nadine got baptized! Man, she is awesome. She is so humble, and SO ready for baptism. I donºt know what to say about her baptism... sheºs just amazing. Firmeza. :)
And Lara, her sister, didnºt get baptized this week, but we had a great lesson about trusting in the Lord and she said she knows now that she will keep the law of chastity with the Lordºs help. We read Alma 26:12 with her, and it really struck home and she really opened up to us about how she is feeling. In the past, she would say, "thereºs nothing you can do to help me. Itºs all up to me to keep the law of chastity." This time, she said, "Itºs all up to me to keep the law of chastity... and the Lord. And I know that with His help, I WILL keep it." Wow. The Spirit was so strong, and since that lesson she has seemed so alleviated when weºve seen her at church. :) It really was a miracle.
Also, our Zone Meeting/training... not officially a zone meeting... was just awesome. I learned so much there, and Sister De Pina got transferred to São Vicente, so I got to see her again! It was great. Oh! And we get to use 90 min of email now, so I can breathe a little bit and actually write you guys! :)
Sister Pina and Sister Maurício were sick at the same time, so that was a bummer because we couldnºt work in our area a ton, but it was a blessing because I was able to spend some time working with Sister Walker and we could still visit both our areas. It has actually been somewhat of a blessing that we donºt have light at our house, still, because I have learned a lot by watching how Sister Pina and Sister Walker handle stress and work together. Iºve learned a lot about making sure I am acting and speaking with the authority of my calling, allowing the Spirit to guide me and to touch peoplesº hearts and lives like I witnessed this week.
This is what I love about missionary work: watching people change their lives. Seeing the light and hope and direction of the Gospel enter another personºs eyes. It makes all the hard times, all the "growing experiences", so worth it. And I like what one missionary said in The District: on the mission, you have really good times and really hard times. The thing is, the hard times fade, but you will always remember the miracles you witness. Also, I know that these miracles are more sweet because of the week before, when everything that could have gone wrong seemed to go wrong.
I love being a missionary. :)
Love you all so, so much!
Love,
Sister Zimbelman
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