Boa tarde!

3/2/2015
Well, we finally asked and got permission to go to Lomba de Figueira for P-day! It was SO beautiful... like we were in Lord of the Rings or something. I would love to send photos, but the computer isn´t working, so... sorry about that. It was incredible. :) Pictures next week. :)

Well, this week was a lot like last week. Lots of hope, work, effort, and growing experiences. Haha. :)

I really learned that sometimes hard things happen. Sometimes people don´t do what they need to do to prepare to have eternal life. We were hoping to help at least one more person get baptized this week, but he wasn´t ready. He has a desire to be baptized, but hasn´t experienced the change of heart necessary for conversion. But we´re going to keep working with him and praying that he will be prepared to be baptized in March.

Actually, we have a lot of people here with the desire. They´re reading the Book of Mormon and praying. It´s just the harder things, like coming to church, that they really struggle with. There´s a culture here that as long as they have "Jesus no coração", they don´t need to do anything to be saved. People are so content with the way they imagine that they put God first that they forget Him. And it´s really sad. BUT, it´s so exciting and incredible to see them wake up spiritually and do what they need to do to put God first! :)

Sometimes Sundays are hard, because you hope and wait and expect to see so many people at church, but then something always comes up. That´s what happened with the family we were preparing to be baptized this week (well, they´re all cousins). Each of them had something come up, so they couldn´t go. But, that just leaves us with an opportunity to teach more clearly about the power and importance of putting God first, and how that commandment is the first of the 10 commandments: "thou shalt have no other gods before me". These gods could be work, school, laundry, lunch, parties, addictions... lots and lots of things. Anything that keeps us from doing what the Lord asks us to do. Anything that keeps us from reading our scriptures every day, praying every day, going to church every week, and becoming more and more like our Heavenly Father.

So, basically, we have a lot of incredible people in this area. And they all have trials that seem so different, but in reality they are all just struggling with putting God first, acting in faith, having that true conversion and not just a testimony. That is even with the members! I don´t know how I ever missed the quote or forgot about it, but Pres. Hinckley promised the people here that if every church member pays their tithing, Cabo Verde will be green, and if every church member does missionary work, 90% of the country will be members and the greater majority of them will be active. Incredible! We´re really, really, really trying to get the members to do more missionary work. This ward is struggling with that. But I know that God has a way for us to help each of them do what HE has asked each of us to do. And happily, they´re improving.

For example, this Sunday one of our rescued menos ativos, Tchenna, got a calling! And last night, we were invited to a ward member´s first Noite Familiar (FHE). We watched a video that the church made, called "Together Forever", and then Sis. Johnson and I bore our testimonies about the fact that our families truly can be together forever. One of the nonmembers who was there seems to be really, really interested, and we get to talk to her tomorrow! We´re super excited.

Also, yesterday Davy came to church! We contacted him about two weeks ago, and he has come to church both Sundays. He has a true desire to put the Lord first. We have only been able to have one quick lesson with him, but he is reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying. It was such a blessing to see him there.

Also, one of the menos ativo couples that we have been working with, João and Alzira, are starting to become more active! At first, Alzira told us that she doesn´t know how to read, but we found out that she just reads really slowly. She has been having a hard time reading because it wears out her eyes. But, she came to church two weeks ago, and after that, she asked a teenage girl, one of her neighbors, to read the Book of Mormon to her. They just starting reading it together this weekend, but Alzira told us that she read some pages (PAGES!!! Before her eyes got tired, she would only read a few verses) and is in 1 Nephi 9!!! Wow! The Lord works in mysterious ways. We´re still trying to figure out when we will have the chance to meet this girl and her family and teach them. But Alzira is such a sweetheart. She is such a missionary at heart!

We´re really hoping that we can help rekindle the fire in the hearts of more of our members, so they are EXCITED to do missionary work with us. A lot of them have become kind of complacent.. comfortable with the way the ward is. We have an activity on the 12th that will hopefully change that. :)

So, the work moves forward. God is so good. He never gives us more than we can handle. He may press us to our breaking point, but He´ll never press us past that breaking point. And when we trust in Him, move forward with faith, and especially when we humble ourselves, God always strengthens us. He always does. And He always comforts us if we will turn to Him. I know there is still work here that only Sister Johnson and I can do, together. I pray that we can be guided to do it and serve these people in the way the Lord needs us to serve them.

I love this work. I love being a missionary. And I just love these people. They really feel like my brothers and sisters. This week we met a ward member´s 90-year-old grandma. Wow, she just has the strongest spirit! I could just feel that we were sisters, and that she was an ageless being in a mortal body. I don´t know if she´ll be physically capable to come to church and be baptized, and if she even understands us very well when we talk to her, but I know that one day, she will accept this Gospel. How incredible.

God is so merciful. His plan is for all of His children. We don´t have to be perfect, just "striving, struggling, and desiring to do what is right", as Dad loves to quote Elder McConkie. And if we are doing that, our Heavenly Father is so proud of us. And He´ll bless our efforts! I know that miracles are just around the corner. Every day we can see miracles, if we just have faith.

Love you all! Have an incredible week full of miracles!

Love,

Sister Zimbelman