June 24, 2019

This week I was still waiting for my toe to get better but it is still drying up and the cut is closing!! But we were able to teach a great lesson to a great family on Saturday! His name is Elisbom and he has two daughters named Yasmine and Ariane! The understood the lesson and they accepted all the commitments!! So we are going to follow up with them on wednesday! This last wednesday I had my last Zone Conference! I was able to bear my last testimony and I was able to sing with Elder Barcelar! We sang Abide with me tis eventide!! It was a spiritual conference. Sadly we were not able to see the boys this week because it was stake conference and they did not come... But the baptism is still going to happen and we hope that everything will go well! On tuesday we are going to try and visit them! But dont worry I was thinking about it this week and I am so grateful that I was able to stay a little bit more time than that which was planned. I have been able to meet these wonderful people and my testimony has definitely been strengthened!! These last two weeks are going to be amazing!!  I am excited for them!! I really want to finish well and I know that these last two weeks we will be able to see miracles!!

June 17, 2019

Three of the pictures are of a Come Follow Me Sunday night study session that the missionaries do for the branch members. The other is right after his toe procedure and the hiking picture must have happened before it.

I have been able to walk around the house and stuff and I am hoping this week I will be able to walk more after taking out the stitch! My health has been kind of down, I think I am getting dehydrated or I am losing weight from being on the bed for so long haha. But other than that I am doing fine! Elder Gardner is doing great as well so its all good! I am going to try and drink more water so I can get hydrated again.

Sadly no one came to church this week and it was actually a hard day for the whole branch. The frequency was down and we were missing 30 members that usually come. We would have been up to 70 if they had all come!! That is what we want to do is strengthen the members and help the members to do the work as well!! That is truly how a Branch can become a ward! I actually have not done that yet. I am going to offer Ricardo a blessing to help him with the word of wisdom.

I love the fact that our Father in Heaven helps us to see the things that matter the most. As I have spent my time in this last area with Elder Gardner and with the members here I have come to love this area and these members so much. My joy is imense every time that we have an opportunity to talk to the members and help them learn about the Restored Gospel. We learn so much from the Branch President and from his counselor and it has been an amazing ride. I am super excited for these last couple of weeks where I can focus on the Lord and focus on serving the people here in Brasil. Wow has it been incredible. We are working hard to unite this family that we are helping and the two sons, the twins, now have a date to be baptized!! We are hoping that everything works out fine and that the Lord will help the Dad to realize how important the church is and how important his Savior is as well! He will remember the feelings and the times he had as he grew up in the church and I hope that he will want that for his two sons. They are both ten years old and both have the desire to be baptized! As I was studying the scriptures this week I was able to notice some great examples and some great verses in the Book of Mormon. Alma teaches us that every time he saw one of his brothers or sisters coming back to the Lord he would remember his own conversion story and how the Lord was merciful with him. In Alma chapter 17 the sons of mosiah tell us that we need to be examples of patience in our hard times. So that we can come out stronger. I love the scriptures and there are so many teachings in both the Book of Mormon and the Bible that we can learn. This weeks come follow me is about when the savior was rejected and whipped and beaten and how he beared it all thinking about us. What a great opportunity we have to be able to see his example and show our love for him by repenting and being better every day! I love the gospel and I love my savior!! Have a great week!!

Thanks for everything mom!! Dont worry about me too much. I will be fine and I am starting to learn to be happy with what the Lord gives me. I think I have always been happy with what he has given me but this time it is different. And I am excited to seek the Lord in everything I do. My mind will stay focused on this last part of the mission and I am excited for this next week to come! What you wrote me is completely true! I am grateful that the Lord has shown me the important things on my mission and I am excited for more to come!! Have a great week!

June 10, 2019

This week was definitely a great week in the fact that we had some really great activities and on Sunday we were able to teach Gabriel and Guillerme!!! And that is crazy that next week Aunt Michelle is moving to Austria.. It will be weird to not see them for a while. But I know that we will be able to use technology and talk to them. So yes I did go to my doctors appointment and on tuesday I am going to have to do a procedure to fix the part of my toe that is swollen and has something wrong with it. So wish me luck!! And I dont think I will have to rest for this procedure so it wont be anything too big. But Dont worry about me. These toes cant stop me from doing the Lords work! 

And Yes Jardim Canadá is super cold hahaha. But its cold for me because I am used to hot weather! I have been in hot weather for almost 2 years and so when the cold here hit me I got a cold... But thats ok I am taking medicine. We try to keep as warm as possible because usually it is just super cold in the morning and at night. But this week we were able to participate in two activities and it was so great!! Thursday night we had an activity that was called Dessert Night. Lots of people brought desserts and we had a contest to see what was the best looking, the best tasting, and the most creative desserts! We made cheesecake, and I made some snickerdoodles! The cheesecake won the best tasting and the most creative. It was super funny because the Brazilians loved it!! But actually it didnt taste that much like a cheesecake.. hahaha but thats ok. The members loved the activity and Ricardo and his two sons came too!! It was such a great night. Then we had another activity on Saturday that the relief society did. It was a class to make Bread!! Lots of people came and we were able to learn a lot. I shared a message on thursday night about the fruit of the tree of life and Elder Barcelar shared a message in the Bread class. It was a great week to help strengthen the members and the missionaries. On sunday we taught Gabriel and Guillerme about Joseph Smith, Baptism, and the word of wisdom!! They drink coffee because it became natural in the family and so we challenged them to stop and to help their parents stop as well!! They are twins that are ten years old and so they are kind of crazy but really great ha!  On sunday nights we are helping some members start their weekly come follow me study and that is going super well!! We are excited and we want this branch to become a ward!! I am praying every day for my companion and that the Lord will help us in this work as he already is!!

 This week I was able to give a talk in sacrament meeting about the sacrament. I am grateful that through Christ´s Atonement we can be forgiven of our sins every week if we take the sacrament worthily!! I love the gospel and I hope that this week everything will go well!! Pray for Gabriel and Guillerme and pray for their dad Ricardo so that he can talk to his Family and mark their baptism for here in a couple of weeks!! 

 Thank you for everything you shared with me and especially your testimony!! I love hearing others testimonies and it always strenghthens my testimony! . I trust in the Lord and I know that he will be with me until the end. I know that he will provide these miracles here soon and that he is already doing it! Thank you for your prayers and for your faith. I know that what the Lord said will come true.

I know that this his is true church and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Jesus Christ guides this church today and I know that if we all endure to the end we will be blessed!! Pray for us so that we might be instruments in Gods hands for the salvation of these two boys and even more

June 3, 2019

This week I was able to learn many things that will help me in the future and it was an interesting week to think and work! As funny as it is ha, Daniela and Otavio were not home like the whole week!!My companion is doing great and he is super excited about the work. We have been working harder and harder and we found some people this week that have some potential! We invited all of them to read the Book of Mormon and be baptized when they received answers to their prayers. We were able to teach this man named Heverson and we actually saw him a couple of times through out the week. He came to church on Sunday and afterwards he told us that he  liked it but he simply could not accept the fact that we use water instead of wine in the sacrament. He told us that we are going against everything that Christ said in the Bible. As he talked to us after church and as we tried to explain to him what he could do to know if it is true, he hardened his heart and did not want to hear it. Elder Gardner and I were sad that he did that, but happy that we defended the truth and testified of what we know! I pondered a lot about that and I have asked the Lord why people do this. He is responding to me line upon line and I know that He will answer my prayers!! We found a small catholic family and we invited the dad to read the Book of Mormon! I hope that he will read it. I was also able to learn more about humility and charishing the truths that God has revealed.With Kelly and Lucas we were able to talk to them about Marriage and we challenged them to do everything they can to get married in the beginning of July! Lets see if they will. We were also able to talk to the dad of those two kids who arent baptized and we challenged him to think of a date where his kids could be baptized. But mainly I was able to appreciate the truths that we have in the true church of Jesus Christ and the commandments we obey. The Lord showed me many times through out the week how I can be a better person and how the Lord always gives commandments to his people. He doesnt stop. May we all follow the Lord and his will!!

It is so crazy how there are only 5 weeks left in my mission.... Its weird how time goes by so quickly and I havent registered that I will be going home haha which I think is a good thing. As for my big toe it is still the same and not that great ha but today I am going to a doctors appointment and lets see how that goes. I love everything you shared with me mom! We talked about that as well in Sunday School and our testimonies and our preperation for the second coming is so important! I love you so much 

May 27, 2019

I am sorry this is so late. That's what happens when i go to Idaho, and spend time with my sister and brother and their families. 

This week was very interesting. I learned a lot about myself this week just pondering about what has happened in the past transfer and how I can learn from it. But as I have thought about everything the same thing comes to my mind and it is a lesson that God wants me to learn so he keeps teaching me every transfer. God´s will is very different from our own. We can never understand why some things happen in our lives but what we can understand is how we can come out of it even stronger. The lord is calling his elect and he needs us to be stronger than ever. The experiences that we all have are proof that God needs us to be qualified for his work and for his Kingdom. Talking to my companion, Elder Barcelar, or even the Branch President here in Jardim Canadá I have learned more and more about the Gospel and what needs to happen at the end of these six weeks. I am prepared to give it all I have right now so that i can leave this mission with the same loving spirit that missionaries have. We were able to teach two new people this week that have potential to progress. One is a 18 year old girl named Daniela and she is a great person. We taught her about the restoration and invited her to come to church but sadly she didnt come. We will see her again on Wednesday. And we taught this man named Otavio and he has potential as well. As for the other people it has been hard to talk to a lot of them this week but something really cool happened for the other elders on sunday! President Castellano came to church here in the branch and invited their investigator to be baptized after Lunch. I was able to do her interview and it was such a spiritual experience. I am so excited to help the members and the people here in Brasil these next six weeks and I know that the Lord will bless us!

Sadly on Friday I spent the whole day taking care of my big toe and finding out the problem with it. Because it is swollen in the bottom right corner of the nail and it shouldnt be like that because of the surgery I had. So I went to the doctor who did my surgery and he told me to buy this medicine and I will go back there next monday. So lets see what happens. It is ok to have to deal with this because I am grateful I  actually have a body and I prefer obeying God then the natural man, so I will trust Him.

I I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony that I have. I strive every day to strengthen my testimony of the gospel and this work and I will keep doing that forever!! I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!!