I Guess I Have More Time Than I Thought

Well this week was good because we had a lot of really good lessons with our investigators. 

Italo still doesn´t have a desire to get baptized!!! He believes in EVERYTHING, but he says that he just doesn´t want to get baptized.... We taught him almost everyday this week and he just keeps becoming more and more converted.... 

We are helping a few less active families come back and it´s great to see when they too progress, but sometimes it seems harder than even teaching investigators.

Friday was the leadership meeting. It was a greet meeting. I felt the spirit SOOO strong and it made me want to be BETTER than I have ever been. I also got to bear my farewell testimony and of course I cried!!!!! It made me think back about all the experiences that I have had on my mission and think how grateful I am for each person I have met here!!! All of my investigators, recent converts, companions, members!!! EVERYONE!!!! 

Saturday was an emotional day.. First an investigator, who we have been trying to decide whether or not to cut, CUT US!!!! It was wierd. He called at 7 am and told me that it was better for him to stay far away from us because he said he was starting to ``like`` me and he knew that it was not allowed. UGHHHHHH it made me sad because I never did anything to make him like me.. I think its just because he is so lonely and we actually cared about him and he felt the spirit and confused the feelings. I don´t know..... I just hope that Heavenly Father gives him humbling experiences that will help him accept the gospel ASAP!!!! 

 

Then at night we had an open house at our chapel. It was good because 2 friends of a member came and they really liked learning about the church, but me and my companion tried really hard to get people from the street to come and see what it was like, and NO ONE would... :( But one girl that we talked to came to church the next day so that was AWESOME and we´re going to start teaching her on tuesday!!! Woohoo. 

These Last 4 weeks I just want to TRY my hardest and see MIRACLES!!!!!!

Desi 

Road Rage Kindness

THIS WEEK WAS GREAT!!!!!

On thursday we had mission conference with Elder Costa from the quorum of the seventies!!!!! He is sooooo awesome..... He shared so many awesome stories. My favorite one goes like this. He had just moved back to Brazil from são paulo when he got called to be the presiding seventy of brazil and his wife asked him.... you´re going to have to learn how to have patience in the traffic of São Paulo... andddd he said his first day driving to church office building he entered a lane in front of a little red fiat and the little red fiat gotttt SUPERRR mad and started honking and following close behind him. When he came to a red light she pulled over next to him motioned for him to roll down his window and started cussing him out.... He remember what his wife said about patience... Nodded his head and said have a good day... god bless.... and went his way. He said the very next day the very same thing happened with the exact same lady. and he gave the same response. Then a few days later they just happened to be in the same spot again.... And a few days later again.... And before he knew it she was smiling and waving back at him... The next week he decided he was going to give her an invitation to stake conference and a book of mormon. And that sunday she went to stake conference and then was eventually baptized.... Hahah it was great to hear all of his little stories.. It made me realize that heavenly father really puts us in the right places at the right times. And we have to take the opportunities that he gives us!!!!!!!

On Saturday We taught an awesome lesson to our investigator Italo who has been saying that he knows the book of mormon is true and that joseph smith is a prophet, but doesn´t feel ``vontade`` Wich is like will or desire to be baptized. We taught him the plan of salvation again and taught him about the importance of faith and repentance.... He was super interested in the repentance part and  he committed to repent and be baptized on saturday.... but then he didn´t go to church on sunday so we have to move it to after he goes to church one more time, so maybe sunday.

We also taught 6 new investigators this week, and 2 of them went to church. We were super happy about it!! ANDDDDD big surprise they also have word of wisdom problems: cocaine... dang it. But one of them is SUPER smart. He read almost 40 pages in the book of mormon after we left it with him. And he remembers like almost every detail. 

Alexandro and Sandra are doing A LOT better. This week we went to the place to mark their wedding, but unfortunately their birth certificates were too torn apart... So we have to order new birth certificates and go back this week. BUT they will get married, and I hope I´m here to see it :)

Hope everyone has a great week!!!!

Sister Bruno 

Persistence in the pursuit of righteous desires can help us develop talents, attain our spiritual goals, and serve others.

Tomorrow are transfers!!!! and that means.... just 6 more weeks of me... wearing this name tag.. 6 more weeks of me being this cute sister missionary. 6 more weeks to do my best and help as many people as I can!!!! This week was good. After Elder Evans visit, we worked hard and saw some great results!!!! ANdddd this week Elder Claudio R.M Costa is going to come give us another mission conference. Two members of the 70s in Two weeks... WOOHOOO :) It will probably be my last mission conference. We started teaching a few new investigators. We are helping reactivate a few less actives. The family whose dad is a drug addict didn´t use crack this week. He just used marijuana instead.... Not as bad.... andddddddddd HE WENT TO CHURCH!!!! finally :) :) It was the cutest thing ever to see their family sitting on the church bench all together. It truly was a miracle. They called sunday morning and said they weren´t going... and I kept saying yes you are. YES YOU ARE. Someone will be at your house in 15 minutes to pick you up. AND THEY WENT :) and he loved it. and their going to get married this month and it´s going to be great!!!!! Italo went to church as well, which made us really happy!!!!!!! andd the family that we are helping reactivate...which also made us super happy!!! Sunday we had a weird experience.... We were walking home to do our weekly planning and some ladies from another church stopped us and invited us to go into their church to visit and to talk to their pastors... I´m not sure why I accepted the invitation. But we went in... and just stayed for a few minutes, and prayed with their pastor. It was sad. But I shared some pass along cards with them and invited them to come to our church. Who knows? Maybe they´ll call for the free dvd :) What did I learn this week? Righteous persistence pays off. Alexandro always says that were are persistent and that's why he went to church. When I think of persistence I think of Jesus Christ. He persisted day after day to follow the will of Heavenly Father. And he inspires us to do the right thing in our own lives. To be persistent in our righteous desires and actions. Because one day we will receive a reward for it! I´m pretty sure I will stay in my area with my companion for my last transfer, but If anything happens I´ll let you know tomorrow....

"It's not enough to wish, it's not enough to dream, it's not enough to promise. We must do."

TUDO BEM??? This week was an eye-opener. We are still working with our investigators to help them obey the word of wisdom. Unfortunately we made the decision to cut a few of the investigators that we had that were not interested in changing or even wanting to know more about the gospel :( BUTTT we are going tomorrow to mark the wedding of one of the family we are currently teaching! woohoo. I´m so excited for them. Sandra is SO awesome. She has the biggest desire to change. ANDDDDD she is pregnant. So she will be married before the baby comes. Saturday I had the privilege to go to a meeting that had the zone leaders and sister leaders from the 5 missions in the huge city of São Paulo. We got to hear from Elder Evans from the seventy who works on the missionary executive council. It was an awesome experience. He talked so much about our true purpose as missionaries. A lot of the time missions focus on the one thing that is easiest for them to do. Here it is baptism. In some places is less active work. and we forget that we should be helping in all areas of the doctrine of Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, receive the gift of the holy ghost and endure to the end. Heavenly Father has great expectations for our generation. He wants us to be obedient so that he can bless us. He wants us to help him with his Purpose: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. He also talked a lot about the importance of families. There is nothing more important than our families. We can only get to the celestial kingdom when we are sealed together and enduring to the end as a family. This morning he came and talked to our whole mission. It was a very humbling experience. He was very inspired and hit the key points that our mission needs to be better at. It was one of the best mission conference I have been to. He also told us that Heavenly Father gives us our desires. If we desire good things and good results he will give them to us. and how do we show our desires? By the things we do. So we have to do GOOD things. I know that this really is the work of salvation. Sister Bruno

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

YUP you guessed it : WORD OF WISDOM!!!!!! This week weirdly enough really strengthened my testimony of the word of wisdom. 

It seems like ALL of our investigators have problems with the word of wisdom. Two drug addicts that are FIGHTING their addictions. One family being destroyed by the bad drug habits of the dad. One investigator who wanted to become a professional bartender. One family whose parents are chain smokers. I have never seen so many bad effects of breaking the word of wisdom. 

We had an awesome lesson with Italo (investigator who wanted to become a professional bartender)! We taught him about the plan of salvation and marked his baptism date for the 2nd of March. Then when we taught the word of wisdom he ACCEPTED it so well! And has now stopped drinking alcohol and coffee!!!!! 

We started teaching another drug addict who is truly sincere about changing. He has cut down so much. He went from using drugs almost every day to once a week. And he told us that when his dad told him to have a beer at the bakery (yes here the drink at bakery´s...) He ordered a COKE!!!! 

Shout out to all of you for being such great examples when it comes to the word of wisdom. I have luckily NEVER been tempted to break the word of wisdom. But up until this week I also had never realized how big of a blessing it has been in my life. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THE WORD OF WISDOM!!!!! It truly blesses us in all aspects of our lives. Health Wise, Knowledge Wise, Saftey Wise... ALL ASPECTS even money wise if you think about....

If anyone has any good ideas on how to break an addiction let me know!!!

Desi 

"Our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off, and move forward."

Dear Family,

We had a great week!!!! A LOT went on. We stayed pretty busy throughout the whole week. 

We taught a lot of Restoration lessons! It was great! We had 11 new investigators and we have started to teach 2 new families :) 

One of the families we are teaching is really accepting! One problem. The dad of the family is addicted to CRACK. We taught the first lesson with him drugged up. It was an interesting experience because his week is SUCH A GOOD INVESTIGATOR. She had so many good questions, and she is so sincere in her desire to know. She felt the spirit so strongly. The dad wants to stop he told us that he did. He recognizes that its destroying his life... It was really sad to see what he was giving up, and to see the pain that he caused in the life of Sandra, his wife. I know it will be HARD, but I know that he will be able to!!!! 

Saturday was the baptism of Megara!!!! It was SO SWEET. I am so happy for her. She had been waiting for this day for so long, and her mom who isn´t a member went and really liked it as well. She may still be saying that she is not interested, but I KNOW that Meggy is going to help her whole family through her example. 

We taught Italo again this week and he accepted the invitation to be baptized :) He is SOOOOOOOO AWESOME. He works so hard in life, and he really just wants to know peace and wants to know how he can get rid of the guilt that he feels. He read the chapter we left him in the Book of Mormon 2 times, and he said that he felt good when he prayed!!!! 

Happy Valentine´s day this week to everyone!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Desi 

Do You Think God Puts Good Things in Our Path? I Do!!!!

Dear Family this week was a HOTTT one. We were told that this summer has been the hottest ever recorded here in São Paulo.

This week we WORKED hard. A lot of walking in the hot sun, but it wasn´t all in vain. We did a lot of contacts, and now have a lot of not only new but also potential investigators. 

Next Saturday is the baptism of Mégara. She is so awesome, and excited for her baptism. I made her little invitations. She has been waiting for soo long for this. It´s going to be a really special day for her.  I picked a sheep on her invite because she is entering into the flock of Jesus Christ :) 

This week we also had interviews with President Ferrin. It was a GREAT interview. He showed us two pennies a bronze penny and a steel penny, and asked us which coin we would want to be. I of course picked the steel penny because I had never seen a steel penny before and I thought I would want to be the different one. But then he told us that steel rusts a lot faster and other facts about steel that made me want to change my answer. Afterwards he showed us a silver coin and then a gold coin... A pure gold coin... It was SOOO pretty. By this point I definitely had changed my mind. He told us that the truth is that there is very little pure gold in the world. And that we are like the gold coins. There may not be a very high percentage of members in the world and an even smaller percentage of missionaries, but we are UNIQUE and of GREAT WORTH. We need to show the world that our message is worth more than gold :) I have learned so much from President Ferrin, I hope that I can be a light in this world and help many people enjoy the gold that I have (THE GOSPEL :) )

Sunday we had a VERY interesting experience.  We were walking to church and this random guy came up to us and asked if he could ask a question. I of course answered Sure... He proceeded to ask ``Do you think God puts good things in our Path?`` I answered yes.... He then started talking anddddd it didn´t take long to realize that he was a little drunk. He told us that a girl that he had met the night before sent him a message saying that he needed to let Jesus enter into his heart. So what did he do? He walked into the nearest church... A Igreja Universal... The Universal Church... He stayed there for about 5 minutes got uncomfortable and left. That's when he saw us. We invited him to go to church and he did. And he stayed all 3 hours and LOVED it... and I think the alcohol had even worn off by the end... I´m hoping we can help change his life and his families life!!!!! I know that Heavenly Father loves him regardless of his poor choices. I hope that he is willing to give up worldly things and search for the kingdom of God. 

We also found 2 new investigators. Rosangela and Italo. Mother and Son. They are just two really nice people. And Italo had a lot of great questions. After we taught the Restoration he asked us how he could know if Joseph Smith was a real prophet or a False prophet and we explained that he could read the book of Mormon and pray!!!! And he told us that he is looking for PEACE in his life. We promised him that he would find peace through the BOOK OF MORMON and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the book of Mormon is true and if Italo really reads it he will know for himself as well!!!!!!!! 

I know that God puts good things in our Path!!!!!! He did after all put all of you in my path :) We just need to look for the good things and make sure to share them!!!!!!!

La Cucaracha

Summer is in full bloom here in São Paulo...

This week was CRAZY!!!!! 

I think I got a sunburn 6 of the 7 days this week...

On New Year´s there were SOOOO many fireworks right outside of or window... and while trying to sleep a firework landed on our house... It was pretty intense.. I thought that I was in a war zone. I think Brazil should think about revising their laws about firework use. 

Cockroaches are just having the time of their life... Funny story. We were teaching José this week and he had bug bombed his work office about 2 hours before we got there and there were COCKROACHES EVERYWHERE... I would say I saw at least 100. My companion killed about 20 while we were teaching... Let´s just say it was a hard lesson to get through... and that I may or may not have screamed during the first vision because of a cockroach on my foot.... José is the cutest old man I have ever met in my life.. He just kept laughing and killing them before they got to me.. 

Me and Sister Peart worked HARD this week and though we may have not seen immediate success we are starting to up our pool of investigators :) 

Tomorrow we are going to the Temple as a mission and I am SUPER excited. Me and Sister Peart read a talk by Elder Holland about missionaries and covenants and I loved this quote maybe it will help you Franny and Michael.

It is when an entire mission is united by the strength of every missionary’s integrity, every 
 missionary’s personal covenant keeping,that we move mountains. When there is such unity  
and power, an endowment from heaven, coming to every individual in the mission, nothing can
 “stop the work from progressing.” It is in this way that the“truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, 
 and independent.”

Congratulations Annika and Keith.. I would love to see some pictures ASAP!!!!! Now that Keith is a part of the family someone should tell me his email so I can add him to the list... 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Touched by the Spirit

This week I feel like I have learned a little bit about what it truly means to bear one anothers burdens. This week we started teaching a woman named Fernanda. She is passing through a really hard time because she is currently living with the father of her two sons. Who is unfortunately an alcoholic. He can´t even work because he is so addicted to drinking. He is literally drinking his life away. As we have gotten to know her and have talken to her, I can honestly say that we have been bearing her burdens. I feel SO MUCH sadness for her, but I also feel so much HOPE for her. Unfortunately she can not work because she has a little baby of 1 month old and has to wait until he is 4 months old to stop breast feeding him. But she said that everytime she prays and thinks about the new years something fills her with happiness and hope. I don´t know exactly how to help her overcome these problems, but I am confident that Heavenly Father does and I hope to be able to continue to bear her burdens and help make them lighter. 

We also taught Josè and he is SOOOO ELECT!!!!! We taught him the restoration and he got really emotional and cried. It was the most tender moment I think I have ever had in my life. This cute little old man so willing to accept the teachings of Christ in his life. I thought about how much Heavenly Father must truly love him. We marked his baptism for the 12th of January. 

I´m so excited for this new year. It is going to be SOOOO Great. I know it. I am a firm believer of New Year´s Goals, so I hope that everyone writes out 14 goals for the year of 2014 and puts them in a visible place so that everyday you can remember and try your hardest to reach them.  

LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! THANKS FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT AND LOVE :) 

Desi 

Christmas Week

A lot happened this week!!!!

Tuesday we had our mission Christmas conference. It was great to see all of my missionary friends that I have made over this last year. It also made me really reflect on my own testimony of Jesus Christ. I KNOW that he was born to save US!!!!

We worked well the rest of the week. 

We had a REALLY AWESOME experience this week!!! We were headed to an appointment at an investigators house that we had never been to before. I looked on the map and memorized the route, but as we were heading there I decided to turn on a street that wasn´t on the route. I didn´t know know what the street was but I was just like let´s turn here. As we were walking down the street we saw two men standing outside of a house. Two men that we had Never seen before in our lives. When of them shouted ``OI SISTERES`` We were like ummmm hiiii???? And he started going off about how we were sent from God.... We were like are you a member? And he just kept going off about miracles.... Turns out that he is a member that lives in a different city that was just visiting his friend for the day. A friend who isn't a member. His friend is going through a rough time and earlier in the day he told him that he should let the missionaries come by and talk to And we just happened to show up when the member was leaving. We really were sent by GOD!!!!! I´m super stoked to start teaching José.. .He seems really sincere and actually interested. Thanks to the awesome missionary work that his friend did. I know that when we are worthy we will be led by the promptings of the Holy Ghost!!!!!! 

This week we PRAYED so much to be able to find new investigators, and we actually found a lot of new people to teach. Most of which are not married, but living together. Hoping that the New Year brings a lot of weddings and happy newlyweds... Maybe Annika's wedding will start the trend :) 

Excited to talk to everyone on Christmas... We get an hour and a half to talk... What time should I get on?!?!?!?!?! 

LOVE YOU ALL 

Desi

We should even give thanks for our afflictions because they turn our hearts to God and give us opportunities to prepare for what God would have us become. - Dallin H. Oaks

This week was a TOUGH one!!!

Tuesday I got a knarly farmers burn. 

Wednesday I went to the doctor because I haven´t been able to sleep because I cough so much that I start to vomit at night, but then I didn´t have money to buy the prescripition so I felt like I wasted precious work time :( I´m allergic to all of the pollution that they have here in São Paulo :( And I still have random allergic reactions 

Thursday was thanksgiving. No one here even knows what Thanksgiving is, and we didn´t have money to really celebrate. We scraped some personal money together and bought a lime pie after we worked and ate it at night. 

Friday was the day of rejection. We got rejected by every single person we talked to on the street, and to make matters worse this great family we started teaching that I had really gotten my hopes with told us not to come back. and worst was that they refused to give me a specific reason. Just that they just weren´t really interested right now. That was the worst. I tried to be brave and tell them what they were missing out, but it didn´t seem to have much effect. Afterwards, I cried so hard that I couldn´t work for like an hour!!!!

Today I got robbed... Again.... luckily they only stole the cell phone and my bus pass. 

The point of these hardships isn´t to complain... just to say that Heavenly Father gives us afflictions because he wants us to learn and improve. I think he wanted me to learn to be grateful no matter what happens!!! It made me really evaluate the things I am grateful for. I´m grateful that I have the gospel in my life, and I´m grateful for all of the people that I have had the opportunity to teach. I feel like I have LEARNED so much from each and every one of them. Today I got to spend my pday with a recent convert from Vila Prudente. At the end she started crying when I left.... and just told me Sister Bruno... Não esqueça perseverar até o fim... Sister Bruno, Don´t forget, Endure to the End... It made me happy to see that she remembered what we had taught and that she was HELPING me!!!!! 

Going to continue enduring to the end... and taking advantage for every day that I have here on the mission

Sister Bruno 

PS- Thanks for everyones help with my byu apps!!!!!! 

"The Lord’s way is not to sit at the side of the stream and wait for the water to pass before we cross. It is to come together, roll up our sleeves, go to work, and build a bridge or a boat to cross the waters of our challenges."

I don´t have a lot of time to write this week because I have been working on my college essays, but this was a great week!!!!

On Friday we had a specialized training with President Ferrin and the assistants. I really enjoyed the training and it gave me motivation to work harder than I have ever worked before!!! When we left I started talking to like EVERYONE in sight. It was a really rewarding day. 

On Sunday was the baptism of Gabriel. He was so HAPPY afterwards :) It has been super awesome to see the change that he has made in his life. Next step... Endure to the End 

We are currently increasing the number of people that we teach, and had a good number of investigators at church so that was really rewarding to see. I hope that this week is a good week for all of you!!!!!!!!!!

The Pursuit of Happiness

This week was not at all what I was expecting it to be. But it ended up being a pretty good week. 

We were in high gear doing TONS of street contacts. Doing all we could do find new investigators. But yeah that didn´t work out too well. We only got two new investigators out of the 50 contacts that we did. 

But, we worked all week with Alicia (the daughter of the couple who is going to be married next month to be baptized) and she got baptized yesterday. She is so AWESOME. She was so excited to be baptized, and everytime she prays she prays that her parents can get married soon so that they can get baptized too!!! I am SUPER excited to plan a wedding :) Should be happening in about December. I might not get to be there for Annika´s wedding, but at least I´ll get to see a wedding. 

We have also been working with Gabriel. Gabriel is the son of a recent convert, Janai. He never was very interested with meeting with the sisters and he just likes playing soccer on the street and getting into trouble. But when I saw him, I was like. We need to teach him!!!! So me and my companion started slowly trying to gain his trust and BAM. Before he knew it he was taking the discussions. And he is super awesome. His biggest concern right now is HAPPINESS. He wanted to know how he could be HAPPIER. We have been making that a key point in all the lessons that we teach him. For the first week we taught him, everytime we extended an invitation he wouldn´t give firm answers. It was always ``maybe i´ll go to church on sunday``  ``Let´s see if I remember to say a prayer tonight``. But when we taught him on saturday he had a great bonding moment with his mom. And talked about the change that he had seen in her after her baptism. She stopped saying swear words, stopped drinking, stopped screaming at him, stopped beating him. And he said ``she does look a lot happier`` This was like the most rewarding thing I have ever seen. It made me think..... man THE GOSPEL TRULY DOES BLESS FAMILIES!!!!!!! And after the lesson we invited him to be baptized and he said YES :) Then he went to church on sunday and saw the baptism of Alicia and afterwards he came up to us and said ``Eu decidi, eu vou me batizar domingo que vem`` I have decided to be baptized next sunday!!!! WOOHOOOOOOO. It made me soooo happy to see him happy and to see him respond with such a firm answer. 

What I have been learning with Gabriel is that the only way to find true happiness is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other way. Heavenly Father wants to see us happy. He wants to see us on the right path to eternal life because he loves us!!!!!! It reminds me of the tree of life. The fruit is what is true happiness. 

10 And it came to pass that I beheld a ^atree, whose ^bfruit was desirable to make one ^chappy.

And how can we get to the tree of life?!?!!? Following the iron rod which is the word of god!!!!! When we follow the commandments and live the gospel we are going to be happy regardless of what is happening in our lives because we will have hope that we will be blessed and that Heavenly Father will fix the bad things that are happening.  

Love you all!!!!

"The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets. The more we rely on the Savior’s grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in Heaven has intended for us." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

``The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.`` Proverbs 16:21 Goodbye to Vila Prudente

Today is my last day in Vila Prudente. Translation- Vila Prudent. The name of this area describes my time here pretty adequately. I feel like I have learned SO MUCH in these last 6 months here in Vila Prudente. I´m so grateful to the Lord for the opportunity that I have had to be here. It will forever hold a very special place for me in my heart. I have learned soooo much from the members on how to truly serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I have learned from my investigators and recent converts how to have more faith. I have been given so much wisdom of the scriptures and the plan that Heavenly Father has for me through the hours that I have studied here. Heavenly Father has given me the experiences that I have had here to truly help me be more Prudent. I will forever be grateful for the time that I have spent here. I know that I was spent here for very specific reasons. To find the people that I have taught and helped enter into a covenant with Heavenly Father. Every single one of them where prepared by Heavenly Father, and I feel strongly that it was my purpose here on earth to find them.

Its wierd. I feel like I´m leaving home again. I feel like I´m leaving my family all over again. Words will never describe the amount of love that I feel for this area. It will forever hold a piece of my heart. 

Next Stop, Vila Esperança which is translation for Vila Hope... I guess Heavenly Father wants me to learn how to have more hope. Haha... 

``Wisdom is The ability or gift from God to judge correctly. A person gains wisdom through experience and study and by following God’s counsel. Without God’s help, man does not have true wisdom (2 Ne. 9:28; 27:26).`` (LDS.ORG)

Love you all!!!!!! 

Desi 

``There is nothing so unchanging, so inevitable as change itself``

So this week was an interesting week. 

Tuesday was transfers, and me and my companion Sister Amaral were told that we would stay... So we were all excited about this new transfer and the great things that we would see together, because we have two awesome investigators that have baptisms marked for October, Marcos and Karina. 

On Wednesday we wrote goals for the transfer and talked about all the things we could do, to help our area, and we were super pumped to work hard!!!!!!

Then on Thursday, we got a call from the Assistants that there was going to be an emergency transfer because of a situation that happened with other sisters. When I first got the call I felt heartbroken. Sister Amaral went to a different area, and I stayed here in Vila Prudente with Sister Oborn. Sister Oborn is my second american companion. I feel sad that Sister Amaral left, but I already love Sister Oborn!!!!!! 

But ever since Thursday it feels like everything is changing in my area. We started working in a different area than usual, we have new investigators, we are trying new methods of working. The mission is wierd. I feel like in one day I feel up to 100 different emotions. Happiness, Sadness, Excitement, Discouragement all at the same time. I´m sad that Sister Amaral isn´t my companion anymore, but I´m happy that Sister Oborn is my new companion. Change is hard, but I know that it is for the best. I read a talk by Marvin J. Ashton that described exactly how I am feeling. Here is a quote he used from C.S Lewis, 

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace” 

And so it is, with us. Sometimes change is hard. But it´s usually for the best. I hope that I can learn to adapt quickly and see the sense in what God is building in my life. I hope that this week will be a good one for me and Sister Oborn and for all of you!!!!!!!! 

Love, 

Desi 

  

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, ‘Give me this mountain,’ give me these challenges.`` - Spencer W. Kimball

This week had some really great Ups and some really low Downs. 

Teaching lessons are always great ups. This week started good, because we taught some really great lessons to our investigators. But as the week went on. Bad news kept coming. Day after day. First day, Jeiza, one of Raquel´s friends that wanted to be baptized for sunday, decided she didn´t want to, but Rafaela was still wanting to the whole week. She´s awesome one day after we taught her about the gospel of jesus christ she went to school and taught her entire class about faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. They started calling her pastor Rafaela and she told them. No, actually it´s Sister Soares. Everything seemed ready for sunday: the President of the Young Women made a cake, Me and sister Amaral practiced singing When I am Baptized the youth of the ward got all excited. And what happened?!?! We got there on sunday and she told us she wasn´t going to be baptized. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! I thought. I felt true sadness. Geiza the whole week had been talking to her about all the things she would miss out on, like drinking going to parties, drinking coffee things that don´t bring happiness!!!!!!!!! On our way to church we talked to her and made a pact that she would  say a prayer and pay attention to what she learned in young women´s and afterwards make her decision... and what happened?!?!? Heavenly Father answered her prayers....  

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of ^afear; but of ^bpower, and of ^clove, and of a sound mind.8 Be not thou therefore ^aashamed of the ^btestimony of our Lord

She told us that the leaders had given her this scripture to read and that it was exactly what she needed and that she knows that Heavenly Father really answered her prayer and that this church is really true!!!!!!!!!! But she still told us that today couldn´t be the day. the youth spent the entire church talking to her about the decision. I also think that one of the young men helped a lot with the decision, but now she is going to baptized on Thursday. 

We also got robbed this week as well. Luckily he only stole our cell phone. But it´s been hard without a cell phone. REALLY HARD. We lost a lot of our investigators numbers and just my luck the same day I left my planner at the mission office, so I didn´t have numbers or addresses of some of the people we had marked to vist during the end of the week. It may seem silly but this was a BIG MOUNTAIN for me. Because after everything seemed to be going wrong this happened. I was already so stressed out because of everything else going on. 

But... I know that Heavenly Father gives us mountains to climb for our benefit. Funny because last monday I downloaded free music from lds.org and one of the musics talk about mountains to climb. It says 

``I know  that it won´t be easy, but it´s making me strong. So give me mountains to climb, rivers to climb, something thats going to make me better than I was . Give me mountains to climb because I know its taking me higher than I´ve ever been before.`` 

I thought it was a good message so I translated it for my companion. After everything that happened she laughed and said. The savior heard you. What does it say in D&C??? Song of the righteous is a prayer??? Heavenly Father definitely has a sense of humor. 

But this week should be a lot better. We have the baptism of Rafaela on Thursday and Sabrina on Saturday.... WOOO HOOO. Sabrina is finally going to be baptized on Saturday. SOOOO HAPPY. And tomorrow we are going to the temple. I know it is going to be a GREAT WEEK. 

 

Never Give Up!!!! Whatever Challenge the Lord gives you, face it with Courage and know that you are capable. 

Desi 

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

´´Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written´´

OIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!

So.... This week was a another GREAT WEEK. It started out pretty slow and we had some major bumps in the road, but the bumps hardly matter because it ended so good. Yesterday was the baptism of Raquel. Raquel is a 15-year old young woman. Who is SO awesome. A couple of weeks ago we met her because we were looking for a different investigator who lives in the same divided house. Our other investigator wasn´t home, but Luis (Raquel Dad) opened his door and told us that she wasn´t home and asked who we were. It just happened to be really outside this day, and he invited us in and told us that his teenage daughter was home, so we took advantage of the situation and asked if we could share a message with him. He accepted even though he wasn´t very interested. As we were teaching Raquel left her homework to start listening. She told us that before we had showed up she had a feeling that she needed to find God, a path to follow, and that all that faulted was us knocking on her door :) She and her sister Rafaela and their friend Geiza went to church with us for the last two sunday´s. We always invited them for baptism, but they always felt like it was too early. This week as we taught Raquel we invited her for baptism and she told us that she knew that it would be something good, but that she was SCARED. We shared the scripture in Alma 7 that says not to fear baptism, and we felt really prompted by the spirit the whole entire lesson. She is such a good example of courage to me. I know that she was scared because her sister and her friend thought that baptism was way too early, and that she was CRAZY for wanting to be baptized. But she decided that it was necessary for her. She has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and she didn´t let fear get in the way of keeping and doing all that is written in the scriptures. She didn´t let it get in the way of following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. ANDDDD because of her example Rafaela and Geiza felt the spirit so strongly during the baptism that they want to be baptized next week!!!!!! The baptism was such a spiritual experience for me as well. I LOVE Raquel and Rafaela and Geiza so much. They are such beautiful daughters of Heavenly Father and I know how much happiness the gospel is going to bring in their lives.

Sabrina, another investigator we have been teaching for a long while now, has also decided to be baptized on the 14th!!!!! Announced yesterday during Sacrament Meeting. She is also a great example of courage to me. Her mom is dying of cancer and she feels so helpless, and yet she still has the courage to put her faith to test and follow the savior Jesus Christ. 

Courage is to not be afraid, especially of doing what is right. I know that it is necessary to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know that all of us can apply this principle in our lives. As a missionary, I know that sometimes it´s hard to have the courage to go up to random strangers on the street, sometimes it´s hard to have the courage to commit investigators to baptism on the first lesson, sometimes it´s hard to have the courage to always follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I also know that when my heart takes courage and I keep and do all that is written, the Savior blesses me. I feel so blessed to be having such great experiences on my mission. I feel so blessed to be in such a great area with such a great companion. I feel so blessed to be seeing so much success on my mission. I know that I am helping the Lord help and touch the lives of others. 

Never Fear. Be of good courage.

Desi      

"Life by the yard is hard; by the inch it's a cinch. Each of us can be true for just one day--and then one more and then one more after that--until we've lived a lifetime guided by the Spirit, a lifetime close to the Lord, a lifetime of good deeds and righteousness."

Every day that passes I love my mission more and more. Sometimes when I look at all the things that I have to do, the people I have to talk to, the things I have to remember I get really stressed out. But as I remember the little things and try to do things slowly but surely, I feel better and I see a lot more success!!!  I´m learning how to take life one day at a time.

This week was a great week. We taught Valmir a lot, and he has decided to take a step of faith by marking his baptism for Saturday the 24th. We had marked his baptism for yesterday and we kept insisting. We know your baptism is going to be on Sunday, and we made a circle on his calender at home, but the only thing he ever answered was I want to be baptized before the end of the year. But as we taught he said look on Sunday I´m going to meet my sister (because he´s never met her before) but let´s mark it for Saturday the 24th!!!!! WOAH we are sooooooo happy for him and his FAMILY. We know that he doesn´t have 100% surety of what he is doing, but he decided to take a step of faith. We read the baptismal interview questions and he has a testimony of Joseph Smith and of the church. He wanted to feel 100% sure, but we explained that many times we aren´t going to feel 100% sure. What Heavenly Father really asks for all of us to do is to go on faith. This week I started to see this in many instances of our investigators and recent converts. Sometimes it may be about leaving something behind or about having the courage to act, or it may be about breaking barriers (Improve what we already are doing) Whatever it might be we have to do it because of the faith that we have. I know that Heavenly Father is willing to bless us and help us in every aspect of our lives when we are willing to show our faith and do the things that he asks of us. 

Whatever may be happening in your lives, GO BY FAITH!!!!!!!!

Love,

Desi

Our Desire to Share the Gospel Takes All of Us to our Knees, and It Should, Because We Need the Lord's Help.

Something I learned this week is that a testimony truly is powerful!!! We have been teaching a man named Jefferson from Bahia, and it´s been hard to get in contact with him because he works so much, but this week on friday he called because he needed help with his living situation because he lives in a place where people are always drinking, swearing, and doing bad things. We called the bishop to help him, and the next day when we called to see if we could meet with him he told us that we could, but he didnt feel like studying and that he just needed a friend. Hmmmm...... Ok I thought let´s go be his friend, and we listened to him talk about his life and things that we´re going on, his goals and dreams in life, and I mentioned something about my family and showed him a picture. He asked me, So if you have such a pretty family why did you leave them to come here??? When he asked me why I left my family it made me really reflect, why am I here?????? I thought for a second and what I came to the conclusion to is that I´m here because the Lord has given me everything that I have, it was the Lord who gave me such an awesome family, it was the Lord who has given me the gospel and I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know of the importance of the gospel in my life and in the lives of other people. I know that Baptism is not an option, its necessary. So I shared my testimony with Jefferson, he said he didn´t want to study but I shared a scripture anyways. 

 

1 Nephi 9: 6 `But the Lord ^aknoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all ^bpower unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.´ I felt like I was actually being prompted and inspired by the Holy Ghost, it was the best feeling I had all week. And now Jefferson wants to become a member of the church and be baptized!!!!  I was really happy to see the message that he sent us saying that he wanted to be baptized.  

I hope everyone has a good week, and don´t forget to write. It makes all the difference

Sister Bruno 

Sucess is Going from Failure to Failure Without Losing Enthusiasm

Dearest Family,

This week I learned that God is truly involved with the details. There happened to be many instances this week that bore testimony of this to me. He answers prayers and helps us when we need him the most. 

This week was bittersweet because an investigator who we have been teaching for 4 weeks now said he got an answer that the Catholic Church is true. HOW??!?!? I don´t know. It makes me sad because I think he´s just scared to give up the foolish traditions of his fathers. I know the Spirit doesn't give different answers to different people. It made me really sad, but I know Heavenly Father won´t give up on him!!!! 

This week we started teaching a lot of great people and we had 3 investigators at church. It was a very spiritual fast and testimony meeting. All 3 of our investigators said they felt very touched and felt something different. We are hoping to work hard with all 3 this week to help them understand the importance of baptism. 

Today in the weekly letter to the mission the president encouraged all of us to tell our families and friends that we will commit to live all the rules of the mission and be exactly obedient in all that we do to see for the least 2 baptisms every month. So I thought I would tell you all that I am committed to live every rule and commandment so that every month I can see at least 2 baptisms. Continue praying for me and for the people in the world who still don´t have the gospel in their lives. Pray for the people who are ready to receive the missionaries that we can find them!!! Pray for the people who already know the missionaries that they can find answers to their prayers!!!!! 

This week I will be out for 9 months. Time flies when you lose yourself in the work. This week I want to invite all of you to pray for people that you can share the gospel with. If you pray for an opportunity I know Heavenly Father will put faces in your mind of the people you should share it with. 

Love,

Desi