``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 

  

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``When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.``

Wow. This week was such a GREAT WEEK. A week I will definitely never forget. 

It started out with us going to the TEMPLE on tuesday. I´m so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to the temple and enjoy the sweet spirit that is found there. 

Then we worked hard on wednesday, and on thursday night we had the baptism of Rafaela before seminary. She was SOOOO happy, and so touched by the spirit. It´s been so awesome to see her progress. She is totally involved in everything. She has already read all of 1 Nephi and is working on her personal progress with her sister Raquel. Yesterday she recieved the Holy Ghost and when we passed by we asked her what it was like to have the holy ghost and she answered that she woke up today so happy that she cleaned the house entire and made lunch for her sister, something that her family always complains that she doesn´t help with. It made me so happy. 

And then on friday we worked hard and on Saturday we had the baptism of Sabrina. WOW. I couldn´t even believe that I was so blessed to be able to see the baptism of Sabrina. It was such an awesome Baptism. Her Sister, that I had met in the MTC in provo was there. We had invited EVERYONE to come and see her baptism. It was such a special moment for me. Her being baptized while I am still in the area made me really reflect how truly blessed I am and how much Heavenly Father really loves me. 

During her baptism we sang My Heavenly Father Loves Me, and our LMA is a proffesional piano player, who did the accompany. Sister Amaral sang the first verse in portuguese, I sang the first verse in english and then together we sang the second verse in portugese. It was so good that a lot of people cried and afterwards the bishop asked if we sing it as a special number during sacrament meeting the next day, so we did, and Sunday was such a good day too, because we saw our recent convert Jeferson pass the sacrament with his aaronic priesthood. We saw Sabrina and Rafaela recieve the holy ghost and we had 3 really great progressing investigators there. I don´t know if I´ve ever felt so happy in my whole entire life. 

And... Tuesday are transfers. I don´t know if I will stay or if I will leave my area. I love my area and I love everything about my mission. I´m so grateful for the Lord for giving me the experiences that I am having. I´m so grateful to be a missionary. I´m so grateful for all the blessings that he has given me. I´m grateful that we have the true restored church of Jesus Christ, I´m grateful that we have the plan of salvation, I´m grateful that we have the knowledge of the things we need to one day return and live with Heavenly Father. I´m grateful for my companion for the great attitude that she always has. I´m grateful for President Ferrin because I know he is inspired in all things that he does. I´m grateful for ALL OF YOU. Every single one of you. You have always been such great examples to me. Sometimes we pass through hard trials, but I know that Heavenly Father has given us SO MUCH because HE LOVES US. I´m so grateful for Jesus Christ because it´s through him that I have all of these things.

``Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.``

Sister Bruno 

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``And by the Power of the Holy Ghost ye may Know the Truth of All Things``

Minha Querida Familia,

This week was the last week of my 6th transfer!!!!!!. A lot of great things happened this week. Me and Sister Amaral have been teaching some great lessons, and have seen a lot of results. This week it was evident how much the Holy Ghost helped us.

This week we had the baptisms of Rafael and Gustavo. Rafael is an investigator who we have been teaching for a couple of weeks now. We met him pretty coincidentally. We were walking in the street and out of nowhere I tripped and almost fell. Graceful... I know :) And Rafael was sitting on the other side of the street and saw and started LAUGHING. So of course I started laughing too. We approached him and started talking to him and turns out that it happened to be on his 21st birthday!!!! July 16th. We had already gave him a goal to be baptized on the 4th of August, but he just said I don´t know... Let´s see..... But this week on Wednesday we got to our teaching appointment and noticed that something was wrong. And when we were all sat down he told us that he didn´t want to be baptized. We were in SHOCK.... Wait... WHAT?!?!? So we asked him why and he started explaining that he wanted to enjoy life that he liked going to dance and what not. We explained that he could still dance, and that through the gospel he would enjoy life even more, and read a scripture

  14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. 15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

After we read this scripture he said he wanted to be baptized, but that he wanted to wait more time. When he said that we didn't even know what to say, but in that exact moment we had realized that we hadn´t even prayed yet, so we said OK let´s start with a prayer, and we invited Rafael to say the prayer. And as he started to pray he thanked Heavenly Father for everything, and said Heavenly Father I decided that I want to be baptized. And after he said the word Baptized, he paused for about a minute and said `Lord, I´m going to be baptized this Sunday`!!!! When he said that I felt the spirit so STRONGLY, and when we asked him what had changed he said that the minute he said baptism he felt like something was alive inside of him a burning in his heart. He explained the feeling of the spirit perfectly!!!! 

THE HOLY GHOST IS KEY IN CONVERSION!!!!!!!!!! 

The baptism on Sunday was such a great experience. Gustavo and Rafael were both so happy. The water was freezing cold and after his baptism Gustavo tried to swim in the water. It was funny. President and Sister Ferrin attended our ward and baptism :) Rafael said that he felt like he now had complete joy in his life. THE GOSPEL IS TRUE AND CHANGES LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This week in Sunday School the teacher said that it doesn´t matter what we are in life. It matters that we are the best of what we are. I am a missionary and I want to be the best Missionary. I hope you all can adopt this into your life. BE THE BEST STUDENT, BE THE BEST MOM, BE THE BEST DIRECTOR OF LIBRARIES, BE THE BEST AT SHARING THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!!!! 

Até Mais!!!!!

Sister Bruno  

PS - This week we had a contest between the districts in our zone who could eat the most pizza and my district won!!! I ate 9 pieces of pizza :)  Sending a pic!!!!!

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 

Sister Trainer

Today I start training a new sister, Sister Amaral from the North East of Brazil!!! Hope everyone has a good week :) Desi