Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the very hot and humid and rainy Brasil! I am very excited for the new year, our new transfer starts the first day of January, which is perfect. New year, new transfer. The last three months in Itauna have been filled with a lot of almosts, I have witnessed many miracles, but none have followed through. I am truly learning a lot about patience and finding the hidden blessings.
This week was especially hard. Almost two months ago I taugh a man in a neighborhood close to us, Jose Batista. He accepted everything, saying he wanted to find more God in his life and be an example for his children. We returned and had another great experience, but found out he only works in Gracas(the neighborhood close to us) and lives in the Barragem, which is very remote and far away. But he also said that his wife is a member and knows the bishop! This made me even more excited. But the times we returned, he wasnt working, and the phone number he gave us was wrong. But I was very determined. I asked almost all the members in our branch if they knew his wife, and finally after many many weeks the Bishop rememberd her and her full name. That was something. Then the very next day we made a street contact with a lady who lives in the Barragem and is the neighbor of Shayla! Jose Batistas wife! Surely, this was a miracle of God, there was no coincidence in stopping this lady. So we made plans to go out to the Barragem, without a map or certain address. We made it out there with only our faith to guide us, asked many people and finally found the house of Shayla. I told everybody that this family was my Christmas miracle, so when we finally found her I was very excited. But. She is extremely inactive, she wants nothing to do with the church. She knows everything, she almost put in papers to serve a mission but something bad happened and wouldnt let us share a message or even pray with her.
This left me very depressed, I had worked so so so hard to find her and Jose Batista and yet nothing came from it. The bus ride home was long, and I did cry. After three months here, why isnt anybody having any success? Why are we still a branch, and have no baptisms? What am I doing wrong? The other sisters admitted to the same sad feelings of lack of progress. We are the lowest zone in the mission, a few elders opened an area a few weeks ago and baptized almost 20 in one day. Why cant we make a difference here?
So we turned to the scriptures and read Ether 12:4 about hope and its relation to faith, and the footnote let us to 1 Corithians 15:58 which says you can have surety that you work is not in vain. We had a wonderful Christmas the next day and started work again Thursday full of hope and faith that even though our efforts might not have numbers, we surely are planting seeds and becoming better and stronger missionaries through our increased faith. His timing, His work, His blessings.
One of my favorite paragraphs in Preach my Gospel says We will all stand before God at the last judgement and give an accounting for what we ahve done with the opportunities he has given us. What opportunities had the Lord given specifically to you? What have you done with them?
I am so grateful for the experiences I have had, dont worry they are always more happy than sad. Sister Torrez, my blessed companion said that my portuguese is better than some of her old american companions who had served for a year. With a tough start, I have come a long way and know that the Lord prepares a way for all the commandments he gives.
The streets and hills remain to be ridiculous, but I am training to hike half dome in Yosemite when I return!
The attitude of people here, because everybody really is religious on some level is that Deus e um so, which means there is one God, you can find him in any church. So it is very easy to teach, but difficult to convert.
Always praying for new opportunities to find investigators and strengthen the ones we have now!
Amo voces!
Sister Holmes
This week was especially hard. Almost two months ago I taugh a man in a neighborhood close to us, Jose Batista. He accepted everything, saying he wanted to find more God in his life and be an example for his children. We returned and had another great experience, but found out he only works in Gracas(the neighborhood close to us) and lives in the Barragem, which is very remote and far away. But he also said that his wife is a member and knows the bishop! This made me even more excited. But the times we returned, he wasnt working, and the phone number he gave us was wrong. But I was very determined. I asked almost all the members in our branch if they knew his wife, and finally after many many weeks the Bishop rememberd her and her full name. That was something. Then the very next day we made a street contact with a lady who lives in the Barragem and is the neighbor of Shayla! Jose Batistas wife! Surely, this was a miracle of God, there was no coincidence in stopping this lady. So we made plans to go out to the Barragem, without a map or certain address. We made it out there with only our faith to guide us, asked many people and finally found the house of Shayla. I told everybody that this family was my Christmas miracle, so when we finally found her I was very excited. But. She is extremely inactive, she wants nothing to do with the church. She knows everything, she almost put in papers to serve a mission but something bad happened and wouldnt let us share a message or even pray with her.
This left me very depressed, I had worked so so so hard to find her and Jose Batista and yet nothing came from it. The bus ride home was long, and I did cry. After three months here, why isnt anybody having any success? Why are we still a branch, and have no baptisms? What am I doing wrong? The other sisters admitted to the same sad feelings of lack of progress. We are the lowest zone in the mission, a few elders opened an area a few weeks ago and baptized almost 20 in one day. Why cant we make a difference here?
So we turned to the scriptures and read Ether 12:4 about hope and its relation to faith, and the footnote let us to 1 Corithians 15:58 which says you can have surety that you work is not in vain. We had a wonderful Christmas the next day and started work again Thursday full of hope and faith that even though our efforts might not have numbers, we surely are planting seeds and becoming better and stronger missionaries through our increased faith. His timing, His work, His blessings.
One of my favorite paragraphs in Preach my Gospel says We will all stand before God at the last judgement and give an accounting for what we ahve done with the opportunities he has given us. What opportunities had the Lord given specifically to you? What have you done with them?
I am so grateful for the experiences I have had, dont worry they are always more happy than sad. Sister Torrez, my blessed companion said that my portuguese is better than some of her old american companions who had served for a year. With a tough start, I have come a long way and know that the Lord prepares a way for all the commandments he gives.
The streets and hills remain to be ridiculous, but I am training to hike half dome in Yosemite when I return!
The attitude of people here, because everybody really is religious on some level is that Deus e um so, which means there is one God, you can find him in any church. So it is very easy to teach, but difficult to convert.
Always praying for new opportunities to find investigators and strengthen the ones we have now!
Amo voces!
Sister Holmes