I am staying with Sister Miller for our third transfer together! In Ipatinga! I am so excited! She is amazing! Three transfers together! We have become best friends, spending every minute with a person adds up to years of friendship. She is an amazing example to me.
Last Tuesday, the last night of the transfer we held our weekly family night with our favorite family in the ward with Sonia and Paulo, and invited Cleberson and his family and Maria das Graças and the home teachers and had a huge barbeque! And let me tell you, brasilians sure know how to barbeque. They cook it so simply, but they cook all types of meat like champions. We made snickerdoodles and brownies as a special "american treat" and they were a hit! Sister Hagemeyer has basically ruined her knee here on the mission walking up the enormous hills, it happens frequently on the mission, so we were fairly certain she would be transfered to another area, so her and her companion came to our barbeque. We all sang hymns together, prayed, congradulated Cleberson, took pictures and talked about enduring to the end. These people have become my family here on the mission, I will never forget them. One of the sons Gabriel is 10 and he wrote me a song called "Family Home Evening With the Sisters" about how its his favorite part of the week and we pray together and sing and well, it was adorable.
I am really trying to take in all the special moments on the mission, the rare ones that happen that I have to take a mental picture. Climbing up hills and not getting tired because we have grown enormous leg muscles, looking at starry nights in what seems like the jungle, singing our special practiced hymns for members and investigators, the baptisms, laughing on the street, meeting strange and wonderful people.
Last week we found a woman named Arlette. She has a hard life. Her oldest son is very involved in the drug industry(it consumes Brasil) and her other son who is 19 is very overweight and has very extreme autism and beats her. Her husband lives and works in a city about two hours away. One day she had had a really rough day and was just praying for a sign from God. Cue two cute sister missionaries knocking on the door with a message of hope. She accepted baptism and everything we taught with firmess in heart. She understands what we teach her, and what she doesnt understand in the Book of Mormon she can feel is true. Every day we visist her she tells us how she is just looking for peace and happines, not money or a house or anything and she feels it swelling in her heart the more time we talk with her. She came to church Sunday and loved it and if everything goes alright with her anti mormon husband this week she will be baptized next! Its people like her, the ones with the thirst for the gospel that really teach you about the 99 who dont care, who dont want it.
Brasilians love, they LOVE to tell you everything they know, for hours and hours if you let them. In fast and testimony meeting missionaries are supposed to bear brief testimony, but in our amazing huge branch the members are so excited to bear their testimony that we never have a chance. They line up to tell the world what they know is true, young and old alike. Its a really special thing to hear others testimony, it really strengthens my testimony that what I am doing is the right thing.
To top off the week a less active who has a very humble home has lots of records and she gave Sister Miller and I original Beatles records! I got the Let It Be! Its really very cool. So we are here, letting things be, and working hard!
Your favorite jungle adventurer,
Sister Holmes
Last Tuesday, the last night of the transfer we held our weekly family night with our favorite family in the ward with Sonia and Paulo, and invited Cleberson and his family and Maria das Graças and the home teachers and had a huge barbeque! And let me tell you, brasilians sure know how to barbeque. They cook it so simply, but they cook all types of meat like champions. We made snickerdoodles and brownies as a special "american treat" and they were a hit! Sister Hagemeyer has basically ruined her knee here on the mission walking up the enormous hills, it happens frequently on the mission, so we were fairly certain she would be transfered to another area, so her and her companion came to our barbeque. We all sang hymns together, prayed, congradulated Cleberson, took pictures and talked about enduring to the end. These people have become my family here on the mission, I will never forget them. One of the sons Gabriel is 10 and he wrote me a song called "Family Home Evening With the Sisters" about how its his favorite part of the week and we pray together and sing and well, it was adorable.
I am really trying to take in all the special moments on the mission, the rare ones that happen that I have to take a mental picture. Climbing up hills and not getting tired because we have grown enormous leg muscles, looking at starry nights in what seems like the jungle, singing our special practiced hymns for members and investigators, the baptisms, laughing on the street, meeting strange and wonderful people.
Last week we found a woman named Arlette. She has a hard life. Her oldest son is very involved in the drug industry(it consumes Brasil) and her other son who is 19 is very overweight and has very extreme autism and beats her. Her husband lives and works in a city about two hours away. One day she had had a really rough day and was just praying for a sign from God. Cue two cute sister missionaries knocking on the door with a message of hope. She accepted baptism and everything we taught with firmess in heart. She understands what we teach her, and what she doesnt understand in the Book of Mormon she can feel is true. Every day we visist her she tells us how she is just looking for peace and happines, not money or a house or anything and she feels it swelling in her heart the more time we talk with her. She came to church Sunday and loved it and if everything goes alright with her anti mormon husband this week she will be baptized next! Its people like her, the ones with the thirst for the gospel that really teach you about the 99 who dont care, who dont want it.
Brasilians love, they LOVE to tell you everything they know, for hours and hours if you let them. In fast and testimony meeting missionaries are supposed to bear brief testimony, but in our amazing huge branch the members are so excited to bear their testimony that we never have a chance. They line up to tell the world what they know is true, young and old alike. Its a really special thing to hear others testimony, it really strengthens my testimony that what I am doing is the right thing.
To top off the week a less active who has a very humble home has lots of records and she gave Sister Miller and I original Beatles records! I got the Let It Be! Its really very cool. So we are here, letting things be, and working hard!
Your favorite jungle adventurer,
Sister Holmes