It RAINED! And oh did it rain. The thunder storm that occurred Monday night..lets just say we all started reading our scriptures because we were POSITIVE that the second coming was happening. It stopped for a while, but all weekend it poured but we worked nonetheless! Its a good thing I was prepared in Utah for weather that changes rapidly.
But beyond the rain we finally received we had mission tour with Elder Antunes! He was called to the seventh quorum of the seventy about two years ago, he is a powerful speaker! We had a leadership meeting bright and early about being an example and then with the rest of the mission he spoke about being animated, joyful, powerful missionaries and had us practice new ways to make street contacts such as " We are representatives of Christ, we are searching for God's elite here on the earth, can we come bless your house?" Making contacts without using the church's name, without saying the word "message". It was a blast trying to come up with new ideas to call peoples attention and practicing with other missionaries is super fun. He told us his amazing mission stories and is a master of guiding the environment of the room, laughing one moment, and in tears to the other all within the grasp of the spirit. Great day.
Afterwards I brought Sister Andrade(my mission sister, we have the same trainer) back to my area. But the bus we luckily got on was FULL, and we hit a ton of traffic and didnt get home until like 7:30, but just enough time to find Ana Maria, a spunky outgoing woman who had always been friendly to religion in her life, but had never really joined a church. After years, we talked to her on the street and she told us we would be welcome in her home. We went Wednesday night and she opened the door saying she had had a dream about us and usually wasnt home Wednesday nights so that was strange(or in other words, a miracle) and she said she really would like to join a church after so many years and accepted to read and pray! Sister Andrade is awesome, she is from Recife and is a huge example to me of dedication and focus. She is a fighter and she knows why she is here.
Thursday President came and had interviews with us and he ended up spending the whole afternoon in our apartment answering our questions and practicing with us various teaching situations. Okay we practiced, he showed us how its done. There are few people more powerful in speech and posture than President. He reminds me of Elder Holland, strict and powerful but very loving and genuine. I think God is like that, full of justice but also mercy.
Anyways, with all the meetings and interviews we got to Saturday behind on our goals and so we decided to put down a huge list of people, and pray for help to accomplish our goals. That day it rained, the favela completely rejected us, but somehow we got home and had taught more and made more contacts than we had planned for. Goals people. Make them. They are effective.
We have been approached by many people, many drunk people on the street who want our help to change their lives. I am not sure what God is trying to tell us, but we sure have had some interesting lessons this week with interesting people.
All in all, I am rambling a little. It was a good week. The church is true.
Sister Holmes
But beyond the rain we finally received we had mission tour with Elder Antunes! He was called to the seventh quorum of the seventy about two years ago, he is a powerful speaker! We had a leadership meeting bright and early about being an example and then with the rest of the mission he spoke about being animated, joyful, powerful missionaries and had us practice new ways to make street contacts such as " We are representatives of Christ, we are searching for God's elite here on the earth, can we come bless your house?" Making contacts without using the church's name, without saying the word "message". It was a blast trying to come up with new ideas to call peoples attention and practicing with other missionaries is super fun. He told us his amazing mission stories and is a master of guiding the environment of the room, laughing one moment, and in tears to the other all within the grasp of the spirit. Great day.
Afterwards I brought Sister Andrade(my mission sister, we have the same trainer) back to my area. But the bus we luckily got on was FULL, and we hit a ton of traffic and didnt get home until like 7:30, but just enough time to find Ana Maria, a spunky outgoing woman who had always been friendly to religion in her life, but had never really joined a church. After years, we talked to her on the street and she told us we would be welcome in her home. We went Wednesday night and she opened the door saying she had had a dream about us and usually wasnt home Wednesday nights so that was strange(or in other words, a miracle) and she said she really would like to join a church after so many years and accepted to read and pray! Sister Andrade is awesome, she is from Recife and is a huge example to me of dedication and focus. She is a fighter and she knows why she is here.
Thursday President came and had interviews with us and he ended up spending the whole afternoon in our apartment answering our questions and practicing with us various teaching situations. Okay we practiced, he showed us how its done. There are few people more powerful in speech and posture than President. He reminds me of Elder Holland, strict and powerful but very loving and genuine. I think God is like that, full of justice but also mercy.
Anyways, with all the meetings and interviews we got to Saturday behind on our goals and so we decided to put down a huge list of people, and pray for help to accomplish our goals. That day it rained, the favela completely rejected us, but somehow we got home and had taught more and made more contacts than we had planned for. Goals people. Make them. They are effective.
We have been approached by many people, many drunk people on the street who want our help to change their lives. I am not sure what God is trying to tell us, but we sure have had some interesting lessons this week with interesting people.
All in all, I am rambling a little. It was a good week. The church is true.
Sister Holmes