I am staying here in Ipatinga!!!! However, my dearest Sister Miller foi embora. She (from what we suppose) went to Nova Lima-an area that literally is only hills. The streets either go up or they go down. Poor thing. But Elder Holland is speaking there in August so I think she will be alright. I am so excited to be here for the stake to open! I am officially the oldest missionary in the zone time-wise, having been here since we sent the application papers to now where the stake will open!! My new companion is Sister Nágilla, a brasilian from the northeast, a city called Joao Pessoa. She is super awesome, she has 6 months on the mission and we are going to baptize the world together! Sister Miller speaks great portuguese, but its amazing teaching with native, she just explains things so clearly and powerfully, its a really good experience. She was baptized three years ago, and is here on the mission! I think that is something to be applauded, she has a really strong testimony and with her Catholic backround can really apply her experiences to help other people.
Such as Paulo! The eternal investigator of 27 years, that I refuse to give up on. I feel like the fact that I am still here means that I need to baptize him. He is Catholic, and purely because he was born in that church. He thinks, among other things, that you should follow the church you were born in. So, he supports his young women president daughter, his relief society president wife, and missionary son in their activity in the church because they were born in our church. And having been born "of goodly parents" in the church, I never had a good enough case against this. However, with an awesome brasilian at my side who was a practicing Catholic for 18 years he no longer has this excuse. He smokes, and so sunday night we had a really great lesson testifying of the power of the Book of Mormon to change peoples lives and if he reads the Book of Mormon every single day he will gain the strength to quit. He has never had a motive or desire to read before in his life(not even the Bible) and for this I know why he has never felt the desire to be baptized. But he seemed very interested in how the Book of Mormon might actually help him stop smoking. I think we might have finally found a motive after all this time. To be continued on Paulo, expect his baptism picture and please pray that he will read the Book of Mormon this week! He works in other cities during the week so we can only visit on weekends and just pray really that he will do what we asked.
As for other miracles, a few months ago I taught a man Almiro with Sister Miller who was great, and a friend of the counselor in the bishopric here, but after the first few times he said he was moving to a far away neighborhood and we never found him again. But Saturday morning, we decided to knock doors before lunch, we felt inclined to a green house, we knocked and lo and behold it was Almiro who answered the door! He is staying here in Bethania for a while with his daughter and grandkids, in a house very close to our house. We taught his family, they came to church yesterday, we taught them last night with the member friend family and well, lets just say that the church is true. The mom, Anrielly even had a dream about past Elders friday night. We did not find this family by chance.
I got my first bicho de pes! Cute little horrid bugs who find their way into your toes and build a little house there and have children. They are taken out with a simply surgery done at home with the fanciest of tools we have-clippers. It was gross, but didnt hurt much(dont worry I wont send pictures) but I have officially been iniciated into the Brasil mission. Making my way into being a Brasilian more every day.
In other news, my moms,(my trainers) both went home this past week, Sister Torrez and Sister Silveira. Sister Torrez finished her mission in my zone so I got to see here every other week or so and got to say goodbye, I havent seen Sister Silveira since Christmas, and I found out last week that the day before she was to go home on her misison, her mother had a surprise heart attack and passed away, so she went home a day early. Please keep her in your prayers, I cannot imagine what she must be going through, coming home without a recently passed away mother, and a distant father who has cancer, she only has her brother now, and I know she will be needed much divine comfort at this time.
Mosiah 24:14
Sister Holmes
Such as Paulo! The eternal investigator of 27 years, that I refuse to give up on. I feel like the fact that I am still here means that I need to baptize him. He is Catholic, and purely because he was born in that church. He thinks, among other things, that you should follow the church you were born in. So, he supports his young women president daughter, his relief society president wife, and missionary son in their activity in the church because they were born in our church. And having been born "of goodly parents" in the church, I never had a good enough case against this. However, with an awesome brasilian at my side who was a practicing Catholic for 18 years he no longer has this excuse. He smokes, and so sunday night we had a really great lesson testifying of the power of the Book of Mormon to change peoples lives and if he reads the Book of Mormon every single day he will gain the strength to quit. He has never had a motive or desire to read before in his life(not even the Bible) and for this I know why he has never felt the desire to be baptized. But he seemed very interested in how the Book of Mormon might actually help him stop smoking. I think we might have finally found a motive after all this time. To be continued on Paulo, expect his baptism picture and please pray that he will read the Book of Mormon this week! He works in other cities during the week so we can only visit on weekends and just pray really that he will do what we asked.
As for other miracles, a few months ago I taught a man Almiro with Sister Miller who was great, and a friend of the counselor in the bishopric here, but after the first few times he said he was moving to a far away neighborhood and we never found him again. But Saturday morning, we decided to knock doors before lunch, we felt inclined to a green house, we knocked and lo and behold it was Almiro who answered the door! He is staying here in Bethania for a while with his daughter and grandkids, in a house very close to our house. We taught his family, they came to church yesterday, we taught them last night with the member friend family and well, lets just say that the church is true. The mom, Anrielly even had a dream about past Elders friday night. We did not find this family by chance.
I got my first bicho de pes! Cute little horrid bugs who find their way into your toes and build a little house there and have children. They are taken out with a simply surgery done at home with the fanciest of tools we have-clippers. It was gross, but didnt hurt much(dont worry I wont send pictures) but I have officially been iniciated into the Brasil mission. Making my way into being a Brasilian more every day.
In other news, my moms,(my trainers) both went home this past week, Sister Torrez and Sister Silveira. Sister Torrez finished her mission in my zone so I got to see here every other week or so and got to say goodbye, I havent seen Sister Silveira since Christmas, and I found out last week that the day before she was to go home on her misison, her mother had a surprise heart attack and passed away, so she went home a day early. Please keep her in your prayers, I cannot imagine what she must be going through, coming home without a recently passed away mother, and a distant father who has cancer, she only has her brother now, and I know she will be needed much divine comfort at this time.
Mosiah 24:14
Sister Holmes