My name in Portuguese - Milena!
Wahoo!!! Yay for another P-day. Its a little weird the time here, because I cant believe that another week has flown by, but at the same time, its feels like I have been here in Porto Ferreira for years, and with Sister R. Silva for months. I think any missionary can remember this feeling. Unfortunately, I have definitely not been speaking Portuguese for years. Ha-ha! I know that I am improving, but the gift of language is definitely a line upon line gift... Its hard to see myself improving as I learn more and more, and realize that people probably really didn’t understand me at the beginning like I thought they did! Ha-ha! But I am starting to understand children, which in itself is a miracle!I had an awesome, awesome week... first I wanted to calm some fears (dad that would be you) the proposal wasn’t all the big of a deal. Its just that I am THE ONLY American here in Porto Ferreira... and being blonde doesn’t really help the cause, and so really any passing guy has to make a remark. Ugh. That is not fun, but I try to turn it into something good by turning it into contact and a lesson! And don’t worry, we are working really hard to keep the rules dad, believe me! ha-ha, we ran home 3 times this week to keep the rules... and when I say ran home, I mean we RAN like 15 to 25 minutes, with all of our stuff, in our skirts, and yes... quite a sight! Ha-ha! But we kept the rules, and made it home, so it was quite worth it!
Yep, things with Sister R. Silva have been awesome, she is quite a worker, I honestly don’t even have time to eat. We have been teaching like crazy, and then after we run home, we sit down and plan right away, which means I am trying to shower/ get ready for bed/ eat dinner/ in like 10 minutes; which normally means like the last few minutes before 10:30 I am standing in the kitchen trying to eat a banana or papaya as fast as I can! Ha-ha! Life is great! Keep this running and not eating up- and I will be way skinnier at the end of this mission.But all this hard work is paying off, I am learning a lot from Sister R. Silva, she is really good at pushing me to teach more, and making me be independent in my Portuguese- which at times is a bit scary... when people don’t understand me- I have to re-explain myself, instead of letting her explain what I meant or was trying to say. She is a powerful teacher- quite bold- and I am trying to be bolder- but at the same time learning to be bold and loving... something I think will take a long time to learn, but I am trying. I know that I am progressing in being bold though- ha-ha this past week we saw some kids of one of our investigators with cigarettes- and these kids are like 5 and 7 I think, and so we tried talking to them to give us the cigarettes. I ended up just taking them from them…and then I thought- ahhhh! Now I have cigarettes. I didn’t know what to do. Ha-ha, a member who was with us crushed them up and threw them away, and then I washed my hands like a bazillion times. Haha, but I never thought I would just, take cigarettes away from somebody. That is bold!
So yep- Sister R. Silva and I are really a great team, and this week we had an awesome, awesome experience… ok well we had a lot of really great experiences- but I wanted the best one, and I think the best experience I have had thus far on my mission. We have been teaching a girl named Milena for about a month now. She is 12, and I think her name Milena, is the equivalent of Melanie in Portuguese. And she is awesome! Her 2 older sisters are members, and were kind of menos ativos until Sister McAllister and I, with the help of a member here, started teaching them. This was I think like 5 weeks ago. Anyways, their family has really been progressing, and Milena was all set to get baptized, started like 3 weeks ago, but her Mother Claudia, just didn’t want to allow it.So we have been trying really hard to talk with Claudia, and help her warm up to the idea- something that has been hard. She loves us, but as soon as we start talking about the gospel- she ran from the room- Sister McAllister (ahh I mean Heather!!) will know what I am talking about. Anyways, Sister R. Silva and I had been praying for an opportunity to talk with her, and we finally decided we just needed to go to her house one morning and specifically talk to the mom, and set a date for baptism… take an action really. And so Weds morning, we prayed and prayed that the mom would be at home, we knew that she had work, but we felt really strongly that we needed to try. So we walked/ran like an hour to her house..... and she wasn’t home. I thought I would be frustrated that she wasn’t home, but I wasn’t, because I knew I had followed the spirit. We ended up teaching another lesson that was awesome that morning- and we taught 2 girls that I knew we would of never met otherwise.
So yes, I learned that the Lord has plans for us, and many times we just don’t know what they are.Anyways, the next day, we prayed and prayed at our lesson we would have an opportunity to talk to Claudia. And.... our lesson was so different. She sat down with us- a miracle- and then she asked us about baptism- another huge, huge miracle!! I felt prompted to challenge her to a special fast this weekend to accept the baptism of Milena, and we set a date for her baptism.... all hinging on the fast. So this weekend we had the fast, starting Saturday- and we opened up with a prayer. Claudia didn’t want to fast, yada yada, and kept making excuses. But Sister R Silva and I said we had started our fast with the other sisters, and invited her fast for a small part. Anyways, this was a hard, hard fast for me- because we had to walk a lot this weekend… and I don’t ever remember fasting without water. Anyways, it was hard, but awesome because I kept thinking of this family.
So then last night, when we met to end the fast, we didn’t know what we were going to talk about. I kept praying all day to know what to say, what to talk about... and I just felt nothing. The older sister, Magali, arranged to have 2 other mothers from the branch at our meeting, and so we all gathered together. And literally one minute before I needed to speak and share a message, I knew what I needed to talk about- not baptism, but faith. I shared my love for the family (I was crying of course! haha) and then challenged Claudia to have faith in Milena and allow her to take this step. Sister R Silva shared a scripture about faith- she followed up perfectly- and then the other 2 members who were there helped so much, and talked about baptism. And Claudia, for the first time- felt moved by the spirit. She cried. And all of her daughters cried, and it was just powerful.After our message, I said, ok, let’s close our fast with a prayer and afterwards set a date for Milenas baptism. So each of us said a prayer, and then afterwards... we all stood up... and no one said a word about baptism. We all just stood up, and Claudia started to prepare some food... and I followed her into the kitchen- and I know what happened next came straight from the Lord because it was NOT from me…I said, ok Claudia how about next Friday for the baptism. And she said, "how about at night because I get home at 6:00. And that was it!! She accepted it! It was truly, truly, a miracle. So we have a baptism this weekend- but not Friday, we are having it Sunday night because of General Conference.
So, this past week was truly a week of miracles. I have felt overwhelmed by the Lords love that I am allowed to help a small part in this work. I don’t know how he has used my weak and simple Portuguese to touch other lives- but He has- and only through the spirit. I have learned to let go of what I know, and what I thought, and let the Lord mold me into what I need to be. It has been humbling, as this past week I have felt weaker and fuller of frequezas then I ever thought. But then at that moment, when I truly learn to let go and rely on the Lord, I have learned that it is His work, I am a small instrument, but with His spirit and power, I can be strong and do great things.
Anyways, I think it is time to end this chapter in this weeks novel. I think it is time to go eat, because who knows if I will have time to eat tonight after our lessons :) haha! I am loving it here! Hoorah for miracles of the Lord- and the greatest miracle of all- that we can be clean every whit and be pure once again through the power of the love of Jesus Christ!
Com Amor,
Sister Melanie Monroe
PS. For those of you who read Michael-s blog- I highly enjoyed Michael’s letter this week. I thought, yes I know exactly what he is talking about... oh yeah. that’s like my town!! haha! And the political music, that song mike- those numbers! haha! are they waving flags everywhere around too? I grabbed some fliers of the political reps for several reasons- one-to mail home to show the family, two because they were heinous examples of graphic design, and three because I just enjoyed laughing at them. Votes up next week... but I am out of time to state my political opinion. or maybe its just because I am not allowed! or I dont know! probably all three!
Yep, things with Sister R. Silva have been awesome, she is quite a worker, I honestly don’t even have time to eat. We have been teaching like crazy, and then after we run home, we sit down and plan right away, which means I am trying to shower/ get ready for bed/ eat dinner/ in like 10 minutes; which normally means like the last few minutes before 10:30 I am standing in the kitchen trying to eat a banana or papaya as fast as I can! Ha-ha! Life is great! Keep this running and not eating up- and I will be way skinnier at the end of this mission.But all this hard work is paying off, I am learning a lot from Sister R. Silva, she is really good at pushing me to teach more, and making me be independent in my Portuguese- which at times is a bit scary... when people don’t understand me- I have to re-explain myself, instead of letting her explain what I meant or was trying to say. She is a powerful teacher- quite bold- and I am trying to be bolder- but at the same time learning to be bold and loving... something I think will take a long time to learn, but I am trying. I know that I am progressing in being bold though- ha-ha this past week we saw some kids of one of our investigators with cigarettes- and these kids are like 5 and 7 I think, and so we tried talking to them to give us the cigarettes. I ended up just taking them from them…and then I thought- ahhhh! Now I have cigarettes. I didn’t know what to do. Ha-ha, a member who was with us crushed them up and threw them away, and then I washed my hands like a bazillion times. Haha, but I never thought I would just, take cigarettes away from somebody. That is bold!
So yep- Sister R. Silva and I are really a great team, and this week we had an awesome, awesome experience… ok well we had a lot of really great experiences- but I wanted the best one, and I think the best experience I have had thus far on my mission. We have been teaching a girl named Milena for about a month now. She is 12, and I think her name Milena, is the equivalent of Melanie in Portuguese. And she is awesome! Her 2 older sisters are members, and were kind of menos ativos until Sister McAllister and I, with the help of a member here, started teaching them. This was I think like 5 weeks ago. Anyways, their family has really been progressing, and Milena was all set to get baptized, started like 3 weeks ago, but her Mother Claudia, just didn’t want to allow it.So we have been trying really hard to talk with Claudia, and help her warm up to the idea- something that has been hard. She loves us, but as soon as we start talking about the gospel- she ran from the room- Sister McAllister (ahh I mean Heather!!) will know what I am talking about. Anyways, Sister R. Silva and I had been praying for an opportunity to talk with her, and we finally decided we just needed to go to her house one morning and specifically talk to the mom, and set a date for baptism… take an action really. And so Weds morning, we prayed and prayed that the mom would be at home, we knew that she had work, but we felt really strongly that we needed to try. So we walked/ran like an hour to her house..... and she wasn’t home. I thought I would be frustrated that she wasn’t home, but I wasn’t, because I knew I had followed the spirit. We ended up teaching another lesson that was awesome that morning- and we taught 2 girls that I knew we would of never met otherwise.
So yes, I learned that the Lord has plans for us, and many times we just don’t know what they are.Anyways, the next day, we prayed and prayed at our lesson we would have an opportunity to talk to Claudia. And.... our lesson was so different. She sat down with us- a miracle- and then she asked us about baptism- another huge, huge miracle!! I felt prompted to challenge her to a special fast this weekend to accept the baptism of Milena, and we set a date for her baptism.... all hinging on the fast. So this weekend we had the fast, starting Saturday- and we opened up with a prayer. Claudia didn’t want to fast, yada yada, and kept making excuses. But Sister R Silva and I said we had started our fast with the other sisters, and invited her fast for a small part. Anyways, this was a hard, hard fast for me- because we had to walk a lot this weekend… and I don’t ever remember fasting without water. Anyways, it was hard, but awesome because I kept thinking of this family.
So then last night, when we met to end the fast, we didn’t know what we were going to talk about. I kept praying all day to know what to say, what to talk about... and I just felt nothing. The older sister, Magali, arranged to have 2 other mothers from the branch at our meeting, and so we all gathered together. And literally one minute before I needed to speak and share a message, I knew what I needed to talk about- not baptism, but faith. I shared my love for the family (I was crying of course! haha) and then challenged Claudia to have faith in Milena and allow her to take this step. Sister R Silva shared a scripture about faith- she followed up perfectly- and then the other 2 members who were there helped so much, and talked about baptism. And Claudia, for the first time- felt moved by the spirit. She cried. And all of her daughters cried, and it was just powerful.After our message, I said, ok, let’s close our fast with a prayer and afterwards set a date for Milenas baptism. So each of us said a prayer, and then afterwards... we all stood up... and no one said a word about baptism. We all just stood up, and Claudia started to prepare some food... and I followed her into the kitchen- and I know what happened next came straight from the Lord because it was NOT from me…I said, ok Claudia how about next Friday for the baptism. And she said, "how about at night because I get home at 6:00. And that was it!! She accepted it! It was truly, truly, a miracle. So we have a baptism this weekend- but not Friday, we are having it Sunday night because of General Conference.
So, this past week was truly a week of miracles. I have felt overwhelmed by the Lords love that I am allowed to help a small part in this work. I don’t know how he has used my weak and simple Portuguese to touch other lives- but He has- and only through the spirit. I have learned to let go of what I know, and what I thought, and let the Lord mold me into what I need to be. It has been humbling, as this past week I have felt weaker and fuller of frequezas then I ever thought. But then at that moment, when I truly learn to let go and rely on the Lord, I have learned that it is His work, I am a small instrument, but with His spirit and power, I can be strong and do great things.
Anyways, I think it is time to end this chapter in this weeks novel. I think it is time to go eat, because who knows if I will have time to eat tonight after our lessons :) haha! I am loving it here! Hoorah for miracles of the Lord- and the greatest miracle of all- that we can be clean every whit and be pure once again through the power of the love of Jesus Christ!
Com Amor,
Sister Melanie Monroe
PS. For those of you who read Michael-s blog- I highly enjoyed Michael’s letter this week. I thought, yes I know exactly what he is talking about... oh yeah. that’s like my town!! haha! And the political music, that song mike- those numbers! haha! are they waving flags everywhere around too? I grabbed some fliers of the political reps for several reasons- one-to mail home to show the family, two because they were heinous examples of graphic design, and three because I just enjoyed laughing at them. Votes up next week... but I am out of time to state my political opinion. or maybe its just because I am not allowed! or I dont know! probably all three!
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