A vida e uma Beleza
A vida é uma beleza
Wow, so Life is wonderful here in São João.... I am not quite sure how to sum up this last week and express everything that happened. There were momentos um...funny, and serious, and soul-wrenching, and everything in between... But like Michael said... is this new? com certeza não.
But here are some of the quotes that were highlights of my week-
"Isabella was chasing the bread man!" This was from one of the families we are teaching, Tatiane and Francisco. They are awesome. They have a one year old, Isabella, who is adorable, and has captured every single member in our ward. We are waiting for the certidão de Tatiane and so they can marry and baptize ( pray that it arrives this week please!!!) I am praying it can arrive today or weds (tomorrow is another blasted holiday) so that we can mark the wedding and baptism the last day of transfer... whew! But anyways, that wasn’t the point, the point is that Isabella, during sacrament meeting, was chasing the man who was distributing the sacrament... I tried so hard not to laugh. It was hysterical, she kept saying "da, da, da" which means, give... Ah I love little kids.
"These Sisters are a blessing in my house." This would be from Rodrigo and Regina who have successfully stopped smoking (yay!!!) and will be marrying and baptizing on Saturday. The ward is so excited, and miracle of miracles, there will be a fiesta on Saturday night for them. Wow... and to say that Rodrigo and Regina are excited would be an understatement. It is amazing to see how every time we visit them they are different, they have more light in their eyes, they know more about the gospel, they are more caring and loving in their family... They have two kids that are adorable... and they are being such better parents’ every time. It’s incredible how the gospel changes our very nature. I am so excited for Saturday.
"Eu sou apastolada bem." oh sorry, I was going to translate... but I don’t know this term in English. It’s like um... Let’s just say that this woman, Angelina, is 80, and is quite a character. She is waaaay catholic, she is part of a group that says prayers for other people, and she pulled out a catholic medallion that she wears (she looks like the pope. its crazy) to show us just how seriously catholic she is. So we almost fell over when she said Saturday that she would just "visit" the church because we had visited her. And then Sunday she was ready to go with us, with her neighbor, Zumira, (who is an amazing 80 year old we are teaching.. love her.) and she had been waiting for an hour for us to pass by... she woke up at 4 in the morning just to be ready for church at 8... ha-ha.
And guess what? She loved church, loved it. She was a different person afterwards. We thought she would kills us as we were walking to church.(even though its like a 30 minute walk to church, it took like 50 minutes because she was walking to church so slowly and swearing like a sailor every other word) But as we arrived there, she sat down, and the spirit really touched her. So last night she said she would really have to pray to know what to do now. She has a bunch of doubts now about the Catholic Church...Yes! I love the gospel! It changes even the impossible people... Angelina is really hysterical to teach though; she says the funniest things...aiai. She told us that the angels don’t dance, they waltz.. because she sees them.... and that’s just some of what she tells us. But it keeps us laughing.
"Yesterday I bought medicine to kill myself." This would be Lorival... an 80 year old man that I just love. We started teaching him this past week... and after we had a very, very spiritual first lesson, as we were leaving, he stopped us and, with tears in his eyes, told us that he was in a lot of financial problems, and was tired of life... he didn’t know what to do. The financial system here has robbed him, he was forced to retire, and the same company robbed him of all his retirement funds... its so sad but so common here... and so he bought some medicine to kill himself, and the next day we passed by and taught him... With tears in my eyes, we promised him that life is worth it... that he could turn to Jesus Christ during these moments... we made him promise us that he would not take this medicine, and he promised us. This was our last visit of the night, and as I walked home that night I cried, and cried... realizing how great is this calling.
I am constantly amazed at how the Lord puts us in these situations in the exact minute and second... it was so clear to me, how much love the Lord has for each of us. I felt an eternal connection with Lorival in that moment, something I don’t even know how to share.... He is amazing, and it was even more wonderful to have him, and Sebastião, and Rodrigo together yesterday at church... 3 incredible men.
So there is the week of craziness... it was wonderful. Life is wonderful... I have to go, love you all!
com amor
Sister Monroe
Wow, so Life is wonderful here in São João.... I am not quite sure how to sum up this last week and express everything that happened. There were momentos um...funny, and serious, and soul-wrenching, and everything in between... But like Michael said... is this new? com certeza não.
But here are some of the quotes that were highlights of my week-
"Isabella was chasing the bread man!" This was from one of the families we are teaching, Tatiane and Francisco. They are awesome. They have a one year old, Isabella, who is adorable, and has captured every single member in our ward. We are waiting for the certidão de Tatiane and so they can marry and baptize ( pray that it arrives this week please!!!) I am praying it can arrive today or weds (tomorrow is another blasted holiday) so that we can mark the wedding and baptism the last day of transfer... whew! But anyways, that wasn’t the point, the point is that Isabella, during sacrament meeting, was chasing the man who was distributing the sacrament... I tried so hard not to laugh. It was hysterical, she kept saying "da, da, da" which means, give... Ah I love little kids.
"These Sisters are a blessing in my house." This would be from Rodrigo and Regina who have successfully stopped smoking (yay!!!) and will be marrying and baptizing on Saturday. The ward is so excited, and miracle of miracles, there will be a fiesta on Saturday night for them. Wow... and to say that Rodrigo and Regina are excited would be an understatement. It is amazing to see how every time we visit them they are different, they have more light in their eyes, they know more about the gospel, they are more caring and loving in their family... They have two kids that are adorable... and they are being such better parents’ every time. It’s incredible how the gospel changes our very nature. I am so excited for Saturday.
"Eu sou apastolada bem." oh sorry, I was going to translate... but I don’t know this term in English. It’s like um... Let’s just say that this woman, Angelina, is 80, and is quite a character. She is waaaay catholic, she is part of a group that says prayers for other people, and she pulled out a catholic medallion that she wears (she looks like the pope. its crazy) to show us just how seriously catholic she is. So we almost fell over when she said Saturday that she would just "visit" the church because we had visited her. And then Sunday she was ready to go with us, with her neighbor, Zumira, (who is an amazing 80 year old we are teaching.. love her.) and she had been waiting for an hour for us to pass by... she woke up at 4 in the morning just to be ready for church at 8... ha-ha.
And guess what? She loved church, loved it. She was a different person afterwards. We thought she would kills us as we were walking to church.(even though its like a 30 minute walk to church, it took like 50 minutes because she was walking to church so slowly and swearing like a sailor every other word) But as we arrived there, she sat down, and the spirit really touched her. So last night she said she would really have to pray to know what to do now. She has a bunch of doubts now about the Catholic Church...Yes! I love the gospel! It changes even the impossible people... Angelina is really hysterical to teach though; she says the funniest things...aiai. She told us that the angels don’t dance, they waltz.. because she sees them.... and that’s just some of what she tells us. But it keeps us laughing.
"Yesterday I bought medicine to kill myself." This would be Lorival... an 80 year old man that I just love. We started teaching him this past week... and after we had a very, very spiritual first lesson, as we were leaving, he stopped us and, with tears in his eyes, told us that he was in a lot of financial problems, and was tired of life... he didn’t know what to do. The financial system here has robbed him, he was forced to retire, and the same company robbed him of all his retirement funds... its so sad but so common here... and so he bought some medicine to kill himself, and the next day we passed by and taught him... With tears in my eyes, we promised him that life is worth it... that he could turn to Jesus Christ during these moments... we made him promise us that he would not take this medicine, and he promised us. This was our last visit of the night, and as I walked home that night I cried, and cried... realizing how great is this calling.
I am constantly amazed at how the Lord puts us in these situations in the exact minute and second... it was so clear to me, how much love the Lord has for each of us. I felt an eternal connection with Lorival in that moment, something I don’t even know how to share.... He is amazing, and it was even more wonderful to have him, and Sebastião, and Rodrigo together yesterday at church... 3 incredible men.
So there is the week of craziness... it was wonderful. Life is wonderful... I have to go, love you all!
com amor
Sister Monroe
posted by Bev at 7:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home