This week was rewarding :)

Família!

 

I can´t believe Easter is this coming Sunday! Everyone here is preparing for Easter. There´s a bunch of chocolate sales and stuffed bunnies. Also the World Cup is coming soon. I´ve been seeing a lot of Brasil decorations. The World Cup doesn´t start until the beginning of June. Oh just a heads up! Mother´s Day is coming up in a few weeks. I´m SUPER excited! :) We´re getting our transfer call in about a week and a half, and i´m not sure if i´ll leave Conchal. So whatever happens, i´ll let you know and it will be easier to plan things for Mother´s Day. Btw Mom, I planned a surprise for you! :) I´m hoping that Skype won´t be a pain in the butt.

 

GOOD NEWS! I found out that Sister Loefke is in my zona! Sister Howell is training her! She´s really lucky to have her. I didn´t get the chance to see her but our leaders told us who the new missionaries were. We´re having our multi-zona on Wednesday and i´ll get to see her then! :)

 

This week was really good! First off, Sister Ware is one of the sister training leaders and she came to my area to do splits. Sister Ware is training a newbie and I got a taste of what training is like. I went out with her comp and Ware went with Neves. By the end of the day, I was sweating, my legs were hurting, and I felt really tired. I can see what it´s going to be like to train. You get to teach a new missionary literally everything. From planning appointments, talking with people, doing contacts , and so on. It was fun but I was tired...in a good way.

 

Sister Neves and I focused a lot about how we could help our investigators to come to church. We shared a message about the importance of church and gave them the invitation to go. We felt like it was more important that we invited them to church before giving them the 1st lesson. And I agree with that 100%. They need to know why church is important and how it can make a difference in our week. In the 1st lesson commitments in our planner, it says to invite your investigator to church. I thought a lot about why that´s in that lesson. I learned that if we just give a lesson to people and invite them to church, they probably won´t come after the 1st lesson. But if they come to church first, they will understand a little bit better about the 1st lesson. So, this week we invited literally everyone we could possibly think of to come to church. We planned with 13 people. 8 out of the 13 came. I was happy! Our Sunday was a bit more noisy than usual. :) it was a good feeling! My fast really paid off, but I know Heavenly Father was the one helping out with most.

 

I learned in my personal study this week about how I can strengthen my testimony. One thing that popped into my brain was what I know to be true and how I can recognize the Spirit more effectively. I learned what it really means to be fully converted to the Gospel and how that can bless my life. I know his role and that he can only tell us what is true. That was a comfort to me. He can never lie, only tell the truth.Every time I prayed and asked, I got an answer of you already know it´s true.

I felt like Heavenly Father was helping me realize that all I need to do is strengthen my knowledge of it and my faith. I do know those things are true, but at times we doubt our testimonies. I know the more we ask with real intent, God will answer our prayers and will help our faith to know it´s true and He will help us to grow. 

 

This week was rewarding! I learned a lot! I´m grateful for this Gospel in my life and how it´s blessed me. And I know this Gospel can only bless us if we let it and if we live it. I love you so much! I hope you have a wonderful week! TE AMO FAMILIA! :) beijinhos! 

 

-Sister Whitnah


Bethany's message to her Dad follows:


Dad,

That´s really cute how Bryan asked Emma to prom! The photos are great! I can´t believe he´s that old enough to go to prom. I remember getting ready for the LDS Prom was my favorite dance. I mostly spent it was Alina, but I remembered it was always a blast. I hope they have a good time!

What were some of your favorite conference talks? I didn´t get the chance to hear all of Elder Holland´s talk, because the internet connection at the church was really bad. So i´m going to print it off and read it that way. I always love hearing from Presidente Uchtdorf. The way he words things and how he explains doctrine is easy to understand and it´s simple. But most of all I like hearing his German accent ha-ha. :) he´s a great speaker! 

In a couple of weeks, i´m excited to talk with you and Mom. My Portuguese has gotten a lot better. I´ve been practicing my English for when I talk to you ha-ha. It might sound funny, but when I speak English it´s hard to remember some words. Writing in English isn´t a problem but speaking is a whole other story. I´m almost a Brasilian at heart now. :)

Thank you for emailing me. It was great to hear from you and how things are going. I want to let you know how much I love you and appreciate you. I´m really thankful for you and I pray about you everyday. I hope you have a great week at work and at home. LOVE YOU LOTS PAPPAI! :)

Love, Sister Whitnah