A week fo Miracles!

Familia!

The most exciting thing happened to me on Wednesday! I got my death call ha-ha! I go home on October 13th and i´ll leave Brasil at 9 at night, and be in Oregon at 11:40am on October 14! I´m excited! :) I can´t believe it´s going by so fast. Luckily I wasn´t really trunky after the call. I just pretended like it didn´t happen and I kept on working.

This week was an awesome week! We have been working with 2 families, Mariana e Marcelo and Nice e Erlando. Mariana and their son Gabriel went to church yesterday. He liked it a lot! We had FHE with them and a bunch of the members. Afterwards, he told us that he wants to get baptized! :)

We´re gonna mark his batismo this week! Friday we taught the commandments to Nice and Erlando. Erlando has been kinda soft ever since we´ve met him. He wouldn´t really participate in the lessons or anything. But this time we brought a member and I think it did the trick! They went to church!

  Erlando came up to Sister Aquino and I and thanked us for teaching his family and that he wants us to come more often to teach them more! I felt like it was a miracle this Sunday! :)  I felt that this week was my favorite week.

  I could see Heavenly Father guiding me and my comp.  Our friendship has gotten a lot better.    I’ll get my transfer call on Sunday night, transfers are on September 2nd.  I think I’ll get transferred.  Normally Presidente sends all the missionaries that are going home closer to Campinas.  So I think  I’ll go to Campinas.

That´s so awesome about Prem getting his mission call! How is he feeling about going to India? I´ll get to see him before he leaves! I´m excited for him.

 

I realize that my time is going by so fast. I feel that I´m excited to go home but at the same time I don´t want to leave. I´ve learned so much in so little time. I´m grateful for the chance to serve in Brasil. It was hard, really hard at first but I could see why Heavenly Father sent me here.

To learn and grow a ton. My mission has taught me so many lessons that I will never forget. Lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

 I´ve almost 6 weeks left, and I want to make these 6 weeks the best I could have. Heavenly Father has helped me to not be so trunky. I´m more focused on my time here in Brasil than thinking about going home.

I keep reminding myself everyday, ``don´t just count the days, but make the days count!`` This is my motto for the rest of my mission. Make everyday count and to live up to the very end. 

I´ve learned a lot about the atonement, and how to use it in my life better. to never think that it is  impossible to do something without the help of Heavenly Father. 

Thank you for all of your support and love! I appreciate it everyday and for everything you´ve done for me. I hope you have a great week and i´m sending all my love to you guys! TE AMO FAMILIA! :)

-Sister Whitnah

It's beginning to get hot in Brasil once again

Only 9 weeks and she will be home...her time is flying.  Grace

 

 

Familia!

 

Hello! The weather in Brasil is going back to being hot...yay. Luckily I won´t be here too much longer until it gets super hot. That´s a blessing. ha-ha. Some random news, I got a call from the mission office about what airport i´ll be flying into I´m guessing they´re buying my plane ticket. I´m excited but trying not to focus on it too much. :)

 

Mariana is doing really good. She´s been having problems with cousins going to the hospital and some problems with café. We´re helping her and seeing her a lot. She went to church on Sunday and she looked pretty relaxed. Most of the times she´s super stressed out. I´ve planned to see her 2 times this week and to help her stop drinking café. I think her example of going to church, reading the scriptures and praying has helped her 2 kids. Her boyfriend Marcelo doesn´t look interested anymore. He hasn´t given us the okay to get married, but Mariana really wants to get married. The reverence thing has gotten a little better. We had someone from the stake presidency show up and everyone was quiet! It was a miracle! :) plus I know bishop had talked to the parents and their kids. It´s slowly getting better in this ward.

 

I felt like this week my comp and I are becoming a lot closer. In the beginning it was hard, but getting out our feelings and working hard together, we can see why we both need to be in tune with the spirit. Also with my interview with Presidente, he helped me to know how to help my comp out. So, everything is going good and i´m happy! :)

 

My interview with Presidente went good.  It was better than I expected.  I knew you would say something about me putting my all in my mission and focusing.  I want you to know that I’m trying my best everyday.  Especially to live up my last days as a missionary.  I also want you to know that I would never let anything get in my way on my mission.  Don’t worry, I’m not one of those missionaries that wastes their mission for nothing.  I know why I’m here on the mission and I want to be here. 

 

I loved the photos of camp and the beach! They´re awesome! :) i´ll send some photos here. I love you and hope you have a great week! TE AMO FAMILIA!

 

 

I love so much Mom!  TE AMO!

 

Sister Whitnah

The time if flying, only 2 months left on mission!!

Família!  (July 21st 2014)

 

Hey how´s it going in Pennsylvania? I hope you´re having a great time camping and that everyone is doing well! Tell everyone that I love and miss them! :) This week was super tiring and I couldn´t wait for p-day. It was one of those hard working weeks and I got sick from working so hard ha-ha. On Friday, I could tell my body couldn´t handle much walking, talking, and a bunch of headaches. I had a fever and almost went to the hospital. Luckily, I didn´t have to go. I stayed in bed and slept for hours and hours. I´m feeling a little better and i´m hoping it will only continue to get better. Some sad news for this week. We had transfer calls last night, and Sister Loekfe will be leaving us. :( Sister Aquino and I stayed and Sister Loefke´s comp will stay in Mogi Mirim. It was only 3 weeks, but I loved being in the same house as Sister Loekfe! She´s super sweet and fun to be with! It´s a good thing I´ll get to see her again right before we leave to go home! :)

 

One family that we´re teaching this week has grown a ton! Her name is Mariana and she has 2 kids (Gabreil and Patricia). Mariana has had problems with smoking and drinking café. We taught her the commandments and she stopped drinking and smoking. The next 2 days, she told us how she´s getting sick of doing drugs and that her body can´t take it anymore. She´s going completely healthy from not doing drugs. It´s been a huge blessing! Her husband has been in jail for 7 months for something that he was accused of involving drugs. The story is kind of complicated and long. But we was released on Saturday, another blessing. Mariana is super happy and loves him being home. 

 

I´m on my 2nd to last transfer, can you believe it?! It´s going by so fast! Well, i gotta go here soon. I love you and hope your week is GREAT! TE AMOO! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

 

Familia!   (July 28, 2014)

 

This week was pretty good! This last p-day I went to a city named Holambra. It´s a city that has flower pageants. The city is made to look like Holland. It was super pretty and I felt like I was in Europe. :) They had some buildings that look like what you would see in Germany. It was cool. I took a bunch of pictures. That´s so cool Sister Wilcox got her visa! I bet she´s excited to finally go to Brasil (her real mission). 

 

This week we marked a wedding with my investigator Rosi. She´s in her late 40´s and she´s been living with Mauro (her boyfriend) for 9 years. She´s also pregnant and is 6 months along. She seems like an awesome lady but at times she´s kinda lazy with some things. She´s already decided to get baptized until she has the baby. She´s scheduled to have the baby at 8 months because of the risk of how old she is. The other family we´re teaching is Mariana and Marcelo. They´re doing really well! We gave a lesson on Friday that was awesome. The spirit was super strong! They also need to get married but I think it´ll need some more time. Mariana wants to get married so that she can get baptized but Marcelo likes the idea of living together but not being married. Marcelo´s family are active but he´s the only one that´s not a member. 

 

I´m sorry this is short but i have a ton of photos to send! I love you and hope your trip is going great! Have a great week! LOVE YOU and TE AMO!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Mom,  (August 11, 2014)

 

You will never believe what I bought this week? I bought a card reader, I can finally send you pictures!! :) it took me long enough, I bought mine for 15 reais. I will send some pictures today. Yesterday was Father´s Day in Brasil.I thought of Dad a lot and how I wish I could give him a hug. Dad has been emailing me a lot and I love that. :) 

 

This week, my comp and I are working things out better. We were able to fix our problem and I was able to have Presidente´s help. The work in Mogi Mirim is going slow. We dropped a few people like Rosi (the one that´s 50 years old and is pregnant) and some others that just didn´t care to continue with us. One of my investigators Mariana has been doing really good. She can´t get baptized yet because she needs to get married. She has been having some problems lately and we´re helping her out with not drinking coffee and smoking. She told us the other day that we´re a blessing to her family. She started crying how much we´ve helped her son and her family to be closer together. It was really cool. I love teaching this family even though it´s super hard, but they´re worth it. The ward is getting a little better at the whole reverence thing. We´re doing training meetings to help the members be more reverent during sacrament. 

 

I´m reading Jesus the Christ. I´ve learned a ton about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. The Atonement is becoming more and more special to me. My testimony has grown a lot the more I learn about it. I found a quote in my journal that I don´t remember writing in. But it´s really good. I love this quote because, we all make mistakes and nobody is perfect. If we have faith and continue on, we can learn from our mistakes and the gospel will help us to know how to be happy.

 

``As long as we´re willing to rise up again and continue on the path, we can learn something from failure and become better and happier.`` - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

I hope you have a safe trip home and know that you are always in my prayers. I love you so much and i´ll be sending some pics! TE AMO! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Dad,

 

Yesterday in Brasil was Father´s Day. So Happy Father´s Day! :) I wish I could give you a hug, I can tell you that I love you so much. Thank you for your emails that you send me. Every one of them always has something that I can use to better my life. I´m so grateful that you´re my dad. I love your stories and the advice you give me. I read that mission blessing a lot. I can imagine you reading it to me in person. 

 

I´m glad that high adventure was such a great success. That´s such a crazy story about you ha-ha. Are you okay? :) I´m glad you had a great time! I´m doing better this week than last week. Mom emailed me telling that she told you about me and my comp having problems. I talked to my presidente and he was able to help me out. I feel like my comp and I are more friends than just comps. I felt impressed to share this quote with you about the atonement.

 

my life is a miracle

and death have no hold

on the blessings to come

from the sins i have sold

i gave up my past with an eternal view

to know my Savior

so i can become new

i have taken a new life

and with it a new name

because of my Redeemer

i shall never be the same

 

I love you so much Dad! I know the atonement is real. I know it can work in our lives if we let it. I know Heavenly Father loves me and Jesus Christ is our Savior. I was reading the Jesus the Christ book a lot this week and my testimony for the Savior grew and I know for sure that he was suppose to be our Savior. Again, i love you and I hope you have a awesome week! Talk to you soon! :)

 

- Love, Sister Whitnah