Week 3 of Hortolândia- 1st Area --Quer mais?? --

Joseph and I were able to chat with Miriam through Messenger this morning at 6am. It was 9am for her and she and her companion, Sister Casperson, had just finish making pancakes for breakfast.

 

She seems to be doing well although earlier in the week she was pretty discouraged and had to speak over the phone with a counselor again. I think that in itself is discouraging for her but I don't think she realizes though how many missionaries get terribly overwhelmed. I told her not to be embarrassed that she expresses how she feels because so many others just bottle it up and don't ever get help.  

What she doesn't go into depth with in her letter is how draining it has been for her trying so hard to learn Portuguese. She said at one point this last week she cried out to God longingly, 

"Why did You have to send me foreign? Why didn't I get called somewhere English speaking?"

She said the answer that came into her mind was this, "Because Miriam, you would tell the people what you want to tell them and not what I want to tell them."

I think that's perfect. So often we get in the way of the work God is doing and we rely too much on our own skills or knowledge. This experience for Miriam is wonderful!!! She will learn the power of the Spirit that reaches beyond all kinds of barriers and learn to trust the promises of the Lord to her more fully. So beautiful!!

One more thing I forgot to make mention of.... She's going into General Conference with a desire to truly feel the gravity of her calling to feel the seriousness of her mission. I think that's a fantastic desire!

------------

Here's the letter we got from her this week! 👇

"Oh, Hi, Mark.

We celebrated the 181th anniversary of The Relief Society this past week. We played games with all the sisters in the ward and...well...turns out Brazilian women are really competitive in musical chairs. I have attached some videos for your enjoyment.

[Look closely in the videos, you can see Miriam]

On Saturday we were going around visiting less active members in the area. We stopped at one house to meet with a woman named Mariana. She doesn't attend church anymore because she likes to explore other religions and she says she's more open minded now and such and such. But anyway, she's extremely friendly. (We tried to meet with her once before, but she had family over so she sent Sister Casperson and I off with sandwiches, Pão de Queijo, and Guaraná). This time, we were having a conversation with her about the places she's traveled to and I began to realize that something was off.

And then it hit me like a ton of pounds.

I could understand EVERYTHING she was saying. Why might you ask? If you said the gift of tongues kicked in, you would be wrong. 

She was speaking English.

Side note: her mother crochets baby clothes and before we left that nigh, she gave us both a pair of baby booties 😁💕

For lunch on Sunday, we ate with our self proclaimed Mãe da Área, Yvonne, and she taught us how to make these corn meal McThings - arepas (definitely spelled incorrectly) - that you can fill with cheese and ham, or m eat, or eggs, and they were really good.

Remember Adilma from last week?

Well we had another lesson with her this week about the sacrament, what it means, and why we do it. She's a really intelligent woman, so her questions are a little unexpected. (For example, after praying, Sister Casperson asked if she had any questions she wanted to discuss and Adilma asked, "Why do you fold your arms when you pray?" We were teaching with a member couple and all four of us were like, "Uhhhhhhhhhhh respect?"

In any case, she came to church again yesterday, this time with her two daughters, ages 6 and 4. During the sacrament, we heard her explaining to her daughters what the bread and water meant.

Good signs, I think. The only thing is, whenever we ask her what she thought about what she read in the book of mormon or what she heard at church, her response is usually one word: interessante.

Fingers crossed, guys. She's been to two sacrament meetings meaning she can now be baptized if she wants.

That's all for now, folks

-Miriam"

.....

P.s I forgot to also mention a few things that might be fun for Miriam to remember. She told us over the phone that there have been several things that have been big reminders she's not in Kansas anymore.

1. She has seen people riding horse and buggy on several different occasions. Apparently, that is a mode of transportation still for some in that city.

2. She has noticed a lot more telephone / electrical lines than what she's used to seeing mostly because we keep a lot of ours underground here in the US.

3. The street sweepers are actual people that go up and down sweeping the streets. She said it's unusual because we are so used to street sweepers being big machines that drive by.