3rd Week with Sister Alves - 4 minute Miracle and Pictures From the Week

While we visited over Messenger on Monday, Miriam told us about a four-minute miracle:

 A few days ago, she and Sister Alves had to take an Uber to a meeting that was 45 minutes away. The whole time the sisters rode with the Uber driver they felt strongly to start a gospel discussion but neither of the girls could muster the courage to say anything. So, they sat mostly in silence or just chatted with each other. In the final four minutes to their destination, Miriam finally asked the driver, "Have you ever wondered what your purpose is in life and why you're here?" The driver paused and responded affirmatively, "I have been thinking about that a lot actually but I have never found the answer."

"Well, we have the answer," she said happily as she gave the driver a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with their contact number. The man seemed sincerely interested. And later that day, they received a text from him checking if he had their number right. That was encouraging! 

Then on the following Sunday, the 18th, HE SHOWED UP TO CHURCH! And get this... After the meetings were over, he shared how impressed he was that so many questions of his were answered in just a short amount of time. To top it off, he is planning on visiting again this coming Sunday. Such a miracle! 

It was a lesson to Miriam to boldly strike up conversations when she feels impressed. She hates to think what would have happened if she let those final four minutes in the Uber get away without saying a word.

I'm sure she'll share this story in her own words some time. I've probably missed some details but it's the gist of everything. I love that she is learning to follow the Spirit, to be an instrument in this great work, and experience first-hand just how well God knows and loves His children!

Miriam didn't send an email this week but she sent the pictures I've posted below. 👇 

Miriam says there are dogs roaming all over the place in Brazil. In the first couple of pictures, it looks like rooftops are no exception. When she says dogs are everywhere, she's not kidding. 

There are also lots of chickens... and cows.

Making Tortillas... but not with any of the aforementioned animals.

Rainy Days and "Sun"days

Visiting with Members

Update:6-27-23

👇Miriam sent her email for this post one week late. It was sitting in her draft box but and she sent it yesterday when she discovered it there. I figured I would just copy-paste it here instead of deleting my comments at the beginning of this post.👆

So one would like to think that a tropical country like Brazil would be all nice and toasty warm because it's tropical and what not. This past Friday, I was absolutely shocked that I wasn't seeing snow with how cold it was. Fortunately, my body was made for the cold, so after only a few minutes of walking, I was peeling off layers and wondering if wearing boots was a poor decision. BuT that DoSeN't change the fact that it's cold here in bRaZiL where is should be WaRm.

But anyway

It was a pretty good week.

Sister Alves had a doctor's appointment this past week and we had to take a 45 minute Uber ride to a different city. We made small talk with the driver, Everton, during the trip, but I kept I thinking in should bring up a gospel topic. However, I didn't know how to do it to make it feel natural nor did I have a clue what subject I should bring up. So I kept my mouth shut and tried to sleep a little. But I couldn't relax, and I kept watching the time tick down until I started thinking, "If I leave this car without leaving something with him, I'm going to regret this 45 minute Uber ride." Still, I didn't say anything. 

Until we have 4 minutes left in the ride, and I finally said, "Can I ask you a question?" He said yes and I asked him if he had ever asked himself why he's here on Earth. He said he had and was, in fact, still looking for an answer. We ended up leaving him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and our testimonies. It wasn't much because I procrastinated for 41 minutes, and it wasn't pretty, but he accepted the pamphlet, and 10 minutes or so after we left the car,  we received a text from him confirming our phone number.

Long story short, he ended up coming to sacrament meeting yesterday, and he told us after that he hear many things he needed to hear and was feeling much lighter. He wants to come again next week.

Thank goodness the Spirit was a tad more aggressive with me during that ride because I think I really would have regretted that ride if I had left without saying anything.

I celebrated 5 months in the mission! Sister Alves bought me a little cactus to remember our adventure with the cactus. We also did a division this day, and I worked in the neighboring area with Sister Dias. We ate lunch in a bakery, found lots of people who were old references of the system who still have interest, and we got attacked by puppies. 

We had a pretty solid lesson with a woman over the phone, and she expressed interest in learning more. So she passed along her address for us and we put it in Area Book with a plan to visit her the next day. We started our trek - a trip of almost an hour of walking - with high hopes. Upon nearly reaching the destination, we realized that Google maps and Area boom were showing the little yellow dot in two different locations: one in our area and one outside. Unfortunately, Google maps was correct and it turned out we had left our area following the location Area Book was showing. Every day that passes my disdain for the glitchy app known as Area Book grows with all its misplaced dots and incorrect addresses.

Saturday night we decided last minute to do a fast for a miracle with people showing up to sacrament meeting because we have not seen much success in that area. It was a small fast, just skipping breakfast Sunday morning, but we saw a miracle. Everyone who said they would come, came. It was only three who confirmed, but three out of three came, which is a record for us.

It was pretty cool to see that happen so soon after with such a little thing like skipping breakfast with a purpose. I felt like Ephraim in Ephraim's Rescue: Mercy, Lord, what took you so long?