9-26-23
Not much happened today, really. We went out with Karol again, and no one really answered us; a lot of rejection today on the road in the soul melting sun, but it's fine. Around 6 PM, we called up Fenando and Dilma to talk to them a little more about the Restoration. But first we got on the subject of transfers and how we should know today. Fernando started to cry at the idea of us leaving, and when we asked him to offer the closing prayer, he asked, from the bottom of his heart, that God leave us in the area. We were rejected all day, but at least someone cares about whether or not we leave.
9-27-23
Well, we're not leaving. President Card had decided to leave us for another transfer. Dilma and Fernando were really happy to receive this news. On the unfortunate side, however, both Sister Santana and Sister Harwood are leaving, and Sister Harwood is going to be a Sister Trainer Leader, a fact that she is less than excited about.
Also, today we managed to finally mark a wedding and baptismal date with Dilma and Fernando! They're to be married and baptized on October 14th. So we're praying that nothing will get in their way.
Later that night, we walked way to far to meet with Fábio, an English teacher that invited us to come to his little English school a week a go to talk to his students in English. It was cool, I suppose. I feel pain for the students learning English under his watch and care because...you know...his English is fine, I guess, but I heard him "correct" a few students with something, and I thought to myself, "Eita."
9-28-23
After a long day of working in the Cidade Alta, we headed home. We arrived about 9 PM which gave us 30 minutes to run to the space museum again, but this time look at Saturn and the Moon. However, the universe appeared to be against us in this endeavor because our key got stuck in the gate, forcing us to abandon it and remove the door key so I could get inside and eat something before I died. I ate, we left, and enjoyed looking at the planets. We returned home, Sister Almeida reached into her bag to retrieve the door key and to our dismay, found nothing. We frantically searched her bag and the ground near the house but found nothing. Fortunately, Sister Santana and Sister Harwood returned, freed our gate key and opened the house for us and the four of us began to search for our missing key. Sister Almeida and Sister Santana headed off back in the direction of the museum while Sister Harwood and I hung back to search the bag, gutters, and ground near the house. After nearly 15 to 20 minutes or so, Sister Almeida and Sister Santana returned triumphant with the key. Apparently, it had fallen in a breif moment when Sister Almeida shoved the keys and her phone into my hands so she could scale the ladder to look into the telescope at the museum.
9-29-23
Sister Harwood and Sister Santana left at the crack of dawn today having been awake the entire night putting everything together. We sent them off a little before 6 AM, and it was a little sad because they were more than half the energy in the house. After we cleaned the house a bit, we planned our day and headed out with Karol. We worked for a few hours in a neighborhood that I almost never see anymore because of the Cidade Alta. But we soon had to leave, hurrying to the bus station to pick up the new Sisters, Sister Brown and Sister Maria. After waiting a tad, they sent a message saying that there had been some confusion with their bus and they would be arriving late. So we made a few phone calls in the chapel, then picked them up and their much luggage, sending them off with a member to the house. We walked since there was no room in the car, and upon arriving found them attempting to change the location of all the furniture in the house. I managed to discourage a few large and unnecessary changes, but Sister Almeida and I are studying alone now because the new Sisters didn't like the study room.
9-30-23
General conference!!
We had lunch (homemade Brazilian hamburgers) and watched the Saturday sessions with Dilma and Fernando. Dilma payed good attention, but Fernando seemed to have a hard time focusing and eventually fell asleep.
But after the second session, we got a text from Marcos saying that he was loving the conference and that he was going to put a lot of what he learned into practice. So that was a victory.
10-1-23
General Conference again!!
This time we ate lunch with the Relief Society president, but we watched the Sunday sessions with Dilma and Fernando again. They payed much more attention this time, which was gratifying because there were some fantastic talks.
Especially President Nelson's as usual - ☀️Think Celestial☀️. This reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus taught basically this concept: He doesn't want us to only ACT Celestial, but to THINK Celestial, to think in a higher and holier way.
I have to say that I'm much more grateful for general conference and a living prophet and apostles today. Here in Brazil with all the different churches I see, I realize how much of a difference a living prophet makes and why it's essential in Christ's church. You can have pastors of the same denomination fighting over a bible verse while I come from a completely different country and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the exact same. Why? Because it's guided by a God who's the same yesterday, today, and forever through a living prophet.
Speaking of other churches, we visited Duda and she told us that one day she was minding her own business and her mom told her that someone was at the door for her. Thinking it was us, Duda told her mom to let them in. When she saw them, she new immediately it wasn't us. These two wonderful women told Duda that they were sent to follow up our work to make sure we were teaching her correctly. Duda said they tried to get her to abandon us and start studying with them. In response, she and her mom informed them that they were already used to us and had no intention of trying to meet with two different churches. It didn't appear that Duda liked them that much.
But anyway, pray for her. Pray that she can feel the Spirit and continue to tell the difference between between those sent from God and those sent to "follow up"
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| 😂For a Virtuous Woman |
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