12th Week with Sister Almeida- Jaú, Brazil- "We almost died in a sandstorm (but I didn't write about that)."

I seem to have been designated the bug killer in this house. I came home the other night to find Sister Maria sitting out in the garage while Sister Brown hung her clothes out to dry. Upon seeing me enter, Sister Maria said, "Oh, good. You're home. There's a cockroach in our bedroom that I need you to kill." 

At this moment, I looked down and saw said cockroach sitting on the ground next to the chair. I immediately crushed it, and Sister Maria thought I was messing around until I showed her, and she exclaimed, "Cara, here I was hiding from it, and it was right there!"

We visited Joseli in her city of Dois Corrigos and taught her the Restoration. I felt like we could have ended stronger, but we kind of timed the lesson a little off. Her house is about 30 minutes from the bus station and by the time we finished the lesson we had 20 minutes to board the bus or we would be stranded in Dois Corrigos. We prayed our whole half sprint back that the bus would be behind or something.....

....It wasn't.But our half sprint made up for the time, and we reached the station right as the bus was pulling in. I testify that praying works, friends.

Anyways, I didn't think a whole lot about the lesson after because I didn't think it had been that well taught, but when we called Joseli the next day, she told us that she couldn't stop thinking about what we had taught, that it brought her a peace she had never felt before. She said that, after we left, she had been able to sleep for the first time in 2 weeks. As we taught her over the phone and talked about her experience, she said she just got chills when we spoke.

So apparently the presence of the Spirit is much more powerful to those being taught, because the lesson I thought had been less than great had greatly impacted her.

Thus the following scripture: "And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach." - D&C 42:14

If the Spirit is present, it doesn't matter how sloppily you teach. He'll testify.

I'd like to say we've had lots of progress with her, but she sorta kinda disappeared. Meaning she's not very good at responding...

I had a pretty neat experience during a companionship exchange this week. I spent the day with Sister Saldivar. During this day, I told her about a reference Sister Almeida and I had received a while back named Edilaine. We had sent her a message, and when she responded, she told us that she recognized us from the time we had visited her. 

I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh, no. Who is this person? Why does she remember us? Who are you??"

And so it was for a week or so. Then we had our companionship split, and I planned to visit this mysterious woman even though she had failed to put the freaking number of her house in the address. Ô raiva with these people.

But anyway. Sister Saldivar and I arrived at the street, and I stopped and said, "Alright, this house doesn't have a number, so we have two options: climb right or descend left." I thought for a moment then decided, yes, I'm pretty sure this woman lives on the road descending. Despite not remembering the woman, I did recognize the road, so we gave it a shot.

After picking a house that looked familiar, we clapped and asked the owner if she was Edilaine. She wasn't, and she didn't know anyone by that name on the road.

Take 2. We tried another house and got the same response. 

Take 3. Sister Saldivar asked a group of people outside a house if they knew an Edilaine on the street, but they didn't.

So we kept walking.

I decided, "Alright, let's try one more." 

Take 4. We picked the second to last house on the block, and a woman answered. And wouldn't you know it? I recognized her, and it was in fact Edilaine.

Sister Almeida and I had randomly knocked on her door during Sister Almeida's first day in the area nearly three months ago but hadn't saved any information about her. As it turns out, she had thought about us a lot since then and had used the pamphlet we had left to enter in contact with the church reference center, that then sent her reference to us.

I thought it was cool how the Spirit worked in this situation. He didn't light up the house for me and guide me to it on the first try, but He used my knowledge of the streets of Jaú and the vague knowledge that I had been there before to help me narrow it down. 

Last thing because my brain hurts and I want to chuck this phone across the room trying to text this email.

Fernando got to bless the Sacrament this week, and Marcos had the opportunity to pass.

We also had an investigator show up to church. He lives in Dois Corrigos and had taken the bus to get here. The amazing thing about that is that the only bus that runs on Sunday leaves Dois Corrigos for Jaú at 5:20 in the morning. Seeing that Uber was too expensive, he took that bus and waited for three hours in the bus station until church started.

Now that's dedication.

"Something wicked this way comes..."