What a week we have had! First I will tell update you on a few people and then if there is time I will tell you about the sapos e baratas haha.
So finally Sheila has been feeling better this week. I think the springtime is just what she needed. We were able to go and teach her a couple of times this week and she was up and back to her sunshiny self, which is such a relief to see. We have to delay her baptism just a little because she hasn´t been able to go to church but her testimony grows stronger everyday. We have had some of the most spiritual lessons with her this week. We talked about the trials she has faced in her life and she told us that the best thing she ever did in her life was sit outside of her door the day the missionaries past by. She shared with us the feelings that she has been having and told us that she feels her Savior closer to her now then ever before. These are the blessings of the gospel. There is really nothing sweeter then the moments when people really start to understand what we are teaching. That we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much that He did not leave us alone, directionless in these crazy days that we are living. That there really is safety for the soul and peace for the heart found through His Son´s sacrifice, and that now, because of the restoration of the priesthood power through a modern day prophet, we have full access to that peace. I wish everyone understood the way that she does.
We are also teaching a man named Edison who has been coming to church for the last month all on his own. Last week we taught him the first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. We were a little worried about leaving a whole week without contact but he could only meet with us on Sunday so we prayed a lot. Yesterday we had our second lesson with him and it was so awesome! He not only read the chapter we left for him but read like the first 300 pages of the Book of Mormon and marked everything up making connections between passages and everything. Every blank space in his copy of the Book of Mormon is filled with notes that he took. He is a perfect example of the real intention, faith and sincere heart that is required to receive a testimony from God that what we are teaching is true! Because of his diligence, he receive a very strong and clear answer. When we asked him if he felt he had received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true he said "Not only is it true, but it holds all the answers to the things that we are missing in the gospel. If everyone would read this they could make sense of the things we need to do to reach God." I think we could have died in that very moment. He is so prepared it is amazing. We have a meeting with the bishop to figure out how his baptism will work with the elections and conference on this upcoming Sunday but we are so excited.
It really is amazing because we are struggling so much right now to find new investigators but Heavenly Father isn´t letting that stop the miracles we see. What we lack in quantity He makes up with quality. The few people that we are teaching are better prepared and are searching more sincerely then any investigator I have ever had. I know that God sees our labors and blesses us accordingly, even if at the same time He is sending trials to test our faith.
Okay, so for the sapos are baratas. First let me tell you that my companion is literally afraid of everything. I have never met someone who says be careful so much ahah. She cracks me up every time we cross the street or see a dog withing a block from us she gets nervous and grabs my arm and says 'Ai Sister, be careful" So on Tuesday night we did our planning like usual and then I went to go to the bathroom. While I was there I hear Sister Vasconcelos making a bunch of noise in the kitchen. I leave the bathroom to tell her to be quiet because Irmão Claudio (who lives in the house behind ours but in the same yard.) and his family are sleeping. I enter from one side of the kitchen to see her on the other side pointing to the sink, now screaming "Ai Sister!!! BARATA!". I look to see what it was and I see a HUGE cockroach run across the counter. So, what do I do? I stand on my side of the kitchen and start screaming too, of course haha. So the both of us stand there screaming for a good 3 minutes and then decide that we have to kill it. She grabs some insect killer but while she was getting it the cockroach disappeared under the sink where we keep all of our pots and pans. We grab a mop and a broom and try to move things around without getting to close, but can´t find the stupid bug. Neither of us wanted to get close but we had to take the pans out because there was no way we were sleeping until it died. So with the broom and mop we start pulling the dishes out of the cupboard and letting them fall crashing to the ground and then attacking them with insecticide. I think we were both secretly hoping that Imrão Claudio would hear the noise and save us but he never came. Finally, after ever pan has been pulled out we find and kill her along with a baby one. We sweep out the area and spray it down and then start putting all of the pots and pans into alcohol to soak because of the insecticide. While Sister V is at the sink she starts screaming again and I look to see that two more cockroaches appeared. After another half hour of screaming we managed to kill them too. And then we loaded up the kitchen with insecticide. All and all we spent 2 and a half hours trying to kill 4 bugs. I am a little ashamed, but hey, at least we did it.
Then about three days later we wake up in the morning and start our regular morning routine. I was just finishing my morning prayer when I hear "Ai Sister! Vem aqui, Rapido! um sapo!" (come here quickly, a frog) I go to the bathroom to tell her to be quiet because it is early and Irmão Claudio and his family are sleeping and see a huge frog somehow had made its way through the laundry room, kitchen, down the hall and into our bathroom. So she started screaming again and I grabbed a bucket to put over him so that he didn´t run away. This time I didn´t scream but he was a big guy, and super ugly looking. And he was strong so he kept trying to jump and hit the bucket away. Finally I got the bucket over him and put another bucket of water on top of him so that he wouldn´t escape. Then we went together and got Irmão Claudio haha there was no way I was touching that thing. So Irmão Claudio came to save us with a dust pan and broom and box but the frog got loose in the bathroom so we just saw the door stuck and then laughed as we listened to Irmão battling with the frog. After a couple minutes Irmão came out victorious and took away the frog. Also well that ends well but if we find another creature in our house I think Sister V will ask for an emergency transfer haha.
Anyways, I am out of time. I love you all! I hope you have a great week and receive tons of inspiration from General Conference this weekend!
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