This week has been great!

This week has been great! I got to watch the Lord strengthen Shirley in her decision to be baptized. So this week we called her to see how she was and if she was still excited for her baptism  and she said, "look sister, I don't think I will be baptized." my thought"oh no... what happened" she continued on to say her best friend came back into her life and he has been sayng a lot of bad things about the church and that he didnt want her to be baptized. We talked more and we asked her if she remembered the answer she had gotten when she had prayed, she said yes, we told her to hold on to that. She had had a dream that was amazing to confirm the truth and the rest of the week we passed by her work and called her until Saturday that was a glorious day! I got to see this girl full of confidence and at the same time nervous. Her mom didnt come to the baptism because her sister was sick. But I have faith that upon seeing this change in her daughter that she will, in time with the rest of the family, accept this gospel and its truth!

This Sunday I really had a moment of like woooh in church. we were talking about the story of the good samaritan and I got a completely different aspect out of it. Here is my verson, well from the Holy Ghost haha, of the good samariton in our days.

There was a man who was well known in the city. He owned businesses, had the "perfect family", and lots of cars and boats and toys. To many he was known as the rich guy, that no one wanted to be associate with, to others he was a drinker, the guy who didnt always make the best decisions. To all he was someone not to mess will. One day he lost it all. Sitting on the side walk he thought of how he had lost his work, his empire. He had lost his wife who took his kids. He had lost his home in the war of words and had gotten to the point of asking, what is the point of all this? Why am I here in the first place? Why did this happen to me? Sitting alone on the street he litteraly felt alone.

The first person to come upon him was the teacher of the Elders Quarm in church. The first thought he had was, "wooh what is he doing here." he had heard the story and for a moment thought it would be good to help him out. then the thought popped in his head saying, "what would others say if they saw me talking with him. they would think i am a groupe who did the same things as him. no one would take me seriously while teaching on sunday. no i cant talk with him because if anyone else saw they would think i am doing things wrong with him. and what if word gets to my family. no. i wont stop.. oh i hope no one notices i paused and looked at him. i will cross to the other side of the street and continue on. I need to go to work, finish helping my son with his project. i have many things to do. someone else will pass by who can help him. yeah." and so he continued on his way.

The second man to come upon him was just a young adult. He had been thinking of his tests he needed to study for, how his boss might fire him and how he has problems with family and friends. When he saw the well known man he paused for a minute and had the thought, "he needs help, he needs something" and upon walking up to him all the thoughts of "I need to study, write a paper for another class, convince my friend not to do the wrong things; no I don't have time for this. Okay I will give him 10 bucks, yeah that will help him." and so he felt better knowing he had done the least he could do. Passing the money to him he continued on him way thinking of the many things he needed to do, to busy to stay and talk to him.

The third guy to pass had just been working all morning, he was on  his way to tell his wife that his boss had cut his wages that he didnt have a way to pay for the bills from the hospital. That he didnt know how he would support their little girl who had a unknown sickness, let alone provide food on the table for them to eat. Walking home he was deep in thought when he saw the man. He knew of him, but didnt know him. Seeing him in distress he had the feeling he should take a moment to talk to him, upon greeting him he saw the helpless look in his eyes and he knew that he needed to help that man the best he could. Talking with the well known man he heard all the story before. Answering his questions of the soul he asked the man to walk with him, walking the rest of the way they made it back to his humble house where he told his wife that they would be hosting the well kown man for the time being. The humble man called the missionaries knowing they could help the well known man. Together they ate a humble meal and talked about the purpose of life, about the atonement and what it could do for him. The humble man then told the well known man that he could stay in his home, that his wife and he would sleep in the room of their daughter, that he could have their bed; giving all he had to help the well known man.What it all comes down to is this: there exists three types of people one who has fear of what others would say if they saw them talking to a person who was labeled as "bad". So they keep walking and listen to their fears. There is the person who is busy, busy who doesn't think they have time to open their mouth and share the gospel. So busy with their own life that there is no time for the work of the Lord. Then there is the one who besides all the things that are going wrong in his life, is still humble enough to listen to the spirit and be an instrument in the hand of the Lord. The reality of life is that we are all busy  others have more problems than us, but we all have time to share the gospel, help someone in need. There is no excuse in the world that should keep us from sharing the gospel with the World. No excuse.

This way of thinking of that parable has inpacted me a lot. I feel so unworthy to be here, but I know that I can start now, start to not make excuses and stop thinking about the past, What I didn't do. We can't change who we were, but we can change who we are. We can start again! We can turn to that intrument in the hand of the Lord! It IS possible! with all the worries of the world, we can be the mirror to reflect the light of the Savior to all who are lost in the dark. :)

I know my Savior lives! I know Heavenly Father knows each one of us! I know he has prepared ways for us to share the gospel! He Loves us! each one of us! I know that Christ loves the worst sinner of the world just as much as he loves the most holy person because he loves us, not our sins. He loves us, not our mistakes. He is kind, gentle, firm, patient and is ever waiting for us to come unto him, to accept what he has done for us and through him, we may become like him.! 

This week we have made goals very high haha and we will reach them :) this will be a busy busy week! all is well is the work of the Lord when you but your shoulder to the wheel and push along ;) 

oh and today we played volleyball! it was amazing! my team won every round! hahahaha I am still covered in sweat :) but so worth it!! anyways keep being an amazing example! I love you!!

love,

Sister Post

Milagres! (Miracles!)

August 17, 2015

OI!

Wow you guys are busy, busy!

Well I don’t know where to start this week. It is like so much happens and I don’t know how to explain it all haha so I will stick with a cool story that happened. 

So if you remember Shirley she is 17 and an ex-girlfriend of a member of the other branch. So we taught her and she just liked to say no, I won’t be baptized, I don’t want to be tied to that church or people to think I am a member. So we talked to her about the importance of being baptized which she completely understood. Then she admitted that she has a problem with praying. She does like to pray. So we like tossed her into an interview for baptism hahaha and she like passed with flying colors right and yet there was something still holding her back. So Sunday we sat down with her and talked again. She said that she prayed Friday, then she had horrible dreams and blamed it on us and she didn’t ever want to pray again. So we explain all things bad are from the adversary and all things good are from the Lord. She understood that and said she would pray again. Saturday she Prayed and dreamed again, only this time she receive an answer that this IS the Church of Jesus Christ. But she didn’t think her parents would let her be baptized and her aunt told her that she had to choose ``the Mormons`` or her and she was really sad. So we listened and helped her come to the conclusion that with faith and acting on it she would see a miracle that day.

Finally came the time of the baptism of the other branch that we were supporting the sisters and we walked in a little late from a meeting with our leader of the Branch and saw her, with her friends from the branch and we were like wow you are here haha So we talked to her a little bit later and she told us that she talked to her mom, and that she couldn’t be baptized that day like planned because her mom wanted to watch and so it will be this Saturday! Her mom signed the paper too! Milagres! (Miracles!) So Saturday will be a great day! and a bigger miracle will be if it be the will of the Lord, we will start to teach her whole family! yay! Anyways! I know that the Lord works miracles every day! Pray for them and then pray that your eyes could be opened to see and witness them! Then you can turn into a testimony for others that the Lord does visit His people! That He is aware of each one of us!

I love this work! I love Brazil! I love Portuguese! I love the Lord! I love you and dad and all my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews! I am so lucky to have been born into this family! So blessed! We are so blessed to have this knowledge of eternal families, the Atonement and many other things! That we have the Holy Ghost to guide us every day! The Lord is merciful! Our Heavenly Father loves us! Never forget it!

Love,

Sister Post

Baptismo of a little girl who is cuter than cute!

All things are Possible!

August 10,2015

Oi!

Well surprise this week!! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!) FELIZ ANIVERSARIO MÃE! quase, (almost) haha :) 

In district meeting we were talking about things others should work on; everyone told me to work on having confidence in myself.. haha that I would trust others more after I learned to trust myself. Then they said that I had a great potential to be a great leader but first I needed to work on my confidence haha which is true. So I am not afraid to admit that is a pretty big weakness of mine. I have had it for a while haha so I will start to work on making it a strength!  Wish me luck! If you would like to pray for my progress I would appreciate that! haha :) 

Wow only 24 hours! Those smarties! Congratulations Ty & Lacy!

Well this month I will do 9 months since entering the MTC the second time and next month I will do 9 months in Brazil haha so I took the classic photo of nine months :) yeah I am awesome haha ;) I think in a lot of years I will make a cute pregnant lady haha :)

(9 months marks the halfway point of the mission) 

I have been working on teaching S. Borges English haha it is funny when I don’t remember words or how to form a sentence or to a say a sentence in the form of Portuguese. The good life.. haha

This week we found Shirley! She is 17, we found her in the church! haha we were wondering what to do and we said to the other, Sister Borges and I; let’s just pass by and see what is going down at the church. She was sitting with a member called Néfi, which is Nephi in Portuguese, and Sister Borges started to talk to another person and I saw Shirley, keeping S. Borges in my sight I started to talk to her after helping her feel a little more comfortable I found out she wasn’t a member, but had lots of questions. The first was why we called God- Heavenly Father. Oh easy haha so I told her why. Then she asked why we stayed in the church and didn’t leave to a different one so I called S. Borges over and together we taught about Joseph Smith and a little of the restoration and about prayer to receive an answer and marked a time to return and talk with her. Then we talked with her in her house Saturday it was really good! I taught her in the way of an analogy. Which I realize now I make a lot of analogies haha Sister Borges made that obvious to me this week haha it is funny but I will share the analogy.

So she has a little brother who had brought out toys and while we were talking I picked up a toy tractor and said this is us imagine the tractor with only one wheel, it couldn’t go very far could it? Because Heavenly Father loves us he has provided a way for us to receive the other three wheels. You see the first wheel is our desire, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but even that alone is not enough for that little tractor to move. So God gave us three things that would make it possible for us to "reach" our potential and eventually return to him. One wheel is baptism, the second wheel is the gift of the Holy Ghost and the third wheel is the Sacrament. All three are necessary with our faith to move us forward. If we lack in one area we can’t move. For example, if we aren’t taking the sacrament after being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost, we would be missing a wheel and couldn’t get very far. Those who aren’t baptized by the power of the Priesthood are only left with one wheel, faith or desire to change. It is necessary for all three wheels with our faith. Faith alone can’t make us move, but when we are baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost and partake of the sacrament every week we are literally moving by the power of God. He has given us tools to move forward in this life, and if we don’t use them we are cut off from the Powers of Heaven. But with them literally the doors of heaven are open to help us with our life, help us change and become more like our Savior, and help us move down the road to eventually make it back to our Heavenly Home with our Heavenly Father. 

I know that this analogy is a little silly but I want you guys to know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us! He has given us covenants to open the windows of heaven that blessings and strength can literally rain down upon us! And first of all He has given us Agency to Choose! He loves us more than we know!

 I know that is only through Baptism of water and of fire that we can return to the Kingdom of Heaven, John 5:3-5 “In these lay a great multitude of important folks, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.”

Through this we each have the best of friend to walk the length with us, The Holy Ghost! He is literally the open door to our Father in Heaven! He speaks to our hearts and minds the things of the Father! Through partaking of the sacrament we are committing this next week to be better, and asking for the power of God to help us with our changes!

All things are Possible! If we but 1- Ask the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, 2- believe that we will receive 3- having real intent that you will act on the response that you receive. Literally like the classic example of Moses, he was literally between a rock and a hard place haha he, and his people, were between the people of Egypt who wanted to kill them, and the Red Sea. I know without doubt that whatever response that Heavenly Father gave Moses he would do it. That is why God gave him the answer to walk on dry ground.

So like in D&C 8:1-5 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as the Lord Liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive a knowledge…. Yea, behold I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. Therefore this is thy gift; apply it, and blessed art thou, for it shall deliver you out of the hands of your enemies, when, if it were not so, they would slay you and bring your soul to destruction. Oh, remember these words, and keep my commandments. Remember, this is your gift.”

We need to have the intent of doing whatever we can to full fill the answer that we receive! More than anything in the world Heavenly Father wants each one of us to know the power of heaven is accessible! We can receive heavenly help! I know it is true! I love you!

Love,

Sister Post

photos.

 the wooden walkways are going away and we can walk of the road again! yay haha with my companion.

A family i just love to death! This is after eating lunch with then on Sunday.

Photo of the neighbor on Bewitched (Agnes)! She is a sister of a member and I practically begged her to take a photo with me so that I could show you and mom! haha she is cool but looks just like the lady off of Bewitched! haha good times :)

Semana das milagres! (miracle week)

August 3, 2015

semana das milagres! (miracle week)

Oi Mãe!

Wow you know something I have been thinking about... so much happens that is so like every day to me that I really should be writing to you guys.. but I forget every time I am in the lawn house (internet House) writing.. Yea I should write a lot more about our investigators that are really good! And cool and about our less actives we are bringing back! the truth is that really a lot is happening here, I just forget to write about it all haha and just write my testimony and get tired of typing and not write about the people hahahaha so I will work on writing about people first :) haha

So this week has been good! We saw lots of miracles. First I will write about Wanderson pronounced as Vanderson haha yeah I still don’t understand Portuguese when it is like that.. haha but anyways we (Sister V. and I) tried to teach him the first transfer I was here but all he did was fight with his wife. (who is a member and they helped them get married 7 months ago by another group of sisters.) and little history of this family. Camila and Wanderson have been together for 4 years, they have a little girl named Isabelle who is two years old. All this time Wanderson didn’t want anything to do with the church and it wore down Camilla given she never actually put in the effort to grow a testimony really strong. She just kind of lived it because her aunt took her to church every week. So Camila made some not so good choices of talking with another man.. so now they have a problem, but with this problem it opened up Wanderson to really want to follow the Lord and so two weeks ago we started to teach him again after three months. He progressed really well! At first it was for his wife, that she would stop talking with another man and then it turned into a strong desire to follow the Lord! He told us before that if Camila left him he would stop going to church because he couldn’t bear to see her with another man. We were really sad and then this week he said, no I won’t risk my salvation for her. I will keep going to church and be strong for my little girl. So all of this is really sad, but really like good. I don’t know how to explain all of it in English, but like he is really strong now! and is being so patient with his wife! and she is like going down the deep end and I really don’t know how to help her from doing what she is doing when she is not recognizing that she is committing big mistakes.. but anyways Wanderson was baptized this last Friday! and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday! He came alone to church to get it! He is so amazing! I wouldn’t wish this on anyone but he is being so, so strong with this trial in his life and the Lord with bless him a lot for this! 

Franciel, I don’t remember if I talked to you about him yet but I started teaching him with Sister V. as well and he is so good! He is already testifying to other people that they should forget all they know or think they know about Mormons because with just three days with us, Sister B. and I, he will completely understand Christ in a fuller way! He is awesome haha anyways he is from the Adventist church which is really ridiculous, but his brother is a firm, firm believer of the church and is like the voice of reason in his house. So we are helping him to understand Joseph Smith better and the Priesthood and how God works through men and the priesthood and stuff. It will be good! This week will be good! 

Alauna! We are reactivating a 20 year old who has two little girls! They are so cute! We have family home evening with her today and lunch tomorrow with her family!  She is progressing really well! and her little girls love us! I will send a picture of us all next week!

Well the work is progressing and the Lord moves on. One thing I was reading I don’t remember where but that the Lord sped up his work and it is up to us to keep up with the new pace or we will be left behind. It is true. haha we are busy everyday looking for the others who are in the moments of acceptance, and then we are waiting for those we have already talked to for them to enter the right moment to be taught haha it is fun :) the normal day life of a missionary, it is good :) I love the Lord and his tender mercies! He really is in our lives every day! Whether it is a small breeze on a really hot day, or a little cloud to give a little shade the Lord prepares moments of peace and comfort for each one of us! He Loves Us! I love you! Keep being amazing mom!

Homemade ice cream!!! :( I want.. haha but....... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I told everyone yesterday that it was your birthday Dad!

Transfers are next week, and I will probably stay here with Sister B. to finish her training. So it will be a total of 6 months here in Itacoatiara before I get transferred to another area! haha strange.. 1/3 of my mission.. haha but it is good!

 Wow this week I have really missed you and mom. but I know I am doing the work of the Lord and then after looking at your pictures I look to my pictures of the Lord :) 

oh and I am burning my old diary.. haha my old notebook that I wrote in.. because I am rewriting everything in the fancy journal mom gave me for my birthday :) it is taking forever haha but it is good and will be good when I finish one day :)

Also I made a little coca cola with your name in Portuguese João e mom Toni with bff best friends for ever :) I love and miss you guys!

love,

Sister Post

photos, 

Baptism of Wanderson! yay! 

The man who baptized him is Pires, our new ward mission leader. He served his mission here and then returned and married his wife and stayed :P funny eh. Everyone teases me saying will do the same haha