Semana 66: Madlibs

(Note from the editor: Last week I wrote a blog with a madlib style template for missionaries, and I shared it with Hannah. She decided to use it, hence all the underlining in this letter.) 

Dear family and friends,

Hello, this is your favorite missionary in   Brasil São Paulo Sul . I'm currently serving in   Assunção, Rudge Ramos  with my companion, Sister  Gonçalves . She is  from  Recife and we get along  pretty well . We struggle with  communicating sometimes, especially when we get stressed  but we are  really trying  to do better. Something I really like about her is that she _is always looking for ways to serve people. One time she offered to help this little old lady carry her groceries home. The lady showed us a shortcut to her house that involved climbing up a huge staircase thing (that I think was actually a drainage ditch and was not actually intended for humans to use) but we survived and the lady sure was grateful for our help_.

This week, we found  Gabriella   and started to teach her. She is about  15  years old and has been going to church for about a year now and has never been baptized. I had never really talked to her before because I thought she was one of the young women in the ward, but last Sunday my companion was making small talk and found out that she was not, in fact, a member. We went to meet her family this week. Her brothers and mom are members in another ward, but her Dad (whom she lives with) is Espirita (Spiritist? I dunno if we have this in the States) and believes in reincarnation and a lot of cool stuff and doesn't want Gabriella to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ. We had a really spiritual lesson with her and at the end we knelt down and she asked Heavenly Father for the courage to talk with her dad so that she could make this covenant with God. We read about Ester with her and we'll probably fast with her this week. Please add her to your prayers!

On Sunday,  Claudio  came to church. The talks/lessons were about  the scriptures, and they talked about all the standard works  . I thought _it was really good for him because he doesn't trust the Bible since it was changed so many times, and it was cool to show him that it isn't just the Book of Mormon but also Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and also the writings of current prophets. It shows that God is the same and He really wants to talk with us. In Sunday School they showed the video of 2 Nephi and he followed along in the Book of Mormon .

At our  Zone  Conference  this week we learned about  the qualities of Christ and they  told a story about a man who was asked by God to push a boulder. He went out with a ton of animo and enthusiasm and he pushed the rock with all his force, but at the end of the day it hadn't moved an inch. But he went out and decided that the next day would be better. So he went and pushed and pushed and did everything but at the end of the day it looked like he hadn't done anything. This went on day after day, week after week, and finally the man got frustrated and upset and cried out to God. He said "God, I'm not going anywhere with this. I've tried with all my strength for all this time but I haven't changed anything and the boulder is still in the same place. Why would you call someone as weak as I am to a task so impossible? There must be something wrong." But a very loving and patient God responded and just asked, "what did I call you to do? I asked you to push the rock. Not to move it. Your success is in completing what I asked. So the rock didn't move. But look at what you've developed. You have muscles now. You are stronger. You have developed talents that will help you for the rest of your life. Why, then, are you upset about the rock?" The man was humbled at His response and thanked Him. 

And it's the same thing here on the mission. It's really easy sometimes to look at our investigators or at our numbers and think that we're not getting anything done. But we're trying our best and I know that I'm developing spiritual muscles, strength and patience and a ton of talents that will help me for the rest of my life. And that's all that God asks of me.

I know  that God lives and that He loves me and each one of you. He's watching your efforts and He will bless you if you trust in Him. Only the prideful measure their success on the outward indicators. When we're humble and trust in Him, it's easier to recognize the progress we are making and the love He has for us. This week had some ups and downs but I saw God's hand in it. I know He's there guiding us and protecting us, and the things I'm learning here will help me for all eternity.

Yours in the gospel,
Sister   Hiatt