Time Flies!!! Ahh!

Well hello there!

Is anyone else just watching the time fly right out the window and thinking, "Where is it going?"

This week was jammed pack with lessons--for me and the investigators! I thinks some of the biggest lessons that we are learning is that the Lord has His own time and that everything will work out according to His plan and will. We've got lots of great investigators that we've been working with these last two months, a few marriages to perform, and some baptisms to plan! But everyday there's a new hurdle to jump, a new fork in the road, and turn in the bend. And all of this opposition is just really helping us strengthen our own testimonies of the priciples we are trying to teach. And I think that that it really how life works. Rarely will it just sail right along without any bumps in the road, but that these little (and sometimes grand) hurdles are just the Lord's way of helping us grow and learn and stretch and become stronger. There is no such thing as an insurmountable hurdle, and the Lord will always give us the strengths and forces that we need to overcome. His grace is sufficient for all of us to overcome victoriously! I really feel like the Lord is teaching me about weaknesses and humility and grace, here on the mission. Yesterday I thought of it in the following way...our weaknesses are like a stick of dynamite that blow a huge crater in our hearts. This crater is called humility and it gives the Lord the space He needs to begin building and shaping our foundation. It is only through Him that we can turn our mound of hard rock into a beautiful construction site into an amazing building where the Spirit can abide. For those of you who are also realizing your own weaknesses, I hope that you too can take comfort in the words of the prophets--Jacob 4:7 and Ether 12:27. His grace is sufficient for you. Just call out to Him and recognize that you cannot do it alone, but that with Him all things are possible.

I've decided that Sister B is an expert at "Looking down the mountain" moments. She's so great at keeping the eternal perspective and helping us to see how far we've come and all the good moments in between. It is so refreshing. She also has a talent for making people laugh. Intentionally or not...this week we laughed really hard. One day we were in this neighborhood that we work a lot in and I was making a phone call on the pay phone, when Sister Brenchley starts getting really excited and anxious. Thinking an investigator or someone was walking down the road, I hurriedly ended the phone call to rush to them. Well come to find out, it was just the bread man on the bicycle coming down the road. (Everyday he bakes bread and then rides his bike around selling the bread, it's become a pleasant treat for us). So we bought some bread and Sister B insisted on getting extra this time. Good thing, because next thing I know she's falling on the ground trying to catch the piece of bread she dropped. That's right, my companions risks her life for bread. Oh it was quite the experience. Even a little bit of blood was shed. And the bread wasn't even saved...May we all be a little more willing to risk our lives for bread--the bread of life!

Sister B is also helping me to work on so many things, like having NO REGRETS and writing down my thoughts and impressions and overcoming my own weaknesses. I love her. I'm so blessed to have her.

Yesterday the Lord really blessed us. We arranged to pick up 8 investigators for church and called all of them and walked to all of their houses and...nada. So we showed up to church a little down, only to find that we had investigators there that came all on their own! What a pleasant surprise! And we got quite a few references! And then they asked me to teach sunday school right when it started. Okay, no problem. What was the lesson on? Chapter 15: The Lord's Covenant People. Okay, now what? I hardly know this in english, let alone in portuguese. Well with the help of Sister B and Irmã M, the lesson went really well and I actually learned alot about the importance of covenants and the Lord's promises. We are so fortunate to have made baptismal covenants and have the opportunity to renew those covenants EACH week! What a blessing! Everyweek we can access the power of the Atonement to refine and improve our lives. I hope that each one of us will have a renewed determination to partake of the sacrament prepared with a broken heart and contrite spirit--ready to change! Try it! It is an amazing experience!

Our goal of the week: "Make every person feel like the most important person in the world" It's what the Savior did and I know that he loves and knows each of us. Trust in Him. Follow Him.