We're preparing the TERRENA!!!

So this week we had a special 2 day sister's training in São Paulo, that was MARAVILHOSA! Really! Complete with a general authority, Elder Soares and everything. Well president started off with the scripture D&C 88:73 :"Behold, I will ^ahasten my work in its time."

Well the Lord sure is hastening His work here...with the new mission SANTOS!!! Well do I sure feel privileged to be a part of this special time. We are working hard here in Santos and I know that this is exactly what it needs to really fortify the Kingdom of God here. Wow. Amazing! All the sisters must prepare to be trainers, because most of them will need to be. So we had this two day conference, preparing everyone for these new changes! Wow, how I wished I could have had this conference at the beginning of my mission. Most of us "older" sisters were asked to give special trainings. I was super nervous, but with Sister M's help all went well. It really is something special.

Other news of the week....R was baptized! And what a sweet spirit she is! She's a super strong young women, there's nothing better than a 15 year old with a testimony. And it's amazing to see how the ward has just brought her in under her wings. A shout out to all you young women leaders (especially those that I had, including you, Mom :) THANKS! Keep leading and guiding us! They are the future!

Keep serving, keep growing, keep striving to be better...there's nothing more important than the Lord's work!

Blessings are pouring from heaven! (along with the nightly thunderstorms)

Wow, can I just say that Heavenly Father is Amazing! Really He is just leading and guiding this work right along. Yesterday we had 10 investigators at church! The members are great here, they are bringing their friends and family! And we have and are finding some really great investigators! We are fasting and praying that all goes well for 3 of our investigators to get married so that they can get baptized before the transfer is over. Tick tock tick tock...ah! The problem is that you have to have a new (within 6 months) birth certificate just to mark the wedding (30days in advance...eita.) And some didn't have conditions to pay for the documents because they are in another state and it costs a lot to send them here. Well we fasted and prayed, and out of the blue a member came up to us yesterday and gave us the money saying that they heard that they were needing it...what a blessing! The relief society president is already working on quite the party :) So we're all praying here that all works out for the documents to arrive and mark the wedding for March 16th.... cross your fingers!

It seems that just as people are getting close to the truth, the adversary really tries to work hard...but he can't succeed. "If God is with us, who can be against us?" It's been amazing to see how the Lord is working miracles here in this area. He really knows and loves all His children. This really is His work. 

J and J are pretty much the cutest couple ever. We are trying our best to help them see how the Gospel will help them improve their family. We took them to a family night and when they told the irmão that they were planning on getting married so they could get baptized he asked J if she loved him. And she said "of course!" It was super cute...he said he loved her too:) They are staying really firm, they were bombarded with a whole bunch of anti-mormon comments but they both stayed strong saying they know that it is true and they know what they want. Yeah! The Spirit is strong!

Um instrumento nas mãos do Senhor

Oh how there is little that I love more than being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. There's nothing more gratifying than to show up at someone's hous after following an impression to go there and discover that you are an answer to their prayers. The other day we woke up and felt impressed to bake J a cake and take it to her. We had just seen her the day before, but we went over there anyway and it was a for sure the direction of the Spirit. She said we were an answer to her prayers and that she almost called us this morning but didn't want to bother us. She said we were sent by God, and I know we were! I have such a strong testimony that Heavenly Father really does know each and everyone of us and He hears and answers all of our prayers--many times through others. So I want to challenge you all to step up to Elder Ballard's challenge and pray each day to know how you can be a blessing in someone's life. I know you're already great at it :)

We had another experience this week with this. We were in a road that the appointments always fall through, but we always just left right after. Well our appointments fell through again and I thought, "There must be someone in this road that is needing the Gospel." So we started knocking. And we found her:  I know we were sent to her. It feels so good to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Other news, this really is God's true church. I know it. I am amazed everytime someone comes to church and then they feel something different, the Spirit, and start to change. J was a  little hesitant to go last week, but he loved it. He said he felt so light inside the Church--like  whole bunch of bad stuff was lifted off his chest. He said he felt so good that he didn't want to drink at the family party later that day--how wonderful is the Spirit! And the sisters that came to church last week, both want to get baptized this month! R went to the girl's camp this weekend and they are just blessings that fell from Heaven!

Let's all strive to be a little more positive, a little more giving, a little more loving this week! We can and will make a difference!

Do you wanna marry me?

Wahoo! Always an adventure here on the mission! In the last week, we've been to the aquarium, to São Paulo (brrrr!), and all over our area. We fasted as a district this week to have miracle in the last few weeks of the transfer. One of which was investigators at church....well the Lord has blessed us again! We planned on quite a few, but only two of the planned went, but we ended up with 7 in total! Wow, members are great! Bring your friends to church! :)

Other great news...our investigators are engaged! (oh and my best friend, shout out to Emilee :) parabéns!) So we are teaching the cutest couple. We went and taught them  about the importance of families and invited her to talk to J about getting married. In the meantime we discovered where the cartorio (where you get married) is and had to walk over an hour to the area of the zone leaders just to get the information on what we needed to do.  Well we came back a couple days later and she hadn't talked to him yet, but she wanted us to talk to him. They've been together about 6 years and have the most adorable little girl. So we taught again about families and God's commandments and invited them to pray together. And then we invited them to get married, and he said, "What, you mean in the cartorio?" "Yeah." "Well I don't even know if she wants to marry me..." he responded. "Well you have to ask her," I said. So he looked over at her: "Tu quer casar comigo?" (You wanna marry me?) "Claro!" (Of course!) She said and they both looked at each other all shy and then smiled at us. Oh my goodness, it was the cutest thing ever! So here we are...the wedding planners :)