Monday, January 18, 2016

January 18, 2016 - A Trip Down Memory Lane

                                                                Courtney in Estancia!



Oí familia Walker! (aka: Allhh-care here)

This week was my first week of real splits with other sisters in an area other than my own! I got to go back to my stomping ground in Itabaiana and it was seriously so great. It was great to see some of the branch members, and see how the area is growing little by little. It’s funny because apparently Itabaiana and Estancia are the sad areas that no one wants to go to because you don’t have baptisms, but hey I like a challenge :) It was funny when I saw the ward members and they were all excited to see me and some got mad at me because i didn’t tell anyone I was leaving, but I couldn’t help but think ´´you guys didn’t act like you liked me that much when I actually worked here....´´ haha. Two of the young women in the ward started crying when they saw me so that was sure a turn of events. 

Also. this week we FINALLY got Cleonancio aka that guy who went fishing on Sunday last week to church HALLELUJAH *cue Mr. Bean singing* !!! He was all ready and excited and turns out he knows a ton of members that he used to play soccer with. He is also a semi famous soccer player here in Brasil so there’s that. One day I jokingly said he has the aura of being a celebrity and he said all serious ´´yeah actually that’s right´´; lol surprise! But other sad news is that our other investigator with a baptism for this week we found out has been receiving the Jehovah witnesses in her house and all that jazz for a while... they are our secret enemies here in Estancia. Their church is on the same road as ours and they are the only other people in the state who wear skirts down to their knees. They don’t like the Mormons haha. So we make sure to always say hi to them really loud in the streets just to keep things interesting.

But other than the testemunhos de jehovahs stealing all our investigators, we have 2 amaaazing investigators now that are just sent from heaven above. It was a reference from a young woman in the branch, so we´re teaching a 22 yr old girl. Elisiane, and her mom, Elenha. They are so smart and spiritual and are basically Mormon but didn’t know it before. It was the greatest thing, the first time Elenha went to church. We were worried she didn’t like it because she doesn’t talk so much. But when we went to visit her she started talking and talking about how she had never felt so wonderful before, how she just forgot all about the world when she entered the church. She was trying so hard to explain but finally just said ´´I don’t have the words to explain how good I felt there. I wish I could go back everyday´´. And my heart just melted! I felt the spirit so strong in that lesson, and was so happy to testify that after all their searching for churches; they had finally found the one God has truly prepared for them, that will bring them the happiness they were looking for. It was like after all our wading through the murky water, sifting through wishy washy people, we finally found our pearls!! They’ll be baptized the 30th of this month. 

So this week I also realized that the Book of Mormon is literally an instruction guide, not just for our lives, but for missionaries. It teaches you everything you need to know on how to be a successful missionary!! Right now I’m studying Alma the younger and Amuleque (i forgot how to spell it in English, sorry) and their example. Sometimes you have success in your callings, sometimes you don’t. But all the while you can be positive and have peace knowing you’re doing all you can and you’re doing the lords work. So that goes for you guys too! I love you guys so much. Hope you have a wonderful semana!


Sister Walker

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