Monday, August 8, 2016

August 8, 2016 - The Lucky 13!

                                               Courtney & Sister Monteiro With A Family
                                                             Of Investigators At Church


Helllooo from the other side! That is an Adele reference for all you old folk.

What a great week holy cow!! We were working every second of every day and I didn’t even see the week go by. We met an amazing new family that all went to church with us. They live with the 8 kids and the mom, but the only one that works is a daughter who’s 22 and she works as a maid in someone’s house over in Maceio and only comes home for 2 days and then stays there 15 days. This family is amazing people, you have no idea. I’m sending a pic of them to prove it. So our area is kinda far away from the chapel which makes it hard for people to go to church but they usually pay 50 cents to take a van down and back up afterwards. But this family doesn’t exactly have that to spend. So we went and picked them up Sunday morning and they all (the youngest being 8 and the oldest 22) walked with us the 40 minute walk completely downhill to the church, and then at noon in the hot hot sun walked more than an hour back up hill to get home. THAT IS REAL FAITH PEOPLE. I was so amazed, they didn’t even complain or anything, they said ´´it’s really good to go to church, let’s go see what this one is like´´ and went! They are amazing! The youngest is Maxwell and he was the only one that had remembered to pray and ask god if the church was true. We asked how his prayer went and he said ´´it’s true. Its true what you guys said;´´ and we said ´´how do you know?´´ and he said ´´well I prayed before I went to bed and said ´´Jesus, is it true what the ladies said about this church?´´ and then I had a dream that night where Jesus was coming out of heaven on a stairway made of clouds and he told me it was the right church. That’s how I know. ´´ When he told us I just sat in awe and hugged him trying not to cry. These people are amazing and there are so many of them waiting for the gospel to clear up so many questions and doubt about religion and gods plan for us!!!

And in Relief Society this week they taught about family night and how it should be held and the purpose. I couldn’t help remember how most of my fondest memories of all of us together where during family night-whether it was going to west fenwick park, or to play bball at the church, or playing jenga or when it turned into wrestle mania and mom always got mad. And let’s not forget the beloved moment when mom and dad played just dance and danced to that Rihanna song... but I realized in such a simple act how much a family can be strengthened, that most of the things I learned about the gospel, or the questions I had, weren’t answered at church but at home with my parents and my siblings, even Spencer putting his feet in my hair. I am really grateful for those memories mom and dad supplied (forced) us to make. How smart is the church? I was thinking about the devotional they had here in Rio de Janeiro that was about personal progress and duty to god-I thought about how much personal progress showed me I was capable to do hard things, that I could and should break out of my comfort zone. Because one day we will all be accountable for not just the things we did here but the person that we became, and personal progress helped me in that effort.

I guess that really it for this week! The super Christian families are alright, one we found out is a super famous pastor and the other went to church with us this week! He already knows the church is true he just doesn’t want to admit it yet. But we will keep trying with them!! I love you all. Have a wonderful week in good ole Utah!!


Sister Walker

No comments:

Post a Comment