How Beautiful Upon the Mountains are the Feet

I never was a person to stress.  Perhaps it was because I always exercised a lot, ate healthy, had quick and ready access to cookies and chocolate when needed, or for whatever reason, I just had a much calmer outlook on life; but here on the mission, I stress.  It isn't that type of stress that everyone can see, but it's the kind of stress that eats at my from the inside out.  The kind of stress that often even I don't notice until something drastic happens, like a red light flashing in my face - "you are stressed out, you need to calm down!"

This week, we went on splits with the new Sister Leaders, Sister Britez and Sister Borges, the two Sisters with whom I arrived in the field.  The three of us had a great time reminiscing about the CTM and our various experiences on the mission so far.  I spent the whole day with Sister Borges, making contacts and teaching.  We were out walking in the hot sun from 1:00 pm until 9:00 pm.  My feet, which had various open cuts (small and insignificant) because of mosquito bites, had become slightly infected the day before.  I didn't pay them any mind because normally I have a strong immune system that takes care of little things like that.  Plus, I was washing them every morning and night, and soaking them in saline solution (water mixed with salt).  However, by the end of the day with Sister Borges, my right foot was completely swollen, and it was difficult to walk.  Sister Borges took one look at my foot and said, "Sister Fernelius, you need to get rid of the stress in your life!"  I laughed and said, "That's fine coming from the girl who has some stomach disease now because of stress on the mission!"  hahaha  We both laughed about that, but then seriously talked about how we could remove some of the stress in our life.  This past week, had been very difficult for Sister De Paula and I.  We had hardly gotten into any houses, and all of our investigators stopped progredindo.  Sister Borges shared a story she had heard about Pres Bednar going to give a very sick man a blessing.  When Pres Bednar went to give the blessing, he asked the man, "Do you have the faith to not be healed?"  Sister Borges then turned to me and said, "Sister Fernelius, do you have the faith to do everything in your power to baptize, and then not succeed, and on top of that suffer a bit more from illness or injuries?"  This was a deep question.  Everyone always talks about how we need to have the faith to have miracles in our life.  But perhaps, the hardest faith to aquire is the faith to not receive a miracle but to continue to trust in the Lord and obey His commandments.  It made me think of your State Conference notes, Mom, and the talk by Elder Gay.  He was sacrificing everything, and yet he was suffering.  Sometimes, it doesn't make sense, but we have to continue to trust in the Lord and stand in our rank even though it appears as if we will lose it all and that no 'back up help' is on its way.  Well, I decided that I had the faith to give it my all and still 'suffer'.  I took care of my feet, but continued to work, and in the last three days of our week, Sister De Paula and I received an out pouring of blessings!  Truly, the Lord is looking out for us.  As it says in the scriptures, the Lord will 'try the faith of His people', and if we remain faithful além de tudo, o Senhor vai nos fortalecer e tornar nossas fraquezas nossos pontos fortes!

During one of our lunches, a friend of the member who didn't know that he couldn't hug Sisters, went in to give me a hug.  He kind of caught me off guard, so I just accepted the hug, but awkwardly.  Afterward, the member notified him on that little rule, and he became super embarrassad!  When we went to leave after lunch, he didn't even shake my hand, he just smiled and said, "Tchao, sinta você abraçada!"  (consider yourself hugged!)  haha

My feet are doing much better now, and you can thank a bunch of members who gave me rides, and a member who is a doctor who looked at my feet.  Everyone was super great to help me out, and I am pretty much back to normal now.

Nutella!

Everyday, I realize just how small this world is.  On Tuesday, there was a leadership training in João Pessoa.  The Sister Britez from Guarabira came in for the meeting, and her companion, Sister Woodland, spent the morning with us.  Sister Woodland is fresh from the CTM in São Paulo and had gotten to know Cassie while she was there!  Cassie had thoughtfully sent a little note with her to bring to me, not even knowing if we would see each other, but it worked out perfectly!!  After we met up with her, we stopped by the store to grab a few things...primarily Nutella because it is only 5 reais in this certain store, and 10 reais or more in every other store.  When the check out lady scanned the Nutella, it came up as 2 reais.  I pointed it out to her and asked her if there was a problem with the computer.  She asked around, and found out that because of the expiration date on the Nutella (June), they were selling it for a reduced price.  Finishing off a container of Nutella before June is no sweat for me, so I went back and grabbed two more, just for good measure! haha!  We had a great companionship study that morning, doing practices in between snacking on Nutella and crackers!

If someone ever needs a cheap idea of how to put more excitement and adventure in their life, I'd tell them to put aside the car for a week, and get out and walk on the streets for 7-8 hours everyday.  Friday was an interesting day.  First, we woke up to down pouring rain.  When the rain didn't stop by lunch time, we decided to take a bus to our lunch appointment instead of walking.  In our hurry to get a bus, we got on the wrong bus, and had a nice hour bus tour of João Pessoa!  Then, just our luck, once we got to our correct stop, it was still raining and we had about a five minute walk to the members' home.  In those few minutes of walking in the down pouring rain, I managed to arrive at the member's home completely soaked.  So much for the bus keeping us dry!  This member happens to be a returned missionary, so she gave me some clothes to wear  during lunch while she dried me dress.  It was a blessing to leave the house with dry clothes, but it didn't last too long with the continued down pour of rain.  By now, the roads were filled with water, and every car that passed by my companion and I feared being sprayed with water.  At one point, we were passing an abnormally large puddle when I saw a bus barrelling down the road toward us.  I didn't think twice - I took off running in the weeds away from the edge of the road.  The bus passed, and didn't even touch the water.  My companion, who had stayed near the road began laughing at me and my insanity.  At that very moment, a tiny, 5 passenger car, zipped by unnoticed, and completely drenched my companion!  hahaha!  I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.  Oh the good times that happen on the streets!

Our ward mission leader is preparing to serve a mission, and full of energy.  When he was called to be our leader, the first thing he told us is that he wanted to do lots of fun activities with the ward.  My companion and I started brainstorming right away.  This Saturday, we managed to put together an activity that is very similar to the 'minute to win it' challenges.  We divided up into two teams, women vs men (always makes for good competition)!  Then, we had various challenges - Eating a cookie that is on your forehead without using your hands - Sucking up small pieces of candy from one bowl and putting it in another bowl - rolling a coin to fit inbetween the prongs of a fork - and my favorite...eating a plate of spaghetti with your two hands tied to the hands of another person!  All of the members adored the activity!  We even had the Baptist cousion of a recent convert who came to participate and absolutely loved it!  He told us that he would definitely be coming to our next activity.  We invited him to come to church on Sunday, buuut he wasn't quite so sure about that.  Tudo bem, at least he's converted to our fun activities.  We're one step in the right direction!  

During my mission, I've always been interested by the fact that one day we can meet someone who seems super excited to know more about the church, be baptized, or come to church on Sunday, and then when we return to take them to church or commit them to read the Book of Mormon or to be baptized, they have no interest at all.  How can someone go from hot to cold so fast and with seemingly no reason at all?  As I thought about this, I began to wonder if there was a comparison between this and how we act with Heavenly Father at times.  Often, we have moments when we are 'hot'.  We have a great church meeting, or a spiritual experience, and we are totally pumped up to be better and change.  Then, when we return home, and the moment has come to act and put in practice what we have learned and been invited to do, we turn 'cold', and resort back to the way we have been living.  As we learn in 2 Nephi, we have the power to ACT!!!  When we have 'hot' moments in our life, we need to put what we learned into practice and follow the spiritual promptings that we received.  I know that this Gospel is true, and that when we act and put in practice the principles of this Gospel, we will be truly blessed!

Eleitos!

The week of transfers always tends to be busier than any other week.  Sister De Paula and I had had very successful days on Monday and Tuesday, so we decided that we wanted to leave our area on Friday to help the Sisters in Cabedelo since the Sister who had stayed in Cabedelo was now training a new missionary.  Everything was perfect until Sister De Paula suddenly become sick Wednesday night.  We both knew that we couldn’t lose another day of work, but Sister De Paula was in no condition to walk in the sun all day.  So, I started thinking of all the options we had.  After numerous phone calls, I finally worked it out that Sister De Paula would stay with a member who lived in the same apartment building as us, and I would go out teaching with a young woman in the ward.  This young woman is preparing to serve a mission, so the day with me doing missionary work was perfect!  

Usually, when we are walking on the streets, we are moving at a pretty fast pace, but I always try to keep my eyes open, looking at each person as I pass and paying attention to how I feel.  One day, as we past a man, he looked at me in the eyes.  We passed him, and I felt the need to look back.  As I looked back, our eyes met again, and I made a movement as if to want to start a conversation with us.  I immediately stopped and began to talk to him.  As it turns out, he had been visiting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints three years ago with a friend.  During this time, he lived with his girlfriend, and wasn’t baptized.  Now, he lives alone, and has a great desire to start coming to Church again and be baptized!  Truly, as it says in Preach My Gospel, the Lord is preparing people to receive the Gospel.  There are people out on the streets every day, just waiting to receive the Gospel.  We just need to believe, have faith, and open our mouths!!

Families & Sacrifice

A mission is full of experiences where you do something without really knowing the reason why.  Sister De Paula and I had just finished knocking at a member's home with no success, when I noticed a man standing on the other side of the street.  He didn't appear too well, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to him.  When we began to talk to him, it was clear that he was drunk.  My contacts with drunks usually go something like this, "We have a message that can help you have a better life.  We are missionaries, and we help people change their lives so that they can be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost.  Are you willing to stop drinking and put aside other addictions or sins in order to be baptized?"  I like to make sure that they have no doubts about what our purpose is and what they are going to have to change in order to be baptized.  This man thought for a moment, and agreed that he would like to have a better life, and that he was willing to stop drinking and smoking.  The next question we asked him was if he was legally married.  He replied that he was.  Beleza!!!  As we walked away, I commented to my companion, "It is way easier to help someone stop drinking and smoking than to convince someone that they need to be legally married.  We began teaching this family, and were astonished by how elect they were!  Within a week, the man, stopped drinking and smoking.  The man and his wife both begun to pray everyday, and even though the man doesn't know how to read super well, he is reading a bit in the Book of Mormon everyday as well!  This past Sunday they both came to church and loved it!  During one of our lessons, the man asked us, "Have you guys noticed a change in me?"  We replied, "Indubitably!  Your entire countenance radiates with the righteous changes you are making in your life!"  After about two weeks of visiting them, out of no where I felt prompted to ask the wife if they had truly been married legally.  I pushed the thought aside, because I didn't want to believe that there was possiblity of them not being married legally.  Yet, I couldn't resist the impression.  Imagine my disappointment, when I asked the wife about their marriage, and she replied that they weren't married legally!  NOOOO!!  (remember, it is easier to help someone to stop drinking and smoking than it is to convince someone to get married)  My companion and I taught a great lesson about the importance of marriage, but the very same man who easily stopped drinking and smoking in a week, is now reluctant to marry legally (even though he and his wife have lived together for 13 years)!  Misericordia!!  Our only hope now is to pray for a miracle!  This family is too perfect to not be baptized!

Last Wednesday, Sister De Paula and I packed up everything to move to our new apartment in Bessa.  When we arrived in Bessa, we found out that our washing machine and mattresses hadn't arrived yet.  On top of that, the man who was renting our apartment still had not removed all of his things or cleaned the place.  It didn't take us long to make the decision to return to Cabedelo and wait for a few more days.  If everything goes well, we will be moving today!

This transfer, our Zone is doing an interesting thing.  This month is the last month for President and Sister Hall, and everyone in the mission wants to send them home with lots of baptisms.  So, our Zone has decided to be more unified and make a few more sacrifices in order to receive more blessings.  Every week, our Zone leaders choose one day for all of the missionaries to leave their own areas and to come to another area to make contacts and help find prepared people in that area.  This past Friday, Sister De Paula and I left Bessa for the day and went to the Center of João Pessoa to make contacts.  I couldn't help but worry a bit about our area and the appointments that we were missing, and the people that we were not finding in our area, but I put these thoughts aside, decided to trust in the Lord, and went to work in the Center!  Even though we basically lost an entire day of work in our area, the Lord truly blessed us.  We were able to reach all of our goals, and the biggest miracle was that on Sunday, we had 8 investigators at Church!!  I have a strong testimony of the importance of sacrifices.  Often, the Lord simply wants us to show that we are willing to do His will, and that we trust in Him, even when His commands don't make sense.  Like Abraham and Issac, the Lord didn't want Abraham to truly offer Issac as a sacrifice, He only wanted to see if Abraham trusted in Him enough to obey.  Likewise, we will be asked to make certain sacrifices in our lives that don't make sense, or that seem 'too much to ask'.  Yet, if we are faithful, and trust in the Lord, we will see that the Lord's blessings are far greater than the small sacrifice we are asked to make.

Flip Flops and Water - Lots of it!

Well, we have officially entered the 'epoca de chuva' here in João Pessoa.  Every morning, we wake up to pouring rain, and if we're lucky we get to walk in it all day as well!  Early in the week, we returned home from an uneventful P-Day shopping trip to realize that we had lost the keys to our front door.  Once the reality of the situation sunk in, the four of us calmly walked around to the bedroom window almost at the back of the house, pushed it open, and climbed in.  For the next three days, we entered and left our apartment climbing in and out of our bedroom window!  hahaha!  Just imagine what a sight we made, four girls in skirts climbing in and out of a window!  It's a good thing that the window is at the back of our house and no one from the street can see us!

Tuesday morning, my companion woke up throwing up, and one of the other Sisters woke up sick as well.  The two of us healthy Sisters climbed out the window and headed to the Farmácia to buy some 'Dramin'.  When we returned back to the house, I began to feel sick as well.  So, I took some 'Dramin' and laid down to see if I could get feeling better by the afternoon to get out and work.  Imagine - on a normal day I can sleep like a rock in qualquer lugar e em qualquer momento...add some medicine with a strong sleeping effect, and I sleep like a dead person.  Literally, I laid down at around 9:00 am, and when I returned to conciousness, it was 7:00 pm!!  Needless to say, my companion and I didn't get out to work on Tuesday.  The next few days of walking in a constant state of 'soaked' because of the rain were perfect to recuperate!  Yet, the Lord blessed us because of our diligence and sacrifice.  On Saturday our investigator Josivan was baptized!!!  

No baptism is a calm baptism.  Sempre, sempre, sempre tem alguma bagunça no dia do batismo!!  Saturday, my companion and I were walking to lunch, when all of a sudden, my sandals that I have used for about a year, broke!  We were 30 minutes from our apartment, no time to return, and I had 10 reais in my bag.  So, we did the only sensible thing we could do in the moment, entered the nearest Mercadinho, and bought a pair of flipflops!  It was strange walking in the streets with flipflops, showing off the awesome tanline that I had after one year of using the same kind of sandal in the sun, but it was better than walking bearfoot!  Our next bit of excitement happened as we were walking to the Church for the baptism.  We had planned for our ward mission leader to pass by the home of Josivan and pick him up.  Thirty minutes before the baptism, our cell phone rang.  It was our ward mission leader.  "Oí Sisters, eu passei na casa de Josivan, mas ele não estava.  Tudo estava fechado.  Eu acho que ele fugiu..."  I listened in stunned silence, but replied calmly.  "Tá bom, vamos passar na casa da mãe dele, e depois nós vamos na igreja."  Sister De Paula and I turned around, and headed to Josivan's mother's home.  She told us that she had no idea where Josivan was.  So, we decided to pass by Josivan's home by the slim chance that he might have returned during this brief period of time.  The whole time we were walking, I was praying that by some miracle we could run into Josivan in the road, or at least find him at home.  The tiny alley way that led to Josivan's house was completely dark, but I could hear music playing faintly in the darkness.  We entered, and approached Josivan's door.  There, in a hammock, lay Josivan, sound asleep, and listening to some Bob Marley type of music.  Apparently, he had worked later than normal, arrived home after our ward mission leader had stopped by, and went to sleep.  We woke him up, talked him through putting a towel and some clothes in a backpack, and headed off to the Church for his baptism!!  Even now, I can hardly believe that Josivan was baptized.  There have been countless obstacles placed in his path to prevent his baptism, but each time, a miracle has happened to make his baptism possible.  Truly, the Lord is in control.  This is His work, and nothing can stop it as it moves forward, filling the entire earth!!  I love this Gospel, and I love this blessed opportunity that I have to be a missionary and help others fill their lives with the blessings of the Gospel!!!

The Lord's Answers

The first three days in Bessa Sister De Paula and I spent much of our time getting to know the area, trying to meet the members, and searching for an apartment.  In all of this craziness, we did our best to find people to teach and fulfill the key indicator goals that we have every week.  It was the Saturday night after the second session of General Conference, and we had managed to get two young men from our ward to show us around their neighborhood.  As we were walking down the streets of their neigborhood, we stopped to make a contact.  In the middle of our contact, another man showed up and listened in. Out of habit, I included him in the invitation to come to church with us the next Sunday.  He replied that he couldn't come this Sunday, but that he would go the next Sunday.  Since he showed a little potential, we asked for his address.  However, he had recently moved houses, and we had no idea where anything was.  So, we grabbed what reference points we could from him and marked a return visit, with no idea how we would find his house to make this visit.  The next week, we headed to the local where this man had described.  We spent 30-60 minutes walking up and down the street asking people if they knew our investigator.  (Usually, if you hit the right street where someone lives, you just have to say their name and anyone can tell you where they live!)  After an hour of searching and no progress, we decided to give up and head to another investigator's house.  Our other investigator lives on the same street, but down a little alley way.  As we knocked on her door, the neighbor stuck out their head to see who was knocking.  Much to our astonishment, the neighbor was the man we had meant on Saturday and had been searching for for the past hour!  Without a doubt, the Lord knew that this man was prepared to hear and accept the Gospel because there is no other way we would have found his home if we hadn't been led by the spirit!  It has been incredible to watch this man's progress in such a short time.  After the first lesson with him, he began to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning, and reads a little everyday when he comes home from work!  Before every lesson, he always has a list of questions for us about something that he has read in the Book of Mormon!  When we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, he willingly gave us all the coffe he had in return for another type of drink that is similar to coffee, but not harmful (Cevada).  He is truly an 'eleito'!  Yet, as his baptism drew closer, he expressed his fear of being baptized and then falling away because of a lack of friends or other temptations.  Sister De Paula and I used and said everything to help resolve his worries and doubts, but nothing worked.  Finally, I looked him in the eye and said, "You are prepared to be baptized, but you need to receive this confirmation from God.  So, we have a special invitation for you.  Tonight, you will pray and ask God whether or not you should be baptized.  Then, you are going to open up the Book of Mormon and place your finger on a verse and start to read.  I know that Heavenly Father will answer your prayer with what you read.  Do you have the faith that you will receive an answer in this way?"  Our investigator looked calmly back at me, and with total confidence replied, "Yes, I believe, and I will do this tonight."  The next day, we arrived at his house, anxious to see what his answer had been.  We started out the lesson, and he told us that he had said the prayer and opened the Book of Mormon.  We asked him where he had opened up to.  A few suspensful minutes passed by as he thumbed through the pages looking for the verse that he had read and marked.  At the point when the silence was almost suffocating, he spoke, "I read here," and motioned to a verse in the book of Alma.  We asked him if he could read it for us.

"...I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers." (Alma 24:7)

As he read, it was all I could do but shout for joy!  I started praying in my head, "please help him understand this verse in the same way that I am understanding this verse, because this is the answer he needs!!"  Once he finished reading, I looked up at him and asked, "what was your answer?"  He smiled and replied, "you are the people that God has sent to me to help me follow Jesus Christ and live a better life."  YES!!!!  I love the answers that Heavenly Father gives!!  They are always so perfect, so simple, and so clear!  I know that Heavenly Father understands our worries and doubts.  He knows us in a very personally way; and if we seek His help through study and pray, we will find specific and clear answers for our lives as well!

Fogo Nos Ossos!!

While I was in Sousa, the four of us Sisters who lived together had a saying that we always said as we left our apartment to go to work.  We said, "Sorriso no rosto, fogo nos ossos, e Livro de Mórmon na mão!"  (Smile on your face, fire in your bones, and Book of Mormon in hand!)  Everyday, it's what we said to get ourselves pumped up to head out in the burning sun and preach the Gospel!  My favorite part about this saying is the part in the middle, "fogo nos ossos!"  The interesting things about this saying, is that the prophet Jeremiah also used this terminolgy to describe his passion for the Gospel.  During a very difficult time in his life, when he was imprisioned, mocked, and persecuted, the prophet Jeremiah became discouraged.  In Jeremiah 20:9, he expresses his feelings of wanting to give up, but then he says, "but his word (the word of God) was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones...and I could not stay!"  I love this description!  Even amidst his trials and persecutions, the prophet Jeremiah burned with the energy and power of the word of God.  The key to obtaining this same passion for the Gospel in our own lives, is found in the very same scripture; "The word was in mine heart."  Everyone of us will feel weak at times, but where do we find our strength - in the word of God - the scriptures!  When we truly have the word of God written upon our hearts, we too will have 'fire in our bones' to serve the Lord, and conquer the trials we are called to bear.