Dates Serving

Serving November 2014 to May 2016. Includes weekly emails from the mission and updates as a returned missionary.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Jesus é bom

Olá todo mundo :)

Things went really great this week, just like every week.  I LOVE being a missionary. Have I said that enough? Anyway, this week I've been listening to all the conference talks in English and it is so fantastic. I  understood it in  Portuguese  but it is just more  personal  to hear it  in  your own  language,  in their  own words. I  also couldn’t  pay much attention to the sessions on Sunday because I was thinking  about  a million things at once,  with finding rides  for investigators and worrying about the ones we couldn’t get in contact with. So I am happy now to listen to all the talks in peace :) 
I have also been listening to some songs in Spanish a lot this week. I still want to learn Spanish! I will once I get home.  But I got the song Glorious by David Archeleta in Spanish and I love it! My comp and I also decided to 'ponderize' (reference from gen conference, Check it out!!) scriptures in Portuguese, English, and Spanish every week. Challenge accepted! This week we ponderized 3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."  Good stuff.

This week a sister in the ward gave us money for lunch and we made Lasagna! It was mostly Sister C. Lima who made it but I helped out. Now I know how to make Brazilian lasagna, so be excited for that when I get home. ;)

Something else delicious we ate this week was tapioca with chocolate filling. YUM! It’s sad that we don’t have this type of tapioca in the United States.

We had a Family home evening with some less actives that was fantastic. People here are so amazing. We watched the Mormon Message by Elder Christofferson called the Will of God. We may not know why certain things happen to us, but we need to remember that it is all a part of God's plan for us. We just have to trust in Him and keep moving forward in faith. 

Sister C. Lima  asked Carlos, the father of the family  to say the  closing  prayer and to everyone’s astonishment,  he got right up to say a heartfelt  prayer to our Father in heaven. Later, his son Gerson, who's preparing for a mission, told us that he had never heard his dad pray out loud before. Gerson wants so much that his family comes back to church, and I know that his prayers are being answered.  Maybe not as quickly as he would like, but it is all according to the time of the Lord.

Other people that we are teaching and that are progressing are Val, William, Karol, and Diego. William was a miracle who went to conference with a friend and loved it. He also had already downloaded the Book of Mormon on his phone and had read it before we taught him! Miracles! Val is another miracle that we are teaching and helping a lot.  She knows that church is important and that she needs to go every week. She has two little boys who are a little crazy. One primary teacher called Junior 'Pimentinha', basically little fire ball, or little pepper. So that makes church exciting. I love her and I know that she was prepared by angels to hear the gospel.

Finally, there's Karol and Diego. Karol is doing fantastic. She always talks about the church as 'her church' and wants to follow its teachings. She says prayers like she has been a member for years and is reading the Book of Mormon and listening to general conference. The ONLY problem is the law of chastity. It’s been hard to sit down and talk with Diego because he was running from us for a bit, but we finally sat down and talked to him a couple times this week. Slowly we have seen the change in him.  He came to church the week before conference and liked it, but he still needs to pray about the Book of Mormon. Karol wants Diego to be coming to church before she gets baptized or commits to living the law of chastity. It’s difficult to accept but I know that it’s all in the Lords timing. We just have to trust in him and keep praying for guidance.

Whoa super long email. Alright, just to finish, this week we heard a lot of people tell us "Jesus é bom.'' Jesus is good. A lot of people from evangelical churches say that phrase or 'Paz no Senhor" when we pass by or say Good morning. So it’s kind of a passing comment between members of the church, almost like 'What would Jesus do?" But I got to thinking about that phrase Jesus é bom. Really, truly Jesus Christ is good.  He loves us and will help us with whatever we need. Heavenly Father made this beautiful world for us with all that we need to eat and survive. Have you ever thought about how amazing watermelon is? God made watermelon! And it is so delicious :)



Thank you all for reading

Love ya, Sister Berry