I've officially completed my second transfer (6-week period) of the
mission and my first one in the field!! This morning has been absolutely
crazy getting calls from literally everyone in my district. I haven't seen the
full list yet, but I know that everyone in our house is staying, and
that the leader of our neighboring district is now our district leader. So
really not that different for me, although President made a lot of
changes in leadership and opened up some new crazy far away areas for
sisters!
This week has been crazy crazy hot as usual. And I've
heard it's going to get worse, since it's only January right now. But
don't worry, we're staying sunscreened and hydrated, and everyone's been
making sure we're taken care of.
One day we were leaving
Almoço and heading out to start working and just dying of thirst, and we remembered
that there's this one friend of ours who isn't interested at all in what
we have to teach, but really respects our work and always talks to us as
we walk by and offers us water and stuff so we decided to stop and ask.
It turns out that one of her friends that hangs out there with her is a
member of the church who hasn't been in years, but wants to come back.
She said she's seen us walk by her house twice (she lives on our street, but way way on the other side) and twice by her friend's store, and
all four times she felt like she should call out to us, but didn't. She
was super happy to talk to us and share her story, and wants us to come
visit her and help her start going back to church! And we wouldn't have
found her if we weren't dying of thirst (haha). Heavenly Father answers
prayers, but often not in the way we expect!
We also got a
crazy surprise from Rita this week. She was taught by the other sisters,
and then we've been working with her for a while, but we stopped
visiting her this week because she told she wasn't interested. Well, one
night we got a call from a brother in the ward saying he had been there
to visit them and that she said something about getting ready for her
baptism! We were totally late for a dinner with another sister in the
ward, on the complete opposite side of the neighborhood, but we
practically ran there to see what was up. I'm not sure what changed
during the week, but the atmosphere in the house was COMPLETELY
different. Almost like there was more light, more warmth, more
something. Super cool! And, she wants to be baptized this weekend! It's
amazing how strong the difference in people's lives is when they decide
to follow Jesus Christ.
Regina is the other Senhora we've been
working with lately. Goodness, she is adorable! She has some very strong
thoughts about religion, and has just been thrilled to find everything
she's looking for. We taught her the Word of Wisdom (revelation to the
prophet Joseph Smith regarding foods/substances that are good for our
bodies) and ohmygoodness she absolutely loved it. Not the response
we usually get! And we also took her to church yesterday, and she loved
that even more! It was fast and testimony meeting (one week of each month where no prepared messages are planned, but the members are encouraged to share their testimonies or brief spiritual experiences at an open mic) and every time someone got up to talk she was
nodding and crying, and just soooo in agreement with everything. She
said she's been before, and I'm not sure why she isn't already a member,
because it's honestly everything she wants in life.
Everyone
else kind of comes and goes pretty quickly, but I know they'll be found
again someday, just like we found Rita and Regina.
I'm just about out of time, but I love you all and I'm wishing you all an ótima semana! :)
-Sister Kirkham
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