This is
totally starting at the end, but Aliny was baptized on Saturday!! I'll
fill in all the details as I go, but it was beautiful and packed, and
she was confirmed Sunday during church :) She and her mom also managed
to snag a spot on our very well-filled lunch calendar, so I'm excited
for that! (Not that we're not there eating with them every day)
Real
quick summary of the week. We had interviews with President on Tuesday.
It was great as always, although earlier than usual, so now we have to
spend half the transfer interpreting the hints he left about the next
one. Because apparently it's already made. But I'm like 95%
positive I'm staying. District meeting was fairly normal, minus the food
(one of the elders brought coxinhas. Won't take time to explain them
this week but trust me they're amazing) and the dropped 2L bottle of
Coca Cola. Blame the greenie! But hey, he cleaned it up, so it's
all fair. Ooh we also had splits in Vitoria this week, and I got to see a
lot more of the city, and even walk along the ocean! (But not on the
beach, because that's a no-no). It was honestly a really amazing
learning experience. We also had a training about being a consecrated
missionary, and we were challenged to choose a few things to put on the
"altar of sacrifice." I won't share everything, but one of my things is
day-dreaming while we're walking to appointments. It's such a small
thing, but it makes a HUGE difference! Seriously huge. Right off the
bat, I could tell that I was closer to the spirit, better prepared to
teach, more in harmony with my companion, and way more connected to all
of the people walking by. I haven't left a challenge in a while, so
here's one for you all: what are you going to put on the altar of
sacrifice this week?
We have 3 new people to
teach that have tons of potential, so I'm excited for that! Talita is
super sweet, and super receptive, but unfortunately works all day every
day at the grocery store, so it's going to be a struggle to find time to
teach her, but we'll figure something out. We ran into some relative of
Aparecida when we were knocking doors, and were so impressed that we
immediately passed him on as a reference. And then we'll teach her in
the meantime :) And then there's Andre. He was a reference from our AP,
and is seriously awesome. The first person we've taught to express
doubts about the First Vision (this country's religious atmosphere is
weird, but seriously, no one ever questions that part) but to me, that
means he's actually taking it in. He also works a ton, and can only
recieve us on Saturdays, but you can bet we're going back! (and not just
because we ran out of the awesome new fruit he gave us, I promise! :P)
Rita
is our recent convert that we haven't seen in awhile because her
drug-addicted son ran away and she didn't want to see anyone. But
anyway, our Bishop is awesome and found a 9-month care program for
Rodrigo, which helped her calm down a bit. She was out on the street
waiting for us when we went to pick her up for church, and she stayed
all 3 hours (for the first time) AND wants us to teach her neighbor!
Talk about blessings!
AAAAnd that leaves us
with Aliny's family! Ok so like I said, Aliny was baptized this week,
and is almost totally recovered from her smoking! In the past, her mom,
Sara, had a little bit of resistance over Aliny being baptized, since
she tends to be a little impulsive, but that totally changed this week.
I'll get to the whole story in a minute, but Sara had a dream about
Aliny committing suicide, and told us that she'd been praying for Aliny
for a long time, and knew she needed a different path. As she shared in
Sunday School (THAT was awesome!) "The answer to my prayer could have
been missionaries from this church or that church, but no, it was from
the Church of Jesus Christ, and so I know that it's right, and I'm
planning on becoming a member too." Talk about wow!!
Ok now I'll back up a little bit. The entire story is in my journal, but here's the gist:
A
couple of days ago, Sister Farias had a dream that when Wanderley and
Sara returned from their trip to São Paulo, Wanderley told us that he
had been reading the book of mormon and praying, and decided that he
wanted to be baptized. You can probably imagine how excited we were to
go back after that haha. But anyway, we went back the next day and, as
it turned out, both Wanderley and Sara had in fact been reading the BoM
during the trip, and had some pretty miraculous experiences, but both of
them wanted one more confirmation. We discussed the role of the Holy
Ghost a bit, and I encouraged Wanderley to pray VERY specifically that
night. I (and in case you were wondering, it wasn't really me, just the
spirit working through me) to tell God that he had recieved an answer,
but that he wanted a confirmation, and when he got it, he would be
baptized. Long story short, he got really quiet, but accepted my
invitation, and the very next day, he told us that he had recieved a
clear answer, and decided to be baptized! Anyways, we planned for him to be baptized with Aliny,
but things didn't work out with the interview because it was pretty late
in the week, so he's prepping for next Saturday instead. And I think
Sara will join him :)
I promise I'm taking pictures, and I'll get them to you as soon as I can!
I
really am quite literally out of time (sorry I didn't respond to
anyone!) , but I love you all and I'll have more news next week!!
-With love, Sister Kirkham
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