9-9-13

Alright, well here comes the update!  A lot happened this week, but that's nothing new right? Where to begin? Honestly everything often blurs together and it's hard for me to remember when things actually happened. So I guess I'll begin with the pig roast. Our neighbor, Brother F, is a Tongan who is also in our ward. He has a crazy life story, and you can hardly understand his English sometimes, but he's such a great guy. No joke, he goes tracting for us! Here just picks a street and then knocks on doors and hands out Books of Mormon. Then he gives us a list of names and addresses to follow up on. Oh, those follow ups were pretty entertaining, because most of the names weren't even spelled right. He even got a the son of a Jehovah's Witness family to take one haha, but we didn't think it would be a very good idea to go back to that house. We don't want to start any confrontation or Bible bash. Anyway, so Brother F helped us have a ward luau with a Tongan pig roast. He buried a giant pig in a pit in the ground and then you build a fire over it and cook it. It was a great success and lots of investigators and member came. Our only investigator was D, but it worked out well, because we could put all our focus on her. I was so proud of our ward. Everyone really came together and welcomed all the strangers. There were big smiles all around and just a great family feel. I don't think D has had much experience with functions like this and she just ate it up. She said she loved the peaceful, loving feeling she had, and that's what this church is all about right? Loving and supporting one another, so that we can all come unto Christ. 

    Okay, so the next day, we got to do another cool thing. We brought Jerry and Dominique to all the church history sites in Palmyra. It's about a 2 hour drive, so the R (a senior couple) drove D and J and we drove ourselves. what an awesome opportunity it was! It's one thing when you just tell someone your own testimony of Joseph Smith, but it's another when they can go to the very place where he grew up and the very grove of trees where God appeared and called him as a prophet. Going to these places just takes me back to when I was a high school teen and really did not have a testimony of Joseph Smith. I knew the Book of Mormon was true, but I really hadn't bothered with Joseph Smith, because it really was quite a strange story. I had a lot of doubts. A young farm boy being visited by an angel and digging up gold plates? How was I to know he hadn't made everything up? However, I promise that anyone who truly puts in a good amount of research into the story of Joseph Smith and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, there is truly no way it could be made up. this farm boy should have lived and died in obscurity, yet he started a church and translated a book that continues to spread throughout the world. Truth doesn't fizzle out. How perfect that he was an uneducated farm boy, who knew nothing of Hebrew culture or history, who had a 3rd grade education, and yet the Book of Mormon has been proven to endure historical scrutiny with authenticity? How could he do that? Facts aside, there is a peace that comes to my heart when I truly ask if Joseph's story really is true. That is all God wants. We only need ask and search and He will give us the answers we seek, but only if we truly open our hearts and minds to receive His answer without fear. Something that we stress to our investigators (and members) is that all of the stories and people and revelations and changes have only one purpose: to bring us to the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, our Savior. He is the focus. He is what this gospel centers on. He should be the bottom line of every parable, every story, every book, every experience. Jesus Christ is our hope for a beautiful future, for a peaceful world, for a healing heart. We can't let doctrines distract us or stop seeking until we understand HOW they bring us closer to truly knowing Christ on a personal level, for that is their sole purpose. 

    Watching our investigators walk through the Sacred Grove, the very place where God appeared to Joseph Smith, was such an interesting experience. I could almost see to their hearts, and they were being filled with peace and reverence. In fact, D could sense that it was a sacred place and decided she should take off her shoes, so she and Sister A walked together through the grove barefoot. What place could be more appropriate right?

   Well, transfers are tomorrow and this is sis A's last day before going home :( :( :( I'm really going to miss her. She has taught me so much through her example, and her energy kept me peppy when I was so often discouraged. I have no doubt she will continue to be a great missionary even after she goes home. Our area is getting split and we are getting two new sisters, probably in our house. Fun:)! Even better, the two new sisters are a visa waiter and a Guatemalan sister who also speaks Portuguese!! Que legal! Oh, and Elder L got his visa last week, so things are looking promising. I'm feeling good about my visa. I think it's coming within this transfer. My love for Brazil is honestly growing even though I'm not there, but I have so much to do here and really love the people. God's timing truly is best, so I'm trying to not get anxious. Prayers are much appreciated still. 

We are all sooooo blessed. Remember that. Okay I love yall.