12-31-12

oh mainha!!!!

       When we skyped i was at a lan house. where they have a room and a bunch of computers! but so much has happened this week! tipo..its so hard to work durning the holdiays! nobodys at home or theyre getting ready for the holiday! sorry my english is realy bad! and it was super hard to speak english no Natal...er christmas! so sorry for that haha i didnt know what to say! but it was so good to talk to you!!!

      we had another baptism no domingo..er sunday! antonio marcos. we were trying to talk to him for over a month and finally got to and he was baptized sunday. but he wasnt at church sunday and has been avoiding us a little bit. this week sis namura and i are going to foucus on strengthening the new members and recent converts and menos ativos! im realy lookin forward to this because i remember what prez porter said in my setting apart!

       oh so yesterday i think i experienced every type of emotion i could have! we have been working with a boy, lucas for about as long as ive been here ( 2months n a little) and finaly was going to baptize him sunday! same sunday i am giving my first talk(freakin out right!) so we were preppin him all week and hes good to go right...sunday rollsa round..noshow! fala serio!!! so we went in a room to pray. mama, i was humbled during that prayer. it was a spritual experience for both of us! but after we find a corona(person with a car basically) and drive to his house n talk to him. his mom didnt authorize it, hes only 16 n his dads a pastor! so we were way bummed n talked wit him a bit but we had to return to give our talks! it was great, i was doin the whole hand gesture thing that people do when they dont speak the language very well, so you can probably imagine what i looked like haha but it was good talked for 25 min! after we taught this kid who was at church sunday with members, William is his name. we met him friday at out christmas ward party! but he was there sunday, and mama talk about a golden contact! he was all talkin on friday about how the church he went to was super repetitive and they taught fastly and yelled! n he didnt want to go to church. but he was there! and talkin with him he realy liked church, he said people taught slow and asked questions and he understood and realy felt the spirit. he wants to be baptized this next week!!! we were so elated!!! so were going to work with him this week, tricky because he lives a hr away but he will be here during the week!

      um i dont realy think much else happened! just that the Lord realy hears our prayers. Its amazing to see the effect the gospel has on a persons life. to see their face light up when we teach them! last week was hard, but the same time, we have seen miracles and have so much to be thankful for!

      I feel like i have my Sister side. and then i have my Me side...i want to put the sides together! i want to feel like i am myself when i teach and talk to people,im learning, i feel WAY more serious in portugese than i do in english.

thank you for EVERYTHING!!!

beijos e abraços!!

sister benedict

 

12-17-12

Hi Mama,

   We taught some people and they accepted baptism, but nobody was at church on sunday. oh saturday i was so sick i couldnt even leave the house. we fasted friday after lunch to saturday and i think that was the cincher. i think i was a lil dehydrated before that n then fasting i dont think i drank enough water. ohman that is something i dont want anyone to experience!!! i was so weak i coulndt even bring myself to stand up or keep my eyes open, it was the worst. so yah...not a fun day. whats worse is we couldnt go out and teach, that really bothered me. but sis namura was so good to me. she made me food and was super sympathetic!i felt bad bc i couldnt eat. i still am not 100 percent but i can work atleast! its still hard to eat, i think i have a bug still but hey the plus side...i lost some weight haha also i got a blessing, oman mama..i am SO glad we have the priesthood on the Earth again!!! seriously, its something spiritual that turns physical. i dont know of any other way to explain it. i cant wait to have the priesthood in home again after the mission!!!

 

sis namra and i have the goal to baptize 3 people this week so i realy hope we work hard enough to do this.

 

its sad to hear about what happened at that school with that kid shooting people. i just cant begin to imagine what he was thinking. it reminds me of the story about alma and the people of anti-nephi-lehi (I think!!!) and how they covenanted to not fight the lamanites and thousands of them died by the hand of the lamanites before they stopped, and more lamanites were converted that day than were killed! but a verse in particular says that they werent worried about the people that died bcause they knew that they were pure and would inherit the celestial kingdom!! i know those little kids are saved and that theyare in a better place! they'll be waiting for their families!!!

 

 

Its sad but i forget that christmas is almost here, its just not the same when youre sweating in december haha i forget!!!

 

The mission is everything but yourself!!! everything we do is for other people and sometimes its hard. but mama, when i start to think about myself or do something for myself, i feel bad! like saturday, i felt sooo bad bc i felt like i was having a pity party for myself! but what we do as missionaries is try to teach people about Christ and its up to them to accept the message or not. it is so important to have a testimony of Christ.

He really is the only way. i felt like i had a realy strong testimony before i left, noway mama! i cant believe that people who have been members only 1 year serve missions!nossa!! its incredible! i dont know if iwould have that much faith to serve.

 

There is a kid here we are teaching, Lucas, and he is 17 and super duper intelligent! hes a well rounded kid. hes been to church the past 5 sundays and weve taught him basically everything and he is keeping all the commandments, but he wont be baptized yet. he doesnt feel like hes received a testimony.he wont really read the book of mormon or pray sincerely about it. he wants to know its true, and he knows!!! or else he wouldnt be goin to church or following the commandments. i really believe that the only way we can gain a testimony is to read the book of mormon and ask if its true!! we hear that our whole lives, but its that simple! we are the only people who can gain a testimony! nobody else can make us have a testimony!!!

 

 

what people say is true, a mission is the hardest thing you will EVER do! not hard in the way of i cant walk another step, but hard emotionally as well, but i will say this is the happiest ive ever been!

 

we had choir last night and we saw vanessa(sis oliveira/old companion) and she told me i look different,  look more angelic or more spiritual. i know that the Lord is in the very details of our lives. as hard as a mision is, i know that this is the happiest ive been, the most tired ive been, the most ive gone through every emotion every day ive been, the most tan ive been, the most dissapointed ive been, the most ive missed y'all but the most grateful ive been for making the decision to serve a mission!!! i truly am grateful for the Savior, without Him we would have NO way of returning to our Heavenly Father, this life literally would be for nothing without Christ.

 

His is the ultimate example of service, He gave His life for us. pres james e faust said that hope is the anchor of the soul!!! the savior is our hope, our anchor! i know that if we literally put our lives in His hands,we can be the instrument to play the sweet saving melody to help others.dont be afraid to give yourself over to the Lord,  look at the example of Christ, not what He said but what He did! what He still does for us! he changed my life! shucks im so filled with gratitude right now!its kinda funny im writing at the Lan house all cryin n all and people are lookin at me, owell! they should be used to it by now haha ok mama i love you! icant wait to talk to you on christmas!

 

sorry this letter is long!

love sis benedict

ps

ilove you cant wait to talk to you soon!!!!!

ps im doin a solo tomorrow! i love singin!!!

 

 

 

12-11-12

 

transfers are today but sis namura and i are staying here!! yay im stoked for this! sis oliveira left. she ended her corto prazo(dont know how to say this in english sorry) but she was a missionary only for a short time! so she left and we took her home(she lived 30 min away from us) so its going to be an ajustment with just 2 of us!!! we get mail sometimes there sometimes here, but i always know ill get a letter from you daddy! i look forward to it so much! oh as of next week pday is on monday! so just a heads up! um this week really wasn’t eventful! we are working with a few people but they aren’t really progressing. i still feel like we can work harder :/ but im learning patience!

its hotter than normal here!! im all sweaty and sticky before we even leave the house! the water acabou again last night! we didnt have any water to take a shower. so we had to heat up the little water we had in the fridge and take a ragbath...as much as i LOVE ragbaths i am so grateful we only have them hardly ever!!! its crazy its almost christmas...it realy doesnt feel like it here! i think this will be the first christmas ill have a tan for haha.  i really do feel blessed to be here. transfers were hard. elders left that i didnt want to. you really do become a family here! the language is still hard but a neat experience, i was writing a letter to...sister oliveira thats right! i wrote her a lilttle letter and i think it was in portenglish! and as i was writing i hadnt realized that i was mixing portuguese with english lol i had to read over the letter to see what language i was writing! so its kinda cool to see that progress! also we were in the car with members and they were listening to music..well i guess we were too we were in the car! but it was like 5min before i realized that it was in english! i had to ask haha i realy do believe in the gift of tongues! i learn so much every day and i know one day ill be able to communicate without any help from my comp! i pray for that day!!! i know that miracles happen! i know that we need to show our faith before miracles happen!! O Senhor me ama! he loves us and He wants us happy! miracles happen and we are blessed in so many ways. many times i feel like i dont deserve these blessings or miracles! but i know that the lord wants us happy!!!

 thank you so much for all of your support! thank you for teaching me in the gospel! thank you for your letters!!! thank you for loving me!!!

i love you sooooosososososo much!!!

love sister benedict

12-6-12

oh mama!!! its so good to hear from you! this week was by far the hardest week of my life! idont remember if i told you but last week one of my comp really wanted to go home. shes just a corto prazo(3month long mission) and had a really hard time last week! so we didnt get out and work all that much. and i feel like we break rules left and right and there is nothing i can do about it. like right now...were emailing today because we didnt have time on p day and i feel bad about it! y´kno things that you think you will have a hard time with and things you think you are good at are completely opposite here for me! ive discovered that i like to follow the rules! following rules really makes me happy. so few experiences this week i want to share:

1. my bed broke while i was sleeping!!!! my bed is held up by a bunch of 2x4s and during the night like 5 of them fell haha so i basically slept in a recliner! the mattress was elevated on both ends..que legal!

2. i tried to pray in english the other day...não consegui!!! i cant do it. it was so hard to pray in english. i think my companions can pray in english better than me haha tá bom!

3. sunday we didnt have anyone set for lunch and i really hate making food em casa so porque they take FOREVER to make and eat lunch. i just sit there thinking...we could be teaching someone right now or doing something productive! but thats not my story! during church i had a thought that we needed to visit this family before we went home and made lunch. i told my companions and they werent really excited with the idea of visiting this family before lunch but i was persistent and on the way to their house we met up with a member who takes care of us! por exemplo..lunches! he always asks where lunch is and wont let us eat em casa. well we met up with him irmão maikon and told us he was going to feed us! it was a miracle we met up with him bc he doesnt even live anywhere close to the family we went to visit(who ended up not even being home)!

4.i climbed a mountain on pday!!! we went to bomfim (2hrs away) and it was BEAUTIFUL!! i took so many pics. i really felt like i was in brasil haha but i ate the best bananas ever in my life! seriously..pluck off a tree and eat! they were the size of my palm and they were so good! a lady who lived in the boonies gave us water and her bannaas! omylanta! o and i let sis. oliveira wear my shoes..i think ive gone soft.. haha this mission has done a number on me!

shoot i want to tell you everything..i really cant wait to talk to you on christmas!! nossa! thats soon!!!

the work hasnt gone really well, were working with a couple people, the hard thing is just finding time to visit everyone. they are all home at the same time and our area is big and we(my comps) walk slow!! but people here are really receptive!!

one thing i learned this week that hard work doesnt always mean physical. exíste a citaçaõ que fala siguinte: "99% of problems on the mission can be solved by hard work" i was thinking about that quote and thinking man i havent been working hard enough, we dont walk fast enough or visit that many people tal tal tal..but i was thinking that the hard work im lacking on is my attitude, my study, my compassion, my patience! i realy have to work on those things here. so im trying to change my attitude from negative to positive. instead of saying were late and leaving super late from the house instead im trying to say great! more time to study!!!..im trying my hardest!!!

hopefuly we have a baptism this week! i think that will help all of us out! next pday is transfers, i bet sis namura and i will stay here, but only the Lord knows that! time here really does fly by. i look back on the transfer and say nossa!  I really should have been working harder!

i love you so much and pray for yáll every day! tell everyone i say oí and miss them bunches!

love you soooo much

sister benedict

ps they call spongebob here boby sponge haha love ya dad!