1-28-13

i have soooo much to talk about! nossa!!! so transfers. we left at 2230! I think its the cheapest bus ride to salvador, 8 hr trip! so we got to the rodoviario...the bus station at about 0520 the next morning and waited there for everyone else to get there, about 10am...and we were there until 6pm!!!! then another hr bus ride to our place, Feira da Santana! we are in Feira 1!!! nossa mama its so diff! its a city here, with real roads and cars! my comp is sis v costa! we were in the ctm together! shes great. its so diff shes really pushing me to be more outgoing and myself. i have to be! but its been amazing!!!

 

we ran into a pastor the other day... talk about difficult. everything we said he cut us off n was blasphemizing!!! it got to the point where i stood up,bore my testimony and we left...we said a prayer first. i couldnt bear the thought of leaving without a prayer. it was so bad mama! my testimony was sure strenghtened that day though!!! the work here well...its hard! everyne already knows aobut the church but doesnt want to go or isnt interested. We are trying to find people to teach!
oh we had 2 weddings! the first one was fillllled with people. The song that she came into was titanic every night in my dreams...that one! and a kid...ok hes 24 and has arms bigger than my legs, but he played the sax...hes sooooo good!...i tooka pic wit him hehe and the other wedding she sang a shania twain song in english!!!

our new house is really quaint,i like it..only 1 thing, we have ants out the wazoo AND barata...er cocoroaches! seriously mama we killed a barata and left her there and within 30 min swarmed with lil ants! dont worry i took a pic!
we were teaching the other day and mama ive been talking to everyone! we were teaching the 1st lesson and after i thought...man what did i even say! i didnt really have to think about it, i just talked! also i taught gospel principles Sunday. O yah we work in this area santo estrello also, its about a hr away from our house. were trying to get a branch out there.they only have about 13 members! we go there every thursday and every other sunday! but i taught about arbitrio...iforget the name in english...agency!!! but talkin about that. and I really learned that its so important that we have our agency. its one of the only ways we can show our love and willingness to serve and follow jesus cristo! We always invite our investigators to act and use their agency, why? to demonstrate their love for the savior and for them to strengthen their testimonies!!!
things that happened this week:
1. fed a monkey bread
2. saw a herd of lil pigs in the street by our house
3. got peed on today at the feiraguay
4. taught gospel principles
5....faught with a pastor!
6...icant remember! lots happened!
let me explain number 3. we went to feiraguay, which is like a fair. have somany people selling stuff and you go and buy stuff. well i was walking and this guy walked past me and got water on my arm..i thought it was water but i smelt it....it was pee!! he peed on me mama!!! it was disgusting! welcome to feira1 haha

 

 idk what else happpened.. i have to get used to things, but im lovin it here. i can already tell ive grown alot, i have to depend on the lord more. oh i have the same address, it will be the same the whole mission. its the address for the mission office! i feel like i have more to say but cant remember!!
i love you so much!!!!
sister benedict

 

1-21-13

 

 

oh mama!!! things have been SO crazy here!!! tranfers are..well today! its my first "official" transfer because we knew we were staying here in petro oeste together to finish training. so we had no idea what was going to happen today and everyone bet on sis namura leaving..welll au contrario mama! its actualy kinda funny. we were all set to go to the stake ctr. nobody told us we werent having a meeting for transfers like last time! we were on our way when our zl called and said oh sisters...were not meeting together but let me tell you where youre goin! i was at the post office n sis namura and i had the speakerphone on! im transferring to a diff area...Feira 1! its 3hrs from salvador! transfers are tomorrow morning but we travel night so we leave 2230 tonite and get there in the morning and so tomororw ill be in my new area...i feel super strange. i kinda wanted to leave but at the same time i dont want to!!! sis king is going to replace me here in petrolina and im going to replace her!! (she was my ctm comp!) i dont want to leave!! i love the area and the people!!! nossa! its realy hard :/ but i know the lord needs me in feira 1! i hope i find out soon why!!! 

couple stories(some neat some hard!)

1. hardest weekend so far! we spent about 2hrs at a investigators house bible bashing basically. more or less sis namura was talking and getting heated and i was trying to find words to say and keep the peace! i finaly had to say something so i asked if he believed in God, and i bore my testimony. mama i think that was the first time in my life i felt like i realy had to stand up for what i believed. it was incredible. i realy felt the spirit and my testimony was deff strengthened that moment!!!

2. one of our rc(recent converts) is passing a really realy hard time. we went to get him sunday mornin to go to church( hes been out of town for about a month) and mama he was so insistent to not go. the family is really against the church and dont support at all. he told us that morning that hes going to another church and doesnt want to be a member anymore. i cant explain how i felt that moment. it was one of those i wasnt mad or irritated, it was more of a sad and dissapointed. i couldnt be mad at him. i felt like a mom talking with her son. i love him so much that i want him to make the right choice. we were there for an hr tryin to get him to atleast go to church before he made a decision. but he wouldnt go and he didnt. i cried alot that morning and prayed alot that morning. i realy hope he comes back. AND we went to get another family and they wouldnt come either, and one of our investigatores flaked too....which leads to story #3

3.william! he was baptized lastweek and this week received the HG!! hes officialy a member! but whats even cooler, the same day/same sacrament meeting that he was confirmed, the bishop gave him his papers to start filing out for a misson!!! hes already preppin to go on a mission! he realy is prepared mama! we just helped him to the font to get baptized lol 

 

ilove the strippling warriors! i just got done reading alma and about the strippling warriors and idont have my other scriptures but there are alot of scriptures that talk about their attributes. that they learned from their mothers to walk uprightly before god and put their trust, they obeyed with exactness and were sober in the work and in the word. they were boys,they fought for their families, their freedom and for their country. for this they were liberated and succeeded!!! when i think of the strippling warriors i think of boys who were taught to obey. have a scripture that says they obeyed every word with exactness that capt moroni said. they didnt complain or ask why, they did. they trusted in capt moroni and obeyed. i read this story in the ctm and decided that i want to be this kind of mother. to know and be humble enough to teach these boys to trust in the Lord like they did, to have courage and humililty like they did. im gettin a lil choked up thinkin about it, but talk about what happened before the war. tlak aobut their mothers and what they taught their sons. talk about being firm in the faith and putting your trust in God. alma 26:12-we are nothing without the Lord!!! 

i love the strippling warriors, but i think i love more their mothers!!!!

 

o sis namura told me something one time thats really got me thinking, i was singing to her when we were walkin home to calm her down one day cuz she was a lil agitated but i was singing to her and she goes..sis benedict. have you ever thought that you were one of the angels singing when christ was born?......no actually i havent! but i got to thinking...man what if i was! what an honour!!!! i bet everyone was singing when christ was born, maybe for this music is so powerful and touches the heart. she also told me that im going to convert people with my voice alone. I dont say this to brag or say that i can sing or anything,,,but irealy believe that the Lord can touch the soul in every way possible. and i can testify that when you have nothing left, sing!!! its incredible how strong the spirit can be!! im excited to have more experiences! 

this weekend was one of the hardest, but it was one that i felt the spirit the strongest..funny how that works!

i love you all!!!

kisses!

sis b

 

o ps another crazy story! we were visiting a member and leaving when we saw a car trying to turn the corner on our street and he totally took out a wall haha he was drunk n couldnt turn the corner! i thought it was funny! but he took out the wall, backed up and came barrelin down the dirt road the street we were on. all the moms!! sai da strada!!! vai pra casa!!! all the kids runnin inside....and then everyone was at the house with the broken wall talkin lol its kinda funny everyone flocked to the house to see what happened!!

1-14-13

life here is great!!!. we didnt get to visit a whole lot of new people, or people in general, either they werent there or we spent a lot of time at one place!

 

oyeah! we had a talent show friday so we had to practice a few times with the elders in our district. so we didnt get to work as much as i wanted. but the talent show was fun! we sang i hope they call me on a mission lol and then i sang come thou fount n played the guitar...idk y but im more scared to sing now in front of people! i dont get it!!!! i was scared before, but now its worse haha idk what happened to me!

 

saturday was interesting too, 3 people that we talked to almost had a bible bash with lol one man was like nope im a diff religion! your saying that my religion is wrong? things like that lol ijust wanted to be like YUPP! you can only be saved in one church...mine haha and another kid was just contradictiong everything we said. i was getn a little frustrated lol good thing i have a companion!!!!

 

but this week was good, had a baptism. william!!! hes the type thats going to be truly converted, shoot he already is! hes the type who read what we left him and had questions about it! nossa! but he was baptized yesterday at the church. its always a story on baptism day!!!

still had no water that morning, everyone was asking for things, wheres the baptismal clothes, wheres the baptism, whos singing, can you teach gospel principles...the list goes on!! BUT, water came and the font filled, we taught gospel principles( na verdade sis namura taught!) and we had a baptism! during the service, i prayed to feel what william was feeling. i wanted to feel the Spirit. it wasnt until the amen was said and william was dunked that i felt the spirit. I just felt a peace and a love overcome me! i knew at that moment that the Lord was so pleased with him and his decision!!! its moments like these that make all others worth it!

 

a few..."other" experiences!!! we saw a man at church who wasnt dressed like everyone else and never seen him before. we went to talk to him afterwards and nossa mama.....turns out hes a member(ithink!! he didnt really say) but hes a ameture singer and has cds... he started to sing to us haha "sai fora em nome de Jesus" haha it was so funny! we were tryin to talk to him but he kept on singing! lol he even came back to church to bring us cds lol we sang in sacrament meeting...oyah il explain after, but this man said we need to find a time to practice so we can sing at the next activity hahah nossa! everydays different here!

 

but we sang in sacrament mtg! right before church started bishop said hey...can yall sing. sis b in english first verse and yall second and last verse everyone!! great thanks!! haha.......um sure bishop! i think it was nearer my god to thee!

 

antonio marcos! nossa he was baptized 2weeks ago and still hadnt received the HG because he hasnt been to church, well after 2 weeks of tryin to get him to come, he was there and confirmed!!!! ithink i can finally sleep(thats a lie, were always stressin about someone haha)

 

ummmmm o que mais? OH! we were walkin on the street and saw a goat. he was staring us down as we were walking by so i asked him if he wanted to be baptized like Jesus Christ...momentary silence and he concored with a huge BAAAAA lol it was funny :) its little things like this that make your day sometimes lol

well transfers are in a week and idk if ima stay here or be transferred, anythings game at this point. i love you so much

miss the cold!...kinda! but i love ya n pray for yall!!!

sister benedicta

1-7-2013

mom!!! how are ya darlin!! things here are just dandy....hot and sweaty :) this week was...well a week! im more tired than i have been since iv been here, but the work is going.

 

 we had a baptism saturday night! nossa!! i have to tell you about this. every baptism we´ve had has been an adventure!!! lucas! he has been to church the past 2 months and is dating a recent convert here. hes 16 and the kid to question everything!! hes super smart! his dads a preacher too....BUT hes such a good kid! hes already been following the commandments before we taught him(minus cafe!) but he didnt want to be baptized until he could say for sure that he knows these things are true!

 

  mama, for weeks weve been trying to teach him about the spirit and the feelings he received is confirmation! well out of the blue one day he said,...yah i wana get baptized! WHAT!!! well we knew he did cuz hes been talkin about a mission, but we didnt know when. so we set the date for last sunday, sunday rolls around, hes a noshow! we go to his house and nada! his mom didnt sign the papers!

   but saturday, 2 days ago he was baptized!!! that same day(sat) we had lunch in another city and its always an adventure when we go there bc the onibus passes only certain hours and dont have alot! so we waited at the ponto de onibus for a hr only to find out that it didnt run that route because it was sat! so we had to pagar..er pay for another bus to the central and pay anotther on to pedra linda! so 3hrs and 2 onibusses later we get to almoco..er lunch at 1500! we have baptismal interview at 1600! good thing lucas was running late from work!

  oh and the capela didnt have water again! this is normal here, the churches hardly ever have water lol i think its kinda funny! but we baptized him in a pool :) but it was so spiritual. sis namura and i sang nearer my god to thee! afterwards i asked lucas how he felt: lucas! how do you feel right now! and he just looked at me and with a huge grin on his face he said in english: happy!! its amazing to see the change in people! it was sucha good night! oyah that same night i got 12 cards :) our dl went to the mission office and brought back our mail lol i was super elated!!!

 but other things that happened that i remember, we were at an investigators house waiting for him to come to the door and we saw a boy on a bike ride by us and close behind him a donkey was chasing him haha it was so funny!!! its normal to see donkeys and horses and dogs roaming the streets! but it was really funny!

we saw a guy on a motorcycle riding by and he had a dead chicken in his hand. haha never seen that before!

OH!! i was at the rs pres house (leticia) love her! but we were at her house and she loves english! she cant speak it or nothin but she loves it. so they made me give the message in english! i tried to give a lunch message in english, mama it was super hard!!! so i gave it in english and depois em portuges! lol but she loves when i sing in english too haa shes so funny!

 we have a baptism this sunday, william! oh mama talk about a golden contact. hes a referral andhe lives a hr away but hes here for work. hes 19 and ijust love him!!! he quit smoking and drinking coffee 2months ago...we were here 2months ago but didint meet him until 2weeks ago. the lord realy does put people in our paths who are ready! well i didnt think he was going to be at church on sunday, i thought he was guna be back home but we get to church on sunday and there he is...mama i almost cried i was so happy to see him! but we taught him that night, man he is SO prepared! tipo hes going to be the type whos really converted. hes already talkin mission and he went to the mission prep class! same with antonio marcos! he was baptized ithink 2weeks ago!

antonio marcos was supposed to be confirmed 2weeks ago but last week didnt come to church and sunday he was there but left before sacrament mtg. he left with a friend....ggrrrr he needs new friends!!!!

i really feel like these people these kids are my own kids! i just want to protect them and want them to be strong in the church!

OH! so we met a less active family i think a month ago and i really felt a connection with them! jose porfino! its him his wife and 2 kids here. claudiani is 23 and pregnant and cleybson is 24. jose porfino sells beer haha so when we were there we were basicaly in a bar....que legal!! but they were sooo cool! but they still didint go to church for a few weeks. weve been visiting with cleybson these past 2 weeks or so tryna get him to come back to church. he loves to sing and dance! hes super cool and oman he can sing! but anyways sunday was a miracle...cleybson wasnt there but his dad was! the last one in the family i woulda thought go to church! jose and juliana i think is his wifes name, they were there, almost cried when i saw them too!!!

  i see miracles everyday here, and i love it! i feel like i experience every type of emotion every day, but i love it! its hard, super hard, but its super rewarding! the blessings and miracles weigh out the moments of stress and the hard times!

 sis namura and i are doing a "santification" right now, we started with a fast and are striving to do things more correctly and change things about us to better missionaries. and so one of mine is to really be happy. i feel so serious alll the time! i think cuz were always late and im trying to be exactly obedient, i pray every night for confidence. maybe one day ill get it!! but i love this work, i love this area! i love bein a missionary!!! i love seein the gospel change peoples lives, im hopin it changes mine!!!!

thank everyone in the ward. i got the christmas letters and i loved them! theyre in my folder :)

ilvoe you

mosias 15:7...i want to be this obedient!!!

love you

sister benedict