New Area Lots of Investigators

Dearest Family!!!!!

This week was SOOOO crazy. So much change!!!! I got transfered to a new area called Vila Prudente in the BIG CITY of São Paulo as the senior companion. My new companion is Sister Lima from Recife, Brazil. I think President put us together because of our size. haha. both short short short... I´m so excited to be here because I had an experience in the MTC where I met a girl from Brazil thats studying at BYU that was participating in TRC where we teach actual people and try to learn about them and what they do and what not. Anyways she wrote down the names and addresses of her family when I told her I was going to serve in Sao Paulo. She didnt even know what mission of Sao Paulo they lived in, but she told me if I served in the ward of Vila Prudente to go visit them and try to help them join the church and be baptized. I had completely forgot about her, but the week before transfers I found the paper that she had written down everything and where else does her family live but Vila Prudente?!?!?!?!?! I´m excited to go visit them and try to help Samanta and her family!!!!!!! 

This week was so busy and crazy. Being in the city is A LOT different that São Jose dos Campos because their is SOOO many people and so many cars and so much pollution and so much business and craziness. The ward here in Vila Prudente is HUGE and has a lot a lot of people really rich and affluent in the church. One member just got called to be a mission president in a new mission that´s going to be opened in July here in Brazil. Another member is a professional piano player and he plays in sacrament meeting with all sorts of cool and beautiful renditions of the hymns. I´ve never heard a piano player as good as him!!! It's awesome!!!!! Our Area is HUGE. It includes a lot of really rich neighborhoods, but also includes a lot of really really poor neighborhoods. It was an interesting experience because for the first time I entered something that they call a Favela. Kind of like the projects, but its like little streets with a bunch of huts piled together with a bunch of people living in small spaces. Look it up on Google!!!!! 

A lot happened in the short week that I´ve been here. A lot of really GREAT things!!!! We had a wedding on Saturday and baptism on Sunday which was cool because the sisters have been working with this couple for about 6 months now so that they could divorce from their other spouses to get married to baptize Fabio (samanta already is a member) Just like Adriana and Donizete in Morumbi. Fabio is so AWESOME and I know he is going to be a great leader in the Church. The Wedding was BEAUTIFUL. Samanta looked like a princess and Fabio looked like a prince. The Baptism was also really really special. The members here love him!!!!! I felt the spirit more strongly than I had in a really really long time!!!!!!

Another miracle that happened this week is that we had worked so hard the day of the wedding and heard 5 people repeatedly say to us: look, we really think you guys are really nice and we like you but we already have our own religion. But.... we kept going strong without getting discouraged and on our way to the wedding someone called: SISTERS!!! It was a member that lives in our area, but goes to a different ward. She was with her nieces and nephew that haven´t been baptized and she explained that they had been going to church in the different ward, but that they had been wanting to take the missionary discussions and be baptized!!!! and the next day they all came to our ward and we´re going to start teaching them this week. Heavenly Father really prepares people and puts them exactly in our path. WOAHHHHHH!!!!!!! 

 I miss MORUMBI a lot more than I thought I would. It was hard to leave my first area I cried a lot because I love the members and my recent converts SOOO much and I´m sad to miss Adriana and Donizetes wedding and baptism, but I´m really really happy to be here in Vila Prudente and even though its a lot of work and more stress than I´ve ever felt in my life I know that it´s exactly where I´m supposed to be and I know that I have a lot of work to do here!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL

Desi

Challenges of Missionary Work

A lot of really good things happened, and a lot of really sad things happened this week. All of which have really helped me realize the love that Heavenly Father has for all of us!!!! I don´t like to dwell on the bad, so I´ll tell you the good. 

1. After waiting for almost 3 months for the divorce papers of our investigators Donizete and Adriana to come through, so they can mark their marriage to one another to be baptized, they finally came through and should be married and baptized by NEXT MONTH :) 

2. We started teaching a really awesome 15 - year old girl, named Sabrina, who really has a desire to be baptized and to follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

3. We´ve been visiting a man who left the church about 8 years ago when he and his wife divorced, and sunday he and his new woman we´re at church.  

4. Me and Sister Teixeira have finally came to an understanding, and our relationship is growing. It can only get better from here. She helped me a lot this week. 

5. We get to go to the TEMPLE next week. I`M SOOOO EXCITED :) :) :) 

I´m glad to see that everyone is doing good, hope you all have a good week!!!!

Desi

Facing Trials

This week was hard, but I´m grateful for my trials. It means Heavenly Father is testing me. I know that I´m strong and that he wouldn´t give me a trial bigger than I could handle. Good news is that the divorce papers of my investigators Adriana and Donizete are finally moving. They should be divorced, married and baptized by next month. It´s been really strengthening to see the patience and faith that Adriana has, and the desire that she has to truly follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. I know that if we seek out the good we definitely see the blessings that the savior has given us. I´m grateful for all of you guys and the example that you´ve always been for me.

Love,

Desi 

New Companion

OI TUDO MUNDO!!!! 

Last day of transfer 2 is here, and tomorrow I will be getting a new companion. President Ferrin called Sister Waite this weekend and told her she was being transferred, but didn´t know where. Soooo I´m really anxious to know who will be coming in her place. It´s funny how things work out. Once you finally build a relationship with someone and finally get to really love them and know them, things change and you have to say goodbye.

This last week has been really good. We have so many progressing investigators who are actually reading the Book of Mormon and who are actually looking for an answer. It´s been hard to schedule all the people we need to visit because we have so many. It´s really so much easier and funner to teach people who are sincerely looking for the truth and sincerely want to know about the truths of Heavenly Father. I know that with patience and hard work and lots of prayers this next transfer will be a success!!!!

This week was a lot of fun. Donizete and Adriana´s (Mom and Stepdad of Bruna) divorce from other spouses are finally progressing. And soon enough they´ll be married and baptized and in one year they´ll be sealed in the temple. They are so awesome and they already have such strong testimonies of the church and they aren´t even baptized yet. I truly feel like their my family here in Brazil. One night this week we left their house after dark and they were so worried about us they walked us halfway home. We stopped in a soccer field and played tag for a few minutes, it was awesome. 

I read a talk in an old Liahona this week that really helped me have a more positive attitude and helped build my faith. Hope you all are trying everyday to become more like Jesus Christ and are working hard at achieving your dreams. My dream was always to serve a mission and now that I´m finally here I want to try my hardest to live every moment the best I know how and work hard to help other people have the same happiness and hope that I have. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

``Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past, but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the high priest of good things to come. Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away. Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness of trust and divie love that will transfor your life today, tomorrow and forever``

 - Jeffrey R. Holland 

Desi

Miracle Baptism First Week in the Field

Hey everyone!!!!

First week in the mission. Wow. Not what I expected at all! It´s been a lot harder and humbling than I thought it would be. The first few couple days were really hectic!!! I left the MTC and took two metros and a bus ride to Sao Jose dos Campos (about 2 hour travel). My companion has only been in the field for 3 transfers, so she was really scared about being a trainer and having two Americans in the same area. The next day we had a zone meeting, so I met all the missionaries in my zone. Everything of course in Portuguese and even though I feel like I´m understanding everything fairly well, it was hard to keep concentrated. After that we went around to houses of investigators and recent converts and just my luck not one person was home and it started pouring down rain. Man it was really hard not to get discouraged. After about 4 hours of that we had to travel back to Sao Paulo because I still didn't have my official documents we stayed the night with some other sisters and then went to the Polizia Federal the next morning with everyone that I got to the MTC with. It was good to be able to see my MTC companion and all the familiar faces from the MTC!!!! Anyways all the details aren't important. The important thing is that we were out of service for 2 days and when we got back to our area it was hard to get in contact with all the progressing investigators. It seemed like all of their lives where falling apart. One family wanted to get baptized but the parents had to get married first. They had a wedding planned for this month and now they decided to cancel. One family is going through a really hard time because they live in the back of their grandmas house, but she doesn't like us or them and she keeps telling them they have to move out. We kept visiting them everyday this week because they had a baptism planned for Sunday, but come Sunday we called them about 20 minutes before sacrament meeting and they said they weren't coming because they didnt have clothes, but my companion explained that it wasn't about clothes it was about their desire to serve. We thought for sure they weren't coming, but GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!! All I could do was pray for them!!! And about 10 minutes into sacrament they walked in the door, and were baptized later that day. Miracle really!!! In the family there are two boys Adriano and Alan and their mom Ivette, their Dad died a few years ago. They both are really really funny and its amazing how much I´ve gotten to know them in 3 days!!!! The baptism was really really awesome. We had a great show up from the ward. The ward here is amazing we have lunches EVERYDAY and theirs so much support and love!!!! It´s great. Anyways even though its been hard I know Heavenly Father has been blessing me and I know that if I work hard and try to be perfectly obedient I can be a happy successful missionary!!!! 

Sister Bruno