Vila Esperança

This week was pretty good. I am finally getting used to my new area and my new companion, Sister Peart. I still miss Vila Prudente and Sister Oborn, but I know that I am going to really learn how to love Vila Esperança. This week our ward made a lot of PROGRESS. 

My companion and her old companion had met a family before I got here and had been working with them. They have a really complicated situation. Raquel, the mom is a single mom. She has 4 kids. So it´s really hectic there. Her daughters boyfriend lives in the same house because his dad is a drug addict and kicked him out on the street and he had no where to go. But they are great people and we worked hard to prepare them for their baptism. Saturday was the big day and it ended up being a really special baptism. They aren´t perfect and they need a lot of help, but I am confident that Heavenly Father will bless them SOO much because of the faith that they have. I also know that the gospel can cure ANY problem. I am hoping that we can continue helping them have less fights and more strong family bonding moments. 

We also have been working with a family that just moved here from the state of Bahia here in Brazil. They are super awesome. They are here in São Paulo looking for a better way of life. In the Bahia it is super hard to sustain a family. They were walking around last sunday looking for a house when they saw the church and saw that the sign said Visitors Welcome and felt like maybe that Jesus Christ was the help that they needed in their lives. And they loved the church and the members loved them. The bishop gave Alison, the husband, (yes its a boy name here) a job at his construction company and Vanubia (the mom) has been hired to help a lot of the members clean their houses. We started teaching them and they have already accepted baptism. But first they need to get married, and of course they accepted as well!!! We are super excited for them. We just hope that the marriage papers will pass soon so we can be here when they get married and baptized!!!!!!! They have two daughters one that is 10 and one that is 2. It makes me happy to know that the gospel is helping them and I hope to be able to teach with the spirit so that they can truly become converted. 

This week we are going to work to find a lot of new investigators especially families, and continue working to help our ward grow and become more united.  

Hope everyone has a good week!!!! Continue sharing the gospel the best you know how.  

Desi 

``There is nothing so unchanging, so inevitable as change itself``

So this week was an interesting week. 

Tuesday was transfers, and me and my companion Sister Amaral were told that we would stay... So we were all excited about this new transfer and the great things that we would see together, because we have two awesome investigators that have baptisms marked for October, Marcos and Karina. 

On Wednesday we wrote goals for the transfer and talked about all the things we could do, to help our area, and we were super pumped to work hard!!!!!!

Then on Thursday, we got a call from the Assistants that there was going to be an emergency transfer because of a situation that happened with other sisters. When I first got the call I felt heartbroken. Sister Amaral went to a different area, and I stayed here in Vila Prudente with Sister Oborn. Sister Oborn is my second american companion. I feel sad that Sister Amaral left, but I already love Sister Oborn!!!!!! 

But ever since Thursday it feels like everything is changing in my area. We started working in a different area than usual, we have new investigators, we are trying new methods of working. The mission is wierd. I feel like in one day I feel up to 100 different emotions. Happiness, Sadness, Excitement, Discouragement all at the same time. I´m sad that Sister Amaral isn´t my companion anymore, but I´m happy that Sister Oborn is my new companion. Change is hard, but I know that it is for the best. I read a talk by Marvin J. Ashton that described exactly how I am feeling. Here is a quote he used from C.S Lewis, 

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace” 

And so it is, with us. Sometimes change is hard. But it´s usually for the best. I hope that I can learn to adapt quickly and see the sense in what God is building in my life. I hope that this week will be a good one for me and Sister Oborn and for all of you!!!!!!!! 

Love, 

Desi 

  

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