God is a God of Miracles!

Talk about tender mercies. We had a REALLY GOOD WEEK full of so so soooo many miracles, but yesterday was rough-everything was falling through, people were hiding in their houses from us (just TELL us you don´t want it...hurts a lot less than not answering the door or your phone when we saw and heard you inside...), new people actually not wanting it after all...a lot of bummers...and we were hungry because we had been fasting, and then didn´t eat a whole lot at lunch when we closed the fast. We were walking after being rejected again, talking about the meaning of things, life in general, missionary work and it´s deeper meanings, and we turned the corner and saw this. This does not even do it justice!!!! There were rolling hills, grape vineyards, the sun, green, green, green, trees, the sky, the clouds, and we just stopped and looked at it. After we took pictures and were looking at it, we realized than life is fulls of hills like assim [like this], up and down, and when you´re down, you can´t see everything, but then you climb the next hill, you reach the top, and the light of God just hits you again, and you can see everything for as long as your sight can reach. It´s the shadows and the light that made such a beautiful scene-just light couldn´t do that. It was such a blessing. 

Another awesome blessing yesterday was the hunger. We prayed in the afternoon for God to send us food because we were so hungry, we wouldn´t be home until 9 at night, and we weren´t going to break the sabbath to buy food, so we just asked that He send some, please. We remembered later the story of Joseph Smith when he received the cornbread, thanked God, and then asked Him if He could please send something better. We laughed, and kept on going through our day. Everything was going exactly opposite of what we planned throughout the day, and no one offered us food. We walked, smelling bakeries, everyone´s dinner, Sunday night parties, and just kept going with a little burning hope that God would send us something to eat. Finally, we thought to go visit a recent convert to talk with her and teach her dad who isn´t a member of the church. So we walked over there after trying a few new potential people. When we arrived, they were super happy to see us, and told us that they had just started a barbecue, and we should teach while the BBQ cooks, and then we could all eat together.........when the irmão turned around, Sister McP and I just looked at each other as our mouths gaped open......DEUS NOS MANDOU CHURRASCO!!!!!!  We had gone the whole hard day, and then at the last minute, He sent us a miracle WAY BETTER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!! WE were expecting like a slice of bread in the afternoon or something assim. JUST WHOA!!! And they drove us home in their car, so we arrived home RIGHT AT our scheduled time to be home, and we didn´t have to wait for or pay for a bus......God is a God of miracles, and He just loves to bless us with the smallest things!!! *************I really cannot even describe how grateful I feel now and these last few weeks. Just wow.******************I received an answer to one of my prayers this week that HUMILITY=GRATITUDE! If you´re always deeply grateful (The FEELING.   I think it was Pres. Uchtdorf that talked about it), you can´t get prideful. That is my focus, and God is blessing us in more ways than I can even handle. I feel like I´m gonna BURST with grateful!!! AH!  [To see the address on gratitude she is referencing, click here.]

Eu tenho minha borboleta!!! [I have my butterfly.] Obrigada duolingo!!! (one of the two phrases I learned before my mission from that app.....the other is "A cobra come abacaxi" [The snake eats pineapple].... .... ... that one hasn´t happened yet...)

This is us walking to lunch at a member´s house one day....just grass...no big deal....#euamobrasil

Jady e Cauã!!! They are SO GREAT!!!! They are the kids of a less active member of the church (who is pretty much totally active now!! Woohoo!!!) and the siblings of a recent convert. They are going to be baptized in about 2 weeks!!! They are so awesome, and I LOVE TEACHING KIDS!!! There are SO MANY REASONS that Christ taught us to be like little children! Please pray that everything goes well for them!

And the art Cauã made..these are the people he loves in his life!!!! I totally melted!!!!

 I got bit by something. (I promise I´m only sending the pic because it got better!!!) We think it was just a bunch of ant bites in the same place, but it swelled up like this!!!! I HAD FAT ROLLS ON MY ANKLE!!!! 

This is the definition of being a missionary in Brasil! Planejamento Semanal [Weekly planning]. I have my planner, the area book, all my stuff on the wall, hair in a bun, nice dress clothes, no makeup, exhausted at the end of the week, and I´m eating a mamão [papaya] with a spoon. Yup. Happy missionary! 

Our Brazilian meal that we made at home!!! YES we are two American Sisters, so we were pretty proud! It was GOOD!

In summary - "Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it." -Jeffery R. Holland

Mormon 9:15 (the last phrase)

 

Te amo! Abrace tudo mundo por mim! 

Tchau! Boa semana!

Sista Little ;D