Twas a good week, the highlight being Sisters Conference in Vitória at the mission home with the 11 lovely sisters of the mission, Presidente e Sister Araújo, and the assistentes. It was soooo good. And I got to spend the day with such delightful people. Splendid. Twas celestial. And I got a lovely bundle of mail from the dearest Cottams. Oh how am I blessed with such good peeps in my life.
Speaking of celestial, the members of Aracruz just got back from the temple. Three families sealed and you can just feel and see the light they have now. The temple is 19 hours away and they go twice a year. It’s humbling to see the sacrifices of so many people and how dedicated they are to go to the house of the Lord. I can’t wait to go to the temple again. PS, if you live near a temple, take advantage of it and realize your blessings.
Well I had a nice rain bath the other day. It’s been raining a little and a lot and it’s like cold here. It’s so chilly and night and in the morning and we just don’t have warm clothes or things l like that. And one little blanket just isn’t doing it at night. Especially since my matress is about 4 inches thick too. :) And who knows how many sweaty elders have slept on that mattress. :) Oh well, it’s working pretty well for me. :)
Anyways in the picture of us 4 sisters, you might have noticed that I’ve whipped out my striped sleevies that I found on the beach at Diamond Creek and am using them as leg warmers. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
Yesterday was sunday. There was a baptism. The font would fill up so the sisters filled it up with buckets from the sink. They we realized that there were no baptism clothes in the church, so my companion and I ran home during sacrament meeting to get a white skirt and shirt for the girl who was baptized. Bagunça. :) But everything works out you know.
And yesterday Sister do Prado and I got up nice and early to walk a marathon before church to fetch like 20 people who promised to go with us. LEeft our house at 7:30, passed by like 15 houses, and… we walked to church alone, in the rain, with no investigators. Bugger. But we did all we could, so we’ll be blessed. :)
Well time is up. Until next week. Love you all lots and lots and count your many blessings.
PS was reading the General Conference Liahona and in a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott he said, ” We become what we want to be by constantly being what we want to become each day.”
-Sister Owens
As you can tell by the fotos, the week was pretty goodie… BATISMOS!
Oh how I love fruits of my labors. :) I don’t know why the work is going so great here in Aracruz, but things are grrrreat here. The Lord is working a lot a lot, I’m just trying to follow His lead and do what I need to do.
Tis marvelous to be a missionary, to help others and to be doing good. Just fills my life full of warm fuzzies. The other day we visiting a senhora, Cecilia, the oldest member of the branch here in Aracruz. She just loved our visit so so much and just loved talking with us. When we left she was hugging us and crying and said how much she enjoyed the visit.
Every day I’m reminded at the fact that the Lord uses us, His children, to be instruments in His hands. So often we are inspired to do or say something for someone else, and we get all these little inspirations to help other people. We have so many angels in our paths leading and guiding us. And just rememeber that we so often are these angels for other people. People need you.
We had two baptisms on saturday and another marked for sunday. But unfortunately our baptism for Sunday, Thiago, fell through. He said he wanted more time and didn’t want to fall again and sin more, so he wanted to wait. Sunday morning, Sister do Prado and a member and I were at his house for like an hour, talking with him, teaching him, doing everytihng possible to get him to go to church. But he chose not too.
Sometimes it’s just a little hard that everyone has agency to choose for themselves. But what a blessing. We choose what happens with our lives. We choose who we are and how we react to every situation. No one has control over our lives or happiness but us.
And every single day I learn more and more that when we do the right things, and follow the promptings of the spirit, we are happier. It’s just so perfectly simple.
I love you all muito muito and I love Brasil and Aracruz and being a missionary and Presidente e Sister Araújo e Presidente e Sister Pickett and all these wonderful missionaries and members here. So many wonderful things we have in our lives!
Oh by the way, talked with a couple crazy crazy intoxicated ladies on Saturday. Coo coo people! Alcohol just does no good, no no no. And unfortunately there are bars like no other here in Brasil. And churches like no other too. :) Funny place this is. Love it a lot.
PS sooo excited for thursday! We’ve got a sisters conference of the lovely sisters of Missão Brasil Vitória! All is well. Sending much love to all of you!!
Woo hoo 9 meses! Weird that I’m way done with this jolly goodness.
Twas a good week. Met some lovely people. Taught some marvelous things. And had a baptism of an incredible family!
The parents haven’t gotten baptized yet, since they’re just living together and not married, but the 4 kids got baptized and it was grandioso! Peeps here don’t get married very often. They just live together and call each other husband and wife. :) It’s like a lot of paper work and costs monies to get married, so lots of people just don’t get married. But casamento/marriage, what a wonderful thing!
Well… before the baptism on Thursday, Sister Michelotto may or may not have fallen into the baptismal font. :) She also fell down the stairs of our house again. She’s crazy and you just can’t help but love her.
I love working with Sister do Prado. I’m learning so much. And it is so good living with Sister Dias and Sister Michelotto. It’s all just so good. And the Lord is blessing us so so much. My goodness I’ve never been so blessed in my life, and with so many wonderful people in my life, including all of you!
Muito obrigada for all the mail and thoughts and prayers and love. Muchly appreciated.
Scripture for the day for you all, Luke 1:37. Nada é imposivel com o Senhor!
Eu amo Missão Brasil Vitória: Melhor Missão do Mundo.
Amo vocês! Boa semana!
Sister Owens
4th of july in Brasil just isn’t as neato tolledo as 4th of july in the USA. But it’s still a fantastic day! It’s P-day! I get to write letters today! And I have lots of letters to write because I got a sweet bundle of mail! MUITO OBRIGADA to dearest Anita, to the whole Cottam fam, and to my dear Holly, Stacy, and Jakey.
W’e’ve got a new mission president here and we met them on Thursday! The dearest Picketts flew out tuesday afternoon and the Araújos got here tuesday afternoon. They are wonderful and love us so so much and are so excited to be here. But I still miss the Picketts so much! It’s different without them here, but my next nine months with the Araujos with most definitley be wonderful.
I make my 9 month mark on wednesday! And I1m making cookies! Woo hoo cookies!
I make my 9 month mark on wednesday! And I1m making cookies! Woo hoo cookies!
We had zone conference on thursday and I got to eat at the home of the dear Soneghets! It was heavenly!
Found some cool parkeets this week. :) I love Brasil and I love temples and my name tag and rice and beans. Happy Independence Day!
Starting anothe fantastic transfer here in Aracruz! I’m training again and it is soo good. I just love the new missionaries, okay I love all of them. My companion Sister do Prado is so fulll of life and energy and desire to serve! We’re working lots and lots and are so sleepy and tired every night.
Our dear President and Sister Pickett are headed home tomorrow and we’ll be blessed to have President and Sister Araújo now. Oh I will just miss the dear Picketts so so much, but I’m excited for this next half of my mission with the Araújos. And wowza, I’m like halfway done now, weird. :)
Sunday we had a bundle of good peeps promised to go to church, and so we got up nice and early, and walked lots and lots, to take all these peeps to church, but all sorts of things happened and only two ended up going. But one of them is one of the elect! His name is Tiago and he’s getting baptized on the 9th. We taught him the word of wisdom and he just stopped smoking and drinking right away. I love the eleitos!
The mission is the best. I’m learning oodles of goodie things and I just can’t believe how blessed I am to be here.
Boa semana para vocês!
