"You promised to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those who stand in need of comfort, and to stand as a witness of Christ at all times, in all things and in all places...and were given the strength when you were given the Holy Ghost." -Eyring

He Is Here!

     

     Some members from our ward made us an Easter breakfast! Irmã Jessica made me two cakes without milk (because she thinks I´m lactose intolerant, because I can´t eat sweetened condensed milk). What a sweetheart. She kept saying "These are Sister Arthur´s cakes" and "Sister don´t eat this one. It has milk." I told her the situation after, but it was so sweet!

     So conference, as always, was amazing.

Here are some of my favorite things that were said 

"In every home where even one individual seeks truth, a difference is made." -Cheryl A. Esplin

"You promised [to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those who stand in need of comfort, and to stand as a witness of Christ at all times, in all things and in all places. (Mosiah 18:8 e9)] and were given the strength when you were given the gift of the Holy Ghost."  -Henry B. Eyring.

"All of us are, in  some way, like the prodigal son." While we ask what we can do to help someone who has gone astray, the Lord reminds us that we, too, are very far from home.  -Brent H. Neilsen.

"He rose from the dead so that He can grasp us as we fall and lift us to eternal life." -Jeffry R. Holland

     All in all, what most hit me this conference was how incredibly inadequate I am, but not in a depressing sense, if that makes any sense. I just realized even more how we are nothing without Christ. Elder Uchtdorf said "we cannot earn our way into Heaven." It is only because of Christ that we are able to return to live with Heavenly Father. "It is by grace that we are saved after all we can do." I am eternally greatful that this is true. I know that my actions will never be enough to repay Christ for what He has done for me, but He doesn't care and He doesn't complain that I keep failing and having to start over. He just picks me up and cheers me on. Who am I to give up hope when He never gives up on me?

     Last night a recent convert died after a long battle with cancer. Well, this particular battle was short. It started three weeks ago, just a few days after her baptism. She finally gave up smoking and could be baptized by her husband (also a recent convert) and then a few days later her cancer came back.  Last night she passed away. It was so sad. Her husband is an amazing man who has waited so long (eight years) to be a member of the true church. They are a beautiful family and we will miss Condeição a whole lot. How wonderful it is to know of God´s true plan of happiness for His children. Lots of people believe that we cease to exist after we die. Others believe that we won´t recognize each other after we die, but I know that families can be sealed in the Temple of the Lord for time and all eternity. I know that the family is central to Heavenly Father´s plan of happiness and that when we overcome our doubts, fears and trials to follow Him, all things are possible. Jesus Christ died for us. He rose from the dead for us. He loves us eternally and knows all of our joys, sorrows and pains. He is always listening and ready to take us in His arms and tell us it's all going to be okay, that we can never give up.

I love you forever! Keep on being amazing!" ILove yoU!

Love,

Your LIttle Missioanry  (P.S. from the editor...Karynne will be arriving in Boston May 1st at 12:30pm!!!)

I'm so glad the Lord helps us to understand when we just don't get it.

Musical

I want to tell you about Ulisses and Bianca! They are so cool! We met Ulisses and he thinks he´s still dating Bianca, his Baby Mama, but she´s so over him... long story short we are teaching them seperately and they are progressing so much! Ulisses was baptised Catholic but received the coolest answer to his prayer when he prayed to ask if this is the true church! SO, he´s really excited to be baptised and he went around meeting people and inviting them to his baptism when he went to church. Everyone thought he was a member visiting. Bianca is going to be baptised too, but might take a little longer, but she is reading the Book of Mormon and totally loves it! Also, when she came to church, two of the members were like "How did you find her? I know her!" And everyone is os excited. Helena is their baby and she´s so cute! You´ll for sure meet them when you come. I think they speak a little English...

      We are teaching a lot of other people who the Lord totally put in our path and it´s so amazing. After Elder Aidukaits´ visit to our mission, I feel much more like I´m doing this mission thing right. I´m so glad the Lord helps us to understand when we just don´t get it. He´s so good!

      Tomorrow we have Easter conference wtih the misison and this weekend is General CONFERENCE! It´s the most wonderful time of the year! Well, one of htem at least! I am SO EXCITED! It´s going t be so amazing! I love the prophet! and all of the Lord´s servants! I have to go! But on´t miss any of conference! 

I LOV EYOU!@

Love,

Your Little Missionary

Doing some serious repenting.

March 23rd, 2015

I have like no time to talk today, but Sister Byrne and I got to assist two meetings with Elder Aidukaitis, Brazil area 70 and were burned to a crisp. We thought we were being the best missionaries we knew how to be, but it turns out we (at least I) were being too shy. So, we have done some serious repenting and we are doing contacts with the whole bus at once and then asking who is interested. (Editor here, Things are different in Brazil. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go over as well on a bus in...say...Boston.) The people are surprisingly receptive of us taking shouting our messages in public. WE are deffinitely going to do more of this. I wish I´d under stood earlier how to be a great missionary. I´m not saying that I was bad, but I wasn't the best I could be. That's what burned the most. But you can be sure that I will take advantage of every second I have left. I love you so much!

Love,

Your Little Missionary

P.S. WE are back in BERTIOGA!!!!!!!!!! TO stay! WE have worked here one day and already have a bunch of people to teach! I love the Lord´s work in the Lord´s way!

Heavenly Father knows I am trying and always gives me what I need

March 16th 2015 

      We went to Bertioga for 2.5 days! We planned on Friday, did exchanges on Saturday and were obligated to stay home ALL DAY SUNDAY because Brazil was busy impeaching its president. Still don´t know if that worked out or not, but i`m sure someone will say something one of these days. In the mean time we´ll just keep working our butts off and hope that everything goes well. 

      So, while we were at home Sunday, we held our own meetings (with the exception of sacrament meeting. That would just be a little bit of apostasy) It was so great! We studied the gospel principles lesson on exaltation and got to learn a lot from the other sisters. Some people have a gift to be able to study and learn by the Spirit. I am not really one of them, but I do my best and Heavenly Father knows I am trying and always gives me what I need to do well in my calling. Afterwards we studied conference talks about prophets. Lastly, instead of having sacrament meeting we bore our testimonies. It was such a great spiritual experience and I know that Heavenly Father blessed us for doing our best to keep His Sabbath holy. 

Teaching at Zone Conference

      It was so amazing to come home to Bertioga (we have already left again) and see how much everyone has grown. There were a ton of people sick (including Sister Vergara) and everyone was running from place to place to help each other, including the less sick of the sick. So much has changed. People are stronger, there are many new members and miracles happen every day here. Even though we couldn't go to church, our investigators went and loved it. While Sister Vergara was sick in bed, the members of the branch filled our refrigerator with Gatorade and good food. They gave her rides to and from the hospital and called a bunch just to see how she was doing. 

      Sister Byrne and I got to have lunch with our friend Francisca and she took us to teach her neighbors and was so excited to see us back home. We were sad that it would be so short, but I will take you to meet her when you come. She is absolutely amazing. I want her to be your companion (Mom) when you serve. She is planning on serving a mission! I think she is almost fifty!

I lov eyoU! time´s up1!

Your Little Missionary

Mission President and Sister Cabral watching Karynne teach

Teaching at another Zone Conference

(Editor - she did not send pictures this week, these are all from the Missao Brasil Santos FB page Zone Conference Post.)

"I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that, I still possess." -Corrie

What a coincidence!
Found this in a member's home!

March 9th, 2015
Dearest Loved Ones,

     Keep writing. The things you write aren't distracting. I´m pretty hard core focused now. Today was transfer day, and Sister Byrne and I are still together as STLs. We are still doing rounds of the mission. We are still having a great time and we get to go on exchanges with our old companions this round! 

Exchange with my old companion Sister Andrade!!!
SOOOOO AWESOME! I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I went with Sister Andrade, a missionary whom I have always admired. She is so wonderful and we talked about what we have learned since our time together and how much more we still have to learn. I have never met anyone so obedient or diligent in my life. She is a great example for me! A ton of sisters (12) are going home today. SO MANY! We have a net loss of four companionships and we are rearranging our schedule to give all the sisters time to adjust to their new companions before we go on exchanges. Tomorrow we go on exchanges with the sisters in BERTIOGAAAAA!!!! I love that place so much. This will be the second time in a month and a half that we go home. This time it will be for a full day! WAAAAHHHOOOOO! We are very excited. Our latest challenge is what to do to help the sisters who are having companionship problems. I think we should let them pray and fast and receive personal revelation to be able to work things out, but Sister Byrne thinks we can help them in the exchanges... that´s more her part... but I really like this quote that Sister Cabral put in Sempre Fiel today:

     "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God´s hands, that, I still possess." -Corrie

      

Ilha Bela

     Yesterday we were walking in the street and it was POURING and we were so soaked and there was a man running from the rain and passed us under an awning. He stopped and asked if we were evangelists and we started to talk to him. We told him that we are here to help people come closer to God and he told us how he´s been trying to change his life for a long time, but every time he picks himself up off the ground and starts to go to church, it seems like something happens and he falls even further. We invited him to pray regularly and meet with the missionaries where he lives. He said he was so glad to have met us, because he was about to get himself into a lot of trouble, but when he started talking to us, he felt so peaceful and he knew he shouldn't. Sometimes our contact with people is so simple, but through the small things, come the greatest things of all.

Selfies on Ilha Bela

     Another great quote I heard in the Relief Society class this Sunday was this "The Lord does not take the people out of their miserable circumstances" as the world tries to do. "The Lord takes the misery out of us and we leave the miserable situations." This is so true. You can do everything in your power to help a person to be happy or to have a better quality of life, but a true change of heart is what makes the changes last. I love the Lord. He knows us so much better than we know ourselves.

Sanduiche! FOMEEEE!!!!!!!!!

I hope your week is great! Mine is going to be!

I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Your Little Missionary

p.s. (After hearing about our recent experience at the Brazilian Barbecue in the US...) Chicken heart is terrible. Chicken foot is not really worth trying either. Intestine tastes good, but it´s hard to swallow, because it feels like it comes alive in your mouth. It´s all watery and flabby and, well, I wouldn't choose to eat it.

Bus Sick- Driving on the windiest road you have ever seen.
It was like Tokyo Drift Windy.

We are having SO Much Fun!

It rained so much and there were rainbows everywhere.
This one has another rainbow over it,
but you can´t see it in the picture.

March 2nd
     This week has been so crazy! We went home for ten hours! It was so funny! We planned it all out and we would be able to help the sisters in Bertioga for a day or two, because there were going to be zone conferences that interfered with the exchanges. We were so desperate to get to the bus station on time we decided to take a taxi! We really wanted to make it home Monday night instead of Tuesday morning. So we made it just in time and took the bus home. We bought a ton of fruit to eat with the pancakes and real maple syrup that I received in my box from home! We bought a ton of food! Then we got home just a little before nine to make pancakes and surprise the sisters. We waited...and waited...and waited. At 9:30 we heard frantic running and laughter and the sisters burst in the door. They were so happy to see all the food and started telling us about all the amazing things that have been happening. They are out of money and have to walk all over the place, but they are bringing people back to church and the members are helping and people are excited to be baptised and it seems like a missionary´s heaven on earth. It was so great. So, we planned out how we would help them do all the visits tey needed to the next day! Wahooooo! Working in our own area! It was gonna be so cool! Then the phone rang and Sister Byrne excitedly told President Cabral that we were in Bertioga. He laughed a little nervous laugh and asked "Oh, really?" Then he said "I need you to be in front of the office (where we had just left) at 7 am tomorrow morning, because you are coming with me to all of the zone conferences." I didn´t hear the phone call, but I knew just what was happening from the look on Sister Byrne´s face. So, we slept in our own beds...for 4 hours and repacked much more light and went back to Santos. We are having so much fun. I am so blessed to have Sister Byrne as my companion, because she´s so calm and doesn´t whine. We are just laughing at all the situations we get ourselves into, because life is so fun!

We made sandwiches in the
bus station.
Life as usual.

     We got to see all but one zone conference, because President Cabral wants us to know exactly what we have to teach the sisters. We are currently on a beautiful island, the name of which is "Beautiful Island." There are 365 waterfalls here and my companion was bitten by a borrachudo. We had a great trip to the hospital in which we got the address of the receptionist and the doctor! The Lord works in mysterious ways!

     I got to see Durvalino, Loretta, and Luiz, recent converts from Santos. Also! My English class is being taught by members of the church! The missionaries just stop by to help out at the end! What?!?! YES!!!! I went on exchanges with my trainer! Everyone is so excited! We made sandwiches in the bus station and talked with lots of strangers and I READ IN THE BUS!!!

I think I already said this about five times, but we are having so much fun!

Life is meant to be enjoyed. I am learning so much and rereading the Book of Mormon again. This time I am reading with my focus on the prophets, because they talked a lot about sustaining prophets and having a testimony of the prophets in the last conference. Every time I read the Book of Mormon in blows my mind. It is so amazing. My understanding is expanded every time I read. I love it and I know it´s true!

I love you!

Love,

Your Little Missionary

p.s. I am working my new shoes off! I got one package with L.L. Bean mary Janes, pancake mix, maple syrup and brownie mix! It had already been opened, but at least I got it! Thank you so much! The shoes are so comfortable! and our fellow Bertioga sisters went crazy about the maple syrup. I told them they can use it while I`m gone and Sister Vergara was soooooooo happy! She was like "Oh, but your mom sent it, I don´t want to ...." and I said "Sister, there is a lot of maple syrup where i come from. I asked for it with you in mind." Then she got all happy and accepted it.

(Heather here- Of the 3 packages that were sent from home, Karynne finally received 1 which had been opened and contained only a few items, but they were from 2 different packages...? So I'm giving up on the others because they have obviously been opened and kept.)

This is What's UP!

Sleepovers! All day Every Day!

This week has been full of ups and downs, but I prefer just to think about the ups. I have seen huge changes in the sisters! They are teaching with more passion and love for those whom they are teaching.

The good side.
Sometimes it´s hard to wake up early
to go to a different area ever day,
but I know Heavenly Father´s
happy with my work, because
He shows His love for me like this.

What I have learned most observing and teaching the sisters is the importance of diligence. Everything President Cabral asked us to teach has already been taught, most of it many times. So why do we have to teach it to everyone? When we learn these things in our zone meetings and mission conferences, we are always excited and know that we have a lot of repenting to do. We go home and ask for the Lord to help us to be better teachers and then we immediately start to change our ways. 

At first it seems easy. We´re so excited! We see immediately the fruits of our labors and we are so greatful for being taught what is best. Then we start to get tired, because the best things require a lot of work and energy and sometimes energy is in short supply. We start to go back to our old habbits until there isn't any evidence that we ever made any kind of change. This is sad, but if we don´t constantly evaluate our goals, we will end up giving up without even realizing it. We are trying to help the sisters to remember everything they've been taught and help them to make these things real habits. We've had so many amazing experiences and I hope they will be able to keep up the good work. 

Bus stop studying

      Sister Byrne and I will be starting round two of  the exchanges next week, so we´ll be seeing who (one month later) is still practicing good teaching of the gospel. Sorry if my English is weird. I don´t use it much. Can´t even imagine my German! Okay. I just sent an email to my family in Germany and I will have to pray that they can read it. But I´ll worry about that when I get back. It´s still mission time! 

Love,

Your Little Missionary

I need to talk to you NOW!

Bertioga to Miracatú!

Day one of the great adventure with Sister Byrne

President Cabral has now told us that we need to train all the sisters to be perfect gospel teachers. Sister Cabral said we don´t have to worry that we are inadequate. Obviously we´re not perfect. We just have to say "Watch me!" and pray that the Lord will fill our minds and our hearts so we can then say "Now it's your turn."

(Heather here, Karynne was allowed to chat back and forth this week (I miss that so much!) so we could figure out some of the details of visiting and when she would RETURN HOME!)

Mom: Where do you want to go while I'm there? What do you want that week to be about? Is it seeing things you couldn't see or saying goodbye? or...?

Karynne: So, I wanted to see the people I taught and also see the things I didn´t get to see. 

Santos, 

Parque de Bandeiras, 

Bertioga visiting, 

Bertioga sight seeing/hiking 

and then maybe we could spend another day in Bertioga. It´s soooo BEAUTIFUL! You will love it! I love it. There is a woman in Bertioga who offered her house for us to stay a little. She is so fun ! 

Itanhaem 

and any other cool thing that we might want to see. Also, I know that one of the world's biggest water falls is in Brazil. I think Maura would help you see what´s best to see. I don´t actually know.

When I get to talk to Maura, I will ask her to email you. She was my best student! She is going to love you so much and you are going to love her. She is one of my special people. Don´t know why, but that´s how it always works. She´s such a special woman

Also, I think I want to go to church in Parque das Bandeiras. When I go there, I feel like I am coming home...well my Brazilian home...

Mom:This is all about YOU my dear.

Show me anything you want.

I love to be guided.

Karynne: Don't plan to come to Santos. It would be better for me to come to São Paulo to get you, because you kinda don't speak Portuguese. OH WAIT! There are so many sisters leaving that same day. I´ll just go to the airport with them to meet up with my favorite companion!

Mom: Should I rent a car? Or is public transportation the way to go?

Karynne: Waaahahah! Rent a car IF YOU WANT to DIE!

Mom: So i'm not clear...get a car or don't get a car? Bad roads or crazy drivers?

Karynne: CRAZY DRIVERS! ...Actually you drive in Boston, so you´re probably good.

After I leave the email today, I will continue area hopping, possibly until the end of my mission... so it´s hard for me to communicate. I will do my best! But for technical info...it´s best to ask Elder Maughan. I give him so much work. Poor kid.

Talk to Elder Maughan about my flight too so you can get a ticket on the same one. 

Sister Vergara completed on e year on her mission.
I made her cookies that say 1 ANO.
They are a sad excuse for cookies.
They never come out the same, but she loved them.

P.S. I was dying there in the office the other day while he was talking to you about the packages...well not dying, but I had to resist really hard not to scream "I LOVE YOU BABE!"

I can't believe Sarah is not coming! We will have to Skype her on her BIRTHDAY!!!

Give my Love to EVERYONE!

~Your Little Missionary

I could have been more hospitable

The divisions are going well. An ex STL told me that there are so many sisters that hate the STLs and there are so many trouble makers, but so far so good. We are loving getting to know the sisters and helping them to better the work in their area... I don´t know who is learning more: them or me. I have gotten some great new ideas from the sisters with whom I am teaching! It´s very cool to travel with Sister Byrne, but we are excited to be able to find teach and baptize together after all of the divisions. I think she is starting to get tired... at least we have been very well received by the sisters! I wish I had realized what a big sacrifice it is for the STLs when they visited me. I wasn't horrible, but I could have been more hospitable... But I am loving the experience. 

Elder Clark, the choir director, is ticked off that we´re not in the musical presentation...what are we supposed to do? He thinks we should go to Santos for the practices. I just thought he was ridiculous to ask us to travel even more than we have to, but now I kind of feel bad. I don´t know. 

Right now I`m going to try to register for classes or at least write down the classes I want to take so you can register for them. Housing with Dakotah and Emily Sounds great! I hope that works out!!! 

I´M DYING! I´m looking at what classes to take... Life is so hard! Haha. I will get through, but I have to ask if I can stay on the internet more time to be able to pick out all my classes....

I don´t really know what to do about all this from here... I just want to think about the mission and the people here, because I have less than 3 months left. But I really am doing my best to help. I´m sorry this must be a major pain.

I LOVE YOU!

(Karynne didn't send pics this week and there's nothing new on the "Missao Brasil Santos" FB page either...)

President Cabral

Who would have thought Karynne would ever Pray for SHOES!

January 26th

So, we got the early slot in the LANhouse today, because I have to bring Sister Dominguinhos to Santos and get my new companion SISTER BYRNE!!! You have no idea how excited I am! I am sad that Sister Dominguinhos is leaving, but ever since the MTC it has been my dream to have Sister Byrne as a companion. There´s just one thing...We´re sister training leaders together...and now there are only two in the mission...us! Woah. That´s a lot of responsibility. We are going to have to start our work right here in our apartment, because the other sisters are having a hard time, but I know that Heavenly Father will help us to help them.

     We had a great experience last night when we went to visit one of our ward missionaries. I felt that I should tell her about the Meetings of Zion that we are planning. We don´t have anything planned yet for the one about temples and her eyes got all wide and she was so excited and talked about all the people she wants to bring to the temple and the wonderful miracles that she has seen because she goes to the temple. She goes three times a month which is almost unheard of here. She is a great example and we´re very excited to work with her. She is so excited!

Side-note: Elke said "If you come between June and July, we will be in Maorca, Spaine, but we´ll take you with us. Just let us know so I can book your flight." These things just don´t happen with normal people. My life is ridiculous. :D

Sorry its´so short again. I have to bring Sister D. to Santos and pick up Sister B. I´ve got to fly like the wind!

 I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,

 Your LIttle Missionary

-------- One Week Later -------------

February 2, 2015

So, I don´t have much time to email, because I`m touring the mission. It´s not what STLs generally do, but President Cabral asked us to spend one day with each of the 20 companionships in the mission. So, I`m in Registro. It´s the most southern area of the mission and we´ll be working our way up to the north through the month of February. Yes, they all have to be visited in February. We left home this morning and will return on February 28th if everything goes well. "Got my whole life in a suitcase. Never really stayed in one place." Sissie will know this song. Haha. But I´m excited. It´s a new adventure. Pray for us to have strength. We´re gonna need it! I love you so much!

No new news on the package :( Haven´t gotten it yet, but Elder Maughn in the office is working on it. I love the office elders. They´ll do anything for you. But I`m praying it´s one with shoes! haha. I think I will have to buy a real cheap pair to last until I get the package. Got packages from the Alves, the Capeners and Grammy Arthur. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF THEM!!!! And you too. I am so grateful for all of your running about and package sending on my behalf. You are the best mom in the world. "Anyone who says otherwise is selling something."

I have got to figure out if I will have some time & how to register for BYU. Stinks to have to work this out on the mission. Don´t have a clue what I am going to do.... Totally taking some deep doctrine classes! And German...obviously!

Wow. I don´t even know what to tell you in the time that´s left! LIES!

We went to a lesson with a ward missionary, Francisca! She called saying that she couldn't because it was raining. Then Sister Byrne and I felt that if we just showed up, she´d come. We arrived in her doorway and she said "Alright let´s go!" Apparently she was afraid of the lightning, which had stopped and she felt bad after having called. So we went and there was a torrential downpour, but we laughed so much! It was so great!  She loved teaching with us and encouraged our investigator to pray to find her answer. On the way back we battled a  river which at one point in time (2 hours earlier) had been a street. Francisca´s flip flop started floating away and she had to chase after it. We got to her house sopping wet and elated! It was such a great experience. She couldn't go teaching the next day, because she had a wretched sore throat, but she didn´t regret it one bit! President Cabral taught about how we can work better with the members of the ward just this Thursday and it was great to see how quickly we could put this into action with the help of our wonderful members.

     Now the other Bertioga Sisters have to teach everyone in Bertioga this month and put on our activity all by themselves, but they have a whole branch of missionaries to help them out! I hope we can all find opportunities to be member missionaries! I LOVE YOU! The more I think about how I was as a member missionary before the mission, the more I realize that I had the best example! YOU!

Love,

Your Little Missionary

Hiking Adventure!

I had a little adventure this week. We went to visit an investigator who lives in a hikers lodge. He owns it and the people pay to stay there. So, to get to his house, you have to take a ferry and a steep trail. I quite enjoyed walking through the brazilian wilderness. It´s a shame I didn´t have my camera. We can´t use them when proselyting... Oh well. I will remember it anyways. Josias is very cool. He´s an old man, but he booked it up and down that trail to get us and show us where he lives. Very cool. 

We finally got to teach Eduardo and Cintia this week! We met Eduardo in a torrential downpour. He was cleaning the sidewalk in front of his house. He wanted to save water (pretty much everyone washes the sidewalk here. It´s very interesting.). They have a macaw ...and six cats and three dogs and about thirty fish....but they´re very cool and they loved the message, so we are excited to teach them again today. We don´t have a lot of people that are very firm. Sometimes it´s hard to meet with people, because they depend on the bus, which can be very unpredictable. 

This week in church I was so sad, because I saw  lot of faked love. A group of leaders was sitting there with a smile on their faces, including the grandmother of a young woman who was sitting in the front row crying because she had a really bad ear ache. No one went to hug her. Everyone just sat there smiling as if nothing was wrong in the world. I went and sat next to her and put my arm around her, but all she really wanted was for her grandmother to sit next to her. Her grandmother repeatedly refused to sit next to her and the techer got a little mad at this girl.Her grandmother wouldn't sit with her, because she´s in the presidency and is supposed to sit in a special place or something ridiculous like that. This made me so sad. It´s way more important to let the little girl know that she´s not alone. So I had to give a talk and it wasn´t supposed to be one love, but the Spirit told me that that had to change, so I talked about the love that Christ has for each one of us and how we can sometimes get distracted by time constraints or our desire to uphold our appearance. I hope they felt the Spirit.

Today a miracle happened. I don´t want you to worry. I know you won´t, because you know that Heavenly Father is protecting us here. 

     We have to take the bus a lot,because our area is huge...so there isn´t  a lot of money for anything else...and we are almost out of food. I was looking at the money I had left over from the week. We didn´t buy anything that wasn´t necessary. We didn´t buy hardly anything. We just took the bus...to lunch... to visit our investigators...to go to zone meeting... you can´t get to a lot of places efficiently by foot. So, I subtracted the 32 reis that my companion and I would need to go to the zone meeting... and there was hardly anything left over. I thought about what was most necessary and what would last the longest. I know that all of the other sisters have even less money than I do. I thought...we need a miracle or we´re all gonna get really skinny this week. I was getting ready to leave still thinking about this when Sister Castillo said with surprise "Sister, the woman who gave us money for Wednesday´s lunch gave us 100 reis." I knew that very moment that Heavenly Father had heard and answered our silent prayers. We got on our knees to thank Him and ask His help to let us know how best to use this money. I know He is always watching over us and that we can never lose hope. He will come to our rescue. He will strengthen and nourish and comfort. He loves us so much. I love being a missionary. It is my favorite thing to do! I hope everyone has this opportunity someday. Mumma, if you don´t get married, go on a mission. And if you get married, go on a mission. You will love it, becasue you have such a huge love for God´s children and His gospel. I love you so much.

I had more things to say, but I forgot them. Next week I will try to write them down so I won´t forget, but I think this email has been sufficienty long. 

OH! Look up the mutual theme for 2015! 

Embark in the Service of God!

Serve with all your might! 

Love, Your Little Missionary