"divinely redirected" - Lages week 68

hello gringos! some highlights from this week

- after sharing a video about forgiveness and repentance to Cristana and Ivonir, 6 year Beatriz got up and said she needed to ask forgiveness for something.  so she went into her room, knelt by her bed, and came back a few seconds later saying "all done!"  tender stuff right?!

- on friday, we were walking back from an appointment that had fallen through when we saw 2 young girls crying and arguing in the road.  we stopped and asked if they needed help with something.  one of the girls said she had lost her cellphone and her mom was going to be so mad.  we told them we would keep our eyes out for it, and asked her if she believed in the power of prayer.  she responded "yes."  we offered a prayer right there in the middle of the street, wished them well, and then went our separate ways.  not long after we left the girls, we looked at the ground and saw her cell phone untouched.  we picked it up and went running back in their direction.  i'm sure we were a sight, 2 girls in dresses, rainboots, and backpacks frantically running through the city! after about 15 minutes of running, we finally found the girls.  they thanked us crying, and we parted ways again.  but the story doesn't end there.  after giving the phone back, we noticed a man looking at us.  he asked us if we wanted some water and we accepted.  we started talking to him and he told us that he was a member of the church but has been inactive for a very long time.  he said he was happy to see the sisters in the area again because it's been almost 20 years since the last sisters served there, and they were the ones who had baptized him.  he agreed to come back to church with us, and told us to come back anytime.  

     just when we thought our day was going downhill, thanks to all our appts that had fallen through, we were divinely redirected so that we could be literal instruments in the Lord's hands. i'm so grateful for the opportunity i have to serve a mission.  i can see His hand in my life every single day.  thank you for all the love and support from back home.  i feel your prayers and appreciate them so much! 

loves, sista kener






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"by faith all things are fulfilled" - Lages week 66

Image
we saw miracles this week! sister maldonado and i have been setting one (different) goal every week and this week was to invite two people to be baptized and this is what happened: -leomar was baptized on friday, quit drinking coffee in two days and is already in 2 nephi of the BOM. and i tell you that because literally no one actually reads, let alone reads more, than what we tell them too... top demais! -jandira has been an investigator for 3 years . she wants to be baptized but has to get married first. we promised her that if she set a date for her baptism and had faith that ,if it be His will, Heavenly Father would help her achieve this goal. her boyfriend, who has never wanted to get married and always rejected the idea, agreed to signing the marriage papers this week! (if we brought them to him and he didn't have to pay anything hahah) this is a HUGE step! -wednesday we had a lesson with another investigator of 4 years.  he has been to church a handful of times but
Read more

Can someone please point me in the direction of Draper, Utah? - Lages week 8

Image
Just kidding:) So I don't know if any of you are watching the World Cup, but I sure am!!  I'm convinced Brazil has different missionaries rules than the rest of the world hahaha.  This week I experienced my first Lages rainstorm and it was nuts!  You could seriously ring out my hair, dress, shoes, everything.  But perk of the rainstorm, President Goncalves got us a drying machine so bless up!  I also had some awkward experiences this week.  One being my Brazilian roommates told me to say "Eu estou gravida" when the members tell you to eat more food.  It turns out that really means "I am pregnant". I'm glad I could provide some entertainment for them.  This week wasn't super successful, and sometimes discouraging, but it's crazy because everytime I feel like I'm about to break down, something good happens and I forget what I was sad about.  God works in funny ways like that.  One of our investigators (Fatima my fav) started reading the B
Read more

my last email - Brusque week 77

Image
well that’s a wrap folks!  it honestly makes me a little sick to my stomach to think that this is the last week of my mission.  i never really thought i would be the one to say that i absolutely LOVED my mission, but here i am with one week left wishing I could relive it all over again.  it’s been long, hard, mentally/physically tough, and for sure has pushed me to my limits.  but eventually as i learned to put my fears and worries in the hands of the Lord, i began to find Him in everything around me.  everything I have experienced in the last 18 months, the good and the bad, has allowed me to rely on and know my Savior more than i ever thought possible.  before my mission, i knew nothing about the gospel.  nothing.  i became converted on my mission.  i truly believe that I was given this opportunity to be humbled enough to open my eyes and see Him there.  serving a mission was the hardest, yet BEST decision i have ever made.  i have never felt this kind of happiness before and i know
Read more