OI FAMILIA :)

OI FAMILIA :)

This week has been a good one :) and kinda sad at the same time... the guy that lived in the red car behind the bus stop flew the coop and we have no idea where he went. We prayed that he would somehow come to church on Sunday but he didn't... we asked around and his neighbors told us that Tuesday a lady came and picked him up along with all of his stuff so hopefully where ever he is he is going to Church :) We miss him though! Also our other investigators told us they don't want to be baptised and they don't want our visits anymore but they still want us to pick them up for church... I was kinda confused about that one :) but all in all everything is good here in Brazil. We picked up two new investigators who are awesome :) named tiago and Debora :) They really want to be baptised so hopefully everything works out :) Its been pretty cold here again and so we had to break out our sweaters. Its kinda weird but its definitely a blessing from God! I love cold weather! This up coming week we have interviews with President Reber and I'M super excited! :) also people I would just like to say that Portuguese has officially become super easy! (actually that's a lie its still frustrating as ever) but I can understand pretty much everything that people say! SWEET!!! I love Portuguese its a beautiful language :) Yesterday was Sunday, as I'm sure you are all aware... and it was kind of stressful because we walked until the end of the world trying to get people to come to church. Because the more people we get to Church the better chance our little branch has of getting a real meeting house!! so we have been working really had to help out. They had to have at least 95 people in sacrament meeting for four Sundays in a row and they announced yesterday that we reached the goal! woohoo! :) but as a result of the stress I got my first migraine Ive ever had on my mission. So sister Kimball and I went home and rested and It went away :)  The lord has blessed me so much because up until now i have only had small headaches every once in a while. and I believe the lord is going to  continue to bless me with my body :) because honestly I don't know how I walk 10 to 12 miles everyday but somehow I do :) but you would think that I would be loosing weight and I'm not ;) its ok though :) Well everyone I love you all and I miss you! Thank you for your prayers :) Love Shelby

Hello from Lucas!

Alrighty another week in Brazil :)

Things are going great:) Sister Martinez has been transferred to Cuiaba and we sure will miss her! but in her place Sister Kimball came to be sister Helena's companion. YAY! She is also our sister training leader and goes on divisions with us once a week. Which is great! She will be going home at the end of August so this is her last area here in Lucas with us. And we are so happy to have her, she has been teaching us so much and of course has brought her special spirit into our work. I'm so thankful that the lord sent her to us. We did not end up moving because our apartment isn't ready with furniture and the things that we need yet so more than likely we will be moving after this transfer. We will be receiving elders in this area next transfer as well. Our branch is very excited for that and was a little sad to hear that they wouldn't be coming this transfer. Also this week I had quite the traumatic experience. We had a district meeting in Sorriso which is about a two hour bus ride from Lucas. In Sorriso the church is an old two story house, kind of like the one we have in Lucas only a little bit nicer, but anyway... We were waiting for the elders to arrive so that we could begin our meeting and I went upstairs to use the bathroom. When I went to exit the bathroom, the door handle broke off in my hand. At first I thought I could fix it and get out but as I tried the door handle broke even more, making it utterly impossible for me to open the door. So I calmly tried to yell for help (in Portuguese) but after a while it became evident that nobody could hear me and I freaked out a little bit and began yelling (in English) for help and banging on the door. When my Companions finally found me they talked to me through the door and told me that the other side was broken too. Sister Inez tried to calm me down while talking to me through the door while sister Kimball got the door open. When they finally got the door open all I could do was stand there and hold out the piece of broken door knob to them with my shaky hand and cry. They were able to calm me down and later were able to laugh about it :) so that's my experience for this week ha-ha! Something super cool that happened this week is, one day we were walking to our lunch appointment when Sister Inez saw a book of Mormon on the bus stop bench. We stopped and asked the man that was standing at the bus stop if the book was his and he smiled this giant smile and told us it was his along with a bible and another book from another church. We asked him where he got it and he told us a man who passed by everyday had stopped and given it to him (we found out later that this man was the member whose house we were going to for lunch) anyway, we asked his name (Biano) and asked him if we could have his address so that we could pass by and share a message with him. He said You sure can! I live in that red car right there! while pointing to a very dirty broken down old car in a dirt lot behind the bus stop. Sister Inez being as sweet as she is, didn't miss a beat and wrote in my planner... BIANO... Red Car behind the bus stop. We came back the next day to teach him and he made us chairs out of a bucket and a piece of wood and an old broken plastic chair. When we were all situated in our spots he told us the story of his life. When he was younger he was an alcoholic and his family abandoned him, he lost his job and was forced to live in a type of shelter for alcoholics, which is where he found God. He began collecting religious books and quit drinking. He began moving from place to place until he ended up in Lucas living in an old red car and that's where we found him. We have been teaching him for a week and after everyone of our visits he tells us that he wants to be baptized right now! He has a baptismal date for July 5th :) Its so amazing to see people like him. and it makes me thankful for what I have. He has nothing and his family has still abandoned him, he has no house and no money but you could guess that he is the happiest man in the world because he has the scriptures and he has God. I feel so honored to be able to teach him and help him to be baptised.

We also have two great teenage kids who want to be baptised and we have taught them their family's and their friend's the first lesson so many times that they know it by heart. The only thing that is holding them back is they need their parents permission to be baptised, which their parents are not giving them permission. but all is well I have faith that someday as they continue to have faith in Christ they will be blessed and be able to be baptised. Well everyone that's all for this week :) I love you all and I miss you! Thank you for your prayers and your love!

Love Shelby

Another week in Lucas

Hello everyone :)

This week has been actually kind of quiet so thats nice. We recieved transfers yesterday and I will be staying here in Lucas with Sister Silva. Sister Martinez is being transfered to another city close to Cuiaba. She has been here in Lucas for about four months. Last night the branch here threw her a going away party and when we got in the car to leave, the whole branch surrounded the car and cried and begged her to stay. To be perfectly honest it was a little weird but they sure do love her so I guess thats all that matters :) Also yesterday Sister Silva and I tracked down paolo (the kid who had to be baptised again but didnt show up for his confirmation) First we went to his house and banged on the door for about 20 minuets (sister Silva is very dilligent) then we went to his friends house (who happens to be a less active member) and found him there. We convinsed him and his friends to come to church and he was confirmed! Yay! Also this week we found a really cool lady while we were knocking doors. When we contacted her she let us right in and let us teach her the first lesson. Then told us about the problems she is having with her family. We talked to her about the plan of salvation and talked to her about the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was so cool to be able to see a difference in her eyes and to see that she felt better. She wants to be baptised but doesnt know when would be the best time. Were trying to get her to be baptisednext Saturday. However she has to attend chruch twice before she can be baptised and yesterday when we went to pick her up for church she told us she couldnt go becasue she had a hang over as a result of a festa she went to the night before :) Awesome. Another one of our investigators who wants to be baptised is now backing down because she wants to leave her husband first because he wont stop drinking. We went to her house to see how she was doing and she was really upset because she had just had a fight with her husband. She told us that she doesnt want to live with him anymore because she thinks that he will never stop drinking. Weve met her husband before and hes a really nice guy and loves what we have taught them, so well have to see how we can help them. This up comming week, we might be moving to a new house thats closer to the curch, so that will be nice. but we dont know exactly when. Well everyone I love you all and I miss you! Thank you for your prayers and support! Love always, Shelby

Hey there!

Hello everyone :)

I'm doing great here :) I've been sick for a few days but not too bad :) Just a little stomach ache but its gone now so that's good :) We had a baptism this week and boy was it interesting. It was a young man that was already baptized a year and a half ago but he never showed up for his confirmation so he had to be baptized again. He passed the interview and everything and the next day Sister Silva and I went to the church to set up for the service and guess what?? There was no water in the church! ahhhh! So we had to call one of our members to see if we could have the baptism in their swimming pool but then at the last moment, right before the baptism was supposed to start the water was turned back on (god is marvelous isn't he?) but the font usually takes about an hour to fill up because its a cement box outside the Church and gets its water from a tiny pipe in the car port. So  sister Silva and  I and our ward mission leader had to fill it up with buckets of water, it was quite the adventure :) But the baptism was able to happen (an hour and a half late) and everything went well, I even gave the message (in Portuguese) for the service on the Holy ghost. However the next day when this young man was supposed to be confirmed in sacrament meeting... guess what happened... He didn't show up again. So sister Silva and I had to hunt him down and when we finally found him and were able to ask him why he didn't show up for his own confirmation he said he had gone to a festival instead. So we told him that he needs to be there next week in order to be confirmed. crazy :) Also this week was our branches talent show. Sister Silva, Sister Helena and I sang an EFY song for it and it was super fun :) Sister Martinez sang with one of the ward youth in Spanish and that was pretty cool :)

Lately we have been teaching a couple that I'm pretty sure I talked about last week, Vanda and her Husband Edilva. They are super cool and want to be baptized but she needs to get divorced from her first husband first then needs to get married to Edilva:) so its going to be a little bit of a process :) But they have the desire so that's all that matters. We have had to cut a lot of our other investigators because they weren't interested anymore but that's OK, we will be finding new ones this week. This week is the last in this transfer but I think I will probably be staying in Lucas with sister Silva but we´ll have to see what happens :) we find out on Sunday where were all going. For sure though were moving houses because our area is receiving a set of elders who will be living in our apartment and we get to live in a house that's a lot closer to the church so that's super cool :) Well I love you all and I miss you! Thank you for your prayers and love! Love always Shelby

Another week in Brazil!

Hello There :)

This week has been super fun! We had divisions with the sister training leaders on Tuesday and it was super great! My sister training leaders are two American sisters (so that was a bit of a relief and I got to speak a little English) One of which is my best friend in the mission, Sister Kimball. She also served in New Jersey for a little while and loves it just as much as I do! The others name is sister Puckett, she is from Texas and is super awesome as well. So for the division I went with sister Kimball for the day and Sister Silva went with Sister Puckett. Honestly it was the best day of my mission so far. I got to lead the area and plan out lessons and be totally immersed in the work. Plus Sister Kimball taught me so much and helped me. We had so much fun while we worked and the day passed by so fast. Best Day Ever :) Also during this day I had a hunch that we should go and visit this lady Sister Silva and I contacted one day. So we did and the lady (named Victorina) let us right in and wanted us to share our message. She said she had a dream that two angels would come to her and show her the right path and teach her about Christ. Super cool:) and what's even better she gave us a referral for a friend of hers that lives up the street. She said she would like our message as well. So after our Visit with Victorina we went to see the referral (named Vanda) and at first she didn't really know what to think about us but as we got talking with her and got to know her she opened up about her family situation and began to cry. We were then able to help her and comfort her. We also shared our message about the restoration of the gospel and we gave her a pamphlet about it. She said she couldn't read but that her husband could read it to her. 

Saturday Sister Silva and I went back to see her and her husband and to see if they had read the pamphlet and what they thought about it and to our great surprise they had read every page and even better the husband had memorized a part of the first vision or Joseph Smith. It was so so so COOL!! We invited them to come to church and talked to them about baptism. They want to be baptised but big surprise, they need to get married first (nobody here is married, its kind of discouraging) I think they will be baptised within a month or so :) 

Also this week and last week (more so last week) the temperatures have dropped a little bit and its been around 75 degrees. To me this feels fantastic but everyone else have been walking around with beanies and coats on. Its kind of funny :) But I guess when your used to the Sun practically being your constant companion for your whole life, 75 degrees probably would be a bit uncomfortable. Also this week I've learned that every Brazilian house has one of two kinds of security systems, Rottweiler's and Pit bulls. Its kind of scary when you knock (clap) at houses because usually there's always an angry dog that comes running and barking at you. But such is life :) Thank you so Much for all you emails and prayers and support. I love you all! 

Love, Shelby