Week 15💌 - Zone Conference and President Nelson's passing

 It's that time of week again! Pday!! This week has actually gone by so fast yall. It's crazy. Milagre de Deus!

I have to look at my journal to remind myself what I did this week, all of the days just blur into one!

Segunda: Pday! I spent the day at home. I just talked to my fam and answered as many emails as I could. It was a great day of rest! 

Terça: Zone Conference! You guys, it was so awesome! My first Zone Conference was my 2⁰ week in the field, so I was beyond lost. I tried to take notes but only had about 2 pages. This time, I filled almost 7! It was so spiritually uplifting. We talked about ways to find people. The first step to teaching isn't to teach, it's to find someone willing to listen! We ran practices and shared ideas and ways that were working or not working in our areas. We also learned about the doctrine of the BOM.

And in other good news, I was able to resolve the drama. I was really really nervous going into ZC because of this drama. I knew that I needed to talk to Sister Tonini about it, but I was dreading it. But, during a break, I plucked up the courage to talk to her. She assured me that she knew that I wasn't involved. So we got it all sorted out, and now tudo bem! (I also got another package, so even better!!)

Terça also marked my 3⁰ mês-aniversario! I have officially been a missionary for 3 whole months yall! 

Quarta: We met with a new Investigator,  João. Last week he had stopped us on the street by saying "Hi friends!" Turns out, missionaries had met with him back in 2019. He is very curious. He had a lot of questions, and a lot of "Oh yeah, you guys believe in ______ (prophets, Christ and God are separate, BOM, etc)". We also attended a few minutes of 2 different  churches, a Catholic and a Baptist church. A woman at the Baptist church gave us her WhatsApp to meet with her again! We got pizza for dinner to celebrate mine and Sister Maciel's Mês-aniversario (everything is closed on Terças here for some reason).

Quinta:  We met with Fatima, Noemia's sister. 

Noemia is a woman who has had a baptism date for a little bit, but she isn't at home during the week. She lives with her sister. On Terça,  we were doing porta em porta contact (door to door) in Noemia's neighborhood.  When we knocked on the 2⁰ door, Noemia answered! Turns out her sister lives 2 houses down. So we were able to teach them both. We asked Fatima if we could come back and teach her again and she said that anyone who comes over to talk about God is always welcome.

And she meant it! She gave us mango mousse and told us that she prays nightly for our safety. 

We had a small miracle this day. We had to take an Uber to the church, and shortly after arriving, Sister Maciel realized she didn't have her phone. Well crap. So we searched her bag and my bag. Then we searched the entire church. We tried to get ahold of the Uber, but no dice. We were starting to resign ourselves to the fact that the phone was gone, when Sister Maciel got the idea to check the street. We found her phone in some really cross algae curb water in front of the church. But it still worked! Even though it had been sitting in water for 20 minutes.

I am also 90% sure that we witnessed a break-in? We were walking home at like 9pm, and I was looking down all of the streets as we passed them to be safe. It gets dark here at 630, so by 9 its REALLY dark. Down one of the streets, I saw this dude climb up and over someones wall and drop into their property. I quietly pointed it out to Sister Maciel and we walked as quickly as possible home.

Sexta: I am offically not an American anymore! This was also the day of door to door. We knocked on so many doors! Sister Maciel wanted me to have some practice with it. One of the houses that we knocked on had two teenage boys. They asked if we were from around here and we said no. Thry asked where we were from, and Sis Maciel invited them to guess. They guessed correctly for her. Then for me, the guessed Switzerland, then Portugal and then Spain! America wasn't even on their minds. We then tried to meet with a media reference, but he wasn't home. His brother in law was though.  His brother in law asked if I was German! We found 5 new people.

Sabado: Guys. No one was home! We tried people who said they'd be home, they weren't.  We tried porta em porta, no one answered and those who did did NOT want to talk. And the streets were deserted except for those who were passed out drunk. Thank goodness for Friday, because we would not have met our goals. We also messaged 70 people inviting them to go to church na Domingo. 

Domingo: Out of the 70 people we invited to church, 2 came. Noemia and Fatima joined us at church! I was honestly surprised.  Noemia said she wouldn't go without her sister, and when we invited Fatima she threw her hands up in the air and said she wouldn't make any promises. But there they were! Afterwards, Fatima thanked us and said that it was really good. 

We also made a woman cry! We were walking home when three women (all very inebriated) asked if we were missionaries. We stopped and said yes. She then pushed 20$ into our hands. We told her we couldn't accept, but they wouldn't drop it. So we gave them Books of Mormons,  and the woman with the money started cuddling it to her face and crying, thanking us over and over again!!

In more somber news, we received news that there was a shooting at a chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  An armed shooter entered a sacrament meeting and opened fire. He shot 10 people, including a child. He also set the building on fire. My heart aches for everyone who was there. My heart aches for the world at large, because this is not the first news of a shooting since I have come to the field. Please pray for the victims and their families.  And take comfort in knowing that these are the Last Days. Christ WILL come again, and He will right every wrong. I don't have a single doubt about that. 

Spiritual thought: Saturday night, our beloved prophet crossed to the other side of the veil. I would like to take a moment to talk about some of the many things that this spiritual giant did for the church. 

During his almost 8 years as prophet, Russel M Nelson

* replaced home teaching with ministering

*reorganized youth programs

* adjusted Sunday meeting schedules from 3 hours to 2 (still remember the joy from this conference vividly)

* asked members to use the full name of the Church

* replaced tithing settlement with tithing declaration

* established a policy to allow women to serve as witnesses in temple sealing

*established a policy allowing women, youth and children to serve as witnesses at baptisms

*announced a new church symbol

*met with the Pope

*announced 185 temples- over 50% of the church's 367 temples that are dedicated, under construction,  announced or in planning

*dedicated the Rome, Italy temple

*dedicated the 200th temple of the church

*dedicated the Syracuse UT temple, the 200th temple to open its doors during his lifetime

*acquired the Kirkland temple

This is just a brief list of all of the things that President Russel M. Nelson did during his time as Prophet. 

I am so incredibly grateful for the hard work that he put into the building up of Zion. He was a wonderful man who cared so deeply for this church and its members. He was truly a disciple of Christ. He loved his Savior. I know that he was truly called of God to serve as the Prophet and leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that he is now at rest with our Savior.

I am also looking forward to next weekend when we will sustain a new Prophet,  Seer and Revelator of the Church at General Conference. 

Love you all so much!!

Picture time!!

Picture Descriptions - 

1. Sunset!!

2. Zone Conferenceee

3. Zone Conference!!

4. Feliz Mês-aniversario!

5. Só água!! (I know I look insane, it was a long long day)

6. Sister Maciel was in my spot!

7. Actually what is this. 

8. He will be missed

9. One more sunset, just for good measure!