Here conference was a really neat experience, not necessarily because what was said, but what was felt. And the events surrounding. The mission here in Brazil is so different than that of Michigan, I remember my friend saying that every day was unpredictable in Brazil... And I remember trying to have the same experience in Michigan, but now I understand.
In Brazil we don't have cars to drive us around, unless you have an Irmã Vera to drive you around. But to search out your investigators, you go by foot, and if your close to the chapel (which we're not) then you walk them there. We didn't have any of the people we're teaching come to conference on Saturday... Well, we would have, but there was confusion and the internet in the chapel wasn't working, so we went to the stake center, and didn't have credits to call our investigators who we weren't sure which session they'd come to anyways...later to find out that they had arrived, and left because it wasn't working... And of course we learned of this only after conference was over. This was actually something that was really hard for me, because I know it was something good- I had the opportunity to watch conference in English. Which was what I had needed, especially with the contrast of watching in Portuguese and not understand very little on Sunday. While I didn't understand the sunday conference very well, I know that I felt the spirit so strongly. I know that they were the words of the servents of the Lord.
But here's the Sunday miracle. We left the house a little early, sacrificing a little of our study time, to go and remind and reinvite people to come to conference. We had prayed that we'd be able to find people in their houses...And so out we went, and it could have been easy to lose hope when our top investigator wasn't in her home, but there was this peace in which I didn't worry. We walked on to the second home, in realizing that we didn't know where he lived! Because yesterday he had moved houses from one side of the road to the road behind it. What do we do? We asked ourselves, and without credits or minutes to call him. We needed a payphone, but in our area there's a lot more houses than there is of anything else city like, but I saw the green payphone and started walking toward it with purpose, excited that we found one. And in doing so I heard my companion gasp, "Look!" It was Paulo, our investigator that we didn't have an address to!
Long story short, we noted his address, he didn't end up coming to conference, but in leaving his house, I heard another excited gasp from my companion, "Sister, Is that Adriana?" It was! It's not everyday that it's so clear that we're being guided, and we ended up finding everyone we needed and Adriana ended up coming to the second session that Sunday!
There's more to this story than these scattered thoughts, but really what I learned is that I know that miracles are possible, and I know that the Lord is our Shepherd, Shepherd of all, and he'll help us in our paths in helping others. I know that the Lord will help us in our weaknesses.
I got a mountain of letters from family and friends, letters that were send way back in January and Febuary, my zone was very jealous, but I don't think they understood that the letters had been held captive from me for so long. Know that I'm grateful for your love and prayers! Thank you so,
With love,
Sister Duncan
No comments:
Post a Comment