because of HIM

So- maybe you're reading this, because I'm in Brazil and you'd like to know what it's like... but really my life here isn't my life anymore, not as a representative of Jesus Christ. There are cool moments, when you see a type of butterfly that you've never seen. Or- not as cool moments when you find a cockroach in your house. But truly the stories I have to tell, usually aren't my own, but the stories of others that the Lord let's me play a little part.

For the purpose of the story I'll change the names. We're helping a young man, Josef, who isn't a member, who's married with a member, Marie, and they have a little boy six years old. Marie is returning to church for a while now, has a calling, likes to visit the temple, and I've come to love her, and feel a part of the pain that she must have. Josef smokes, and we've been trying to help him since I've gotten here, and he has his ups and downs, and this past weekend hit a down. After so much time not visiting the bar, this week he went, and after so long not drinking, he drank. We had visited her in the week and found her crying. And at church I sat with her in sacrament meeting, and she was quiet, but told me she had given up, she was tired- she really had been trying to help her husband. "But if he doesn't want any help, what can I do>" She asked. There's a woman here that's been helping the couple. She told me more details in which I felt more the pain and despair that Marie must be feeling. 

In this moment even I became discouraged for a moment. Trying to not cry- and the Irmà spoke the words that I'm sure the Lord Himself would say if He had been present. "Don't give up, because the Lord never gave up on us." Sometimes in our lives we hit these walls, physical or spiritual or mental that seems like there's no way to climb. Maybe because it involves another person's agency, maybe because you really just don't have the energy to go on, or maybe simply because the desire seemed to have left you. But the Lord only asks us not to give up, the persevere until the end. In the steps into the presence of God, Christ never said that we had to jump to the finish line, but gave us steps out of the dark abyss of this fallen world. 

And I'm so grateful for these steps. And we can't give up on others, nor ourselves. Because the Lord never gave up on us, even with all the pain that He felt for us, for all the times He's just waiting for us to choose to get back up on our feet. I'm grateful for this time I have in Brazil and to serve as a representative of Christ and His church restored here on the earth. I know that this work is true, because I feel so, through the Spirit that He left for us. 

Thank you for all the support and love that I feel here. Sorry if I never emailed or wrote all of you personally, but I have photos of my family, and friends, and I never forget you, even as far as I am. Thank you for your prayers and love, 

Sister Duncan