Stories from a Sunburned Sister: Not So Happy Holidays

Happy Monday everyone!!!

This week has been a good one! Although, one things for sure, holidays are definitely better at home than in the mission field. Thursday was Dia das Criaças (Children's day- kind of like mother's/father's day) and literally NO ONE was home. Everyone was out partying and with their families. And this resulted in the streets being full of drunk people, so we couldn't really do contacts. It was kind of a rough day, but tudo bem! And then today we have to email a lot later today because it's a commercial holiday here, and literally everything is closed- the LAN house in our area, all of the grocery stores, etc. We had to take the bus to Janga, another area nearby, to email. It's been quite the adventure!

As for the week itself, it was good! It was definitely one of those weeks in the mission that pushes you to learn and grow, but it was good. I have two quick stories that I want to share!

1st, we were walking down the street trying to find an address, and this older, crazy, lady came up to us and asked if we had a house. We were like, ummm, yeah, we're just trying to find the address of a friend. She then proceeded to invite us to live with her at her house. We assured her that we were fine, and that we're missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and that we write down the address of people, and visit them in their homes. Well at this point, she gets all serious and close to us, and tells us to be careful because people will try to use us, etc. We were like, Okay! Thanks! Bye! and then quickly left that street. But not even 5 minutes later, we passed her again on another street, and she calls us over, and handed us these little packets of pink "popcorn". She said it was popcorn, but it looked more like drugs. Haha! Ah, no worries, we definitely didn't eat it. She was nuts, but it made for a good story.

The second story is my miracle of the week! One of the members in the ward passed a friend of hers as a reference last week, and after several attempts to visit her, we finally were able to find her at home! We taught her the first lesson, and she loved it! She was especially excited about baptism, and saying that she had never thought about baptism the way we taught it to her. And when we invited her to be baptized, my companion hadn't even finished the invitation before she yelled, Yes! Yes! Yes! I want to! I need to!! It was so cool see how prepared she was! I'm just so excited to continue to help her progress and learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week in my studies I read a really cool scripture- Alma 12:10 "And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full." So, if you have a question, or you want to learn more, humbly seek the truth, and eventually the fullness of the truth will be revealed unto you.

Well, I hope you all have an incredible week this week!! I love you all, and keep you in my prayers always!

Love,

Sister Shelton