So this has been another great, but crazy week. My district went on an English fast on Monday. We are taking today, p-day, off. So basically what that means is that none of us are speaking any English! It is super hard sometimes, and exhausting, but I think it is definitely helping! We know more Portuguese than I think we knew we did. It also makes it clear how much more we really need to learn. It was kind of weird to use English again after all of that... That´s a good sign, right? So the only times that I have spoken in English the past two days was to explain a couple of grammatical concepts to some Elders in my district- I didn´t have the vocab to do that in Portuguese! But other than that it has been 100% Portuguese! Crazy! So I was also made Sister Training Leader on Sunday... I did not see that one coming! I had only been here for two and a half weeks! There are so many sisters that are more experienced and qualified than I am for that position. So I am a little nervous about taking it on. I´m just counting on the fact that the Lord will qualify those He calls. I think it will be a really cool responsibility. I get to know all of the sisters much better than I would otherwise and I get to greet all of the new sisters each week too! I get to help with their orientation and be their go to with any questions (though I don´t know that I have all the answers for them!). My companions are a little bummed about it though because now hey have to come to all of my meetings with me! And that means they can´t take naps on Sundays. Haha, they still love me though- so it´s all good. I am also responsible for making sure everyone is out of the bathrooms and in their rooms with the lights off every night. That part is a bit of a pain. It means that I don´t get to go to bed until after everyone else. And sometimes girls are slow! But it hasn´t been too much of a problem yet- so don´t worry :)
My favorite experience from this week was a lesson with one of our investigators, Elaine. She is divorced and is fighting for custody of her son with her ex-husband. We decided to teach her a lesson about faith in Christ. One of the pamphlets has a picture of Christ raising a girl from the dead. We used that picture in our lesson and focused especially on the girl´s parents. It was through their faith that their daughter was raised from the dead. I testified to her that if she had faith like that girl´s parents, she too could see miracles in her life. The spirit was so strong! As I testified, she started to cry and then I of course cried... the Maxwell curse/blessing. It was amazing. I think the best part was that our "investigator" was really just our teacher acting. We were all just pretending, but in that moment it felt so real. Our love for her was so strong and her hope in our message was just overwhelming. I love being a missionary!
This Saturday I get to go out into São Paulo to go proselyting! How crazy is that?! In just a couple days I will be out in the streets of Brazil sharing the gospel in Portuguese with real people! Haha, I am so excited for it! But to make up for my last letter, I´ll be completely honest with you- I am also really nervous. I don´t feel ready for it quite yet, but I know it will be fine. With the Lord on my side, what could go wrong?
And now for the funny story of the week! We got two new Elders from Provo in our district today. Because Provo doesn´t have the immersion that we do, they are a bit behind in the language. They are both great though and fit right in. Anyways, so last night we were practicing teaching with our teacher in class. Elder Child (one of the newbies) was supposed to be a member present in the lesson. He kind of zoned out in the lesson though. I am pretty sure he was on the verge of sleep. So then our teacher, who is pretending to be an investigator turns and asks him to share an experience. He nearly jumps out of his seat when she calls his name. It was pretty funny. Then of course he didn´t know what she had asked, so he had her repeat it. Some how he misunderstood her though. He thought he heard "cantar" which means to sing. I wish you could have seen the panicked look on his face! Haha, I think we should have let him think that was correct and had him sing a bit for us :)
Alright, I am just about out of time for this week! I love you guys! Have a wonderful week!
-Sister Maxwell
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| Beautiful Day, Beautiful Sister Missionaries |
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