October 2, 2017

Hello to all!

I hope you all have had a fantastic week, I know mine has been pretty great!

Every Tuesday, we have a district meeting. Usually I enjoy it because the people in my district are amazing, but last Tuesday, I was ready to cry with joy. Why? Because I received TWO cards from Sister Carlson! My heart was dancing, I actually couldn't stop smiling! It was such a gift too, because earlier that morning I had subconsciously decided that I was going to have a bad day. But encouragement from my twin changed that really quickly! Thank you, Avery, for your loving words and kind encouragement, it was exactly what I needed.

One really awesome experience I had was on Thursday. Sister Moura and I have been teaching an investigator named Flávio for a long time, about at the start of this transfer. He was a referral we received from Church Headquarters, and he asked for a Book of Mormon. He's been a member of many other churchs, and is really smart. He's constantly asking questions, which is a great learning experience for me! But on Thursday, we invited a member to accompany us for a lesson with Flávio. The entire vibe of the lesson was different; it was more of a disscussion, not simply asking and answering questions. I felt like Flávio understood more, and it was a real testament to me that members are important in the conversion of converts. Our goal in bringing Irmão Roberto was to give Flávio a friend, so he felt more comfortable to come to church. Sister Moura and I are praying that he'll take this step of faith and come to church next week!

Also on Thursday, we were informed that tomorrow (or on Friday) we would be moving houses! Surprise! We spent most of the night packing our suitcases and everything else (kitchen utensils, bathroom supplies, pamphlets, etc.) and were exhausted. Then we got a call in the morning that they were coming over to pick us up, give us the keys, and giving us an opportunity to clean our new house! Our new house has so much light, it's really close to lots of things, and we now live close to a less active family! What a wonderful opportunity for reactivation! Anyway, after we cleaned for a bit, we ran to have lunch with a member. Then we ran back to our old house to wait for the elders, they were going to help us move everything. We got everything loaded onto the truck, and then got it to our new apartment! We were able to unload your things pretty fast, and we have settled in nicely. The only problem is that we live on a main road, much different from a main road in quiet Ivoryton, CT. Sometimes I can't sleep, maybe because of the noise or maybe because this is a new house and my body needs to get used to it. Who knows, I'll probably have adjusted to it by the end of the week!

It's been really rainy here for conference, but what a wonderful, different experience conference was! It was completely in portuguese, and it was hard to hear the english underneath the portuguese, so I was on my own! Well, not alone, I think the Spirit was with me. I was able to really write down the thoughts and feelings of my heart, and maybe the Spirit was able to influence me to write something down. I'm still learning how the Spirit communicates with me, it's a journey! One of my favorite talks was by Owen (I don't remember his first name) about repentance. This is what I've been preaching! It was so amazing to see my teachings connect with what he said! Something I'm constantly telling investigators is that repentance is about change, not specifically about feeling guilt for awful things you've done in the past. Sometimes, it is necessary to find forgiveness for those big and scary sins, but most of the time, we need to use it for little things. The changes we need to make in this life are changes that will help us become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. If you are quick to judge others, you can repent and ask Heavenly Father to help you see the good first. What a marvelous opportunity we all have to use this wonderful gift, repentance, that was wrought through the Atonement and suffering of our brother, Jesus Christ!

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord and preach His gospel to the people of Brazil! I'm also grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to our prophets, apostles, and others speak and give us divine counsel. I hope that you all are able to feel reinvigorated from this conference!

I love you all so so much!
Sister Carlson