Monday, February 24, 2014

Japanese?

Mom, could you forward this to all my sisters? Its exhausting trying to send this to everyone.

 

Happy birthday to denalli and Lsha this week!

 

AHHHH this week... Sag sorry my emails arent as good, I seriously stress about trying to write everyone so chill. Also I have not read Harry Potter.

 

So I havent gotten an email saying dad died of a heart attack yet... thats good news. I can just imagine him on the plane or looking at the ocean right now. HA!

 

Yes, people here first think I am Brasileira and then they ask if im Japanese?? Because I have squinty eyes and Shumway sounds Japanese to all of them. So funny. 

Also, I have a pic of our family in my scriptures and when people see it they ALWAYS point at Sagan and say voce! Then I show them where I am and they laugh and say no and then point at Sagan again... people really dont believe me! Who knew we looked so much alike. 

 

Mom dont stress about my health. Tell Jo I am praying for her... gosh that sucks so bad my heart goes out to her. I cant imagine being ripped away in the middle of your mission. 

 

I CONSTANTLY put on hand sanitizer... my comp thinks im stuck up for it but my DL who is also a Brasilian explained that germs and bacteria are just different here and my body isnt used to it. I only wash dishes with our filtered water and brush my teeth with that. I wear flip flops in the shower and close my eyes... dont worry I am a germaphob now. 

 

Mom, could you send my Traces address? I want to send the boys some Brasilian money. 

 

My investigator, Fran is just a gem. She is the cutest thing and her daughter, the autistic one is so dang cute. We are praying for a miracle that her husband will get legally married to her so she can be baptized.

 

Apparently this area is rough for misisonaries because baptisms are hard to come by. After new york im thinking dannnnngggggggg 20 lessons in a week! So yeah, im happy with anything now. 

 

Sag, get on my FB and update it with pics and stuff and accept the friend requests, they are people here in Brasil.

 

We had an activity on Saturday where we watched the Other Side of Heaven, I couldnt understand much but it was fun to chill. I made popcorn for everyone. Dad taught me right. 

 

Sunday, there is this little boy who is 9 named Jao. He is my best bud here. He sits down next to me in Sacrament meeting. and proundly pulls out his own personal hymn book. He shows me and he has words and phrases marked up. Then even more proudly, he pulls out his BOM. Same thing, verses and marked as he has gone through and read it... hes 9! Then even more proudly with the biggest smile on his face he pulls out a picture of his parents, dressed in white on the day they were baptized. I just wanted to start crying right then as he told me about the picture and expressed such gratitude for his parents decision so he could then be sealed to them for all eternity. HES 9!!! People are just amazing. 

 

Okay, so this week as I was fasting and praying I thought a lot about sucky things. (I think it was grandma kathy who told me she hated the word sucky so im sorry for this, bear with me. sometimes there is no other word to describe a situation. Sucky things are just sucky.)

My heart just ached for people who have experienced such hard things. But everyone goes through them. Does that make them less sucky? No of course not? How do we REALLY deal with the trials in our life?

 

i remembered once, Sister Blosil and I were talking about how people think Mormons pay tithing to buy their way into the temple. She said, its such a tender mercy because if people arent willing to do something as small as paying tithing, how are they going to be willing to keep covenants that we make in the temple that are much greater and of much greater value than paying tithing. Tithing, yes it has its many purposes but it helps prepare us for something bigger and better. Same thing with trials. 

The gospel doesnt make sucky things less sucky, it makes it so we are prepared for CELESTIAL GLORY! Because salvation is not a cheap thing. Christs suffering was not small, so the fact that we have to go through a FEW trials too is something very small in comparison. 

If we are not able to go forward in faith with the trials we have in this life, this extremely short life how are we going to be able to inherit all the God has, WORLDS WITHOUT END?! 

I know, that sometimes I forget that Christ was half-mortal. Being perfect was NOT easy for him like I sometimes assume it was. I feel like Satan is attacking me so much because Im a missionary. Think about how much Satan attacked Christ! Christ went through way more than we ever will! 

Sucky things are going to be sucky no matter what. But what the gospel gives us is PERSPECTIVE and HOPE! We know WHY we have to go through these trials... we are being prepared to receive more than we can imagine. 

Brigham Young has a quote that I love, 

Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to ENJOY the presence of the Lord... Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your SALVATION

 

Epic. Also, because God is so merciful doesnt just give us these trials and expect us to endure it he gives us HELP. We constantly are surrounded by angels who are bearing us up. Go read the talk The Ministry of Angles by Elder Holland (you know it will be good) from General conference Oct. 2008

 

Mom, could you send me a recipe for peanut butter?

Also, the address is right, you just put Brasil at the bottom. 

 

Eu amo voces!!!!




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