That was a wise quote from a Sister
here in São Paulo. I liked it. Also, something Irmã Prata always says;
"Não existe vitoria sem a luta" which translated is...There is no
victory without a fight. I like it! We have to work for the things that
matter!
So last week I gave y'all the heads up...but the exciting news of this week was that Elder Aidukaitis visited our mission! Tuesday
we went to the meeting in São Paulo, that was in the church building
next to the temple. Which means, yes, I DO love to see the temple! But
it was closed, so now I'll work on the second line of the song. ("I'll
go inside someday") And now...I'm doubting my ability to remember the
words. Sorry.
I know this is a little ridiculous to talk about,
but it was one of the high points of my week. We got there a little late
because the bus broke down, and it was pouring rain, so we didn't see
anything. Then we had the meeting, and then it was time to go. And I knew we
were close to the temple, but I couldn't find it from any of the
windows and everyone was leaving. So I saw one of the Assistants and I
asked, "Elder! Are we close to the temple?"
And he laughed, and said, "Yes, Sister, we're right next to it!"
So
Sister Ward and I ran down the hallway to look for another window, and
we found and exit. Sister Ward started going down the stairs, calling,
"Where is it, where is it?"
And then all of the sudden I froze..."Sister--Sister, I think it's right here."
You
know that story about the men examining the elephant but no one was
seeing the big picture, so none of them knew what it was? It was like
that. We were so close, we just saw the wall. But I recognized the wall...we went around to the front, and we saw the angel moroni.
We walked into temple grounds, and it was like time
stopped. I just started crying, and we sat there for a while. A warm
blanket of love surrounded us, and I felt so safe, so watched over. It
was a really special moment. :)
Well, the meetings with E. Aidukaitis were great!
He's a spiritual giant, but he made it feel so natural to be with him.
He met with us in small groups, which I really liked. I learned a lot
about setting goals with faith, and diligence in the work of the Lord.
Wednesday
we had a meeting with him here in Sorocaba, and then we had to deal
with an emergency, so we didn't do any proselyting work. (One of the
Sisters broke her foot, and needed transportation/place to sleep/walking
cast/etc). Thursday we were still dealing with that until about 4:00, so we really lost some time this week. But that doesn't stop us!
Thursday,
we visited Claudio. He had a baptism date for last Sunday, but with the
whole confusion with work and all, it fell through. But Thursday we talked about how he was feeling, and we marked his baptism for Saturday!
Let me tell you, this old man is golden. When we taught the word of
wisdom, we already knew he had stopped smoking and drinking more than 20
years ago. But we were worried about coffee! We were teaching him not
to drink black tea, and he didn't know what that was (it's rare here).
"Well, I recently started drinking a lot of tea. Let me go show you the
box."
So he went and grabbed the box, aaaand...it was
herbal tea. Cool. Then he explained, "I started drinking this instead of
coffee--I thought that maybe coffee isn't really good for my health."
Woohoo!!!!
Also, you'll
smile to know, he cut his hair for his baptism! It was a little long
(think Albert Einstein) and scraggly, and he cut it! He was really happy
on the day of his baptism. He's great... :)
Well, that's about it for this week. Hope you're all doing great! Love you sooooo, so much!
Sister Fuller
P.S.
We'll be having a ward talent show this month, and S. Ward and I want
to do something clever. Better yet, we think that clever, but well known
in the US could be new here! So PLEASE send me your ideas for a talent
show--thinking inside the box, outside the country. :)
P.S. again. Just so you know...and because I thought
it was clever...my last district leader very creatively thought of
"wake me up when September ends." I just like music, but you better
believe I will NOT be sleeping during September! But it was clever, and I
thought maybe you'd appreciate it.
If you were interested, there's not really a good word for clever in portuguese. I miss it. :)
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