Week 6 - March 17, 2017

Sister Coleman with one of her MTC teachers, (Irma Fernanda Fuoco)
outside the Campinas Temple.  Irma Fuoco said
"It has been a great experience to have her with us.  
She is just an excellent missionary, so dedicated.  
And we will miss her here.   But we know she will bless the people in the field." 

LAST P-DAY IN THE MTC!!! Next time I write I will be somewhere in the Porto Alegre-ish region and no one will be speaking English at all and I will never understand anything that anyone is saying...BUT I will also be getting the opportunity to teach real people about this beautiful message and I know I will be having some of the best experiences of my life. So I am ready. I am so, so sad to be leaving as well because I adore the missionaries and teachers here so much. But there are people out there who need to hear about Christ and the gospel, so I will get over that sadness. Yes, I am also crazy nervous. (In case you were curious, yes, I have learned a lot of Portuguese in the past few weeks, but no, you cannot actually become fluent in another language in the course of 6 weeks.) But I know the Lord has gotten me this far, I am in His hands, and this is His work.

Last Saturday we got the opportunity to go to a really busy square in the middle of Sao Paulo and hand out Book of Mormons. It was such an incredible experience- people were so willing to listen, even if they did not want a book, and were so patient with our terrible Portuguese. Somehow, I understood most of what they were saying to me and they understood what I was saying to them- and in the course of an hour we handed out 4 books. If that is not a miracle, I do not know what is. How blessed am I to be in Brazil where the people are so welcoming, loving, and accepting.

Because the Sao Paulo temple was closed this week for maintenance or something, we got to go to the Campinas temple this morning. It is so big and beautiful and it is up on a hill so you can see Sao Paulo spread out beneath it. So cool, I loved going there.

Other than that, this week has been quite uneventful. I do want to share a scripture with you, but I actually do not have my scriptures with me at the moment so I cannot remember the reference. I know it is in Mormon somewhere, and it says Know ye not that you are in the hands of God? I have repeated that phrase to myself so many times just in the past 6 weeks. God never abandons us. We are in His constant care.

I love you all so much. Tchau!

-Sister Coleman