Sister Madison Coleman: Week 9

Oi família e amigos! This week has been a little better; there have been some visits and lessons where I've been able to understand almost everything a person is saying...and then others where I feel like I never learned any Portuguese at all. So you know, every day is just kind of a roller coaster of confidence. Luckily, we got to watch General Conference this weekend; it was translated so I couldn't understand a lot of it, but I felt the Spirit anyway and I know the messages were important. Also, if anyone had a favorite talk they want to send me their notes or thoughts on, it would be much appreciated. A little tender mercy during conference: I don't know why they put subtitles up for President Monson's remarks, but since they were in English, it was like my own little miracle that I got to completely understand the words of our prophet, as short and simple as they were. How fortunate we are to have a prophet and apostles who love us so much and speak to us today. I can't wait for next conference when I can actually understand everything :)

Crazy thing: this Saturday will be my 2 month mark out on my mission. It definitely doesn't feel like that long, but maybe it will soon because these weeks feel much longer than weeks in the CTM.

It's hard to remember everything that's happened this week because all the days just sort of blur together, so I'll just tell you about some of the people I've met here. Right now we have 10 investigators with baptismal dates, but a lot of them keep getting pushed back, so we're praying hard that they all work out because all of these people are so amazing. (names have been removed for privacy sake)

Two of these people are T and P- a mother and daughter- who both came to General Conference this weekend and loved it. They are both so sweet and eager to learn more about the gospel, but are still uncertain about baptism. One of the members in the ward- M is like our own little grandpa. He looks exactly like Carl from Up and whenever we pass by his house he makes us some snacks and lets us share a scripture with him. Every time we've been there, a recent convert named JL is also there. I have no idea where he actually lives because he's always at M's house. He's very funny, but very difficult to understand; I think even if he were speaking English I would struggle to understand him because he doesn't have any teeth and sometimes he talks to you without looking at you so I never really know when he's asking me questions or just kind of talking to himself, which he also does a lot. Anyway, my goal is to be able to understand what he's saying by the time my training is over (my 12 week mark), because I think if I can understand him, I could understand anybody.

Some of the other people I've met that are super cool: one of our investigators, A, has a daughter whose boyfriend's son is on a mission right now! So the family already knows a little about the church and have a lot of questions about how missions work. Another investigator, R, is not really sure about the whole getting baptized thing because he lives with his girlfriend- who was baptized a long time ago but is now inactive- but he has a lot of questions about the gospel, and it's really cool to talk with him. This week we taught him the Plan of Salvation, which he had soooo many questions about all the little details and why different people go different places after death. I loved it though- I wish all our investigators had that many questions because it assures me they're listening and invested in this knowledge.

Spiritually and emotionally, this week was still hard, but not as hard as the first week...so I consider that a success. There have been several times this week that I felt prompted to say a certain thing or share a certain scripture, and I honestly don't know if it affected the person I was talking to very much, but I felt the Spirit so strongly. I'd like to end with one of the scriptures that I shared with an inactive member. My companion asked me to pick one on the spot to share, so I opened my Book of Mormon, and landed in the book of Helaman. The reference Helaman 5:12 came to my mind; I couldn't remember exactly what it said, just that it was one we talked about in the church a lot, so I just went with it. While I read it to them, and while I was testifying of it after, I started to cry. It was exactly the scripture I needed this week (and I hope it's what they needed to hear too).

(I only have my Portuguese scriptures here with me, so please so look it up and read it in English; I promise it's super good.)

"E agora, meus filhos, lembrai-vos, lembrai-vos de que é sobre a rocha de nosso Redentor, que é Cristo, o Filho de Deus, que deveis construir os vossos alicerces; para que, quando o diabo lançar a fúria de seus ventos, sim, seus dardos no torvelinho, sim, quando todo o seu granizo e violenta tempestade vos açoitarem, isso não tenha poder para vos arrastar ao abismo da miséria e angústia sem fim, por causa da rocha sobre o qual estais edificados, que é um alicerce seguro; e se os homens edificarem sobre esse alicerce, não cairão." -Helamã 5:12