Ohhhhhhhh, I'm halfway there...
Guys, I hit my 9 month mark. Literally halfway through my mission. How crazy is that. I'm not gonna lie, it makes me a little sad. Of course I miss my family and friends and some things about home, but I feel like being a missionary is all I've ever done and all I'm meant to do. I'm amazed at the privileges and opportunidades I've had, the people I've met, the growth I've experienced, and especially how I've felt closer to my Savior. I think the best part of being a missionary is having such a sure purpose. Knowing every day when I wake up that I'll get to help people that day. That I'm here to live for them and not for myself. Getting to see how the Spirit is changing their lives. So, anyone who's reading this who's still thinking about whether or not you want to go on a mission, just go. I promise you it's the best decision you could ever make. There are seriously zero downsides to this.
Despite the sadness of realizing I'll leave this all behind in 9 months, I think it's given me even more excitement for the work. I only have 9 months left to invite everyone to be baptized and call everyone to repentance and bring everyone to the gospel, so I'm going to take advantage of every moment.
A few cool things that happened this week: We had a zone conference in Pelotas, and to get there on time, we had to stay at the apartment of some sisters in Pelotas the night before. And it just so happens that one of the sisters serving there is Sister Pertab, my MTC companion. It's been awhile since I've seen her, and we got to pass our 9 month birthday together, which was great.
Also, one of our recent converts, Gabriel (14 years old), has been struggling with some friends that are pressuring him to drink. He used to drink, like, A LOT, before he was baptized, but gave it up because he gained a super strong testimony. So now, while all his friends are drinking beer and crap, he drinks chocolate milk. Which I think is super cool of him. Now, whenever he comes with us on visits, we all buy chocolate milk to drink together. I'm convinved we'll start a trend and everyone in the town will drink chocolate milk instead of alcohol :) That would be pretty nice.
Also, Gabriel's dad is apparently reading the Book of Mormon! We've already tried teaching both his parents several times, but they never really wanted anything to do with the church. But the other day, Gabriel told us that his dad took the BoM to work with him and read a large part of it during his lunch break. He said he only didn't tell us earlier because he didn't think it was a big deal. We were like, um, yeah, it's a big deal!! Most people don't just pick up the BoM and start reading because they want to. Needless to say, we are super excited. We also have 3 baptisms marked for this weekend...so pray for us that everything goes right!!
I think that's it. Eu os amo, tenham uma boa semana!!
Sister Coleman
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