Week 49 - January 8, 2018

Despite it getting so hot that I almost fainted this week, it has been a week of miracles. Yet again. 

We've been teaching a woman named Franciele for a few weeks, and the other day she told us that her husband- who works in another city and only comes home a few times per month- started reading the Book of Mormon and loved it and asked her to tell him about what we're teaching her. He encouraged Franciele and their 3 kids to go to church with us on Sunday, which they did, and now they all want to be be baptized. So, yeah, that was pretty awesome.

Another investigator, Nicolas (15 years old), went to church for the first time yesterday, after us teaching him only once, and already decided that he wants to get baptized next week. We were super surprised, but obviously extremely happy.

Something funny that happened: we were teaching a family that we'd just met, when a friend of their's walked into the house. She stopped in the doorway when she saw us and started panically doing the Catholic cross thing, as if we were demons or something that she needed to protect herself from. We just kept teaching, every time we looked at her she stopped, but throughout our whole lesson she was doing it. I thought it was pretty funny.

I had a wonderful experience during fast and testimony meeting yesterday. The spirit was SO strong. I love hearing the testimonies of the members here, all of them have passed through some things that most of us can't imagine, and their faith is so strong because of it. I've also developed a deep love for getting up and sharing my testimony, something I was always scared to do at home....maybe something about doing it in Portuguese gives me courage :) 

Something one of the members said in his testimony really struck me: He said that we pray and search for miracles every day, but many times we forget that WE are the miracles. The fact that we are who we are today, compared to who we were years or even months ago, is the miracle. The fact that God could take such a flawed, imperfect person and mold them into his servant and instrument. Really, when we look at who we are today, where we are and what's going on in our lives, compared to before we truly chose to completely follow our Savior, there's no way it's not a miracle. 

I love you all and I hope you had a fantastic week and a great start of 2018!!!! And always remember: you are the miracle.

Love,

Sister Coleman

The young woman in the yellow in top photo and in the middle in bottom photo 

is a teenager in the branch Sister Coleman is serving in.  

Madison told us at Christmas that this sweet girl made her own name tag and goes teaching with the sisters all the time.