Just 12 weeks!!!

I don't have a ton of time today, so I'm going to send some pics and leave it at that.  But I love you all- and just so you all know... I've only got 12 weeks left!! Isn't that insane??? You only have to read these AMAZING emails 12 more times! 

Blue Popsicle: I sang at our mission conference:) I always love to do that. 

"Love note": D&C 33

Knocked 40, found 2

 Hello again everyone!!

This week was YET again a pretty normal week full of work and miracles and rejection and blessings and lessons and growing and learning and all that good stuff we get to see on the mission!! You know what I mean if you know what I mean:)

I'm going to share a quick experience to keep the email pretty short:) On Thursday we did some door knocking, to try and find some people who love Jesus.  We ended up knocking more or less 40 doors in a couple of hours, but the cool thing was, it was a last minute decision to change our planned route. AND NOBODY WAS ANSWERING. Finally, we got to a house and the lady there was so cute and nice, and she gave us water.  She already has the Book of Mormon, and always wanted to know more. MIRACLE #1! After finding her (Simone is her name btw) we went on to face a “million” more rejections.  We got to a street and thought the hour had come to turn back, but my comp looked down the street at one house, and said "Let's just knock that door and if nobody's home we'll head back." So we went to the door, and this super awesome dude answered, and ALSO received us very well. MIRACLE #2! It was so cool to see how the spirit literally guided us as if we were on a leash. I LOVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST:)

Blue Popsicle: Literally a blue popsicle:)

"Love note": A quote I read about the glory we will receive in the kingdom of God, that we will see so many blessings and goodness, that we will see our own difficulties and challenges as NOTHING. TUDO VAI DAR CERTO:)<3

Divisions this week<3

District pic

A pretty place we went to

A cool pic we took at the pretty place we went to

Happy Sunday!

We found a blackberry tree!! 

Emergency transfer? I hope not...

Hello family and friends and others!

This week was great and I love being a missionary! 

We did a division with the sisters in Coreirópolis, and I felt like I was in a hotel in their house and that was fun, and also we ate lots of ice cream and.... Oh! We also taught lots of people and learned a lot like always (doesn't this sound like any other weekly email?).

This week we also had the assistants come here to talk to some members in our ward about some things, and they thought it would maybe be good to have us leave here, which would be an emergency transfer that would close our area for a few weeks.  We are hoping that doesn't happen but we are just trusting in God and His perfect will:) 

Something cool I studied this week that I wanted to share with you all was 1 Corinthians 10:13. This scripture is a promise that God will never let us suffer more than we can handle. He will never let us be tried more than we can handle. He will never let the enemy tempt us more than we can handle. The word "temptation" is used in this scripture but we can apply this promise in any aspect of our lives. I hope we can all trust in this promise and move forward with hope and faith and also strength in Christ. I'm grateful for the knowledge that we have of this and wanted to remind you all that God is aware, He cares; He loves us perfectly and will never abandon us. This is a fact. 

Blue Popsicle: A fun project that i did with a member and some of his students! (I’ll send pics)

"Love note:" This scripture that I shared with y'all:)

I wanted to bring one home but... I can't

Food

I was "little mermaid" for a sec

Sister Rodriguez

I HIT 14 MONTHS THIS WEEK!!!!!! WOOHOOOO

Me and all the students singing Disney:)

How Great Shall Be Your Joy!

Let's start with Monday and go through Saturday...

Monday: We headed to Piracicaba, which was like an intense movie scene cause we were running SO FAST (well I was) and our bus was already driving away and I was like, “oh crap! We cannot miss this bus. So I started running even faster, and I smacked the side of the bus as hard as I could and the driver stopped and said, "oi” (“Hi”).  I told him we had to catch the bus and he let us get on, and that's the end of the story. It was more intense in person. I lost my money as well. Good times. (There’s more about Monday but it's my "love note" from God so I’ll tell y'all after)

Tuesday: We had a leadership conference and President had me sing again haha.  He sends messages to me the day before every time. It's fine.  I’m used to it now. I'm basically the “Madilyn” of my mission:) 

Quarta-Feira: I don't really remember anything from this day… wait! Yes I do. We had interviews with President:) It’s always good to talk to Pres. 

Thursday: I remember nothing... it was probably just a normal day.

Sexta-feira: We had a special devotional from the prophet to the missionaries here in Brazil. It was super cool to hear from him and Elder Cook:) Super inspirational!! Brazil is special guys:)

Saturday: We went out and worked with a young man from the ward and we worked our butts off the whole day.  We talked to SO MANY PEOPLE and knocked SO MANY DOORS (typical missionary day for ya) and we did not find anybody that was interested (another typical missionary thing for ya) and it was a hard day.  But I'm alive and well as you can see:)

Domingo: Another special devotional from the prophet to the members here in Brazil. He bore his testimony in Portuguese and it was so cute:) I love our prophet! I am so grateful to be a member of the restored church of Christ. SO GRATEFUL.

Blue popsicle: Hearing from our beloved prophet for sure:)

"Love note": This week I visited a recent convert (gabriel) in Piracicaba and lots of stuff happened.  We talked about a lot of stuff, but he told me that he has been going to the temple every month since I left... I have never felt so dang happy in my life. I mean that Joy that God has promised to us as missionaries is the joy I felt when I found out how much he has progressed and that he is wanting to go on a mission.  Don't be mistaken... the joy is not constant.  I can't lie and say that it is cause it's not. So for those of you preparing to go on missions- don't expect constant joy or happiness.  That's not the promise.... but know that the joy that WE CAN feel as representatives of Christ is beyond description. It was one of the most special experiences of my mission. 

Sister Tribe

Gabriel and my best friends!

Sis Vargas and Elder Sorenson. He got hurt...poor guy

President's kids:) <3

This place was like jamba juice. I am obsessed.