WOW, I can’t believe I have been a missionary for ONE year now!! It has gone by so fast! It freaks me out to think I will be home in six months… Ah, I have so much to learn and improve on! I am just trying to make each day better. This past year I have learned so much, for example: how to be with the same person for 24/7, how to survive 114 degree weather (yup it was freaking hot last week, I almost died), how to love people I barely know, how to teach the gospel, how to speak Portuguese (ha still need to get better at it), etc… But, most importantly I have learned how much this gospel means to me and how blessed I truly am. I would be lying if I said this past year has been easy, it probably has been one of the hardest years of my life.
Everyone back home told me that I was too high maintenance for the jungle and my district in the CTM thought I would get way too stressed and give up. Ha, I guess they didn’t know me very well because I don’t give up on things that I really want. But yes, there have been times when I just wanted to throw in the towel and go home. I am so grateful that I haven’t given up and I have learned to love every day. Honestly, as I think back over this past year, everyday has been special, everyday has strengthened my testimony. I am so grateful for every companion because I have learned so much from them and their testimonies have strengthened mine. I am so grateful for the people I have met, the members and the investigators. I think I have learned more about what it feels like to love like how the Savior loved over this past year. I truly love the people I have helped find the gospel. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about them and wonder if they are happy. I pray that they are going strong in the gospel and the Lord is blessing them. I can’t wait for you guys to meet them someday!!
I can honestly say that I love my mission! My love for the gospel has been strengthened more than anything else. I KNOW that this Church is true. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and I know that Joseph Smith was called to restore this gospel. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have about being a family for eternity! I love making contacts and teaching people about what it means to be an eternal family. Most people have thought that once we die, we don’t exist anymore. I don’t even like thinking about it because I KNOW that my family will be eternal and there is nothing more that I want in this life! I am so grateful that we have this promise from God, that if we follow this path and stay firm until the end, we will all be together again.
I am so grateful for our Savior, that He willingly gave his life for everyone of us. I know he felt everyone of our pains, heartaches, disappointments, sorrows, etc. He loves each of us for that, He gave his life. I know that because of His great sacrifice, we can all return to live with Heavenly Father again! I love being able to share this wonderful message with the world because I know that it is making a difference. The world is such an unhappy place and every day I see how families are being destroyed by temptations that come from the adversary. This gospel brings families together and I will never deny the truthfulness of it!
I wish I could say that I feel like an experienced missionary. I still have so many things to learn and improve on! I could work just a little bit harder everyday. I worry sometimes that I am not giving it my all. I told President Jayme in my first interview with him, that I wanted to be a great missionary!! Ha, to be honest I think I am an Ok missionary. I pray that I can become the ‘great missionary’ that I have always thought I could be! Maybe I am being too hard on myself, but I know I can do better. I pray the Lord will forgive me and help me teach more with His Spirit and show more love to His children. These next six months are going to be the best six months on the mission!
Well… this week was not very good. Luciana and Wendel are starting to give up. On Sunday they told us that they are just too busy to make the commitment to go to church every week. It was hard to listen to them talk about all the material things they want in life and not talk about how they can put Heavenly Father in first place in their lives. So they didn’t want to mark another baptism date, but they want to keep hearing our messages every week. They want Geovana to be baptized next week because that is all she talks about. She is so cute and she can’t wait to be baptized. As we walked home Sunday, I almost started crying. I was just thinking about the past five months in this area, wanting to give up. I just kept having all these negative thoughts about the work in this area. I had so many thoughts about our recent converts (none of them came to church Sunday) and wondered if it was all a waste. I quickly realized that all of these thoughts were coming from the adversary and that he wanted me to give up. So no, I won’t give up on my area, I will keep opening my mouth, inviting people to hear our message. The adversary won’t win, I won’t let him!! My companion and I just need to keep having faith and work hard every day!! Things will get better in this area, I just know it!
Side note: there are two little kids next to my computer asking me if I am a professor in English and if Sister Reis is my kid hahaha. Wow, I must look pretty old!
Ok, so here is the weird news… We are baptizing a man named Josiel on Saturday. He was baptized when he was 15, but come to find out he never received the Holy Ghost. So he has to be baptized again. His wife is already a member and they have four cute kids! They were preparing to go to the temple, but they aren’t even close to being ready yet. I’ll send you a picture next week.
P-day was awesome today! We played volleyball at Ponta Negra then took some cool pictures for our 1 year! There were almost thirty missionaries there! It was a lot of fun, but I am so tired now. We are going bowling next week so that should be way fun! I just want to enjoy every week, every day! I love you all so much!!! Have an awesome week!
Sister Poole
p.s. Please continue to pray for Luciana and Wendel! I know they will get baptized, it might just take awhile. It would be awesome if you could put their names on the temple prayer roll!
Celebrating One Year in the Mission Field
One year baby!
Our zone for this transfer! The Elders are so crazy
We went to Ponta Negra today to celebrate with the Elders from my group and some other missionaries! It was awesome!
Just having fun!
Our lovely model shots.
Yep, bringing back the 4 year old Crystal! (Crystal loved having curlers put in her hair when she was 4 years old!)
My companion never had the experience of curlers put in her hair! She loved it!
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