Red Fury's Amazon Adventures!: 21 days of Happiness!!!

Hello Everyone!

Ok, seriously it seems like the last month of my mission is on turbo speed or something. Everything is happening so fast! I know in a few weeks I’ll wake up and I’ll be home in my own bed, freezing!! I can’t believe how fast my mission has gone! It seems like yesterday I was stressed out, waiting for my visa and now, I am going home.

Sadly, I don’t have a lot of new news this week. In fact, the work has slowed down a lot! I am getting super stressed because I want to leave this area ready for the next Sister, but we haven’t found a lot of progressing investigators lately and the ward has slowed down on their referrals. And to top it all off, they denied Leuge’s birth certificate because her mother’s name was eligible. AH. When we found out, I just started crying. I was really tired that day and I just didn’t know what to do. I want so badly to see them get married and baptized, but it seemed like it never would happen. After being sad for a little bit, I realized that we couldn’t give up and that we still had to try to get this other birth certificate. Leuge came to church on Sunday discouraged, too. She said, “Why can everyone get married, but me?” I could see the discouragement and sadness on her face. I quickly asked her if she was a Brazilian. She looked at me and responded “Of course” then I said, “The Brazilians all tell me that your country has a slogan that says you guys never give up!” She laughed and said it was true; Brazilians never give up! I told her to have faith and that they will be getting married on the 18th and baptized on the 19th. Luckily one of the Elders in staff is helping us and we are just waiting for her second birth certificate to get here! Please pray for us that everything will work out for the 18th and 19th! We had family home evening with them Monday and they both bore their testimonies again about how the gospel is already changing their lives. I just love them!

Monday, I had my last zone conference! It was great and I was able to bear my last testimony. I didn’t cry because I was way too nervous! Ah, I am still in shock that my mission is ending! We are doing a fun thing called “21 days of Happiness.” We are celebrating my last three weeks by doing something fun everyday to remember Brazil. Last night to start it off we made my favorite fruit juice! It is a fun count down list!

These past few weeks I have been studying a lot about Charity and love. I think this has been one of the biggest things I have learned on my mission. Whenever we talk about charity the first person we think about is our Savior. He loved us all so much that he was willing to give his life for us. He loved everyone! He never looked at the outward appearance; just the heart. As he was being nailed to the cross he pleaded with the Father to forgive the soldiers because they didn’t understand what they were doing or who they were crucifying. He loved them and he wanted our Father to have mercy on them. He was the perfect example on how we all need to treat one another and help one another. I love how in the book of Enos it teaches us how to repent, but also how to show charity for others. Enos prayed all night for forgiveness of his sins, then he prayed for his brothers and then for his enemies. He didn’t stop praying after he received his blessings, but he continued on, praying and showing love for others. We are counseled in Moroni 7:48 that we need to plead to God everyday to be blessed with charity and love towards others. Our dear Prophet counseled us, as woman of the church, to show more charity and love towards one another. He spoke about this in the last General Relief Society meeting in October. He is such a great example to us also of someone who shows pure love of Christ for others. Honestly looking back on my mission this has been something I have learned and relearned. I remember there was a time on the mission when I was really stressed and everyone was bugging me, ha. I remember pleading with the Lord to help me stop stressing and help me show more love to everyone around me. Of course, He answered my prayer and love started to fill my heart again for everyone that I was working with. I really have learned how to show more love to people and how to not judge them. At times, I think we all do this; judge people before knowing them or understanding where they come from. We judge people without knowing what is going on in their lives. I remember the Prophet quoted Mother Teresa in his talk and said, “We can’t love people if we are judging them all the time.” I love this quote. I truly have a strong testimony about charity and love. I know that if we feel both of these things in our hearts that we treat one another better and we will be so much happier. If we always strive to show more love, then we will truly one day, become like the Savior.

Oh how I love this Gospel! I love everything it teaches us! I love how it inspires us to grow and to learn. I love all the doctrine and all the principles. I love our Heavenly Father and our Savior. They both have become my good friends these past few months and I know our relationship will continue to grow stronger after the mission. I love Brazil and I love being a missionary. It will be a hard day for me when the stake president takes off my name tag and release me as a missionary. I am sure I will just start bawling because this has been the hardest/most rewarding experience of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

I love you all more than you can comprehend! Have an amazing week!

Com Amor,
Sister Poole!

Today for PDAY we made tacos with some Elders from my CTM group! It was fun and so yummy! I miss tacos!

Family home evening with some members and Leuge and Sergio!