WEEK 15: September 24, 2018

OLA!

How are you guys??

I know it has only been a few days but hey you get to hear from me again! Your dear friend Sister Hammond.

So the last couple days have been a lot of the same. It is officially spring here and spring is actually kinda just summer so it has been HOT!

Saturday WAS REALLY HOT and in the afternoon I tripped on a rock and cut my foot and Sister Carvalho was having major foot problems too. We we walking and just really discouraged. We knocked on over 20 doors and then I asked if we could stop and say a prayer. So we stopped and prayed and just breathed for a second. Then I got an impression that we should go back to our apartment and look at the Area Book for people to visit. Sister Carvalho and Sister Gerlach agreed and we found 8 ex-investigators that were really promising. We visited 1 and found out that her husband recently got baptized in another ward and she is SUPER INTERESTED! We are planning on visiting the rest this week. But I am excited and I know that they are ELEITOS!!!

Yesterday we also had the STAKE MUSICAL! Guys. You don’t understand the power of music. So the musical was called, "Paz em Cristo." Peace in Christ. It was all the youth of the stake Porto Alegre. At one part this quartet sang "There Can Be Miracles" and I cried. BUT MIRACLE!! When they were practicing before the performance, this man wandered into the chapel. He said he was walking past and the music touched his heart so he decided to come into the chapel. He said he was baptized 15 years earlier. Served as a bishop and then left the church because of what a member said to him. He asked us for the info of the missionary who baptized him so he could talk to him about coming back to church!! We gave him the info and he left but MUSIC IS SO POWERFUL!!!

We also got a referral this week to a woman whose son was 2 days away from being baptized when he passed away. The member had invited her to read the Book of  Mormon and promised that she would feel better about her son. She read it, felt better, and wanted to meet with us, the missionaries! She is very sweet but very sad. She believes very strongly in the Plan of Salvation. Her son was 25 when he passed away and she can’t wait to see him again. So we are working a lot with her!

Otherwise, we still had a lot of people drop us. That was hard for me. But I have faith!!

Guys this week I read the devotional that President Nelson gave in June right before I left. It is so powerful. I read it and the next day, the elders in the area next to us invited us to participate in a “Empower the Youth” project with them in their area in combination with our area. I suggested that we use that devotional and they agreed! So now we are working to create an “Empowering the Youth to gather Israel” project in our areas with the seminary teachers! I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!

So my challenge for you guys is to reread that devotional. Pick one of the challenges* that President nelson gave and DO IT! PRAY AND DO IT! I know that you will find happiness and blessings.

I love you all!!

Love,
Sister Becca Hammond

(Today the computers we are using won't let us send pics sorry!)

*"Now, let me summarize by reviewing my five invitations for you to enlist in the Lord’s youth battalion to help gather Israel:

1. Hold a seven-day fast from social media.
2. Make a weekly sacrifice of time to the Lord for three weeks.
3. Keep on the covenant path. If you are off, repent and get back on the path.
4. Pray daily that all of God’s children might receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
5. Stand out. Be different. Be a light. Give to a friend one copy of the booklet For the Strength of Youth...."

P.S. (From Mom’s email) I had to take a test about how good I am at speaking Portuguese right now.  It’s just part of my training. I got 69% correct. And it was about ALL OF THE GRAMMAR RULES OF PORTUGUESE! And there are a lot so I feel pretty good about that. Portuguese grammar is rough. They have 3 types of conjugation that doesn’t even exist in English. I am feeling pretty comfortable with the language. But I am slowly having a harder time with English. The other day I was speaking English and kept accidentally substituting Portuguese words. GRRR. But it is good. Means I am getting closer to being fluent.