Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Things I learned

Do you know how wonderful it is to see things in the Lord´s eyes? It´s so amazing. Me and Sister T. were just stressed with some things and I think we were just way uptight and I knew that we wouldn´t be able to work like that. So today I told her that I wanted to sit still for 5 minutes in silence and then look at each other with the saviors eyes. It was amazing. You don´t know how much love I felt for her in that moment. It´s so amazing to think of what the savior thinks of the people that you are surrounded by.It´s wonderful :) Do you guys realize how much Heavenly Father loves all of us? It´s so amazing.

Do you know what is probably the most wonderful thing to learn on the  mission? Learning to have the trust of Heavenly Father. The miracles that happen the things that happen. All of them show that Heavenly Father has trust in you. I think it is the  thing that I want most on the mission. To show Him that I can have his trust. To show him that I will be obediente to desserve his trust. And when good things happen. It means that He trusts you. With bad things too. I think the thing I want most on the mission and for the rest of my life is to strive to have that trust of him. And Always be ready to do what He needs me to do. I love the mission. I am learning so much about myself and the things that are required of me :)

Stuff of the week

L. and A. were baptized<3 It was absolutely wonderful. It´s amazing that even a child can feel a difference. L. is 12 and A. is 8. When they came out, L.  said that he felt so clean. And A. spoke that she felt something so warm in her heart after. They are so amazing and wonderful. I havent really talked about this Family but they are absolutely amazing. L.  practically lives in the church. He sings in the choir. Goes to every single meeting, and sometimes he just stays in the church because he doesnt want to go home. A. is amazing and reads the Book of Mormon illustration book everyday and Always tells us what she read. I love them all so much. We pray for them every night. The parentes are getting ready to be baptized but need to get married first :) But A. is so ready. She asked us today if she could pay tithing before becoming a member. WHAT? And then she told us that  she wants to do a noite familiar in their house with us :) They are all amazing. I love them so much. <3 I just Picture them in front of the temple together :) With na eternal Family :)

J. is a child of a Family that we found. He´s 16 and he is the timidest kid i know. But I love it because yu know that he feels something. Every time that we go there he does that yawn thing, you know when you yawn to cover that you´re crying? He does that . He´s got a lot going on at home and called us out when we were on the street and said that He wanted us to come visit him. Everytime I Picture him and L, i see 2 missionaries. But It was amazing. J. read and prayed, and is so ready to make changes in his life. Me and sister T. walked out of that lesson with the thought of ´what just happened?´´ It was funny because when we were teaching the Family, he never entered the room, but after we left for a while, it was him that wanted to hear about everything. Man the Lord really has a time for everything.

I love a mission. This almost a year feels like I haven´t even passed a year. It feels like 3 months. And i´ve loved every single second. I´m grateful for the things i have learned, and the things that I have decided in this time now to do for the rest of my life. I´m grateful that I have this time to understand exactly is required of me. I know that my saviour lives. I know that we are imperfect. I know that through him we can be perfected in him. I know taht there is much required of us, but as we are children of God we are entitled to his help. I know that He loves us and that he has a perfect plan. I am grateful that we have a living prophet and that we ahve the opportunity to hear from him this weekend. Gah! What a priveledge! :) I love you guys so much  Please stay awesome like you guys are :)

Sister Parco

Faith

Whooohooo this weeks topic to study is hope. So I hope that this next will be filled with hope and wonderfulness!

This week we studied faith and man was our faith tested. We had about 2 days this week that were pretty rough. I think we talked to about 40 people in one day. And were completely denied. We spent about 6 hours walking. And I think we walked forever. But because we studied faith, I think we were much stronger to get through the week :) It´s funny how that works. Hahaha everyone says that you shouldn´t pray or study for faith because the Lord will give you something hard that will test your faith. But me and sister torres decided that it was quite the opposite. That the Lord knew that this would be a hard week, so He helped us to feel like we should study for faith and patience. Because these would be the weeks that we would need it. Cool huh?

But people are wonderful. All of our family went to church and loved it :) I love them all sooo much. We met with a LA who got baptized about 7 months ago. It´s so hard to see those that fall away so fast. But she doesn´t accept anyone to her house except the missionaries. She is passing trough a lot and we read D&C 121 with her and shejust sat there crying. It´s so amazing how the gosple can bring so much hope. We also visited a member. It´s funny how the Lord puts members in our paths. There is a lady in our ward who is passing through a lot of things and turns out that she was taking out the trash the same time that we passed. Cool huh? :)

Anyways, I´m feeling really lazy today and don´t have much time. But I love you guys and things are wonderful! Stay awesome! I love being a missionary! Love the Lord! Ate mais! :)

Sister Parco

Goals

Things I learned

Check to see if the gate is closed before knocking a door that has dogs. Almost died.

When you step on something, don´t take it off with your hand. Gross.

When you pray for something with good intentions, you´ll get it :) It was hilarious. One morning we prayed for contacts where we could be direct and testify. And we got exactly that. Probably the worst day for contacts . Lot´s of people, well not the nicest people i´m gonna say ;) But we were direct and testified like no other. And we learned and that is what´s importante ;)

Goals are wonderful. How are you supposed to measure your progress without goals? Impossible. I love goals. And I love being na organization freak. I love a mission. It´s incredible how much you change. This week I made a list of everything that i´ve learned from all my experiences here. And it´s amazing the things that you had a sense of before the mission turn into truths for you. You Always have a sense that everything is going to be for your well being. But you don´t know. But every single miniscule thing is exactly for your well being. Everything is to help make you a better person. You know that God loves you but you don´t realize how much of a truth that is. You know what Christ did for you but don´t realize exactly what that meant. You understand that Christ wanted us to serve others, but you didn´t know exactly what that mean for you. I love a mission. We had our stake conference this week and it was a tear jerker, let me tell you. Almost cried. Guess how they started out the conference? Yup. With a sister that returned 2 weeks ago. All I thought of was myself standing up there. Never gonna sit in the same capella, never going to have the priveledge of wearing the name of christ over my heart. It was rough. How many times in your life do you get the chance to testify of Christ everyday? Like, never. Probably have learned more in these 11 months than the past 20 years. I know that we´re supposed to be helping others to come unto Christ, but something really hit me when we had interviews. That the biggest convert is yourself. I´m grateful for this time to become more like Jesus Christ. Í´m grateful that He trusts me enough to do this work that is so wonderful and importante.

People

A. S. L, & A are wonderful! Gosh I love little L. He is crazy excited. A man from our Ward gave him a suit and he´s being freaking out about going to church. He wants to go every night. He´s 12 and he Always asks when we´re going to come again. He was so excited that his mom even bought church shoes for him. The Family minus the dad went to church this sunday and they loved it :) Hahaha it was hilarious. L. ran up to us after the meeting and said he wanted to show his mom the baptismal font. He is one excited kid :) I love them so much. It´s so wonderful to see diferences in their lives. Every time we go there. A. (mom) Says she feels so much Peace and things have been way diferente in her house. Her kids used to swear like crazy and it was a house of yelling and that she was just feeling stressed. But I looked at them at church this sunday and it was wonderful seeing A. there hugging both of her children and listening and gah. the difference is so huge. I love families :)

Gah. the Bird is biting my shoe.

Anyways. I love you all SO MUCH. I hope you guys are wonderful and loving every single minute of your lives! Be amazing never change and love who you are! :) <3

Love ya guys,

Sister Parco

The Lord is Merciful

The Lord is so merciful. Did you guys know that? I love my Heavenly Father. He really knows what´s best. We had a rough week last week and it was a little hard to get excited again, but the Lord really is merciful and gives us miracles to help us to be excited again. He really knows the best timing and will do things according to what is best for us and is of the will of him. For this, I think that i´ll start with allthe miracles that happened this week <3

Miracles

We met a Family this week that was a reference that is absolutely golden <3 A, S, L and A. We met with them about 1 month ago and A didn´t react that well when we asked if we could share a message, so we didn´t return there, but decided this week to try again. Well. Turns out that her aunt died 2 days earlier and was really down, and decided to let us in. Then, she felt the spirit so strong during the lesson and they are progressing sooo well! And the husband that slammed the door in the face of other missionaries accepted us and was actually the first one to kneel and ask about the truthfulness of our message. Story short. The mom (she has 2 kids) wanted us to sew her dress to make it appropriate for church. The mom wants to stop drinking (we haven´t even taught WOW yet... :o). And L has already been to church and absolutely loved it and is participating in the choir this week for stake conference and invited all of his friends <3 :)

We met aman named J this week when we were doing contacts. Turns out he´s been going to church for 6 months in São Paulo and had to move right before his baptism in são paulo and wants to go to church again and be baptized. WHAT. This never happens.

N went to church and has gone 3 times already and wants to buy new skirts that are longer and is already loving all the members in church:) I love her:) She's wonderful :)

Other experiences

We met a lady who has a schizophrenic daughter and we prayed with her at her gate because her story is crazy. It was a really wonderful experience:)

We met A who has a kid who was involved in drugs but got beat up and now has a mental problem.We thought he didn´t understand anything. But her son started crying after we recited the first vision. Wow. It was crazy.

We met another lady when we were knocking on a door and when she came to the gate, we could tell that she had some mental problems, but she invited us in and i didn´tknow how to say no haha so we entered and the experience was maravilhoso. I think half of the time I looked straight into her eyes just wondering what she was feeling and feeling SO MUCH love for her.I just sat there bearing my testimony and feeling so much of God´s love for her that I started crying as I testified of God's love for her. It was amazing. It´s so incredible how much love our Heavenly Father has for us.

The members here love us. The washing of the dishes and the post it notes we left in their bathroom work wonders. Everytime we arrive at church, the irmãs run over to us just to give us a hug. And they'd do anything to help us. I think that's the best thing. Having the trust of the members. I always thought that missionary work was just loving your pesquisadors, but it´s edifying EVERYONE. Members included. I love that.<3 

Things I learned

Don't pray for patience, because your patience will be tested.. ;)We decided to pick a christ like attribute for every week and make goals during the week to try and be better with that characteristic. This week is patience! Wish me luck!:)

I love being tested here. I love seeing myself change. I love my savior. I love the fact that I have this time to become more like him. I love you all and you all mean so much tome <3 Take care!:)

Sister Parco

Inverted Jackets

This week

This week was great! We met a lot of people, talked to a lot of people and just had a great time! We also went to the temple which was wonderful <3 And people are awesome! Not anything big happened this week, except for the fact that my companion speaks sign language a little! :) Cool huh? This week we met a man the was deaf and dumb. And man I was so proud of my companion when she was talking to him :) <3 It was sooo cool :)

People

N.  is awesome! She went to church the second time and loved it. She told us that she wants to buy a skirt that is long enough to go to church with a modest skirt. She is already changing and it is amazing! :) I love seeing people change and be happy.

R. is a pesquisador that we have that knows the bible inside and out. WHICH I LOVE. Becuase if you know that the bible is true, you have to know that the plan of salvation is true and that the restoration is true. I love that. <3 But she is great and says she feels something different when we go there :)

Inverted jackets

Ya guys remember those jackets that have a fluffy side of the coat and the other side that is like a wind breaker? Well, I think this week I discovered the fluffy side of the coat.  We went to the temple this week and it was the absolutely awesomest wonderfulest thing ever. It´s so crazy how much peace you feel. But after the temple, all of the missionaries were scattered around in the room, each one of us reading scriptures or sitting and thinking silently. And it was so interesting because we went with the missionaries that are going home, and as I looked at every single one of them, I realized that they were all asking the same thing. ´´ Is my mission accepted of thee? Did I do enough?´´ And it´s so interesting. I think heading on a mission, I had a more egoistic perspective. It wasn´t about am I doing enough, but look at what i´m doing. I´m not saying that i´m here to be a rule breaker, but the fact that, this mission, is the least I owe to Him. It´s the least I could do to pay back all that he has done for me. So yeah, this time is my time, but at the same time it isn´t. But it´s wonderful! I love having this time here :) <3 Its so wonderful being so focused on trying to do what He asks. Because that is when we find the true happiness. I love flipping to the fluffy side of the coat and  seeing the mission from an entirely new perspective and feeling the wonderfulness that comes with it :) I love you guys so much and apologize for the bad comparason. Point is I´m glad i have the opportunity to repay my Heavenly Father. Keep being awesome and love your life! :) 

Love

Sister Parco