Letter from 6/2/2015

Wow. Yesterday was really sad and really happy and crazy and I loved it! We had a conference to say bye to President. Gosh we were all crying so hard! We´re going to miss him a lot. But we also felt an incredible spirit, and we are all super excited to press forward and do the work and be obedient with a smile!!

The work is going forward! PLEASE pray for Henrique, that his mom will let him be baptized this Saturday! We found him because he went to church with his friend, and we went to his house to teach him and we found out that his dad has been inactive for 20 years! His dad said he could be baptized, we´re just worried about the mom!

ALSO, pray for Pedro and Mariane that we can get 230 reais by this Monday so they can be married and baptized on the 13th! PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

While President was talking, he shared a very sad experience. One of my friends had to go home from his mission less than 2 WEEKS before he would really have left DISHONORABLY because he was breaking commandments. And this breaking of a commandment started with breaking LITTLE rules. But while President talked, he cried, and said that while he was there, he was TRYING to save this missionary. Trying to say ´no, don´t make him go. Maybe he didn't understand. Maybe I didn't tell him enough times to be obedient, and It really touched me...I felt Christ´s love when he was talking. Christ is on our side...but when we sin, in the end, it was ALWAYS us who chose to disobey. He will try and try to defend, but the justice is there. We have all we need and there are no excuses. We MUST be obedient, to EVERYTHING, without questioning why. We HAVE to be strong and endure to the end. IT WILL BE WORTH IT. 

I love this gospel. I love you guys! Have a wonderful week!

With her first trainee.

With Elder Nickles who knows Elder Durney from his home mission in Twin Falls, Idaho.

With Elder Ortolano who we knew from Wisconsin. They don't remember each other, but their mothers do. Hopefully Nicole will be taking a Portuguese class from his mom at BYU in the Fall.

With President and Sister Scisci who are going home in July.

Letter from 5/25/2015

Nicole didn't write a group letter, but this is what she wrote to me:

That´s so awesome that you guys are all there together! That makes me so happy, I love family. Congrats on the bathroom! What are ya gonna do to the floor in the dining room? I'm so proud of the kids´ grades, they´re fantastic!! 

Aiiii mooom. The mission´s taking a toll on my, my knee´s all messed up. It´s such a pain. Also, Sister Gusmão´s feet are SUPER swollen, and so we´re having tons of trouble walking. In fact, the doctor told her that she´d have to go a week without walking...but she said no, haha. And we´re working super hard, but it´s definitely a lot slower. This mission would be easier if we had a car, or at least a bike...we walk so much. But it´s all good! I´m going to the doctor tomorrow to see what the heck is wrong with my knee and it´ll all work out :D 

The investigators are well...Sebastião will be hard because I´m pretty sure we have to send a letter to the prophet asking about him because he was part of the corrupted police here and he used to kill robbers...yeah brasil is great. And Edna, who is Marcely´s grandma, is AWESOME. She wants to get baptized so badly, but she has to get married first. and we would have done the whole marriage process, but they can´t freaking find her man´s birth cirtificate. AHHH. Always something. But we´re super happy and working hard, and I hope you guys drive safely home!! I love you!!!

Nicole