Letter from 6/15/2015

This week was so HAPPY! We worked and played and Pedro and Mariane were baptized! Man they´re so awesome!! They were super elect people, prepared by the Lord. We contacted Pedro last month and started teaching them, and he believed everything! He had a dream about the church, and Mariane wanted to follow whatever decision he made. And they´re gonna feed us lunch today. Haha, they´re so incredible, I love them so much! And we also saved some kitties. Gosh I hate cats so much, but ya can´t just throw them away :( So we´re finding them a home. But, that´s about it for this week! Have a fantastic week!!

Sister Neal

The baptism happened! We married them last week and they were baptized!! WOOHOOO!!!!

Letter from 6/8/2015

Sister Neal didn't send a group letter this week, but she sent her itinerary. She will be home on August 5, 2015 at 9:16 am. We are so excited to see her!!

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

Letter from 5/18/2015

Aw guys, this week was absolutely fantastic! We had transfers, and I´m training again and still serving as district leader. It´s super fun and our district is super close and we´re having so much fun with the work! 

My companion´s name is Sister Gusmão, and she´s 31 but doesn´t look like it at all :D She's from the coolest state in Brasil which is Bahia...and we´re having a blast! She´s teaching me so much. Sometimes, when you´re older in the mission, you get into this routine...but she´s throwing me completely out of it! She´s incredible and we´re seeing tons of miracles because of it!

We had 11 people come to church with us, and it was amazing amazing amazing. We went and showed them the baptismal font and the spirit was filling the room. 

7 of the people was a family...We found a LEGALLY MARRIED woman with 6 kids (5 with baptism age) and she went, even though she was sick, and a couple of other investigators. Guys, it was wonderful. Also, Sebastião was there WITH his wife...he kinda scared us, but he walked in just in time for sacrament meetig, and they´re getting ready to get married and baptized. Gosh it was a week full of miracles, and I´m so excited to work with these incredible people. I hope you guys have a lot of amazing experiences and remember to always endure to the end! 

Love you all, have a wonderful week!

Sister Neal

She also sent pictures, but there were no captions.

Letter from 5/11/2015

This is what Sister Neal wrote to me last week after our Skype. It's a payback moment kind of letter...:)

Oh, mom!! Yesterday was so fast that I didn´t even get to say half of what I wanted to!! I gave the message at lunch time to the members, and it was about the importance of mothers. We watched a video, and then I started talking and I cried. Momma I miss you so much! You´re so incredible and I am so thankful for all of the sacrifice you make for us! I didn´t appreciate you as much as I should have at home, but I just want you to know that there is no better woman in the world. You´re amazing and thank you for everything you taught me and are teaching me. Você é incrível, mamãe e quero que você saiba que sempre estarei contigo, que nada possa nos separar e que você é o mellhor exemplo pra mim. Te amo <333 Feliz dia das mães, fique firme e feliz SEMPRE!!

The picture during our Skype call

 She also sent pictures:

A picture with some Elders in our zone

The kids from when I taught English

Landry, he was baptized in my FIRST AREA in the other sister´s branch, and he came to visit me!!

Sanclei, he´s a guy in our ward, he´s super cool

some kiddos that went to church

some people from our ward (because sister almeida´s leaving) :(

ME AND SARA!! She´s Marcelly´s little sister (the girl we baptized) and she wants to be baptized but her mom won´t LET HER. :(

Us and Maxwell in front of the church

Letter from 5/4/2015

*Her camera has been giving her trouble uploading pictures. That's why there haven't been any for a few weeks.

Here is what she responded to my letter since she didn't write to the group this week:

crazy crazy week!! loved it :D HAHAH momma can´t believe you freaked out xD callllm down, everything´ll be alright!!!

YES, people came to church and it was A BLESSING FROM THE LORD. 6 people came, and one will PROBABLY be baptized this Saturday, his name is Sebastião. he´s been going to the other ward for 3 weeks, and said that he´s there for his salvation. we´re visiting him tonight, and we´ll challenge him to baptism for Saturday :D IT´LL BE LOVELY. I love you momma!!!

also

HAPPYPPPPPPYYYY ANNIVERSARY!!!!<333333