Sister Lillie Haggard: September 14, 2015

This past Tuesday our mission returned to the CTM! Elder Costa, the general authority of Brazil, gave a talk for missionaries, but the focus was for people deciding or preparing to go on a mission. It will be shown in every stake here in Brazil and the Brazilian wards in the United States. Pretty cool. I was in the second row woo hoo. It was very good and really fun to return to the CTM for a little bit. This past week was very rainy and cold! But this week is supposed to get hot so I will miss the cold. Today we had p day with the President because our specified group of zones reached a goal of baptisms, so we went downtown to Parque Vira Lobos to talk, play volleyball, and ride bikes! Our President is really the best. In two days we also have Multe Zona- zone conference, so muito corrido which is fun.

A couple weeks ago while walking down a really big hill I saw a girl sitting on the terrace of a house and I stopped. Sister D. Sousa and me made a contact- introduced ourselves and made an invitation to the church. She said she didn't live there, but her friend´s mom did and we got a reference. When we followed up this week, we met the reference- Dennise who is a single mom with an 11 year old and a 1 year old. She said her mom had passed away 3 months before. We taught her the Restoration and marked a date for baptism.She asked us which version of the Bible we used and brought her Bible down. Her mom had given Dennise her Bible and when we opened the Bible, there were a few photos and on top of the photos was a message card we pass out and on the other side was Sister D. Sousa´s handwritting with the church address and hours! It was a shock! Dennise started crying and showed us a picture of her mom. She looked very familiar, but I think we arrived in Maria Rosa right after she passsed away. Maybe the first contact we made put the card there, I don´t know, but it was pretty cool and we know we are supposed to teach Dennise.

I think if we do our part we will find the Lord has already done his!

Also this week we had a day where all the appointments at an apartment we had fell through. As we were walking back we passed the house of Mateus, which is in the same street. We have been praying and fasting so that we can meet with the father of Mateus because Mateus´s mom is a recent convert, but the dad still doesn´t know and we can´t move forward until his dad knows about the church and us.But every time we are at the house he isn´t home or upstairs and because of the situation we have to be patient and subtle. And who did we see leaving the house but Senhor José himself! We introduced ourselves and he was super nice. We made a compromisso to talk with him more this week!

Only 3 more weeks in this transfer! This second transfer has gone by super fast. I will probably stay in Maria Rosa and get a different companion. But you never know transfers are exciting!

Beijos e abraços,

Sister Haggard

I forgot! This week I also had a division with Sister Carovana in Ferreira! She is really so awesome! She only has three weeks left in her mission! Ferriera is a very shique area!