The Lord Makes Up What We Ourselves Cannot Do--March 24, 2014

The Lord truly makes up for what we ourselves cannot do. We are so imperfect and incapable of doing so many things with our physical bodies, but the Lord is perfect and can make up all the rest. This week was an interesting week. Monday and Tuesday, we started out super strong! Teaching, finding, contacting, and reaching all of the goals we had, Me and Sister Cutler truly felt like we were on fire! And then the infamous phone call! One of the Assistants called Tuesday night and asked if we had planned for Wednesday, I said No we are literally running for our house RIGHT NOW! Why, what do we need to plan for tomorrow?? Well, Elder Brito started laughing and said dont plan anything! I literally stopped and said WHAT?? Why? Turns out that two weeks ago when I was in Goiania, the assistants forgot to tell me that I had to sign a piece of paper for my visa so stay in the country of Brazil for the next year... Yup, you betcha. Elder Brito called Tuesday night to inform us that Wednesday morning at 9 am we were getting on the bus for a lovely eight hours. I will be honest I was pretty frustrated because I have only had five days in this area! And we had 3 BAPTISMS for the coming Saturday! We needed to teach them every single day this week to get them ready for Baptism! Well, I didnt really have a choice considering I want to stay on my mission for the next year in Brazil and not be deported to the US.... so we got on the bus and literally within ten minutes of being on the bus I got super nauseous and lets just say I spent the next eight hours vomiting and having diarrhea every time the bus stopped... It was really quite painful and not so fun. We arrived in Goiania and I signed the tiny piece of paper and then We stayed with some other sisters in Goiania and I tried to sleep as much as i could in between running to the bathroom. Thursday morning at 9 am we were again at the bus station and I spent another eight hours being sick. Lets just say it was a pretty miserable two days. I am still trying to figure out if I ate something wrong or if my stomach just decided it didnt like me? Luckily, I am feeling much much better today! Luckily, we share this ward with the elders and they were more than willing to visit Celimar, Beto, and Gabriel to prepare them for baptism for Saturday! I am so grateful they were willing to do this! Then Friday morning was Interviews with the District Leader! Just to explain a little bit about this wonderful family! Ceverino and Celimar are the parents, Celimar is pregnant and they already have one son, Gabriel, who is 10. Beto is Celimars nephew and he lives with them. Three weeks ago on Saturday night, before I arrived in the area, Sister Cutler did a contact with Beto as he was walking down the street. Honestly, she wasnt even going to talk to him because it was super dark and late at night, but she felt compelled to talk to him. She invited him to church and did not think much of it afterwards. Well, she walked into the church the next day and guess who was sitting on the front pew... dum dum dum BETO! He came to church alone! Well, Sister Cutler and Sister Larsen started teaching the whole family that very same day, they invited the whole family for baptism for the 22nd of March and then Sister Larsen got transferred and I came in! We literally spent the first five days of our time here teaching them! Well, interviews happened and Gabriel and Beto cleared with flying colors! Sadly, Celimar and Ceverino are not married :/ We understood incorrectly. The problem in Brazil is that it costs a lot of money to get married! And most people believe that if you are living with someone for a long amount of time then you are married, but many couples dont actually get married legally... So, we understood incorrectly and Celimar was super super sad! But, we have set a date with her and Ceverino to be married in May and to be baptized immediately after! Anyways, after the interviews on Friday Sister Cutler started feeling sick! She got the flu! So we then spent all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday inside with her sleeping because she could barely walk :/ Luckily, she had enough energy to go to the baptism and help out! Beto and Gabriel were baptized and the spirit was SO STRONG! Sadly, Celimar got super sick and went to the hospital with Ceverino so they were not able to be at the baptism or at church on Sunday, but Gabriel and Beto were confirmed at church on Sunday and Beto leaned over to tell me it was the happiest day of his life! He has plans to go to the temple for the first time in June and is already talking about serving a mission in one year! We also had two HUGE MIRACLES HAPPEN considering we were not able to teach anyone this week! Betega and Josienne, a couple that have been investigators for the last 18 months have been saving money to be married for the last 18 months. They go to church every Sunday, pay their tithing, go to all activities, and all their kids are baptized, they are basically members, they just didnt have the money to get married to be baptized. THEY SET A DATE TO BE MARRIED ON APRIL 17! They will be baptized the following week, I am seriously sooooo happy for them and so grateful that I can be here to help them make this step in their lives. Adriana and Vitor Hugo, a mom and her 11 year old son, were at church on Sunday. We found them one week ago and were unable to return the whole week! The elders passed by just as they were leaving, but they were at church on Sunday and LOVED IT! We were able to teach them after church and they will be baptized on April 5 in between sessions of General Conference! They have already gained testimonies and believe that everything is true! All in all, I am grateful for what the Lord was able to do this week, that our physically limited bodies and minds were unable to do. I am grateful that he touched the hearts of our investigators and created miracles in their lives when we literally were unable to physically be present with them. This church is true. Christ leads and guides this church. He has a Prophet on the earth to lead and guide us. I am seriously counting the days until General Conference, I am soooo excited! And I gave a talk on Reverence on Sunday, second talk in Portuguese! It was scary, but I felt the spirit! Lots of love, Sister Brotherson