fam-

i can´t even believe this past week was real. i have sooo many good stories to share! 

first- sister jones got transferred to floripa and we got a new sister, sister silva. which makes me the only american sister in the house. it is so much fun, a little(lot) difficult at times because everyone is screaming and yelling in 100mph portugues...but it´s fine. i have learned a lot and continue to do so every day. it´s been a humbling experience to say the least and i´ve found that it´s better to just laugh when i feel like crying. 

anyway- more about me later...

Rita.  Rita is a woman that we met contacting one night. we were walking down avenida brasil on brasil´s independence day...and we heard someone call out...hey sisters! so we see this guy and his girlfriend and we go talk to them and it turns out that he is a returned missionary, who is now inactive and living with his girlfriend...we were talking to him and he told us that we was from the same city as sister fernandes.  so they had a lot to talk about. then his mom, who had been walking a few minutes behind them came up and said ohhh the sisters!! i love sisters!! haha it was sweet and she hugged us forever. we asked if we could come visit her and she said of course. she told us that she wasn´t a member, but had attended church a lot in the past. a few days later we went over to that sweet woman´s house and taught her about the restoration. the spirit was so strong and testified to me yet again that is gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Rita felt the spirit too and said that she knows that this is the truth, but she smokes. and it is really hard for her to stop. well, we made an appointment for the next day and went back over. she sat with us and told us that the previous night after we left she went to bed and had a dream. she said that in her dream she saw the Savior at a distance and she was walking toward him, and he was walking toward her. and he called out to her.  she said that she never had a dream like that before and that she knew that the Savior is calling her now to accept his gospel in her life. so, i asked her if she would be baptized and she said YES!!! (after i repeated it once, becasue she didn´t understand me the first time) so we have lunch with her tomorrow and will fast with her to help her give up smoking. i know that Heavenly Father will help her. because he helped staci, and darren and he can help rita too!

Lanny. We´ve been working with lanny for a long time. she is awesome and hilarious. everytime she sees me she slaps me like crazy. she says that she is my brasilian mother so she can slap me if she wants...it´s like a loving slap. if that makes sense. she is awesome. anyway...she has a lot of stressful things in her life. but this week we met with her and she said that she was able to find a job this week. which she feels like is an answer to her prayers because she has had to rely a lot on her kids for money and it has caused a lot of stress in her home. and she said that she ran into her ex-husband the other day at the supermercado and she was just going to pretend she didn´t see him and run away, but he saw her. and came up to her and apologized for a lot of ways he had wronged her. he even gave her money to get her hair and nails done. she was really happy. she said that since she received us, her life has been blessed and she has felt more peace and love from Heavenly Father.

Adriano. We made a contact with adriano on wednesday. he said that he was confused with so many things about God and wasn´t even sure what he believed. we invited him to church and gave him the address. we told him that church was at 8:30, and he laughed and said that he would need a miracle to get out of bed to go to church at 8:30. i told him that i believe in miracles. for some reason, something about him really struck me and i wanted him in church. so sister fernandes and i prayed every day and every night for him. and lo and behold...sunday morning...were waiting outside of the chapel and...boom roasted...up walks adriano. i about croacked over dead in my tracks. he said that he ususally drinks a lot on saturday nights and doesn´t get out of bed until almost noon everyday. but this week, he didn´t drink on saturday night. and on sunday morning he woke up at 3am and then again at 6am. and was like what the heck...so he got out of bed. showered. and came to church. he was just as shocked as we were that he was there...and he kept saying i don´t know why...i don´t know why...he is awesome and i can´t wait to see his progress.

my quote of the week is this..."don´t tell God how great your problems are, tell your problems how great your God is." every time i start feeling like i have too much to learn, and i feel overwhelmed or frustrated, i think of this quote. becuase let´s be honest...we know that with Heavenly Father all things are possible. sometimes i think i forget this, and i ask how? or why? or when? instead of just having faith that what needs to happen will happen. i know that obedience does not go unnoticed by Heavenly Father. and he will bless us with the good things of life as we trust in him and as we are faithful.

love you all too much. eu amo voces de mais!!! have a good week. até mais!!

xoxo -sister myers