10 Months

E AÍ FAMÍLIA!!!!! My week was just awesome so I hope yours was just as wonderful! We worked real hard and are constantly learning from each other. Every day is a new adventure with Sister Taffarel and I can't believe we have already been with each other for almost three months. Time passes so quickly, and it is amazing to see her progress. I do have to admit that it was a bit rough at the beginning, getting used to each other and her getting used to the mission field but now, we are in the groove. Sister Taffarel is a great missionary and is really blunt with most of our investigators which is great! She has more guts than me. So I am learning to be more out there and straight forward with our investigators and not only is it helping us but also our investigators.  This week we had a baptism!! Paulo was baptized Saturday and is super happy to be a member of the church. I know I haven't talked a lot about him so I will talk a little bit about him now:  *He was looking for a church to join. He had been to muito but never felt good in any one of them until he stepped foot into the Church of Jesus Cristo of Latter-day Saints. The other day he told us that while he was visiting one Sunday, he felt a wonderful peaceful feeling and then later that same sunday, he went to another church and didn't feel that same feeling. We took the opportunity and taught about the Holy Ghost. He said that he knew that God was talking to him and giving him answers and that he just needed to follow them. So because of this, he literally threw out all his coffee and stopped drinking in one day (which is super hard for almost everyone we meet).  *He lives by himself because he is divorced from his wife and his three sons live with her. But he goes there every now and then to visit them. They're all older and involved in the world so he is going to try to bring them one by one into the gospel!  *Before he joined the church, he didn't like the Mormon’s.....I have no idea why. He said that he always heard a lot about us and what we believed and thought we were strange. Well Paulo now you are just as strange as us haha.  Well that's a little bit about Paulo. It is through him that I know that the Lord realmente prepares people for us to find and teach. As long as we are searching, the Lord with show the way. I know that the gospel changes lives and brings miracles into our lives. I am so grateful that I have the restored gospel in my life and that now I am able to dedicate a year and a half (well now only 8 more months.....) helping other come to know the gospel and feel the Savior's love more abundantly in their lives.  Also Sunday, the relief society had an awesome activity. It was about bread and how Christ is the "bread of life." In João 6:35 it says: "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." So after the presidency shared a quick message, they had all of us line up shoulder to shoulder with our hands out, palms facing the ceiling while closing our eyes. They turned on a hymn that talked about Christ's hands and His love for us. While the musica was playing, one of them came around with a nail and pressed it into each palm. Afterwards, each member of the presidency came around and gave us all a nice big hug. It was such a small thing to do but you could feel the Spirit so strongly. I felt as though Christ was hugging me. I know that Christ loves all of us so much. He is the way. The light. The caminho. And I know that as we draw near unto Him, we will never hunger or thirst.  I love you all so much and hope you all started off the summer with a bang! Have the most wonderful week ever!!!  Love,  Sister Hilchie :)