there can be miracles!

when you believe! 

Okay but seriously, the prince of egypt soundtrack was our theme songs this week! 

First off, we ate at subway on tuesday (it tasted like freedom) and had interviews with Pres G (which was MUITO LEGAL!) hes seriously an amazing mish prez & I really hope that one day yall will be able to meet him! Definitely reminds me of dad A LOT. Hes fantastic!

Then this week weve worked superrrr hard in trying to find new people to teach. This sunday, we thought wed only have 2 investigators in sacrament meeting but when we got there there were.... WAIT FOR IT...

8 PEOPLE! COUNT IT EIGHT! 

Not only that but we had 4 less actives, a less active family that weve been trying for MONTHS to get to come to church and they FINALLYCAME!!!

We were seriously bursting with joy all throughout church. 

Im so happy I could just spit! haha 

I cant even begin to go into detail about the little miracles that happened that lead to us having 8 people there, but just to sum up, 1 was an old man (J) that we met in the street 2 weeks ago that we gave a friendship card? (cartão de amizade) with the address to the church (this was the same guy that said that the egyptians came from other planets) and he literally like was on a hunt for us! and he stayed for the entire meeting (locked his keys in the car, coincidence? I think not!) and now were teaching him tonight! 

& thats just one! 

em fim, I love being a missionary. Things are amazing & I know that through great trials come GREAT miracles! The Lord is waiting to fulfill our dreams and answer our prayers, He just needs to know that we want it badly enough :) 

love yall so much!!!!!

so one of these pics is of me eating at subway

another is of me & sis s with Irma Sa (whos an angel! she drove us around the ENTIRE DAY saturday for us to confirm with our invest. about sunday)

another is of our district! 

and the other is of our FHE with irma v, irmao g, sis s, r (in the blue) m (in the white) l (in the red) and j.

we were laughing hysterically because the fan kept lifting my skirt up in the air every time! so I had to sit awkwardly to make sure it didnt fly up! isnt this pic so happy??? haha

knowing & believing

Hello one & all!!!

okay, so this week was amazing as per use!!! We had 1 investigator at church this sunday which was a miracle. for 2 weeks in a row we hadno one no matter how hard we tried. It was pretty frustrating, but this week we had an older lady, N, come to church. 

I wanted more than anything for our 18 yr old investigator, R, to be there. Hes the friend of a ward member, Li, a convert & another 18 year old. R lost both his parents AND his brother. He lives with his uncle who isnt the most loving guy on the planet & the impression I get from looking at him is that hes very lonely. That hes a solitary boy. But so good. Such a good heart & so willing to try. 

Buuuuuuuuuuut his work called him in so he couldnt come this sunday & he prolly wont come next sunday unfortunately. Gahh! I seriously LOVE this kid! Hes seriously amazing. And when me & Sis S taught him the 2nd lesson about the plan of salvation, the spirit was SO strong. 

By the time we taught him the next lesson he told us that he never had any desire to align himself with any religion or learn more about any of the doctrines hes come in contact with but he told us "I feel like somethings changing... I want to learn more"

GAHHHHH!!! YES!!! haha *fist pump*

Were excited. Also, I wanted to share with yall a scripture that Ive been studying all week this week. probably the most profound scripture in all of John, maybe even all of the New Testament in the Bible.

John 17:3

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

Wow.... Ive read this scripture a THOUSAND BILLION times but I never really paused to take a look at what its really saying what it means.

So heres my challenge for you, my wonderful family & friends, this week. 

What does it mean to know God and Jesus Christ? Here it says that "this is life eternal that they might know thee"... well, how do we know Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven? What do yall think?

Theres soooooooo much more to the promise of joy in this world & eternal life in the world to come than just learning about the life of our Savior. Of course thats important and necessary, but theres something more to it than that. 

In Portuguese there are 2 verbs for knowing:

Saber- which is to know facts & 

Conhecer- which is to know a person 

We need to know our Savior & our Heavenly Father personally in order for us to gain joy in this life & eternal life in the world to come. 

If you havent read Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage I HIGHLY recommend it as a first step in conhecendo nosso Salvador Jesus Cristo, more than just sabendo quem Ele é. 

And that is my invite. my challenge for yall! KNOW our Savior, not just know ABOUT him. 

xoxo

Sister VerHoef

btw, this is a bookmark E.C. made for me & sis s! isnt it epic???

WHY IS IT ITCHING???

So this week was kind of hilarious & a mess but it was good all in all :) One day this week me & sis S were just straight up struggling. 

It was suffocatingly hot

We were getting mauled by ants & mosquitos

We were exhausted 

We were having 0 success in contacting people 

And all of our compromissos were falling through

Finally as we were walking up the 8th hill, our conversation went a little like this:

Sis S: Why is it SO HOT?

me: Why are there so many BUGS HERE?

Sis S: Why are there so many HILLS??? 

Sis S (as we are walking through a bunch of fruits that had fallen on the road & had been smashed into the cement) What the heck is this? A fruit graveyard?

me: ITCHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! *snarls* *growls*

Sis S: I need to pee!!! 

At the end of this exchange we both looked at eachother and just laughed. Sometimes you just need to take a step back & laugh. Because if ya dont, life will make you crazy. 

And that got me thinking, at times we do walk through the fruit cemetaries & it feels like the hills NEVER END. Sometimes we have bugs of the adversary that are constantly biting & picking at us. and at times we get pushed to our very limits, but its at this time that we have to remember to laugh & remember that the Lord is on our side. 

Fear not I am with thee

Oh be not dismayed

For I am thy God & will still give thee aid

I'll strenghten thee help thee and cause thee to stand

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous

Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand

Our Father in Heaven loves us, and He will ALWAYS sustain us. Always give us aid, and if we look hard enough we can remember the tender blessings & merices that He has given us already. 

And one of those tender blessings is the blessing of laughter.

Love yall so much! 

Church is true book is blue 

what up! 

xo

Look At Your Life Through Heaven's Eyes

So this week, as per use, was amazing! 

Well first off, it was New Years, and if Christmas Eve was insane with people lighting off fireworks & making a mess & yelling in the streets, New Years was a TOTALLY different story.

It was worse! Luckily we had dinner with the G's (our mish pres & his wife) and other Elders that we just love! Pres G shared his scrapbook from his mission to Recife and they stuffed us with tons of food.

When me & Sis S got home it was about 9:30ish and people were starting to cause a bagunsa or mess haha. Screaming, yelling, and at several moments it sounded like someone was setting off a firework outside our window.

Well, you can imagine how annoying that is to 2 missionaries who CANT sleep in later to recuperate for the sleep we didnt get the night before, so needless to say, I was a big..... perturbed.

"Happy New Year... NOW SHUT THE FREAK UP!"

ugh terrrrible. But all is well :) 

on other news Id like to share with yall 2 things! The first is a story my mish pres shared with us last week. A story about a king who doubted the kindness and perfection of God. The king had a servant that in all situations would say:

My king, dont doubt because everything that God does is perfect. He never errs! 

One day as they went hunting in the forest, they came across the lion. The lion attacked the king & the servant successfully killed it, but not before the king lost a finger to it. Angered and ungrateful for the servants valiance, the king roared: 

God is good? If God is so good and knows everything, why did He let this happen? 

The servant humbly replied, 

My king, I dont know everything but one thing I do know is that everything God does is perfect. He never errs!

Furious, he threw the servant in prison, and the next day went out to hunt. This time, the king was captured by savages that wanted to offer him as a human sacrifice on a pagan altar. As they were about to perform the sacrifice, they noticed that the king was missing a finger and said,

We cannot offer him up as a sacrifice to our gods because he is not a whole and worthy sacrifice

and they let him go. The king returned to the palace & commanded that his faithful servant be brought before him. When the servant was before the king, the king said:

My friend, God really is good to me. I escaped from the sacrifice of savages because of my missing finger! But I have a doubt, if God is so good why did He not defend you? Why did He permit you to be thrown in prison when you were right?

The servant replied, a little relieved, and said:

My king, if I were with you today, the savages would have sacrificed me in your place, because I am not missing a finger. Because of this, remember: Everything God does is perfect, He never errs!

This leads me to my next story, dear family, about a young man we met named L. Hes 20 yrs old and we found him last week and took him to church with us this last sunday. Our 1st meeting with him, he mentioned that he left his church, left religion, because he felt like a hypocrite, and because of things that happened to him in his past that made him feel guilty.

The 2nd meeting with him, after teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, he told us he has been struggling with homosexuality and that his parents have been horrible to him and not understanding. 

As I listened to him tell his story, I felt this overwhelming love for him that I still cant describe. With tears in my eyes I bore testimony to him that hes a child of God, a son of God with divine potential that extends beyond his difficulties and limitations. 

And that got me to wonder how we define ourselves. Many people define themselves as Republicans, Democrats, Beetles Fans, procrastinators, Geminis, Pisces, Lakers fans, and even Christians. 

And there are those who define themselves as "gay" or "bi-sexual" or "heterosexual/straight"

These labels may be harmless and may bring a sense of individuality to us, but I would ask you all to remember that you should first and foremost define yourself as a 

SON or DAUGHTER OF GOD.

That should always be the number 1 thing that we define ourselves. 

So how can you see what your life is worth?

Or where your value lies?

You can never see through the eyes of man

You must look at your life

Look at your life through heaven's eyes

God never errs. He doesnt make mistakes. He allows us to have difficulties so that we can rely on Him and see ourselves as we see Him. 

In regards to this sensitive subject of homosexuality that seems to be increasing in intensity, I would simply say, that we are all children of a King. All children of God who loves us and wants us to succeed. He gave His only Begotten Son to us for this very reason. 

And I would leave yall with this challenge, with this invitation to see yourselves & others as first & principally children of God. Do not let the world and its changing labels & superficial titles diminsh your divine identity as sons & daughters of God.

Everything God does is perfect & He never errs!!! 

Love you all!

Sister VerHoef

photoshoot with Sis S

(molestache mondays!!!) hahaha