The Big 9!

Okay, so first things first, I hit my 9 month mark 5 days ago! Can you believe it??? I know! I actually didnt tell any of the sisters (Sister J, Sister R or Sister S) until Sister S asked how much time I had on the mission... & I told her I had 9 months a few days ago. They got super mad! Haha it was really cute. Well, the next day I wake up to the smell of something baking in the oven & really thought nothing of it until they carried up a big chocolate cake with the number 9 on it written in coconut shavings singing "Parabens" it was awesome! So yeah, it was a pretty good day :) 

We met an incredibly special family this week of 9 people. a wife, Rosangela and husband, Izmael and their 7, count em 7 CHILDREN. They almost came to church with us yesterday but one of their kids, Lucas, got sick and the husband had to work, but theyre comin next week! Theyre absolutely amazing, guys! The look in their eyes you can totally tell that they love us, and its soooooo easy to love them! Rosangela and Izmael are very receptive to the gospel message and the kids are just chomping at the bit to go to church! Lucas is prolly my favorite. Every time we walk by his house he yells "Oii linda!" which is "hey beautiful" in portuguese. Well they start em young here dont they??? ;) 

But please please keep them in your prayers. Theyre youngest lil boy, Gabriel, has a very rare sickness that hes getting treatment for and this amazing, brightly hopeful family is always having struggles financially and temporaly. So yeah, if you wouldnt mind keeping them in yalls prayers that they will feel wonderful changes in their families because of the Gospel!

As far as other news goes, things are pretty good. And its FINALLY GETTING COLD. And by cold I mean its between 55 & 60 degrees Farenheit..... oh boy! But hey it was a lil windy so I brought out my sweet whatchamacallit to cover up my ears! 

Heres a pi of the 9 month cake the sisters made me and also a pic of me sporting my new shoes that Irma Eliane bought me!!! Arent they SOOO PRETTY??? She saw my Dr Scholls with 2 holes in them that I wore almost every single day till now. I ended up walking through freshly laid asphalt so the bottom of my foot was almost completely black. 2 days ago she stopped by and gave me these beauties!!! I didnt know what to say! I was completely shocked and grateful. I tried so hard to ask her how much they cost, tried sneaking money into her purse, everything! But she wouldnt take it, but I promised her that we'd do something special for her the next time she stops by. 

well thats all for this week! love yall so much!!!!! HAPPY 9 MISSION MONTHS!!! 

The Blind Leading the Blind

Okay, soooooo, in case no one has spread the news, President G called me last monday and told me that I would be training.....

Im sorry, what was that? I dont speak Portuguese......?

Yep, not only would I be training for the first time buuuut I would be training a sister who spent one year in the field already in the US and was waiting for her visa that came when she hit her year and 3 week mark. So Im a 9 month missionary training a missionary whos older than me who doesnt speak portuguese but knows how to be a better missionary....

Can we say that this is the epitome of the blind leading the blind??? 

Her name is Sister J and shes awesome! Very much different from Sister M in the sense that shes not as crazy (in a good way!) and easily readable, but shes wonderful! Exactly what I needed. I had ironically told Pres G (before I got the call I would train) how the talk Mountains to Climb really touched me & how Id been thinking about it for that week. Not 30 minutes after I sent him that letter to the President that he told me I would train.

When Sister J was sitting through the presentation for the new missionaries in our mission, he squeezed my shoulder and said softly that he knows she has more time on the mission than me but that he trusts me and is confident in me and gave me that Daddy smile.

Everythings gonna be alright but for heavens sake keep me and Sister J in your prayers! I dont know what Im doing and I dont wanna mess this up or lose the confidence of my President/Brazilian father!

Heres a pic of me & sister j

love you all!

xoxo

Mountains To Climb

Soooooo yesterday was mothers day! Happy mothers day mommy! Jacey! Vickie! Vivian! Denise! And all the wonderful mothers and future mommys in the world. 

It was wonderful talking to my wonderful, beautiful family. If I have learned anything on the mission is that I love my family more and more and that every one of you mean the world to me. So many families I see here in Brazil are screwed up because of infidelity, drugs, addictions and other evils that are every increasing in the world. But in seeing the light in the eyes of my family reminds me that the light of Christ is still in every single one of us, and that that light can break through the darkness of any addiction or sin. 

Well, I have some news for yall! Sooooo mom already knows a bit however, I just recieved a phone call from President G that a new sister from the US is coming in tomorrow who doesnt speak a word of Portuguese.... and guess whos gonna train this wonderful Sister?...

Guess....

Yours trully! Oh my FREAKING GOSH SERIOUSLY?? haha yup.... 12 weeks of language study and I am now a "senior" companion instead of the comfortable position of "junior".

I felt for a while that Id be training this american sister but I kind of shrugged it off thinking.... "welll, my portuguese isnt perfect yet, so theres no way Im gonna train."

EH. Think again, sparky. haha.

But when my fear almost overtook me I remembered part of a talk from Elder Henry B Eyring that talks about mountains to climb. And Id just like to share a bit of it with you all, while at the same time comforting my own fears. 

"I heard President Spencer W. Kimball, in a session of conference, ask that God would give him mountains to climb. He said: “There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, ‘Give me this mountain,’ give me these challenges.” 

And so I encourage you all, my dear friends and family, that with great mountains, with great challenges, there is great opportunities for the Lord to mold and shape us into the sons and daughters He wants us to be. With this new mountain, with this new challenge that the Lord has placed before me, I am humbled and encouraged to know that even though I feel inadequate and incapable, the Lord will sustain me, He will be my buoy and my belayer (I have no idea how to spell that, but the person whos at the bottom of the mountain supporting the climber). 

I love this gospel, I know that God lives. I know that this church is true. And I know that if we have faith as small as a grain of mustard, wecan move mountains. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

xoxo 

Sister VerHoef

btw this pic is of me, sister m, elder b and elder s. Elder b is one of my best friends here on the mish! :) 

Lessons From Liberty Jail

So Ive been thinking a lot this week about a certain talk from Jeffery R Holland in relation to this area of Antares. Ive already talked to my mom and sis about some of the struggles Ive had here, but not with everyone.

Might as well spill the beans now about everything. This area has been spiritually difficult for me in many ways, in regards to heavy addictions especially drugs and alcohol, and in other manners especifically difficult to swallow, such as husbands physically or verbally abusing their wives and children (even in the church!!) and the abandonment and negligance of children and dogs. 

Ive been praying and fasting for help from the Lord in seeing this things on a daily basis. The poverty. The dark abyss of addiction. The physical and mental scars of abuse and so on and so forth. Maybe it was around me in Georgia, Utah and Idaho and I just didnt see it, but for some reason here it appears to be ever more prevalent.

And it appeared as if I only had two options:

1.) Harden my heart and become more desensitized to it or 

2.) Cry my eyes out every night

Neither one of these two options are very desirable for me. 

But lately the Lord has illuminated my mind with a quote from this talk that Id like to share:

You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced. Every one of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking. But the lessons of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples.

 And so, this is what I have learned so far, my beloved friends and family. That sometimes the Lord allows us a little time in Liberty Jail-- a little mini-Getsemani, to allow us to go through a redemptive experience. My worst times on the mission so far, looking back, I have never been so close to the Savior. The times when we suffer the most, when we are covered in the grime and sweat of misery, it is when our garments are made whiter and purer than ever. 

The Lord knows who he wants us to be, and more importantly, He knows how to get us there. So dear friends and family, in the midst of despair, remember that if we are bonded to our Father in Heaven through it all, we will look back and see that we were standing with Him in our own little Celestial room.

I love you all!

a lil explanation about the fotos, so the ones of me with the puppy is a great lil story! I found her by the side of the road and rescued her. I kinda broke the rules here because were not supposed to touch stray dogs but she was just a baby & I couldnt bare leaving her! I named her Annike :) and called a member to come pick her up and take care of her. Now she is with another member who has the means to take care of a dog. This was my lil rescue story for yall! 

And the other pics are of me & my comp with our sister training leaders and of the baptism of Bruno from last week. 

beijos abraços