hey you wild & craaaazy guys!!!

me & sis p

okay, so Im super jealous but Im so happy yall are having a good time! and PLEASE send pics!!! things are good here in tupa. I dont know if yall remember sister p but she was a sister that was with us for a bit and she got sent home because of complications with her health. she'll be back in 3 months. 

So yall wanted details right? about tupa? its a VERY touristicy city! very tiny.theres a branch here, which is my first branch in my mission. theres about 20 people that go to sacrament meeting, including our branch president.

Im now with sister b and sister c. theyre WONDERFUL! i love them so much! sister b is from terezina, piai which is the northeast of brazil, and sister c from the very south of argentina. were gonna have a baptism tonight too! of a woman named M. shes a pimenta! definitely a spit fire! im gonna make a list of quotes shes told us and mail it to yall because theyre just gems! :)

this weekend pres g &sis g are coming to tupa for district conference so ill let yall know how that goes!

LOVE YOU!

SEND ME MORE PICS!

pics!

K, so Im gonna be lazy with this email and just send pictures! haha, promise next pday I'll write an actual email but just so yall are aware. We have another companionship of sisters here in Tupa. sister c from argentina, and sister p from recife,  brazil. Theyre WONDERFUL. The only thing thats been going on is that sister p (whos 3 months in on her mission) has been having a MOUNTAIN of health problems, from a twisted ankle, to gastric reflux, to diabetes. all that shes gotten while shes been on the mission. today theyre going to another city to get her foot looked at and see if she can stay out in the field and be treated.

This has given me a wonderful opportunity to use my comedic skills ;) sister p has felt super frustrated being stuck in the house this time not being able to go anywhere, but I have tried my best to make her laugh everyday, so this has been a blessing for all of us in regards to our mental health. we are havin a good time inspite of the difficulties here ;) 

anyway, heres me outside the great catholic church in the praça da bandeira in the centro of town. its BEAUTIFUL isnt it?? :) 

Conferencia de Marilia

Hello familia e amigos!!!

So, this last week we had a zone conference in a super little city about 2 hrs away on thursday. It was exactly what I needed. Pres & Sister G came, along with Sister G's brother and sister n law. Definitely a tender experience, with stories that I could tell ya till Im blue in the face! One that I have to tell yall in person, because it includes hand actions ;) haha

But just to wind it up, Pres. G talked about several things that hit home with me:

one of them was about how the lowering of the age of missionaries was done to save the youth of the church from walking in darkness. 

SO TRUE. 

the other was about the things that impede the work from progressing, and it all boils down to 1 thing:

pride.

pride seems to be the stumbling block, the dam that stops every good thing in its tracks. 

He then finished by bearing his testimony & crying a bit telling us how much he loved us, how he prays for us, how he and Sister G view us as their literal children. I cried! I cant put into words the feelings I felt when I heard him talking. It was is if my own father was talking, just in Portuguese. I love this mission. I love this place. I love this gospel. I know its true. I know this email/blog post is a bit all over the place, but I honestly cant say it enough how lucky I am. How lucky we all are in having the gospel at our fingertips. I see so many families and people suffering from addictions and are literally shackled by their own bad decisions. We never need experience that kind of suffering if  we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through obedience. 

Obedience is the first law of heaven. If we cant be obedient here, what makes us think we can keep it in heaven?

Love you all so much! Miss you!

xox

Sister VerHoef

happy late 4th of July!

Hellleerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr errrrrrrrbody! 

Okay, so I know last weeks email was a bit of a rush but a LOT happened and our last pday wasnt exactly super restful. This pday, however, we are planning on taking a few pics next to this AMAZING cathedral in the centro & spending the whole day sleeping/writing letters. 

Anyways, this past week was alright. I had a lot on my mind & had a hard time focusing but the Lord blessed us with one new investigator at church yesterday, so we were incredibly grateful. Just another evidence that the Lord is sooooo merciful, even at at times especially, when we dont deserve it. 

This week I have been thinking about a Bible story that every girl in the gospel/has been through Young Womens knows and is fond of. 

Ive been thinking a lot about Esther and her story. Im attaching a video that I love that just shows a piece of the story of moral strength, virtue, faith and courage that she had. Theres one part of the story of Esther that I wanted to share with yall. This scripture is after Mordecai tells Esther about the decree the king signs to put to death every Jew. He tells her "think not of her own life" and then gives her this counsel:

who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

This is a phrase Ive been pondering over and over and over again this week. Its been a bit difficult lately because there are, as always, Elders and leaders pressuring us in regards to baptisms and people at church and Ive noticed the adversary placing doubts in my head about, well if Im not baptizing, what am I doing here? Am I just wasting everybodys time and my own if Im not fulfilling my call? 

But then, in looking at this scripture in regards to Esther, I realized that who knows if I am come to Brazil for such a time as this? The Lord knows, and thats why Hes placed me here at this exact time. Everything worked out perfectly to place Esther as wife of the King in order to save the Jews. So far, everythings worked out perfectly to place me here in Tupa, here in the Londrina mission, here in Brazil, here on a mission. 

We all have our individual missions to fulfill, and it is my invite and prayer for all of you to remember that your mission is only something youcan do. You are needed. You are essencial. You are important. 

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-084-when-all-is-said-and-done?lang=eng