"Renovacao"

Okay. I have a lot of thoughts this week and I´ll try to share :)

FIRST! Happy Birthday Emily Gutierrez!!! I miss your beautiful face! I hope that your birthday is amaaazing!

Luke 9:25 "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away(Q)"

Christ here is speaking about loosing ourselves to serve God, but for me when I read it, it was a bit more personal.  How many times do we feel comfortable or have fear to change or move on and because of those feelings we stay the same(Q)" This past week I feel this way... I feel I have found myself this past week and this scripture really spoke to me. I felt that I had the world, but now as I am finally on the outside looking in, I can see that I had lost myself and in the process had been kicked to the side lines ( or in other words... cast away haha. ha. ha.)  I was advantaged nothing. But now I am gaining more.

It´s amazing to me how many people can help you if you let them. One of them being your mission President. This weeks message that he shared with us was so close to my thought process I thought my eyes were burning. It was EXACTLY how I have been feeling and I would like to share it with the rest of you. I´m going to translate as I can :)

The legend of the águia (I don´t know how to translate that, but it´s a type of bird).

It is said that she has the longest lifespan of his kind. She can live to 70 years! But to arrive at this age, when she turns 40 she has to make a serious and difficult decision. At this age hers nails have become so long and flexible that he can´t grab her food anymore, her beak has grown in the opposite direction of her breast and her feathers have grown so large and heavy that she has much difficulty to even fly. So.. the áuguia has only two alternatives... Die or confront a painful process of renovation that endures for 150 days.  This process consists of flying to the hieghts of a mountain and retaining herself in a cavern. In this place she starts to beat her beak against the wall of the cavern until she is able to break it off. She then waits for a new beak to grow in its place in which she will use to rip off her nails. When the new nails begin to grow she then starts the process of picking off her old feathers. After 5 months she takes her famous flight to live another 30 years.

"In our lives, many times we need to start a process of renovation. To continue to fly in victory we need to rid ourselves of reminders, customs, practices, and other things that caused and still cause pain. Only through freedom of these things, we can advantage of the valued result that a renovation always brings." 

" We don´t need to wait until we´re old to renew our lives and fly."

-President Perrotti

Wow. I have a firm testimony that my mission President is truely inspired. 

He shared a few more notes that hit me more personally, but somethings are meant to stay personal. ;)

In the end life is hard and I´ve learned that purification comes through pain. But it´s always worth it.

Now a personal sidenote from my scripture study this week:

Luke 9:62 "And Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

After the process of renovation... there is no point to look back. If we look back, do we really want and deserve what we have gained(Q) And was the pain worth it(Q)

Elsa Davis. I don´t know how you did it, but you wrote to me things that I didn´t even know I needed to hear. I recieved your birthday card and I sent you a letter a little while back.. i hope you get it!  It´s seriously incredibly how I haven´t heard from you in so long and today you spoke to my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Love you.

Laura. You complete me. Thanks for the update on your life. Time is passing by sooooooo fast. I feel like tomorrow I will wake up and be home. Which is aweful and wonderful at the same time. Save some time for me, okay(Q) ;)

p.s. i think that you´re amazing and I believe in you ;)

Kaaaaaarrrriiiii. Where aaaarrrreee you(QQQQQQQQQQQQ)  I miiiiiisss youuuuuu. I sent you a letter a little while back. I hope you get it soooon! :D  I have been thinking about you a lot these past 6 weeks. How are you!(Q)

Joshua Smith! My mom sent me your email! Woow it´s been a while... Thanks! I´m excited to hear about the news out there!

Donna Lachaga. :) Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnkkkkkksss for the email. :) It´s good to hear about what´s going on with you and your family.  I miss the dinners, funny I was actually thinking about those the other day. There will be lots of stories when I get home! Thanks for your email as well! I´ll pass it to my mom :)

What we really need

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW GUTTIEREZ!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! 

I miss turkey day.

I can´t believe a year has already passed! Here in a few weeks I´ll be talking with my family again!

Time is supposed to be constant... why does it feel so much faster than when I was a youngen?

Stake conference is coming up! We will hear the news if the group will be a branch or not! wooooo hoooo!

John 3:12

"If I have told you early things and ye believe not, how should ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"

I find that many times I expect more, more, more, more. 

How can I expect to be blessed, more knowlede, more guidance if I can´t finish what I´ve already started or don´t want to do my part at all?

Why do we want what hurts us?

I´ve been thinking about this a lot this week. About myself and everyone really.

When we teach people we give the principles to help change their lives, but addictions are hard to break. And we can have addictions to just about anything.   

When we´re sober we can see what we want and we remember why we want to be free, but when the skies begin to darken the pain that we´ve felt is no longer illuminated and we grab hold of what we´ve put close.

That small time when we are sober is crucial. We need to take hold of it while we have it and FEED it. Grow stronger, use that time to be filled with excitment for other things, to replace what we once wanted and feel that we need. 

In the end the only thing that we actually need is Christ, our Savior.

Gregory: .... dreams have a lot to do with our thought process. But no worries ;)

Thanksgiving is an American holiday, so there isn´t really an equivalent ...don´t worry... you´re still smart :)

But! Brasil has soooo many holidays! It´s pretty cool and drive me crazy at the same time. haha

P.s. You´re still one of my best friends.

Alrighty! Photos!!!

1. Mario and I :)
2. Júlio´s baptism!

(He is the second man the group has been needing to become a branch.)

3.  Isadora and Isabela. Sisters that make life here in Atibaia wonderful. 

4.. First night with Sister Cabral! 

5. Last day with SIster Aspitia.

6. Sister Aspitia´s going away party :)
7. Brasil is soooo greeeen! :D

 

One more week!

It´s funny... EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG is asking me what I think about Obama winning the election.

Ha. I respond... God is my only King and soon enough Christ will be here and he will govern all. Until then... We do what we personally can... we don´t need a President to do what´s right... no matter who it may be.

Melanie!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhh I miss you too! Things are crazy in the mission... in my life! But Everything is perfectly wonderful! Thanks for the pictures! :D :D :D  I can´t wait to really talk to you when I get home! :D

"The first thing we need to do is to stop worrying. When we worry about the future we create unhappiness in the present. A just worry can guide us to take appropriate actions, but worrying about things that we can´t control can paralyze and decimate us. Instead of worrying, concentrate in everything that you can do and then let our Heavenly Father worry . If your heart is right with him, our Heavenly Father will care for our worries and fears." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

The other day we stopped by a member´s house to pick them up for a division. We looked in the peep hole and yelled for them. They said that it was open and we could enter. We then responded that it was locked and we can´t. The member then replied... walk down the sidewalk a little bit... hahaha and not even 5 feet away... there was a BIGGER door that was completely opened. Seriously I had never felt so blond in my life. But I learned a lesson... the lesson that is a tale as old as time... our vision truly is so small. We had never seen that door open before so it wasn´t even an option in our mind. We didn´t look for it.  This happens a lot in our lives. We´re taken by surprise because of what we don´t expect. I feel that I need to start expecting moooooorrreee.

"It takes courage to speak. It takes courage to know. It takes courage to lead. And sometimes it takes courage to follow. It takes courage to wait when the battle is long. We´ll fight the fight that just keeps moving on. We´ll take the courage to stand strong."

Until next week!

Life is Good!

Time is flying and I can´t believe how much time has passed by since I´ve written home. 3 or 4 weeks?

A lot has happened, in the mission, in my life, in the WORLD. hahaha That´s the funny thing... the world is always moving and that our grasp in comparison is oh so tiny and weak.  Our vision as well...at least mine.  These past few weeks I fell a few times and even though every time I stood back up I´ve learned that´s it´s okay to not be sorry for some things. And that I don´t need to be sorry to take time to get back up physically, mentally, OR emotionally. 

I´ve realized that even though we can know someone for even years, we can still be surprised. This one is funny to me because I´ve know myself my whole life and I´m still getting to know me... so for me to think that I can know someone else so well is comical.  On the other hand, we don´t need know a person for more than a day to know what´s important. In the end.. I´m learning about people. 

It´s amazing to me how much more I learn about faith everyday. It´s true, miracles happen according to our faith!

Who would have thought!?!?!?! ;D

I feel so blessed to be here in Atibaia with Sister Aspitia. Truely I have met AMAZING people and our work is different than I´ve ever  experienced.  I have 5 more months in my mission and I can honestly say that I would be perfectly content if I were to stay here until the end. It would leave 2 areas in total in my mission and amazing.  I have applied Alma 14:13 (I think) to this situation. "But our work is not done, so they will not transfer us." hahaha Let´s see how that one goes... :)

I miss my family and I miss my friends, but it´s interesting because it seems that I´m less and less trunky as the end gets closer. I think my mind doesn´t know what to think. hahaha But either way... I´m happy :)

Mom! HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

Daphne...I know it´s late... but Happy Birthday to you as well!!

Laaauuurrraaa! We need to taaaaalkkk! :) :( :/ :D D: :x dfjaewoifhiofhaieofjoierhgiadgh

Amber and Brent! It´s been a while!... but the time is passing quickly... it seems like yesterday that I sent you the last letter! THanks for the email Amber! You two sound great!...seriously :)

Pictures!

1. MOst of our zone is here. We got caught in the rain on the way to lunch so we hid next to a building. :)

2. This is what all the roads look like election day. It´s insane.

3. Tuuuuuurtttleees!

4. The baptism of Luan. His family is now complete :)

5. Our mysterious bug friend that we find in our house every so often.

6. Us with our recent convert Renata :) :) :)  It was a coincidence that were all wearing red. hahahaha

P.S. I still LOVE Açai!