Peace, hope and a lot of love!

This past week was a good one. The weekend was a little harder.

When difficult things happen in our lives we find our dependence in the Lord. Saturday I was able to talk to my family on the phone for a little bit, even though it was a hard phone call I had peace. It´s interesting how the Lord teaches us to use everything that we have learned in the past.
When I decided to serve a mission I also made the decision to leave home and leave behind the possibility of marriage.  A LOT of people asked me and still ask me, "why did you decide a mission instead of a boyfriend or marriage? You have opportunites!"
In my head I just think.... how in the world did the word 'instead' get involved here? Why can´t I do both?
Yeah a lot of plans changed in the end... but so did I and what I have gained is so much more than an 'opportunity'. 
They don´t just come along... opportunites are a result... we make them.
The  possible  'opportunity' of eternity for me was to much for me to think of when I knew there are others that don´t even know that such an opportunity is possible to achieve.
During this time I´ve been learning a lot about eternity,what it truely means and the hope that it brings. With just one more week as the Lord´s servant in Brasil, Campinas I have been reflecting about this past year and a half. What I have learned... what I still need to work on... and who I have become. The lord´s timing is perfect and even though he could have waited one more week to make some decisions... he didn´t.. and I´m grateful to have been where I am to learn.  This weekend I have had the opportunity to put to the test what I have been teaching EVERY day for the last 18 months.

God is eternal. The blessings that he has for us are so much more than for this minute or this life. His blessings are eternal.
This is why his authority is on the Earth. This is we are knocking on every door and talking to every person that crosses our paths.
What is sealed on earth will be sealed in heaven.

An additional note by her mother.  Nichele's homecoming talk is March 24th.  This has changed a few times... so if you had another date... change it.

Eight years and a Doctrate

Hello!  Another transfer has come and gone and I can´t believe I´m on the last one!

My trainer wrote me an email last week and I just kept thinking... I was your companion when you went home.. and now I´m going home!

It´s seems like it was just last transfer that I was with her... but it was 10 MONTHS ago.

So then I started to think about every transfer since that one and I´ve realized that so much has happened.

They say that your mission is a prediction of the type of life you´ll have... if so I´m excited and nervous. Haha  Like any missionary would be.

So the animal situation in our house has been resolved. :D

We had a brother from the stake come and take care of it. He put venom to prevent more animals and took care of the rats.

Buuut as he was putting everything together again he found another little friend.  .... Morcego! which translated means bat. :)

I wish I could send pictures but i´m terrified of another virus...

Anyway... it was cool! He took him out for us and we took pictures with him.

So now our house is animal free!  But now because he messed a lot inside our ceiling.. .when it rains, it rains inside our house... a lot.

We moved our beds, but then it started dripped from another part in the room so last night Sister Lengenfelder slept with her bed right in front of the doorway. haha We took pictures of that too.  The elders are going to send the same brother back to help us figure things out :)

But every things good :) our house is just going through a rebellious stage.

This past week was great with amazing people and lessons and experiences.

It didn´t end on a high, almost nobody went to church as we had planned with them (it´s the week of carnaval), but we learned a lot and we´re still happy.

Sister Lengenfelder goes home tomorrow. I feel blessed to have been with her this past transfer. In total she stayed 1 transfer and 2 weeks. I was lucky to have her for the most of her time here. I truly learned so much and we had some funny experiences.

I don´t have a lot to write this week. My head is kind of spinning because of all the changes, but it´s a good spin :)

Oh! I´m obsessed with the ensign! This month I read about Elder... uh... i can´t remember right now. He shared about how everybody asked him how long it took him to finish school to be a doctor.  He replies, "8 years" and everyone always becomes in awe. He stated that it´s always the same conversation. But in the end he looks back and it´s as simple as this: Those 8 years would have past either way. I´m still 8 years old... the only difference is that now I´m a doctor.

Wow. I LOVED that!  It´s so true! The time is passing. we´re getting older and we can´t change that. But we can use the time instead of just sitting and letting it pass by.

The more  I think about it the more I love the idea.

See you next week!

It starts from within!

A young woman in our ward here has received her mission call. This past Sunday she gave her farewell talk and it blew me away.  I was reminded of the fire that I had when I was leaving for my mission. It´s funny how much you change in a year and a half but also how much stays the same.  I think I had forgotten what my testimony actually means to me. I have been spending all this time trying to strengthen and share with others forgetting to remind myself once in a while.

When somebody speaks and it touches your heart, your testimony grows.

When somebody speaks and it touches your spirit, your testimony is solidified. 

This week my testimony was solidified. In her short talk she mentioned a few key things that I haven´t thought of for a while. Not that I had forgotten them... they just haven´t been given much light in the past few months.

I was also reminded about how the Lord answers our prayers. 

We have been praying soooo much for a spiritual boost for our ward. Something that will help them with the desire to live missionary work, (which is so much more than what people usually think).

We as missionaries can do all we can, but until a point the strength needs to come from inside.  From one of them.

The rest is with the Lord to help them move. To help them act.

This young woman will not see the fruit from the testimony that she bore in this next year and a half. But she felt what she needed to share and she shared it without shame and with love. Already the effects are being showed.

This was the answer to our prayers.

I have heard so many stories here in Brasil. And I´ve gotten to know how many levels pride really has.

"ahhh... well the church is like this..."  "ahhh... well the church there is like that..."

We´re all part of the same church people!!!

haha but seriously.

In the end everyone knows that... but culture puts strain on worldly things. 

I have heard stories of things that have happened in many missions in the world and many wards and stakes... 

The gospel is perfect. The principles are perfect. WE the people are not. 

What happens in one ward in northern brasil or in France or in Arkansas is not the standard for the church.  

We´re all trying to learn how to follow our savior together. 

We´re not perfect. We make mistakes. God still loves us.

But we has children of God need to let go of these ideas that we are better than others. That our ideas are better than others.

In life (in a general aspect) Just because other people do it differently doesn´t mean they do it wrong.

And if we finally understand this it doesn´t mean that everyone does.  It´s really easy to get defensive. 

So instead of backing up into the black hole again... use patience.

Another big thing to add to the big list of what Sister Nichele Barlow has had to learn.

I have truly grown a love for people. Instead of what people represent or show. Sometimes it´s hard to find the difference.

This is the last week that Sister Lengenfelder is here with us. She´s going back home next Tuesday (8 days). 

It´s going to be weird to be in a double instead of a trio again.  She brought a lot of light to our companionship. :D

I am in love with green olives. YUUUUUUMMMMM.

I buy packages of them and eat them as we walk. Sister Marins thinks it´s disgusting haha. Sister Lengenfelder eats them with me. :)  Usually Sister Marins eats something normal like an ice cream. :)

Time is passing fast!  Love you all!

Ultimate Frisbee!

P-day today included ultimate frisbee... a lot of laughter.... and a good start for the week. :)

And guess who is nice and tan for her white little self?? yep! Me!

So these past weeks we have been working with the members a TON and we´re creating some really good relationships.

I´ve decided that when missionaries say that the member don´t give referrals... it´s usually because the missionaries don´t ask. Pre-concepts are a huge thing in the mission... in the world. We´ve made a good to teach every family in the ward and then ask for referrals... and guess what again???  We´re getting them! :D

What is that thing that Christ and the prophets always say???

Oh... when you serve someone you learn to love them. In truth you don´t even have to learn that part... it just comes naturally.. you can´t stop it.   The trick is learning to serve.

I love my companions, every single one of them. 

I love every member that I have had the privilege to work with. (can´t spell anymore) 

I love every single one of the people I have been blessed to teach and know.

I love the missionaries with whom I serve. 

My leaders.

My presidents and my president´s wives. 

The leadership from my home wards. American Fork. San Jose.

My teachers. From the start through high school through the MTC until Spirit today.

I love my friends... a lot. The current ones and the ones from the past.

... I love my family. Oh how I love my family.

And I love the gospel of our savior Jesus Christ.

And when I think of all this love and service that I have seen others do or have done in my life... I am humbled by the fact that it doesn´t even come close that which our Father in Heaven and His Son feel and have done.

I am GRATEFUL for the opportunity I have to serve and learn how to start forgetting myself.

Through everything that I am learning... one of the biggest lessons:

The people who needed the biggest change aren´t always who you think.

Thanks for the love and support from all. :)

Cleaning Day!

So today is pday and we took most of the morning cleaning our kitchen. 

Okay... so that sounds normal, right?

Let me explain....

The house we lived in has reputation as the "house of the rats".  Yeah... the pictures getting clearer, isn´t it?

Currently we don´t have any more live rats co-living with us.. but we do have the mess that has NEVER been cleaned in our cupboards  underneath the fridge and oven... everywhere... for more than a year.  I know... pretty :)

So.... today I couldn´t handle it anymore and we started a deep clean. We borrowed the hose from the neighbor (a member and owner of  our little house) and sprayed our kitchen down. Yep. We literally hosed down everything... and scrubbed. We HAD to scrub. 

It was an adventurous morning to say the least... but awesome! We took advantage and cleaned the whole house basically... which is the size of the smallest apartment that exists in the states (so really it wasn´t that much)... haha.

Afterwards we all took our turn taking a shower a finished the morning with a lunch of delicious pizza in our emacuatly clean kitchen. :D

We are pretty proud of ourselves. :D

The ward here in Santana is small and there isn´t very much unity for various reasons. Countless times I have heard someone say... "I would participate more if so and so did this and that." "I would attend more if so and so wasn´t there." "I would do this if he hadn´t done that."

We´ve been praying a lot this week to truly understand the root of the problem... So where is it?

There are a hundred problems in every ward.... But nothing will get better until we work on ourselves first. We need to strengthen our own testimonies first!

Why do I go to church? For the social crowd? Or because I made a promise with God that I would continue to become a better person and keep his commandments and I NEED the sacrament to help me do that.

Why do I listen to the cousels of the prophets and apostles?  Because they´re not just old men who have nothing better to do.

They are men of GOD. And when they speak we are hearing the counsels of the LORD.

When we choose to follow or not we are showing OUR dedication to our Heavenly Father. Our gratitude to be here on earth with a body to make our own decisions. And our humility that says... "oh.. maybe what I think or want isn´t always right."

Would God lead us to do something wrong?  Or down a wrong path? No.

Do we do that on accident to ourselves sometimes? Definitely.

So why is it so hard to trust and follow Him when he has never let us down instead of trusting in ourselves who can very easily guide us array. (is array a word? I don´t remember anymore.... :( hmmm)

If we want happiness. That deep happiness with the mysterious source of life and love and peace....

we need to trust in God. Never ending happiness doesn´t come from ourselves. It will always fade.

We need to find our happiness in God. And when we find it... to follow it completely to get results. 

I´ve noticed that our own testimonies usually are the ones that are neglected the most.

I love you all! Have a great week!

p.s. last week when i sent pictures my camera card got a virus so i´m not trusting the computers anymore and i might not send anymore pictures until the end.... i want to ... but I feel betrayed. hahaha

alrighty, t´chau!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Soo... I was transferred... Which was really hard, but really good at the same time.

I am now in Santana which is actually IN  Campinas! So that´s cool... I´m serving in the name of my mission :)

The temple is about 20 minutes away and the Temple President likes to have Sisters there every Saturday to talk with people so my campanions and I are in the area that they´ve asked to fulfill the responsibility. It´s awesome :D

So what happened during transfers is this:

Sister Pederson and I were companions in the MTC... You know waaaaayyy back when.

Her and I this past transfer were companions with Sister Cabral and Sister Marins who arrived that transfer and who were companions in the MTC as well.

So Sister Pederson and Sister Marins and Sister Lengenfelder were together in Santana.

And Sister Cabral and I were together in Atibaia.

Then transfers came around.

Now... 

Sister Pederson and Sister Cabral are together in Atibaia.

And Sister Marins, Sister Lengenfelder and I are together in Santana. 

Yep :) So she´s finishing the training of my daughter and I´m finishing the training of her daughters. hahaha

families on the mission are complicated ;)

But I love it! It was exactly what needed to happen :)

Oh...so to explain. Sister Lengenfelder is what we call a "curto prazo" (short time missionary)

She had vacation from school and wanted to serve a mission so her stake president talked to our mission president and she´s serving here for us for 1 transfer.

A short time missionary can serve up to 6 months.  They help out a lot especially when we´re short on missionaries to keep areas open.  In our case she´s here with us in a trio because we have an odd amount of sisters but we have a sister that will go home early because of college and she will become the companion of that companion for the last week of the transfer. Or she will just stay with us. But its an opportunity for her to serve for a little time. :)

I hope you enjoy the pictures! :D

Love you!

 

Last moments with Sister Cabral :(

Me and my 2 new companions on our way to my new area!  Yes... we are in a slug bug :D

We like to travel in style.

Every Saturday we work at the temple :D  This is us with Irmã Vera (president of the relief society)

My companions close up. Sister Marins arrived with Sister Cabral :) And Sister Lengenfelder is here for one transfer to help out. :)

Goodbye to my little nephew Lucas :´(

Christmas with Sister Cabral!

  

Cinthia and I (Renata´s sister)

 

Pink slug bug!!! (fusca!)

 

goodbye to the primary in Tanque :)

goodbye to the group in Tanque :(

Bishop and his wife and daughter (Atibia)