Okay so this week I´m
going to be a little more serious because usually my emails are kind of
all over the place and then i run out of time at the end to bear my
testimony.
In
exactly 50 days from now, I'll be returning home from the best
experience of the life. Actually not the best experience of my life,
because that´ll be the moment I start my own family, but it has been the
best experience FOR my life. I CANNOT imagine who or where I would be
or what would be my future if I had never came on a mission. It´s hard
to explain by email the change that has taken place in me, the spiritual
growth I've had, the things I've learned, that HOLY COW I dont know how
I passed 19 years of my life without this solid faith in God that I
have now. REALLY LIKE HOW DID I SURVIVE.
Here are a few things I´ve been pondering about this week that I would never know if I had stayed home:
When
you exercise faith (in other words, when you do something a little out
of your comfort zone, only because you know that God will provide the
means) MIRACLES happen! Literally!! It is exactly like it says in Ether
12:12
12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
We
had a few miracles this week, one of which was a less active member,
who after a few years of not coming, and after a few weeks of telling us
"I will not go back to church" SHE SURPRISED US AN CAME. Its like we
say here "Só Deus memso", basically that only God could work a miracle
like this. So, faith+works=miracles
On
the same subject, Our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.
Everyone. Before coming to brasil, I knew that. Of course, I had only
heard in 52753 times before. But now, I KNOW it, I TESTIFY that it is
true! I have felt it, and seen it, every little prayer we say. I
remember one time we were walking to the bus station at 7 am, and I saw a
man on his bike, obviously going to work early, and by the looks of it,
a little late, with an old bike as his only transportation. As we were
walking and I watched, a part of his bike flew off and broke, and he
stayed stopped for about 3 minutes trying to fix it. My first thought
was "oh crap, what is he going to do? He needs to get to work!" and as
we walked I said a silent prayer "Heavenly Father, I dont know this man,
but help him fix his bike get to work on time" and NOT EVEN 4 SECONDS
LATER he was riding past us on his quickly repaired bike, going to work.
I was like WHAAAAAAAAAT THAT WAS SO FAST. And then I felt so humbled by
the feeling of "wow, he real heard me. Even this little random prayer
about a stranger at 7 am. He heard me, I knew a was capable of helping
him, and he answered" It was the smallest little moment that I had never
commented with anyone, but today is a great part of my testimony. He
hears us, it every little insignificant moment, He really hears
Heavenly
Father always keeps his promisses when we do our part. I have seen the
fulfillment of so many promises made to me in so many different moments
in my life here on my mission, because I KNOW I am doing my part.
Christ
is the light of the world, and serving him makes me the HAPPIEST person
on the planet. HA all of my life everyone called me "smile-y" but that
doesnt even compare to the constant smile I feel now, the TRUE
happiness. And now that I am talking about that, ALWAYS SMILE, you don´t
even know who is needing it. Last week I had two strangers come up and
thank me for my smile, saying "you dont know how much I was needing that
today, of all the days" And I realized, If TWO people came up and told
me, imagine that people who thought it but just never said anything.
I
love the gospel of Jesus Christ, I love being a missionary. I am so
grateful for His infinite Atonement, capable of curing any illness,
spiritual, emotional, and physical.
COM MUITO AMOR AND SMILES,
sister lipps
me, being a psycologist, using sister freire's glasses. HA
My 16 months! holy wow i am old
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