*Irmã Craig*: What a Weird Week.

Ola Familia!!!

Sounds like things back at home are busy as usual. But they sound fun! Glad things are going well!

This week was just strange. Haha.

First off, Our last p day we went to Guara 2 and had a Karaoke family night with some members and investigators...which was soooo fun. Haha, and hilarious. They love to sing American songs and their accents are just so cute. I loved it! Hahaha.

Anyways Wednesday two sisters from Palmas arrived at our house because one of them was finished with the mission. So we housed them because Palmas is 12 hours away. So we spent the day helping her prepare to leave and blah blah. But it just made me a little homesick, but not enough to come home. Sorry guys!

Anyways, Sister Dandaluz was from Paraguay...or Uraguay...Im not really sure. Haha, sounds the same in Portuguese. But she left and so we had two other sisters staying with us until transfers (today). It was fun, we did some splits and helped the other sisters work in our area. Which helped us. I was with Sister Cruz...and she was incredible!!! She had such a good spirit with our investigators and I learned a lot. Also she is an english teacher in Sao Paulo so we had a fun time talking in english together. But with all this going on, it just didn't feel like a normal week of work. Haha...which is funny, cause we did, really hard. But it was way fun to have 2 more sisters in our area.

Elder Redd headed home, and so we received a new Zone leader. I forgot his name. Haha... but he sounds cool. We still have Elder Chavez as our Zone leader. We got new sisters in the other areas, and new elders in our district. It was a change for our Zone. Im excited to see what we can do together!

Today was transfers, and we went to help the other sisters that were staying with us. No, I didn't get transferred, and nor did my companion. But...We got 2 more sisters in our area!!! Wahooo! Sister Melo, and then she is going to be training the new sister who arrives tomorrow! Yahoooo! I loved having other sisters staying in our house, and now we permanently have sisters with us! Haha. Anyways, it was fun to see how transfers work, and get to talk to the President and his wife. And meet more missionaries...

This week was a tough one with our investigators. We have 10 really solid investigators that show progress each and every time we visit. But this week...not one of them came to church.... It was a little sad because some of them haven't ever come to church, and so this week...the visits are going to be tougher, for us and for them.

This week we were also working a lot with the less actives. We have one, his name is David, and he wants to come back to church and so everyday we stop by his house and read a chapter with the book of mormon and pray with him. His grandma, mom, brother...they are all members, and really strong members. I love his family. And David has such a big desire to return to the church. It has been incredible working with him.

So this week was hilarious. At the end of the week we ran out of money...usually we should have received the money Saturday...but for some reason we didn't get it until today. But my companion and I were desperate for some food...and we had nothing. Literally had 2 reais (1 dollar) of change in my wallet. And my card from home had stopped working. So we were of course starving when all of a sudden...I remembered my loving sister sent me a package...and it had Nutella and crackers still! So I rushed to it! And my comp and I split the nutella and crackers for breakfast. IT was HILARIOUS. And then that night...she went to her bank and her mother had seriously, by miracles, put money in her account. SO we made it through. But hey...life of a missionary, right? Lunch on Saturday was fantastic, best I ever had...I think...I was pretty much inhaling (spelling???).

I don't know...this week was weird. Haha, definitely not a normal week for a missionary. Any missionary here in Brasilia.

Okay here is a good story for you. My companion, before I came had been teaching this couple (not married yet), the same couple that had us go to church with them. This week, we stopped by with the other sisters just to say hi and see how they were doing. We obviously got talking about the gospel. The thing that this couple is struggling with is believing in the Book of Mormon. And we have been trying to just slowly help them come to a testimony. But this week, they said they just couldn't believe. And it was hard to hear the words. This couple is incredible. So friendly, so loving, so funny. And as they said that I just thought...oh no, they aren't going to have eternal life together, I just saw the blessings of God stripping from their lives. And my companion was crying, I was crying, THEY were crying. And Sister Cruz began to talk, began to ask questions about their prayer asking if it was a true word of God. They were talking, the spirit was there, everyone in tears.... When they started telling us how they prayed once, felt nothing and stopped praying. So we began talking about praying with real intent, and how sometimes that means praying again and again until you feel SOMETHING. Anyways, longest ever story short, they agreed to pray again, and we are going to visit them I think tomorrow again to see whats happening. Everyone pray...these people are incredible!

Anyways, sounds like a sad week...but it wasn't. It was a learning experience. I gained a testimony about prayer, and how truly blessed we are to know this Gospel. We truly are blessed to already know our purpose in life, to already know what God wants of us, and that we are able to do it. And it is up to us now to share that blessing, this testimony with others!

Thats pretty much it this week. Sorry nothing toooo awesome.

Love you all!!

Sister Craig!

My companion is really pretty sometimes....