*Irmã Craig*: February 2015

Monday, February 2, 2015

She has never been so tired! - January 26, 2015

OH family......HI...You guys sound like you had a great weekend!!!!!! I am so jealous that everyone was together for the weekend...but....hey. I am here in Brasil....thats pretty neat.

This week was....hard. Hardest week on my mission. I feel like....looking back...every problem that could go wrong in one house...went wrong. I am going to talk to dad for a bit. Dad, you know that day (I don't remember exactly what problems, but there were a ton). But we had a leak, and you spent hours fixing it, and then when that happened, the dish washer stopped working...and when you fixed that...you looked up and saw moms "honey-do list"...well that was our week.

Problem after problem in this new house. Haha. But it was awesome, because my companion is like Tim the Toolman...she fixes EVERYTHING!

As for our investigators. We have an investigator that we are helping with Drugs and Alcohol. He is really special. His name is Semario. And we have been trying to get him to do little steps, baby steps. Longest story short. This week we decided to talk to him about Alma 34. TODAY is our day of preperation. And as long as we are trying to prepare to do the right thing, we will have enough time to do it. We started talking more about the atonement, and how the antonement was done for every single one of us. Semario, the worlds most hardest investigator.....that night, said a prayer. Humble, sincere, and full of faith. For the first time in many years, one young man took the first step to changing his life. I didn't realize how important doing the smallest things would make the biggest difference. I saw one young man, 26 years old, fight off Satan and his worldly temptations. And then this Sunday morning, I saw one, head to toe, dirt covered 26 year cigarette smoker, alcohol drinker, walk into to our chapel. When I saw him walking in...that quote from an apostle that says "My favorite smell, is the smell of cigarette smoke in the middle of the chapel. Cause that means, that someone who isn't perfect, is trying to become more like his savior, and that he is in the right place to start." (Something like that....)

SEMARIO PRAYED AND WENT TO CHURCH. I cried, I totally cried, of happiness to see a son of God, fight off the temptations and start doing the Lord's will.

This week we also were able to really begin teaching Paulo and Gabriel. They have a date to be baptized February 7th, and they are really progressing. During the lessons, Paulo shows his desire with the sincere questions he asks. Gabriel shows his desire by reading and praying every night. Paulo is the dad, and Gabriel is 11. And they are awesome!

I am loving Palmas. I know that a lot more cool things happened, but I am short for time, and without a brain today! Love you guys!! Praying for every single one of you!

Sister Craig

She's got an Athiest who paints - February 2, 2015

FAMILY! I don't have too much time. Its seems to me like Pdays just fly by....and even worse.... the rest of the week flies faster. I can't believe its already FEBRUARY!

I am just gonna get to the points.

This week, we started teaching Jordan. He stopped us in the road an asked if we really believed in God. Y'all remember him? We started teaching him. Talked about Faith...and the next lesson... "Tell me about this Book of Mormon, It is something special." We explained to him the Restoration....and it was awesome. He was understanding everything..... and the best part. He went to church and LOVED it. Said he had never seen anything like it. And all the members were just like all over talking to him. It was testimony meeting, and Tiao, a member we all love, bore his testimony. And his story is alike. He was atheist....and explained all of this. It was awesome. Jordan loved his testimony. God is good. He blesses people when we have a desire to know. He is there, listening in every moment.

Also, fun fact. For those who know me well. Before the mission, there was a girl who found me on Instagram that is from my mission. She started talking to me before the mission, the day I opened my call. Well, I am here. In her ward...and sunday, I watched her open her call to Porte Alegre Norte!!!! We both cried when we saw each other. It was just a weird moment of..."Hey, I know you. Wait...hey we both were there when we received our calls!" Funny how things like this happen!

This week, we moved BACK to our old apartment. Elder called us Wednesday before lunch and said, sisters you need to move to your old apartment today. So we lostwednesday in the middle of a move..... And we will be moving again in upcoming weeks....Oh mission life.

Palmas is an area where everyone accepts us, and reads, and prays...and goes to church. SO we have a lot of people to try and help. I love it. I have never been so busy in my mission. But it came in just the right moment..... :)

I love this gospel.

Sister Craig