Monday, September 18, 2017

We Testify of Christ

Hi Everyone!

This week we had zone conference, and President and Sister Melo made the long trek of 14 hours to come and visit the farthest zone in the mission! I just need to say that I love my mission president. He is awesome! He used to scare me a bit, being straight out of the Amazon, but I have come to love them both so much. All of the members in our area are hoping to one day have a temple, because they have to drive 30 hours away now. President Melo told the story about how, as a recent convert, he and 200 of the people in his stake in Manaus, would ride a boat once a year for 5 days and then get on a 52-hour bus ride to attend the temple. Then, through their work and every member being a missionary, they finally got a temple closer to them in 2008. I am a living witness of the modern day pioneers here in Brazil. The sacrifices they make are incredible and faith-building to me.

Today I got the news that tomorrow morning I will have to return to Teresina to resolve my visa, and then also next week we have a leadership meeting again in Teresina and I will have to travel again! I will be traveling 30 hours by bus this week and 30 hours next week as well. I asked them why I couldn’t wait until next week and just do everything at once, and I was told that if I was late handling my visa that they could put me in jail … haha. My companion and I started laughing and joking that we would miss the bus on purpose and, I don’t know why, but a part of me would just love to have that story to tell, haha, just kidding. Just kidding Mom, don’t worry, I promise I won’t miss my bus. Just to make you all nervous, it is tomorrow at 7:00 am and I don’t even remember how many times I missed the bus in middle school, but I am sure my mom remembers how many times she dropped me off at school because of it. Haha, oh my goodness, I even remember the bus driver was so used to it that she usually had pity on me and would wait in front of my house and honk the horn!

My companion Sister Ongaro is finishing her mission this week! She was baptized at 13 and is the only member in her family. She is a powerhouse and I am sure going to miss her. There might be tears … we have become the best of friends. She is my second favorite companion I have had in the mission (after my trainer).

This week we had “good times” with a bunch of our investigators starting to read anti-Mormon stuff … so that has been fun … NOT! I don’t know why people believe what they see on the internet … but it has been a cool experience to be able to talk and testify about the truth of the gospel. Sometimes we feel like we are literally fighting with the lies of Satan. I loved the quote that I read one day by Elder Holland that said "don’t bible bash with people, but if you do … WIN!", haha. It’s frustrating here because the churches have microphones and are screaming and yelling and these people believe every word, but they don’t read the Bible at all. Everything that our church believes is in the Bible. As we used the Bible this past week, we were able to help so many of our investigators. But the best tool that we used was our own testimony. At the end of all the lessons, we just looked at them and told them that they won’t know that our church isn’t true through other people, and they won’t know if it is true through our words. Only they will know, if they get on their knees and ask. We said, “If you do that, and receive an answer that what we teach isn’t true, then we won’t bother you one more minute." Our testimonies are truly the most important thing we have as missionaries.

This past week I was reading in John and in Acts. I fell in love with the story and the person of Peter. The apostles were fishing after the death of Christ and they weren’t catching anything, and then they saw a man on the beach and he called and told them to throw their nets on the other side. Then in that same minute they caught so many fish that their nets couldn’t hold them. One of them recognized the Savior and pointed it out to the other men like, "hey guys, look, its Jesus". Then Peter ripped off his jacket and just SENT IT into the ocean and started swimming frantically to be close to the Savior. When I read that, I started to laugh because he is just such a spaz sometimes, but then it really touched my heart. Peter is such an example to me of someone who truly loved the Savior. I hope that when the Savior comes again, that I will have the same spastic reaction … that I will not have any shame or embarrassment, or not be tangled up in my "nets". I am working today, and every day, to show my Savior that I am trying my best to come closer to Him. I know that this is Christ’s church, and that He is still guiding us in these latter days. This isn’t my work, or man’s work, it is the work of our Savior. I love Him and I know He loves me.

Love you all,

Sister Vance

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