Hi Everyone,
This week has been so fun. I am with Sister Lucas, who is awesome, and we have already knew each other as we lived together for 6 months earlier in my mission! It has been fun because a new American sister missionary arrived this week, Sister Johnson! She is so cute, and it has brought me back to how it was my first couple weeks in the field.
For the past two weeks the house has been out of water, so on Sister Johnson’s first day she had the privilege of taking a buckets shower! Haha, I felt so bad for her, but I must say that my hair never looked better than after the bucket shower. I recommend it, seriously. She looked at me and asked me how long it took me to get accustomed to life here. I asked, "Oh the language?" and she said no, everything! I started laughing because I forget how different it is here. But it’s been fun speaking a little English with her; usually I start in English and then the end of the sentence comes out Portuguese.
This week we were walking home from a baptismal interview with the elders and, as we were saying goodbye in front of our house. We turned and, right in front of us in the intersection, a motorcycle came speeding and a car came speeding from the other direction and just nailed the motorcyclist. He flipped about 5 times in the air and landed on the curb right in front of us. He started seizing for about 15 seconds and then just stopped, like he was dead, and I bent over and almost threw up because I was so nervous and couldn’t do anything. Because you can't ask them to get up or anything when they have had a serious injury you just have to leave them laying there to not cause more damage. It was just us in the road and two other people. I just froze and my companion and I got so freaked out. The other people called an ambulance and we had to run into the church on the corner to grab an irmao that was a doctor. The ambulance took about 15 minutes to come, and my goodness it was traumatic. These people aren’t even careful with motorcycles. They ride with flip flops with their whole family on the back. It was so freaky because death just looked like it was so easy, so fast, and could happen at any moment. It just struck me that anyone can die at any moment. My companion and I could hardly sleep that night and just felt so sick to our stomachs. But we included him and his family in our prayers. I hope he is alright.
Last Monday I said goodbye to the city of Bacuri, and it just hit me hard that I would never really see them again. I love that place. We had a family home evening and I was able to say goodbye to a lot of people. Agosto and Daniele, who were less active, and we baptized their nephew, came as well. We bought them white business shirts to use in church to be able to pass the sacrament. It was so cute because Irmao Agosto started crying as I was bearing my testimony and then said, "I didn’t even cry when the elder that baptized me was transferred. I love Sister Vance, she never seems to have a difficult day." He said a lot of things but that just shocked me, because I was thinking wow, I DO have difficult days. But the mission has taught me to turn out and to not think about my own problems and difficulties. It hit me hard when he said that, and I started to cry as well. But before I left, I gave a pep talk to each one telling them to always stay firm and help Adrianno go on a mission in a few short years. I was sad, but at the same time my excitement and my determination grows with every goodbye I say to people that have touched my life. One day I will make it to the celestial kingdom with each one of them. I am determined, and I know with each area and people that I meet, my kingdom is being more and more prepared, and one day when we all return, it will be a place so much happier with ALL the people that I hold dear to my heart!
Everaldo was baptized and was just so happy! My favorite part of the baptism was when one member came up to us and said, "do you both know that I worked with Everaldo for 15 years and I never imagined that one day he would be baptized?" That hit me hard, as I realized that we can’t and aren’t allowed to judge or question who will accept the gospel, because Christ works miracles in the lives of so many.
My favorite thing that happened this week was one contact that we made. It was with a woman and we clapped at her door and asked her about her daughter and said we had received a referral for her. It turns out it was the wrong house and she was a little cold with us, and said straightforward that she is Catholic. She was eyeing our name tags hardcore and really suspicious. We started to talk to her and she got a little more comfortable and we asked about her family. She started talking about her daughter and the problems she has in her life. She started rambling a bit and we were losing a bit of the topic. My companion spoke a bit, and I thought that maybe it would be good if I testified, but something just told me to be quiet and to just listen. She talked and talked … and we listened and listened. Then, at the right moment, I just started to testify … not teach about the plan of salvation, but just testify about the things that I know. I testified that we are daughters of a living Heavenly Father and that He has a plan for us and all our difficulties. She just started to bawl. She asked us if we could come back another day and for asked for our phone number. As we hugged, she looked at me and said, "This morning I woke up happy, because God knew that I would receive this special visit.” My companion and I left with chills up and down our spines in the 100 degree weather. It was awesome.
The Spirit is working with us here and I am so grateful because I would be one hot mess of a missionary without it. I love this work, and I love my Savior more and more with each passing day. I am working hard to get to know Him better and be His hands here.
Love you all!
Sister Vance
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