I am one happy girl today family! For lots of reasons but first and foremot conference!! Oh it was so great! It was such an answer to prayers and it gave me a well needed boost. All week I prayed to have a great experience at conference because I knew it would be different than any conference at home. I was worried I would miss the conference center, PJ´s, conference BINGO, creamed eggs, crepes, and all the wonderful traditions we have for conference. But, similar to my wonderful first Christmas in the mission field, I loved it for all different reasons.
As preparation, I made conference BINGO cards for the younger people that we are teaching. I have learned here that it is important to encorporate traditions from home or we would go crazy of homesickness. (Now I am on to preparing a special easter celebration. A little creativity goes a long way here!)
Buttt, we got to listen in English!!! What a blessing. I just cringe to think of a conference without hearing the booming voice of President Holland but rather an awkward voice over in a language I have to work hard to understand. But we did not have that problem because they prepared a special room for us with comfortable chairs, air conditioning, and the entire 10 hours all in english. We basically had an American party complete with Oreos and Peanut Butter. At times I almost cried of nostalgia and joy.
What made the experience even better was when the ocasional Brasileiro decided to give the English room a chance for a few minutes. Two elders who have tried to study English for their who lives were determined to watch a session in English to test their knowledge. After 2.5 minutes they left frusterated. I secretly love when they try to learn our language and get a taste of how difficult it is to be completely immersed, all the time, in Portuguese.
Also, it was just so neat to hear the voice of the prophet and apostles from the ears of a missionary. It is so cool to think that we are so united in purpose, them and us, and I loved feeling how strong their testemonies are. I can´t really pinpoint one theme from conference because I feel like there were many but they talked a lot about love, service, missionary work, and obedience. And right now I have a unique opportunity to develop in all of these areas. I especially loved the talk by Gary Stevens about the olympic athletes. He related our life to a brief 4 minutes to perform. We, like the athletes prepared for a really long time for our brief moments of mortality, and we will have an eternity to remember the things we did here, but we have a very short time, relatively, to live.
I did some math and found that if our life is 4 minutes and I live to be 90 years old, the time I have to be a missionary is the equivalent of 4 seconds. That is so SHORT! This is motivation to work hard and make every moment count. It is truly a privilidge to wear this badge.
Also, we had some very special visits at conference. First, Paulinho and his family!!! They hand delivered a package for me and it was just so wonderful to see them. I am so lucky to have so many familiar faces! And our investigator Anderson (son of Joana.) He liked his experience a lot, he was well recepted by the ward members, and if all goes as planned he will be getting baptized in the next couple weeks. So wonderful! This week we had an opportunity to hear Joana bear her testimony to her son a little bit and hear her side of her conversion story. Turns out she had secret problems with the Law of Chastity too. Who knew!? These Brasileiras get it on way past their expiration date. But my favorite part was when she said that God sent two angels into her life to eternally bless it. Being called an angel is a rare opportunity!
And one of my favorite families Jose, Marlene, and Aline came to conference too! Jose was baptized about 20 years ago but he fell away. He stopped us on the streets about a month ago and asked if we could teach his family. We said absolutely and have been teaching them since. Aline, especially seems really interested, but it was really neat to talk to all of them about the stories they remembered from conference. Jose told us that he began to read the Book of Mormon again and he reallyyy enjoyed conference.
Love you all! Hope you guys have lots of fun on spring break! I miss you very much. Know that my week will probably be anything from relaxing as you sip endless pina coladas.
Tchau!
Sister Lauren
Conference Bingo cards Lauren made for the kids!
Paulino and his family delivering a package and watching conference!
"My area, isn't it a beleza (beauty).
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