April 6, 2015- Easter, Novidades, and a shout out for dad

Hi Family!! Happy Easter/Conference Weekend! I hope it was wonderful for all of you. We are oh so happy and working hard.

First, Brazil has this wonderful tradition... huge chocolate eggs! I think it takes the place for easter baskets or something? But we got so so many! From Carla and Diego, and from sweet members in the ward. We even tried an egg filled with strawberry mousse! Basically we have chocolate coming out of our ears and I can´t wait for our divisions this week as a way to get rid of it all. BUT that being said, I am bringing home a form for sure, so that I can make chocolate eggs with my kiddies in the future. It is the best tradition. ever. 

Conference was wonderful! It was great to hear from the beloved, inspired brotheren. Especially sitting next to our beloved investigators. As always, they nailed it. 

But I have some now people to tell ya about... 

First, Veronica... A few months ago we talked to a teenage boy in the streets. We presented ourselves and offered to teach him a little bit about Jesus. he explained that he didn´t live there but was just visiting his mom., With some prying we got him to tell us her name, and for the next few weeks we tried to find her at home. Without luck. But, as we passed by the other day, I told my new companion aboutthe experience and said maybe it was worth a try to pass by again. And, that time she was at home!! And let us in!! 

Turns out, she had already visited our church some time back but lost contact, moved, and recently began praying for a new church to attend. She has a 5-month baby girl Nataly, and wants to create her in a church setting. Soon after, we knocked on her door! The Lord is incredible, isn´t he? But we talked a little, said a prayer and invited her to come to church. Last Sunday morning we passed by her house but guess what?! She had already started off to church. Without our help! She absolutely loved church, made lots of friends, and even asked the bishop if she could have her baby blessed in church!! She heard an announcement about the general women´s meeting and choir and told us that she would like to participate in EVERYTHING! 

And this week she came to 3 of the 4 sessions of general conference. And she is already in 2 Nephi and LOVING the Book of Mormon. This woman is incredible!

Also, we are teaching a man, Morgan who recently moved into our ward and is living with his less-active friend Rogerio who is trying to come back! SO we are teaching the two together!! And it is an incredible experience! We gave Rogerio the chance to write his testimony in the Book of Mormon and give it to Mormon. And he even marked his favorite part, the tree of life!! Morgan told us that his goal is to write in his own book and give it to another friend one day!! My goal is to have Rogerio baptize Morgan! We just gotta get to that point but it will be incredible! 

Finally, we taught the Ganzarolli family again and it was great! We managed to get the three children together and all participated!! Mauricio was didn´t stick around the whole time but I could tell that he was paying lots of attention. And in Mauricio style, he had laid out a little feast for us. He is coming around in his own way and in his own time. I LOVE this family! It will be one of my last great mission triumphs... Correction. the Lord´s triumph. Because I can tell that this family has so much potential to do so many great things. They just lost their way for a little while. 

We taught Diego last night and he asked an interesting question... he asked an interesting question.. how we decided to serve a mission. I thought for a minute and told the story.. I told about how I did not WANT to serve. at all. That I had all sorts of other plans and priorities. But that my wise dad (I guess my two fathers actually) saw something in me that I wasn´t able to see at the time. We went to a Thai lunch and chatted about lots of stuff but the underlying theme was a mission. As we left he gave me a letter. That he wrote on actual stationary in which he told some mission stories and basically pleaded with me to rethink my resounding NO. 

Though I still did not have much of a desire (I knew that the mission would require a lot of really HARD work) I began to see that I needed to serve. I decided that I had been given SO MUCH and the least I could do was give back a short 1.5.  I filled out my papers, got a call, and left. What I did not know at the time was that Heavenly Father was just ready and waiting to bless me more than I could have ever imagined. I left wanting to serve my Lord, but actually I have been served, shaped and molded more than words can describe. As he does with any sacrifice, he took my time and talents, used and multiplied them, and then gave me back everything and more. 

I told him the story and bore testimony of the importance of following God´s plan, even when it seems inconvenient. I also told testified of the influence he would have on his children in the process. (On a side note, Henrique is being just as Athiest and annoying as ever and it seems like as hard as we try, we just can´t get through to him) He cried. 

So, I know that I have a few months left, and you best believe I will hit it hard until the last day, but as an early thank-you, dad, this is my shout out to you! I love you and am oh so grateful for your loving influence and everything you have taught me. Just so you know, you weren´t wasting your breath :)

Have a great week,

Sister Lauren