Pictures tooo!

Hey everyone!

So according to the new President we CAN accept emails from other people other than our family, but we CAN`T send them. So that is cool :)

I can also listen to the music you sent me now Sydney. :)

So today I am going to the chocolate factory. I am more than a little bit excited! Hopefully this letter isn`t toooo scattered.

This week was wonderfuL! I don´t even know where I could begin.

Paulo passed the Sacrament. He looked so cute in his white shirt and tie. I don`t think I have ever been prouder. No, I take that back. Yesterday, when he went out with us and took us to one of his friends house. That was was my proudest moment. He taught all about the Book of Mormon, and testified in Christ and how his testimony has grown. Then at the end he looked at him and said that he would be coming to get him for church that next week. He is so awesome and is already talking about a mission!

I decided this week that I wanted an army of missionaries, thus my contacts have been aimed at any young man under the age of 26. It has created quite a few laughs in the process (I even got a somewhat tempting marriage proposal from a very attractive rapaz), but it has also helped find some wonderful investigators. One in particular is my favorite...if I was allowed to have them...Eptilo (who knows how his name is spelled). I saw him sitting in the park, and walked up to him and asked this question, "Why do you think there are so many churches today?" He looked at me like I was crazy, but really thought about a response. We talked for awhile, and he told us we could come and teach him later that week. When we taught him at his house, he was full of questions, but the cool thing was, they were all questions that had answers. I love that about the gospel. We have questions, but we can find the answers. Maybe not in that moment, but with time, we can find them. He wasn`t at his house when we came to teach him for the return appointment. That was frustrating. But as we were walking, I decided to say a prayer that we would see him... And just as I finished, there he was! We talked to him for a while, and I felt like we should give him a Book of Mormon even though we hadn`t taught about it yet. His eyes lit up so much while we talked. I am convinced he will be an Elder. Just ya`ll wait and see :)

I learned quite a few lessons about prayer this week, now that I think about it. Rafeal is having some major difficulties with giving up cigarettes. I have been praying that he would be able to overcome it, but the other night I thought about praying that he would get sick the next time he smoked. The next day, we showed up at his house and he was sick as a dog. Sister Nicascio asked him what was wrong, and he responded that he was fine until he smoked a cigarrette. He swears he will never touch another cigarrette. haha.

Well, I love you all. Thank you for being so wonderful. I am so happy :)

LOVE,

SISTER POWELL!

July 4, 2011

I just wrote my new president in Portuguese...about gave me a heart attack. So this might be short due to my time limit.

I am tired.

So tired.

Paulo was baptized this week. If he was the last person that I help be baptized on my mission, I would still go home happy. He is already talking about his mission and I know he will work miracles. I felt it the first day that I met him...he has a future so important, and I feel so blessed to have had a part in helping it happen. I sang at his baptism and felt like aunt Carie at my farewell...I didn`t get pass the first line without starting to cry. What an amazing thing this whole mission thing is. What an amazing thing it is to help people come unto Christ, and then to watch them reach a potential that they didn`t even know they had.

We are teaching so many amazing people. They are exahausting at times, but they are amazing. I love them so much, but goodness can they be frustrating. Must be what it feels to be a parent at times, huh? They are teaching me patience.

Another thing I am learning (I should find another starter phrase, huh?) is to speak simply and to the point. I have no choice but to speak simply when speaking this ridiculously difficult language, but I am learning that when we speak simply it actually goes a lot better. Funny story--(I found it comical at least). We were teaching an investigator the law of Chasity. I let Sister Nicascio take the lead and invite him to live the law. His face was so funny as he struggled to wrap his head around what we were asking him to do (he is like this with every law we teach...he tries to make it so much more difficult than it is). So I asked him this, "Are you having sex with your girlfriend Rafeal?" His face gave the answer..."In order to live this law, you will have to stop having sex ." His response, "I don`t know if I can do that. I love her" "Then you can marry her. The law is simple...you can`t have sex. If you want to be baptized and live with our Heavenly Father again you will love this woman and marry her or love her and stop having sex with her."

He will be baptized this week...

Sister Nicascio´s face made the whole thing that much better.

I love ya`ll.

if that was entirely inappropriate, you don`t have to put it in my blog.

Love,

Sister POwell