hello! (May 12)

Oi, familia!

This week was pretty good! We taught a bunch and we found some really cool new investigators!

Sister Pennington and Sister A. Silva

Sad news first....
We had a lesson with Giovanna this week, and taught her the rest of the lessons she needed before baptism. She was excited, and accepted everything we taught. Because she's only 16 she needs permission from her mom to be baptized, so we talked with her mom later that day to get permission, but her mom is very prejudiced against the church, and won't let her get baptized. We talked with Giovanna's mom for over an hour, pleading with her to let Giovanna make this choice, but she wouldn't allow it. So unfortunately, we had to drop her. She is such a special person, and truly a golden investigator. She said that she'll continue reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and hopefully that will be enough to strengthen her testimony until she's old enough to make her own decision.

In happier news....
Like I said last week, sister A. Silva already served here, and she had an awesome investigator who had a testimony of the church and was even interviewed for baptism, but didn't have support from her husband, so she backed out. This was over 6 months ago, so we decided to go back and see how she was doing, and she still has a testimony of the church (she has the family a proclamation to the world hanging on her wall) and her husband's heart was softened, and we were able to teach the restoration! He said that he knew that it was God that sent us and he's excited to learn more about the church! They're an awesome family!

Sister Pennington and a monkey at a bus stop

I've definitely gained a testimony of the importance of talking with everyone and inviting everyone to hear the gospel. Last week, we were sitting at a bus stop in a neighborhood we don't usually visit. It's really far away from our house, and so we don't have an opportunity to go there very often. But, this day we happened to be there, and as we were waiting to get the bus a couple came and sat at the bus stop. We started talking to them, and came to find out that they were members of the church, but have been inactive for over 10 years. They just moved to this state (they're from North Brazil) and because of this, their records aren't here in Itatiba. We never would've found them if we hadn't been at that bus stop in that neighborhood at that particular time.I know that the Lord puts people in our path for a reason, and we need to be able to recognize these opportunities to serve and do the Lord's will. We got the address of this couple, and they seemed really interested in having us come to their house and teach them and their family. They have 3 young-men-aged sons who are not members of the church.

I love being a missionary! I get to see miracles every single day! These past 10 months have been the experience of a life time, and I'm excited to have 8 more!

Love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sister Pennington