Week 9 - Suzano, Brazil - December 1, 2014

At our ward activity this week.  It was so much fun to be with all the members.

Bom dia minha família!!

It has been a crazy week! But they go by so fast! First off, when we got home last week from emailing, I realized I never once said HAPPY THANKSGIVING at all!!! I was so sad.  I thought I was going to cry! Well I hope it was so great! I hope you all ate so much turkey and potatoes, pie and ice cream for me. From what I have heard, Thanksgiving in Gridley was a success! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins for having everyone over!!  Here, every week we teach an English class on Friday nights.  We decided to have a mini-Thanksgiving and it was so much fun!  Everyone brought a little something to share.  I will send some pictures from that fun night.  

Our little English class Thanksgiving!

We prayed and fasted for rain a week ago, and boy has it come!! Brasíl has been in a drought and is in dire need of rain.  It has probably rained every day this week. What a blessing.  One day we thought for sure it was not going to rain, so we left our umbrellas.  It poured that day.  We were walking to our investigators house singing "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today" at the top of our lungs. We arrived soaking wet, like hair and dress dripping wet.  It was actually really fun.  

We experieneced a really amazing miracle this week.  The Elders in a totally different zone called us a week ago and gave us a random reference for someone in Casa Branca named Su with only an address.  They said that they had no idea how they found this little piece of paper in their house, but that they decided to give it to us anyway.  This week we went out looking for this woman.  We came to a little house and clapped.  (That's what they do in Brazil instead of knock on a door).  Out came a mother and a little girl.  We asked if someone named Su lived there.  Their other fourteen year old daughter is named Su!  She said that she had never heard of our church or the missionaries or anything! What?! We returned on Saturday evening to give a message about the Plan of Salvation and how the gospel blesses families. This family is very active in another Evangelical church, but the father happened to be home when we stopped by.  We sat down with the mother, father, and littlest girl.  This week we have really been studying how to teach people and not lessons.  This is exactly what we did.  The father was so interested in our message and The Book of Mormon and the fact that we have a living prophet today.  When I testified to them that God has a specific plan for them and their beautiful daughters, and that they can know that plan for themselves through revelation, the spirit was so strong.  Both the mother and father had tears in their eyes. The father, Jose, works every other Sunday, so it is going to take a while for them to be able to be baptized, but they said that they would be baptized when they know that this church is true.  It was amazing! I have never wanted someone so badly to come to church in my life! I know that if they come to church they will be able to know that this is the path God wants for them.  It is really hard to get investigators to come to church here.  Everyone already has a church or cult here or they work on Sundays.  It is so frustrating!! Please pray that this family will be able to come to church this Sunday!

Sorry this letter is all over the place!  We had zone conference this week. And I just love President Andrew. He is old-fashioned, classic and strict, but it is exactly what we need.  He is a great and inspired man. (President Andrew is from Cedar Hills, UT.  McKenzie's original mission president had to leave Brazil this past August because, unfortunately, he had forgotten to do something to renew his visa and so they called President and Sister Andrew to finish until next July.  President Andrew and his wife were serving a mission in another area of Brazil when they were called to be the mission president of McKenzie's mission. He actually has been a mission president before in Brazil.)

Our zone and another at zone conference in Mogi.

Being here during the holidays at the very beginning of my mission is a huge challenge.  Sometimes I want more than anything to be at home with my family watching a movie around the hot fire with the Christmas tree in the background, but then I remember my duty here.  What better way to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas than teaching God's children about Jesus Christ and how they can change their lives and have the happiness that we all enjoy.  I am so grateful for my calling to be a missionary.  I feel so much happiness in this work more than I ever have before.  May we all remember where this happiness comes from; our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am eternally grateful for His sacrifice.  I need it every single day.  I love this gospel with all of my heart. Have a great week Family and Friends! I love you!!

Love, Sis. Cordner