Week 18 - Guarulhos, São Paulo - February 2, 2015

Guarulhos, São Paulo

Well, here I am in this huge city and sometimes I do not know what to do with myself!  Our area, Palmeiras, is so big and has so many people.  It is also so much more clean and nice and there are not as many drunks and crazy people on the roads (that is always good).  My companion is Sister Saavedra and she is my fourth companion! Every transfer so far I have had a different companion.  She already has five transfers here, so I am preparing again to know the area inside and out before she leaves!  She is from the coast of Perú and is so little! I swear all of my companions are going to be little women that make me feel like a giant! When we teach together I always feel the spirit and she is very easy to get along with.  I have been blessed with easy-going very sweet companions in my mission so far.  WE WALK SO MUCH!  I swear we walk twenty miles a day! But it is really good because we are able to get a lot of exercise and make a lot of contacts on the road.  

We have made some really amazing contacts this week.  Most of the people that we have talked to either already have gone to church, have had the missionairies in their home, or are baptized and inactive.  It really has been amazing to see the hand of God guiding His children to His missionairies.  One man that we contacted had already been taught by the missionaries and when I took out a pamphlet of the restoration, he grabbed it out of my hands and started to flip through the pages.  He said that he still has his pamphlet after four years.  I am so excited to teach him!  Our investigators are progressing and they are accepting the baptismal dates that we give them.  We are very excited to have baptisms this month!  It is so much fun to get to know all of the members in the ward, all of the people that are being taught here and getting to know a whole different area and city. 

I am already in love with all of the members here and how loving they are.  I was able to bear my testimony yesterday and as I looked down at all of their smiling faces I felt so much love for them and so much of a desire to serve them and be their missionary.  I am so grateful to be here and to learn all of the things that I am learning.  This mission is not easy and sometimes it is not very pretty, but I have never felt the love of my Heavenly Father so strong and I have never had to use the Atonement of Jesus Christ more.  I am so grateful for His sacrifice.  In every weakness, every sad moment, every heartache, I can turn to Him and be whole again.  I am so grateful for the Sacrament, a new beginning every single week to try harder and become better.  I hope you all have a great week full of the best things!  Please pray that our investigators will accept the baptismal invitations
and that they will be able to come to church this week!  If they do not go to church, they can never progress! I love you all!

Sister Cordner

My new companion, Sister Saavedra, at the Mission Office

Our view from our little home.  The sunrises here in the mornings are so beautiful!