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Well, this is our beautiful home. We live on top in a little place. Trust me, when we drove up the first time I saw it I almost started crying. It looks so bad and so dangerous, but I promise our neighborhood is very safe compared to others! hah
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Hello my family and friends!! It has been another wonderful week here in Guarulhos and I am loving it! The members and the people we are teaching and helping, make everything worth it here in the mission! I cannot describe the love that I feel for the people here. It is incredible! When I go to church I see so many good people trying to do the best they can just like all of us. They have the blessing of the gospel in their lives, but life and temptations are really difficult here. They go to the temple, they love their families, and they love the scriptures. They are so amazing and great examples for me.
MS is a woman that we found while looking for a house of a referral. Her son was on top of the house fixing something and yelled down to us "Esta rua não tem saida!" ("This street doesn't have a way out." I guess he was being helpful.) WOW, the feeling that I felt after he said that I will never forget. It was so quiet and so gentle, but so powerful and I could not deny it. I needed to talk to him and we were meant to teach him and his family. We taught him and his mom because they let us right in and were so receptive! MS is so sweet, gentle and such a great mother. She has four teenagers that are difficult and little G that is four years old. MS smokes a lot, but even worse, she has a heart condition and if she does not stop smoking right now, she has a really big chance of dying. We came into her life at the perfect time! She really wants to change and is trying so hard. We made a wonderful chart for her to diminish her cigarettes every day. She has already been able to smoke less and she is recieving her testimony of the power of the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She came to church yesterday!!! She was so cute and waiting for us to pick her up early in the morning in front of her house. The testimonies in sacrament meeting yesterday were so powerful and I know she felt the spirit. She also recieved a blessing from two amazing returned missionaries in our ward to help her stop smoking. The key to helping someone start keeping the commandments is making contact with them every single day! We will be doing this diligently, because we love her sooooo much!!! She is so special!!! I do not know why, but I feel such a connection with her!! Please pray that she will be able to stop smoking and be baptized! Her family needs her example!!
Also, we are teaching M! He is the quiet little cousin (actually he is 22) of some recent converts. They are so excited to be sharing the gospel with their famliy members!! He is so timid, but he is so pure, which is so rare here in São Paulo with young adults. He is recieving a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He said that he has been having such a hard time sleeping lately, and the first night he read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, he fell asleep so quickly and throughout the whole night! God is so perfect with helping each child gain a testimony of the restored gospel! He wants to be baptized by his cousin this Sunday!! WOOHOO!! Wow, I love baptisms!! They are so special, and as my dear friend Sarah Clark said, no sound in the world is more beautiful than the sound of splashing water in the baptismal font!!!!!
I was reading yesterday in Mosiah the talk given by King Benjamin to all of his nephite people. I read a verse that touched my soul and made me feel so grateful. Mosiah 4:11-12 "And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye shoudl remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true." I can testify that I have 'come to the knowledge of the glory of God', I know of 'his goodness', and I have 'tasted of His love'. I have felt the 'exceedingly great joy' that only comes through the remission of our sins. I testify that this is only possible if we change our hearts and our minds and our actions to our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the light. I testify that He lives and He loves us perfectly. How grateful I am to have this truth. Think of all of God's children that need to know that amazing truth, we must do all we can to help them come to taste of this fruit that is so white, so sweet and so WONDERFUL!!! I love you all, I thank you for your prayers!! Have a wonderful week!!
Love, Sister Cordner xoxo
P.S. Transfers are next week, and chances are very high that I will get a new companion!! AAHH Tenho borboletas na barriga!! Mas, tudo bem, tudo vai dar ceirto, e Sião vai prosperar! (I have butterflies in my stomach!! But , okay, everything will be all right, and Zion will thrive!)
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