Serving in Sao Paulo East : Week 35 - Jundiapeba, São Paulo

Back with Sister Zanni! At a wedding this week.

BOM DIA FAMÍLIA!

I hope you are all doing wonderfully! I am writing from Jundiapeba, in the zone Mogi das Cruzes! I am in the little tiny town right next to Suzano, where I was born! And you all will not believe who I am with... SISTER ZANNI!! My own mother here in the mission! It is her last transfer here in the mission and I am so happy to be with her! It is so rare in our mission to serve with the same person twice! It must have been inspired! This is my fourth area and my smallest. There is not one hill in the entire city and it is a great place to serve. The Lord has been so generous with me and where I have served here in São Paulo.

This week we ate lunch at the Patriarch's home out in the middle of nowhere! They grow oranges, limes, avocado, jaca (the biggest fruit I have ever seen...the size of a large head), peanuts, and all types of bananas, the smallest being the size of my thumb! It was so much fun to try all of them. I felt like I was at Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins home for an afternoon!

Well I am feeling great! I have been feeling the heart spasms every once in a while, but I am glad it is no longer a constant stream. I still have not heard anything from Doctor Swenson (the doctor here serving, I think he is from Provo) but I will call Sister Andrew and tell her about the PVC that runs in our family. Thank you all for your many prayers! (Premature Ventricular Contractions - When my dad was visiting this week he told me that several people in our family have experienced similar symptoms so he was thinking that she might have the same thing)

I have been thinking a lot about the family unit lately and how important it is to our Heavenly Father that we have complete families. There are many beautiful families in our ward that are strong and teach the principles of the gospel in their homes. There are also many families where the father is being reactivated! It is so exciting to start to see the light of Christ back in the eyes of an inactive member!

We made a great contact this week at the bus stop. She is a single mother that has five children under 12 years of age. They live in government apartments that are so run-down. When we passed by her home she had forgotten that we were going to pass by. There was soapy water covering the floor, the washing maching had leaked all over and naked children running around making all kinds of messes. I started to pray that there would be able to have a calm moment for her to feel the spirit and peace in our small lesson of the restoration. As I bore testimony of how the gospel blesses our families I felt so strongly of how much she needed the gospel in her home and in the lives of her children. I am so excited to return this week and teach her more! Even though she had never really prayed and she has never had religion in her life, she prayed for the first time and I saw the beginning of something wonderful!

Oh my, I love this work so much. Every morning when I wake up I feel such an eagerness to share the gospel. I am so grateful for this oportunity to grow in testimony and spirit. I know that our families are the most sacred thing to our Father in Heaven. We must do all that we can to strengthen our families through scripture study, prayer and family night every single week.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDY DEAR!! I cannot believe you are a little Beehive!! I hope you had a wonderful day! Congratulations to Mitchy for graduating High School!! Sorry but your "glory days" are over. Now it is time to move on to the real GLORY DAYS! MISSION! School is over and I hope all of you have a fun and fantastic summer!! I love you all!

Love, Sister Cordner xoxo