This week has been so great! Really Sister Swindler and I have been so happy working together. There is so much work, like always, and we have seen so much progress!
It has been a roller-coaster ride with C1. At the beginning of the week she was so happy and excited for her baptism. January 17th. Even with all of her pain that has been coming back she really knew it was the right thing to do... then I asked one simple question, "So, who do you want to baptize you?" Oh, it went all downhill from there. She remembered the promise she made with God that she would wait for her son to get off his mission for him to baptize her. She started to realize that ever since she had been preparing herself to be baptized, she had started to feel pain again, and she came to the conclusion that God was punishing her for breaking her promise wanting to be baptized earlier than she had said. Look how Satan works with our investigators! She got very scared that if she was baptized, God would take her life away, and not let her see Elder Gomez again. We tried our best to help her understand the will of God, but we decided to mark another lesson with Irmã Josy and Irmão Ademir, her great friends in the ward. On their wedding anniversary, they walked in the rain with a beach umbrella to help us talk with C1. They are such amazing people. I felt very strongly that it would be through a simple principle that she would realize what she should do. We talked about faith and how her promise to God was a good thing, a great desire that she had when she made it. Because she is now ready and willing to make this covenant with God, He desires her to recieve His blessings now. Yes, it is a good thing to wait for her son, but it would be even better to progress in the gospel, progress with her son, and prepare herself to enter into the temple with him when he comes home. The spirit was sweet and the room was still, and she felt so much peace. She asked when we could do the baptismal interview. Oh my, I never felt so happy in my life :) But unfortunately, an hour before her interview, she called and said that they were having problems in her family and that she would not be able to go to church, and was not able to be baptized... NOOOO! We still have so much faith. Really she is having so many problems, but now she knows that the enemy is trying his best to catch her, and she is literally fighting for her salvation. Sorry long story, but please pray for her!!
This week so many funny things were happening. It is the season of mangos, and I do not even know how many I have eaten. At lunch this week we ate a huge plate of Feijoada...so yummy... but if you do not act quickly, the irmãs pick up your plate and serve ya up again. You do NOT want this to happen. Sister Swindler did not act quick enough and got served up a heaping John Wayne plate. Oh man, I just looked at her and gave her the look saying, "say a prayer and get to work". Surprsingly enough she dominated it. So proud of her.
So here everyone has a trash rack outside of their houses where they put all the trash bags out of reach of the dogs. Sometimes, no, a lot of the time they forget to put them up. I have the perfect height to hit my head on these racks. You have to focus on your feet walking on the crooked sidewalk, and look up to not hit your head. So this week I hit my head so hard. So hard. Right under my eyebrow and into my eye. I literally felt my eye come out of its socket a bit, not even kidding. Once I knew that everything was okay, I looked up and saw a couple watching. They were so worried for me, gave me ice and her husband got ticked at me for not paying attention... It was cool because his cousin is a member of the church. Even though they did not want to hear our message, maybe I had to hit my head for a reason ;)
Oh there are so many stories, but I do not have much time. In two months I will be able to talk to you all in person! I hope you all have a great week! You guys have no idea how much I love you, and how great it is to hear from you every week! I feel your prayers. They strengthen me! I love being a missionary!
Sister Cordner xoxo
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